idosubaru

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.

no, not at all. i'm only telling you my experience seeing "loose" bearings in a used hub that was on a perfectly running car and on newly pressed bearings that i installed on my car and was told "that's normal". i do not recommend installing them unless someone who knows what they are talking about tells you. frankly i'd like to know why newly pressed and greased bearings had play in them and it was "okay". i was hoping someone would chime in and explain, i know there are tons of people that have done bearings before on this board.

that's awesome. excellent information for some work i need to do as well. thanks! how did you find those year ranges?

i've never seen CV's cause improper tire wear. coming from the guy who has put 50,000 miles on front CV's that click while driving straight...i've driven on some horrible axles before. just got done replacing one last week as well. at times it had a solid vibration while driving straight and clicked like crazy. tires wear perfect on that one and all my previous ones as well. if it's a standard broken boot CV issue, i dont' think that's going to cause your tire problems. if it's a previously replaced aftermarket axle then this may not hold, i only use Subaru or MWE axles.

nice! sure signs he's done this before! don't people run thin piano wire from the inside of the cabin to the outside and "saw" their way around the windshield? i know there are a few detailed hints on usmb about windshield removal, i'd check those out. if that stuff is anywhere near as tough to cut through as the rear permanent side glass in an XT6...i wouldnt' want to cut through it. blades couldnt' touch that stuff.

you can leave those off anyway. i actually remove those "heating" lines and bypass the throttle body, they aren't necessary. i drive in below 0F weather and no problems. it's going to be tricky finding out all the gadgets you need from a picture. i had a hard time with that as well even living here. i swapped from turbo to non-turbo and needed to figure out all those differences. it was annoying finding the bits i needed and where things go..and it's still not perfect yet. is it turbo or not, they have different gadgets and vaccuum routings on them. guess it's the turbo RX in your list?

i would not blame the guy who sent you the parts unless they were his parts. he may have just picked it up and sent it to you and doesnt' know much about bearing replacement or what's good/bad. that being said....i've seen this play you speak of before. i installed a hub that had new bearings pressed in and it had this slack and the shop said it was fine. when i later checked them, there was no play when it was on the vehicle....and i don't think there was any play when i parted that vehicle out either. actually i could check i still have one or both of those hubs. but i'm not home right now. but i think they are tight now. and...i've seen hubs that were pulled from good vehicles, and were tight when i removed them, have play after sitting for a year or two. maybe it's from being banged around or something, i do not know but i've seen it happen. i'm not a bearing expert and have never replaced them, i let a shop do it....but i have had a few experiences with "play in the hub" like you mention and i still don't understand what was going on.

check the coolant lines to the heater core. if it's leaking on the firewall it's more likely to be coolant lines that need replaced. if it is the heater core, bypass it for now until you can fix it. run an inlet hose straight to the outlet so there's no coolant getting to the heater core. better to not have heat than loose coolant and blow a headgasket or toast the motor.

this is why MWE or used Subaru axles are the best bet. aftermarket axles for Subaru have bad percentages. a driveshaft with vibration problems should be easy to diagnose off the car. the ones i've seen were typically seized (ujoint VERY hard to move or impossible) or they were very loose...obviously nearly busting out of the yoke. it's not hard to tell if that's what you're thinking. and...if you left the front half of the driveshaft in place and actually drove it in FWD then the vibration would either be gone or not, that would rule out two ujoints on the rear half which are the most likely to fail from what i've seen. to run it in FWD, yes you would at least need the front half of the driveshaft in place to keep the fluid in. the rear section can be removed. if they exhibit other signs...lumpy feel and minor wear, you won't feel vibrations. many, if not most older gen subaru's are pushing 20 years old and have quite lumpy u-joints by now, i haven't pulled any that were "like new". but they rarely have vibration or other issues. on some subaru's the driveshaft is actually removable without removing the exhaust, it's not easy, but it does beat messing with exhaust bolts, studs and gaskets. remove any rubber hanger mounts and use some bars or tools to help move the exhaust as needed while dropping the shaft if it looks like you might have room to drop it out.

