idosubaru

the good thing is that when they finally start causing issue it *shouldn't* leave you stranded, you'll just get a CEL, a cylinder misfire code, lack of power and some bucking...if you're really unlucky it might not drive or very well. if you do decide to do it, do the plugs and wires at the same time. use NGK plugs and SUbaru only (or my favorite Magnecors) for spark plug wires. do not use any other wires in this engine, not all subaru's are like this, but anythign other than Subaru on your engine is risky. and yes, more than just the "type", they are the exact OEM spark plug. the consensus is that stock OEM's are the best choice for mos subaru applications.

easy fixes, awesome! save yourself the hassle in the future and don't bother replacing those "filters" of the screen type any more. i've pulled them out wih 200,000 miles and they're always spotless (i'm sure there's the anecdotal ones though). they just prevent anything from getting sucked up and it should come out with drain and refills. they aren't typical "filters" in the sense they really get dirty. so it's really a pointless exercise to replace them. just keep changing that oil and you're golden. (this isn't true with the newer gen stuff that has an external spin on filter obviously...but that's not until 1998 stuff).

sweet momma, good job. thanks for letting us know, that's good info to have. you really found something that helpful on NASIOC...how much reading and bashing did that require!?!?!?

like nipper said, there's really too many options to guess over the internet. there's tons of experience and knowledge on here, but this is going to be hard without more info. can you take pictures? i'm with nipper, a leak that bad should be obvious. first...make sure what kind of fluid it is, that should be obvious as well. if you have to, clean off the oily area so you can see a fresh leak. this really needs to be done to avoid guess work. i would doubt it's the oil pan myself, but i'm not going to say it's impossible. rear main seals do seem to leak after recent installs, i know a couple very talented soob people that have had this happen (members of this board too). i'm not sure why the rear main seal is finnicky but it's also the least likely original seal to leak on a soob motor ironically enough. if it was really leaking as fast as you say it was before the head gasket change, "so fast you could see it dropping on the oil dipstick"....i'd be worried about the motor. if it started leaking that fast, it would be very hard to notice the first time before it got dangerously low.

awesome! most EJ engines seem to be very touch with respect to their wires. much more so than the older generation stuff. i don't use anything but Subaru or Magnecor wires on the EJ engines, anything else is hit or miss (pun intended).

did the heads go to a shop or get tested/millled? hopefully you did, that should always be done, particularly on a turbo. check the turbo and turbo related lines, now would be a great time to go ahead and replace those anyway, any hose, gasket or o-ring associated with the oil and coolant supply to the turbo. an easy place to leak is also the intake manifold gasket. were the mating surfaces of the intake manifold and head cleaned and not marred? i've seen very deep grooves in intake manifolds before, though i don't know how they get there. and...did you use Subaru gaskets or aftermarket? check all of your hoses and clamps, were they replaced or did you reuse the old ones? a compression test may or may not help. it's very common for compression tests to not tell you anything on a subaru. if the tests are bad, then that's conclusive, but even bad headgaskets can pass a wet and dry test just fine.

speedo's are off anyway, it's common for them to be off right off the showroom floor. tires aren't too blame for that. jerky acceleration...that may be to the tires being mismatched. were they all properly inflated? was it an equal, rotated, matching set? and even still it's possible for a tire to not be in spec, causing an unknown mismatch? these trans will act funny when the tires don't match, particularly the automatics, they will shift erratically. the manuals i'm not so sure about, i wouldn't expect as dramatic effects, but it can't help them at all.

just like the old school soobs, sounds good. i'll unplug them at least until i fix them right. i don't have one nor do i know how to use one, but i'm not against learning if other things don't pan out.

no way to diagnose pulleys thoroughly without removing the belt. you can look at them by removing the side timing belt covers, they only require 3 10mm screws to remove, that's very easy. look at them, if the front seals are jacked up with bearings come out, that is very, very bad and your belt won't last much longer. then turn the engine over by hand and make sure all of the pulleys are also turning properly. a seized pulled with cuase the belt to slide over it's surface rather than turn with the belt. that's what you're looking for. the engine will run quite a while like that but eventually that heat will glaze and destroy the belt...and your engine. other than that there's really no easy way because you can't hear them or spin them by hand without pulling the belts and well, spinning them. and that's really what needs to be done. they don't necessarily fail that often, but it's not a risk worth taking either because they do loose grease over time.

oh right, O2's don't do anything until the car is warmed up. so i guess they can't be the cause of this since it's right at start up. but i need to check that wiring, can't be good to have them backwards!

both engines from a manual trans vehicle. it should run with both O2 sensors unplugged? could crossing the 3 O2 sensor wires up ruin the sensor? i'm not familiar with what those wires are all for. since i guessed which pin they go to, chances are good that at least one, if not both are wrong. but i would have expected a CEL if they were. funny you mention the cat nipper......i had to remove the entire exhaust as an assembly, angle it and flip it upside down by myself. and before that i was shaking and jarring it vigorously. i dropped a tool into the exhaust manifold! oh the fun that was. none of the exhaust bolts will come out, i tried that first to get the tool out, so i can't just disconnect it to see if it runs right. guess i'll have to cut them off. check O2 sensors check catalytic converter thanks guys, i'm headed out of town so i'll check it out monday.

it has been said (i believe by nipper) that additives are not a great idea for steering racks, too many critical parts and valves and passages and such with tight tolerances inside. i was thinking the same thing a couple weeks ago since my XT6 rack had a very slow leak. i swapped racks instead. that's the only steering rack i've ever seen leak.

wow, that's some serious carnage for a cam sprocket bolt, i wonder if someone had it off before and did something funky to it? sounds bizarre. i'd be looking for an impact wrench to borrow. i'm wondering how you're holding the cam in place while putting that much torque on it? good luck, sounds frustrating but you're hanging in there so far!

