idosubaru

if you strike out elsewhere, check the tires and wheels as a last resort, but i'd bet money that's not the cause. you say that until you find out it's something completely unrelated to anything we've mentioned. go get dirty and bust a knuckle, waste and hour and it will end up being a fuse.

that's what i thought, i've swapped numerous shafts before with no issue so i was surprised to see this happen. the joints are fine, they are brand new and freshly greased and worked fine in my other XT6...so i can't imagine them being the cause. not much rust at all to speak of. i'll try changing the orientation just because it's easy and check on rust/seating of the flanges while i have it off.

actually joost, that was the first thing i did. seemed like the best solution. couldn't get much room to weld based on my skills, my welder, thickness of the rod, limited room, angle to get it up in there...the weld didn't hold and it was being cumbersome. it was sticking down as much as it was out, no way to get close to a 90 degree rod on it for good torque. the newest (and last) monster bolt i have to face is the drivers side tucked in the back by the motor mounts, no way i'll get a good angle or weld back in there...i don't think so anyway, but i'll look again. i think i'm going to drill this one before i mangle the snot out of it like i did the other.

so we should rotate/flip windows say....every 50 years?? i've seen those old windows, neat stuff.

fuel lines are super easy. fuel filter is on the drivers side rear of the engine bay, up high. can't miss it. follow it, it will coincide with 2 other rubber hoses. two are screwed on clamps, unscrew them. the other just needs a wrench/pliers. very easy and you can't miss them, this takes about 24 seconds.

1991 AWD AUto XT6 the closest ujoint to the transmission was bad, so i replaced both halves of the driveshaft with one with new ujoints. the joints on the replacement driveshaft were all good and moved fine when i installed it and i even greased them since it has new greaseable ujoints on it. this driveshaft ran fine in my last daily driver with no vibrations at all. now it vibrates in my new XT6. the balance weights are still on it. if it is a balance issue....the front one can't really change how it's mounted, the carrier bearing is what it is. so the rear half is the one i can change. what should i do, i have three options: swap it around, end over end unbolt the front (by carrier bearing) and rotate it 180 degrees unbolt the rear (diff side) and rotate it 180 degrees

nice, that's not good! i still haven't seen that yet even working on older generation 80's subarus.

i actually had my first one out in under 2 hours total time as well. it's not that bad really, i find them easier than the older generation subaru's. the only caveat to that is rust...if you have rusty exhaust nuts and engine mounts then things can start to suck bad real quick..i'm dealing with one right now like that.

no it's easy. on the passengers side rear of the engine you'll see the plugs, simply unplug them and you're done. the hood doesn't have to come out at all, just prop it up really high with the stock prop rod, it has mounting points for holding it up higher, perfect for pulling the engine. technically you can do this all...remove engine and/or replae headgasket without removing the radiator. but it's good and easy to pull it. it's like 2 extra bolts to get it out and 2 electrical connectors for the fans. very easy. don't remove the fans, don't remove the overflow tank...juts remove the entire radiator with that stuff still connected to it. it's easy to damamge the radiator if you levae it, best to take it out and yo'ull have a little extra room too. 2 14mm engine mounting bolts, 6 14mm exhaust nuts, unplug electrical connectors, 4 engine to transmission bolts (starter bolt is one of them), remove the other starter nut and pull it. then all the little stuff...intake hose, fuel lines, throttle cables, coolant lines...easy stuff. if you do it in the car you do'nt have to remove quite as much...like fuel lines and some hoses and the throttle cables. unbolt the entire intake manifold from the engine and pull it up away from the engine block ,propping it up and out of the way. remove whatever you need to get enough room to work and that's it...leave everything else connected. it'll give you just enough room to work without unhooking a bunch of stuff. of course drain the coolant from the engine first so coolant doesn't rush down into the engine when you lift it off the block.

