idosubaru

check the Offroad forum, there's info on swapping other vehicle drivetrains into a Subaru. there's alot of good info in that offroad forum and you should find some info on solid axle swaps. it's all fab work, you can put anything you want under a vehicle with enough resources. tank tracks anyone??? i think that's been done before as well....

you mean the charcoal canister is missing? do you think it's supposed to be, a model year difference or someone removed it? at first i figured someone removed it, but those solenoids being different and the lack of any metal lines in the intake manifold seemed to indicate the engines differ slightly in their vaccuum set up. i guess someone could have removed all of those metal line gadgetry, but seems like alot of work. (both have ABS). the two solenoids have the same connector, the hoses all connect to the same thing, bolts to the same location, look nearly identical but the one has one additional hose.

I pulled two EJ25's from Legacy GT sedans. one is a 1997 and the other is a 1998, both manual trans. first - the 1998 doesn't have the charcoal canister and no existing lines on the manifold that i can see. but the 1997 does. are they all like that? looks like it has the mounting holes for the brackets...but nothing else. the 1997 has the canister and all the lines. they both have a solenoid on the passengers side strut tower. each has a vaccuum line going to the item above it, whatever that is. but, one has two vacuum hoses going to the engine bay, the other has only one. they both have the line with the circular doohickey in it...whatever that thing is called, i've always wondered that. anyway...what's the deal with one having one hose going to the engine and the other having two going to the engine?

agree with nipper....check BBB for pep boys. also your existing axle with a new boot would be more reliable functionally speaking that the "remanned" stuff they'll put in there. i've seen brand new ones (aftermarket) fail myself and on this/other boards. if i were paying i'd install a new boot before going with an aftermarket axle. chance of failure is small, but why intentionally take on any chance of failure? even if the axle started clicking i'd rather have an actual Subaru axle on there....but i've been scarred (seen the aftermarkets explode).

ha ha....2 packs of smokes, that's awesome. it's huge, you can't miss it, you just need to lift the carpet up. or cut it. remove the drivers bottom plastic molding/trim holding the carpet and you should have access to it.

the price seems a little high, but you are not getting taken for a ride. it's much easier to just replace the axle than the boot, so the price difference is justified. more money for the new axle....but less time for installation. replacing the boot is dirty, annoying and easy to mess up on the fly. whoever installs your axle - just make sure it's a Subaru axle (new or used) or from MWE. don't buy aftermarket. the other option is to just let it go for awhile. i've driven 50,000 miles on broken front boots (mostly highway)...far more on rears. i never replace rear axles, they don't fail (knock knock), mine are currently broke in the rear. if it's an inner boot on the front, they'll last longer than the outers. the outers have more range of motion (steering) and get stuff in them easier. in maryland and georgia i'd go years and 10's of thousands of miles with broken front boots and some moderate clicking around turns (tell tale CV noise). i would only replace them if i had to go in there for something else. they didn't fail and it wasn't worth my time. now that i drive frequently in WV...they use some kind of coal or crushed rock on the roads in the winter and it degrades CV's quickly. mine is making a horrific racket now after 6 months of driving, mostly through the winter, and i've got a new one on hand to replace it with.

come to think of it i posted a picture of that plug a long time ago, who knows where it is... yes, got your...i mean my....er uh, his package yesterday. thanks.

i'd be looking at the brakes and wheel bearings. disabling the AWD isn't likely to help narrow it down.

the computer is under the seat - unplug that. on the XT's (maybe this GL-10 is the same), there's a white plug up under the front left corner of the car when your left foot sits from the drivers seat. i believe it's attached to the side of the wall. it's a large connector...maybe 10-15 pins roughly. and it's white in the XT's. unplug that and it will quit blinking. that's the easiest way to do it.