i'm not picturing the problem very well. you're trying to remove the crank pulley or sprockets or everything? what exactly are you tryhing to accomplish? remove the radiator, it's very easy and will give you more room to work. and, it's very easy to damage it anyway when you're doing work down there.

it's only 3 years old, if no oil or anything is leaking on it, the car hasn't been overheated, you used a SUbaru belt and the pulleys/tensioners are all in good shape, the belt is likely capable of going much longer. i don't recommend it though, particularly based on the age of the pulleys/tensioners. those should be addressed at your next timing belt change as well since they're 10 years old. in my experience, by your age and mileage you'll need probably one pulley - usually the sprocketed joker on the lower right, $60-$70. replace that (or whichever pulleys are noisey) and the water pump and oil pump/cam seals and say hello to another 100,000+ miles. if money is an issue, selling this car isn't a good idea because it could easily go another 100,000 miles without much maintenance. maybe you can find someone to do the timing belt for cheap? make sure they use a Subaru belt.

odometers aren't very accurate to begin with, so it was probably wrong before anyway. US vehicles can easily have %5 error (speedometer and yes odometer will read lower) and it's even higher in Europe. so maybe your speedometer is accurate now instead of being wrong to begin with. psychology/marketing....."Wow, i'm going 75 but it doesn't feel like it, this thing is so solid and smooth i have to buy it". it is annoying trying to get legitimate numbers. GPS or checking highway marker signs the next time you're on a road trip are your best bet. check what your odometer reads against 100 highway miles per the little side marker signs on the interstate.

agreed, definitely have someone install a used one. no need to have a dealer do it either, and it's probably against their policy to install a used one anyway. they are straight forward and easy to install for any mechanic. subaru steering racks very rarely fail and when they do, they leak like nipper said. nearly every 20 year old subaru on the road has the original rack in it, even the older generation steering systems are very reliable.

6 point sockets for sure. heat won't hurt it, just dont' get crazy, the sprocket is steel/iron anyway. heck at this point you probably wouldn't care to just buy another sprocket if you had to! i'd try heat and PB blaster.

swapped a 1997 Legacy GT EJ25 into my 1998 Legacy GT (manual trans) and it's not running very well. check engine light doesn't come on. car will start, rev up high (3,000 rpm) and then eventually just die. if i give it gas it barely goes..bucks and kicks and will eventually die as well. the engine is good, because it came out of my 1997 Legacy GT and ran great just before i pulled it. first issue - i pulled the O2 sensor wires out of the plug. the plug wouldn't come apart and it didn't take much before the wires just came out. when i reinstalled them...there were 2 white wires and one black wire. i got the black wire dead on, i compared it to my other legacy. but the whites i took a chance it didn't matter which way they were plugged in. could that make it run bad? do i need to double check those and how can i tell which white wire goes to which plug? should it run fine if i disconnect both O2 sensors? i know the older soobs run fine without the O2 sensor connected. second - i played with some vaccuum hoses. the 97 i installed had a different solenoid in the passengers strut tower..really the exact same solenoid, but it had one additional vaccuum hose fitting. so i swapped solenoids as well so i plugged right up. solenoid connector was identical and everything dropped right in perfect. pretty sure that won't matter, actually i can't imagine it would matter at all. anyone know if there are any wiring differeneces from 97 to 98? maybe i need to swap the ECU as well?

not true. EJ25 in 1996 is interference. here's the easy info you need to remember for non-turbo engines: EJ22 is interference starting 1997 and after. all EJ25's are interference.

connie, i think you'll find your problem under that timing cover. let us know. i'm assuming this isn't it since you said "front of the engine". if the spark plug isn't seated fully into the distributor cap, you can hear the spark, it will sound. very mechanical..tack, tack, tack.. just throwing that out there since you had spark plug wire problems, if they "fell apart" close to the cap, make sure the cap isn't melted, warped or ruined. order magnecor spark plug wires and you'll never replace them again. excellent, excellent product.

removing a good motor is nonsense. his motor doesn't have any problems? anyway, you need to narrow down the oil leak, internet is hard enough, there's alot of experience and knowledge here, but there's not much we can tell you. there are a number of possible leakage points...cam seals, valve cover gaskets, spark plug gaskets, and rear main seal or rear separator cover...if the passengers and/or drivers side of the engine is wet/dirty with oil underneath, then it's likely the valve cover gaskets, they are prone to leak and brittle now that they're 10 years old. clean off the underside of the engine if it's too hard to tell. check all your fluids and make sure nothing is getting dangerously low. hmmmm, you didn't buy this close to DC did you? if so i was probalby looking at it as well.

i'm with nipper, i'd go with 60,000 mile intervals, that's what i will do with my 1998 2.2 impreza.

if you have 15" wheels i think there's a smaller dual piston caliper (90-94 turbo legacy calipers i think??) that will actually work with the 15" wheels as well. i saw someone mentioning that recently on this board.

yep...i *just* now finally learned about caliper grease, i've always used wheel bearing grease in the past too. brake caliper grease won't liquify and run as much as wheel bearing grease, so it will stay on the slide and within the boots better. if you use wheel bearing grease you'll find much less of it left next time you go to do the brakes, where brake caliper grease is much easier to retain for that application. so yeah...totally brake caliper grease, i just picked up a bottle this year. i got my rebuild kits online, but i've only done older model soobs, not the newer ones. same idea though, but i actually found aftermarkets online for $8 each (and that's for a kit, which does both sides). the boots seemed a little on the weak side, but they did work fine. i'd probably go Subaru if i could, though i'm doubtful they're available (or reasonable) for an XT6.