i figured out west you wouldn't likely have rust. look at the rear hub assembly...follow all points that attach the hub (the thing that has the wheels studs on it and your wheel bolts to)...follow anything that connects that part to the underside of the car. you'll notice the cv axle that goes to the rear diff, it's bolted with one bolt to the strut, then you'll notice going towards the front of the car a long arm. where this arm bolts to the vehicle it has bushings inside of it. i suppose some horrible struts could be suspect as well. with that many miles i'd be suspicious of them. they would certainly be far easier to deal with than those bushings....well maybe without any rust those bushings are easier...i wouldn't know out here on the east coast!

well i got one off, the one that i was focusing on. i attempted to weld a larger nut to it and the weld broke off. but the bolt easily came out after hammering a socket over what was left. turned right out. i suspect the heating from welding probably helped it come out. the next 3 came out with a 6 point socket. now of course i have one left....it won't come out at all. it's tucked in there tight. welded a nut to it, 6 point socket...i'll have to try something else.

nice hit! that's awesome!

what kind of subaru and how many miles? any rust issues underneath? were the tires properly inflated? very odd to have extremely bad alignment on both sides in the rear...was it ever in an accident? you can look at the bushings GL mentioned, sometimes you can notice them all chewed up, hanging out or completely missing just by looking under the vehicle. any noises from back there? if it's both tires and the suspension has never been messed with i'd suspect there are rust issues causing the rear subframe to shift...that's the way it does it, the wheels start gradually leaning in and wearings on the inside edge.

or you could just replace the failed component...probably the compressor? i replace bad a/c compressors all the time and pull a vaccuum and recharge with amazing success. i've never had a problem doing it that way. all of that only needs to be replaced if lots of material circulated through the system...that's not a typical failure mode in my experience. leaks, a/c compressor clutches, bearings and more frequently 50 cent schrader valves are the most common cause of a/c not working....i would not jump to the highest dollar conclusion when it could be fixed for less than a dollar or at least $1,000 less with a new compressor. it's kind of like saying "i've got bad spark...let's replace the motor". while it's open i always replace the easy to get to o-rings and the schrader valves (there are only two). the schrader valves do not last forever...every time you get a tire you get new schrader valves but everyone leaves their 10 year old deteriorating valves in the a/c and hopes it lasts. they don't, they have a small o-ring at the base that typically looses seal over time. all of the soobs i've seen just needed new compressors and worked golden after replacing them. i've never even replaced them with new units...but i have on other non-subaru vehicles for friends.

like nipper said, this vehicle will be good for another 100,000 if the job is done properly. i had an EJ25 out in less than 2 hours last week by myself, it wasn't hard at all. it's actually fairly easy and straight forward. pulling it is the best option, but it's not necessary. if youre using handtools, i'd definitely recommend pulling it. on the older gen soobs leaving the engine in the car is definitely faster with air tools, not worth pulling. i haven't messed around enough with the newer EJ's to determine if the 4 hours of pulling/installing is worth it or not. i think you should go ahead and pull it, it'll be worth the time and ease for your first time.

for kicks you may be able to mount the bottom strut bolt in the top bolt hole...extending it 2 inches maybe? then get some fat steel to bolt the two holes together, keeping them rigid. be neat to try out for giggles anyway. works on an XT6, not sure about EJ stuff.

local shop charges me $50 per hub to remove old, clean up, grease and install new seals and bearings. and....i'm sorry i didn't take notice this was a legacy, the play i've seen was in ER (older gen) series hubs. i've never taken notice of an EJ hub off the vehicle.

it is #5

yeah for double post!

i've had no problems on multiple vehicles and many thousands of miles and years of use. if someone were having issues with it, i'd be more prone to suspect the usage being the cause than the actual modification itself. i'm also not bashing oil pans, transmission pan and gas tanks, so you definitely put stuff to the test. they have excellent capabilities but certainly aren't immune to issues if beaten offroad. with severe use i could see lots of stuff failing, including automatic transmissions. this is the off road forum, so this is good information depending what kind of off roading your doing.