i drive off road frequently as needed for outdoor excursions. the 4EAT in my XT6 does very well. i have the switch and rear clutch type LSD, nice set up for mud and snow. pretty well can't get stuck unless you're in slop, you got no ground clearance.

could it be a noisey rear cv axle as well...i'm not sure what the noise is. maybe the rear diff bushings are shot, that would cause clunking on accel and decel. rear diffs are easy to swap out, you won't have a problem nor do you need special tools. 4 12mm nuts hold the driveshaft to the rear diff, two nuts hold the diff at the rear on the hanger (believe they are 17), then there's one holding it up top as well. then the axles.

i have heard of people replacing the clutch and bearing before on the vehicle, but have'nt had to do it myself. i have replaced an a/c clutch on a honda compressor once, don't recall it being all that difficult with basic bag of tools and sockets. you might want to try doing a search here, i'm almost positive it's been posted before on here. search the old and new generation forums to see if you can find any info on those...i believe the bearing part numbers have been posted before as well. i don't recall seeing a bearing when i've taken a clutch off before, but i'd imagine it's behind the clutch or i'm altogether wrong and the bearing i'm thinking of is replaceable on the alternator???? pretty sure it's A/C though.

problem is some of these head gasket replacements are getting 5, 6, 7 years old so it's hard to tell. and for some, particularly ones that failed early, it's likely mechanics or even Subaru just gasket slapped it and didn't do a complete head job on them...clean, valve job, hot tank...etc.

for me it's not that the v grips are too big, it's that they don't cut it. i can't put nearly as much torque into them as a 3 foot breaker bar on a socket wrench. it's stripping the bolt head with a 3 foot pipe over my socket wrench handle and still not budging. there also isn't any stud left outside of the bolt, it's all rusted away. oddly, the rest of the car isn't really rusted that badly. it's like they intended the exhaust studs to rust like stupid.

any autozone or advanced auto parts will read the codes for free. or go to Subaru and pay $80. i think it's a toss up if it's related or not. but i'd surely get it checked ASAP and find out, oil supply is nothing to mess with if that's what it is.

i would inspect the oil pump as well. the oring and screws. also, the newer EJ's with adjustable valves have a 100,000 mile valve adjustment recommendation. i'm not familiar with what they sound like or do when they are in need of adjustment though, maybe someone who has experienced that can chime in for you?

i might have an extra A/C compressor i can send you for $75 shipped. what engine is this off of? i'll check what i have. if he's nice and it's just the clutch or bearings, they may be replaceable without disassembling the entire compressor and discharging it as well. i know people have done that before.

that's my experience. i've noticed a 1-3 mpg increase when going up to a larger wheel/tire combo, i do very little city driving though. tricky figuring out your actual mileage though...as your odometer/speedometer is no longer correct. i've always wondered...speedometer are typically inaccurate..up to 7% in the US, so does that mean the odometers are inaccurate as well?

being a non-interference motor and never seeing any first hand issues with aftermarket belts, i'd go with the advice mentioned in this thread. i've used many different sets with no issues.

what phil said...sold on ebay out in california i think. and yes, it was a truck bed grafted onto an XT.

no way vise grips or sears bolt kits are going to work. couldn't touch it. i need a torch. i'm going to cut the exhaust off and pull the engine and deal with them out of the vehicle. ha - PB blaster. i hit them multiple times with PB blaster the 24 hours before starting on it. nothing worked on all 4 of these seized jokers.

thanks nipper. i'm not surprised, but still curious. i'll look at them closer and see if there's signs of tampering under the intake manifold. they would have had to swap solenoids...that's the bizarre part to me.

how do you guys typically get rounded off exhaust nuts off when pulling an engine? i think i'm going to just cut the exhaust, but was wondering what other easy options are out there. once the engines out i can deal with it easier. hate to hack the exhaust, but i do have others anyway.

HA HA!! awesome, that's great! nice job asking here about buying from that dude, that's good stuff.