local Subaru dealer charges $1,500 for head gasket job. dealers typically range from $1000 - $1,600 depending on which dealer and what all they do (timing belt, clutch..etc). in my oppinion there's only one option for replacing the engine and that's CCR. you'll find they have stellar reviews, excellent pricing and decades of Subaru only experience, they are top notch. i wouldn't go used. warranties aren't typically very good or easy to follow through on and who knows the condition of the engine. if they were cheap that would be one thing, but due to demand (head gaskets) these engines easily sell for $1,000 +.

no problem ian. i'll give you my cell phone number if you'd like over PM or email. just send me a note if you run into anything or have questions. unfortunately i've dealt with many sheared bolts, i'd be stoked if those circumstances and lessons helped someone else!

yeah these suck. DO NOT touch that EZ out again..your best bet is to throw that thing away right now. i would not pull the engine, no way it's worth all of that effort and hassle. have you drilled all the way through the bolt? i believe that is one of the short oil pump bolts, which is good because it's the same length as the others, you should be able to tell how deep it is and how deep you've drilled by comparing it to the others. i would make sure you're all the way through it. sounds like you were able to get it centered fairly well. if so, drill it out again until it starts breaking up and start extracting pieces. combination of heat and cold may help it come out but i don't know how much heat i'd put on an area that seals your oil pump gasket either. keep using left handed drill bits on it. i think i would keep progressing with larger drill bits and just drill it out. hope the threads are good, but if not you can helicoil it, that's not hard at all. don't let that scare you if you've never done it bvefore. you may get away without needing a helicoil. if you get it out, chase the threads with a tap. the tapped hole will be deeper than the original stock bolt, so even if you messed up some of the threads there will be good threads deeper in. so get a bolt that's longer than the stock bolt that will reach those good threads. if you have to just drill it out and use a helicoil that's a great option. a little more work and requires a helicoil part/kit but well worth it and works great. you'll be able to get it plenty straight to work. if for some reason when yo'ure done you feel like the helicoil isn't as straight as you would have liked, then use a compression washer under the head of the bolt for extra insurance. it'll be fine, these aren't high load and high force bolts and there are 4 others. i had a water pump bolt shear off that could not be drilled and was obviously not the stock bolt, it was somethign very hard and i couldn't weld to it. i bought 2 or 3 very expensive drill bits that were supposed to be able to drill anything and they wouldn't touch it. so i drilled a hole right next to and intersecting with the existing hole. once it was deep enough i used a punch to knock the bolt into the hole i had just drilled. fortunately i had a spare block that i drilled all around to make sure there weren't any passages or anything that i would hit by drilling this hole. makes sense that nothing was there, but i wanted to be sure. i don't recommend this, but it was the only thing that i could do and it worked. i actually had to do this to my current daily driver and it's held up just fine. i've used very, very, very thin needle nose pliers before and they help as well. i got them from a machinist friend, i don't know if they are available or he made them. with the bolt drilled out, you can insert these pliers and open them while in the hole, this will grip the bolt and you may be able to turn it out this way. if not, these pliers still help with extracting the bolts pieces once you start drilling it larger and larger, but they aren't necessary.

why was the battery replaced? went bad? alternators and batteries often fail within short period of time of each other. have the alt checked, many places do that for free. battery connections are the first thing to check. they have to be clean and they have to be tight. if you can turn them by hand then they aren't tight enough. how does the plug at the alternator look, they're usually crap by now. check your fusible links, they can be weak enough to cause problems but still have connectivity. remove and replace checking for brittleness along each one. there's only one that would be the culprit here, but i'm not sure which one, so check them all. i think it's the first one or two from the front of the car...but there's only like 4 so check them all. if you're still having issues, see if the crank pulley is slipping. it has a thin rubber ring inside of it that can separate causing the outer part of the pulley to not rotate as fast as the inner...creating the exact problems you're having. draw a line across the face of it and run the engine. if the line becomes broken, your pulley is bad. also check the wiring above the pedal assembly as a very last resort, the harness plugs there can sometimes corrode and short out...causing similar issues. common XT issue actually, not sure about other EA82 variants though.

good call by hatchsub, if you can find a local elecrical motor or electrical automotive shop generic brushes can be found for a couple dollars. even if they're too long you can file them down to size.