subaru automatic transmissions (speaking of the 4EAT) are very reliable, for an automatic transmission! i'm not sure how to word this, but i would almost expect a 4EAT (your transmission) to make 150,000 miles without failing. anything can happen, but they rarely fail before that. i've seen them make far more, but 150,000+ is when all the failures i've seen start happening. there's no way to tell you what "you" will experience. but once you start getting towards 200,000 and 300,000 miles auto trans can't compete with manual trans in terms of reliability.

no. they are completely different engine designs and are not interchangeable at all. you would need to swap the entire wiring harness and computer stuff...it's possible but it's a huge job. i wouldn't recommend it on a vehicle that old anyway. find a newer soob that can take your 2.2...impreza or legacy for cheap. an older subaru is likely to have rust underneath (frame rails, gas tank, wheel bearing issues, driveshaft ujoint issues....they are good cars but if you have time you'll probably find just as good of a deal on a newer vehicle that wouldn't require near the work to swap.

good call. i know of one person with cracked up window problems...turned out the wire was exposed and rubbing against the body of the car. this was from the door to just inside the body of the vehicle i believe. passengers side, but completely different older generation soob.

i'm confused, can't you get it off by just removing the crank pulley? that's not that difficult is it? i too advise against "breaking" them off...depending how you define "breaking", you could carefully extract it...get all the bolts off and then carefully crack it around the crank pulley as necessary, that's the only breaking required right?

that would be an interference motor. definitely no headgasket "issues". keep it from overheating and it won't have any headgasket problems. remember it's 10 years old, hose clamps are rusty and who knows if anything was ever replaced...thermostat, water pump, hoses, etc.

i wouldn't get a "JDM 40K motor" again. i got one last summer and it came complete with bad headgaskets. i just did it on a whim, figured i'd try it out, waste of time. i'm sure that's rare, but no need for me to go that route again. the best options are to fix it or get a CCR engine.

hey J, i have extra parts, so i'd swap mirrors and the switch to see if that fixed it. those are the easiest and most obvious places to start in my oppinion. if you don't have parts, check the electrical connects for signs of corrossion. you might be able to try disconnecting the power mirror and then using the controls to see if the fuse blows. don't know if that would isolate the controls, but it may. if the fuse blows after removing the mirror, then it's not the mirror. if it doesnt blow then it doesn't tell you much of anything.

you say "rebuilt", what all was done then? and when was that done, what year? do you know if they used Subaru's newer updated gaskets? there's a chance the heads weren't milled and Subaru gaskets weren't used, which could easily cause this problem to come back again. typically the heads are fine. a machine shop will do a valve job, mill them and test them. they can tell you if they are bad or not. i have yet to give them a head that was trashed. that's more common with turbo motors, but is possible to any. if they gasket-slapped it, just installed new gaskets without milling the heads, that could be the problem as well.

great work, looks great. amazing how much better they look off the ground.

on the ones i've seen the steering rack and sway bushings seem to get worse than those leading and trailing arm bushings. they're the only ones i've seen completely missing from a vehicle. before getting new calipers, look for a rebuild kit. i've found kits for $8 before and they're super easy to do. there's not much to a caliper rebuild, just the piston seal the dust boot and a clip to hold the dust boot. 3 very easy to replace parts. everything else is just a basic clean up job, very easy. well 4 parts if you include the new dust cover for the bleeder screw!

definitely use an impact gun. it should get it off without much trouble. manual - engage the transmission and go to town. i imagine it will come off without using the brakes if you use an impact gun. it will not come off, or is very unlikely, without using the brakes if you use a regular socket wrench. automatic - secure the flexplate through the bellhousing access hole with a stout object (i use a socket extension). if you have to use a hand socket wrench...get a 3/4" socket wrench. 1/2" sockets are not up to this job and can break. seen 1/2" sockets wrenches and breaker bars break. on rare occassions there are 36mm axle nuts as well, but i wouldn't expect it in your case. i've even gotten 36mm nuts from the dealer straight out of a cv axle box.

the later model XT's have a different nose...similar to the XT6 and may offer more room. 1987.5 and up i believe. you can tell it's an XT6 first by the headlight washers in the bumper.

under load (higher speeds, climbing mountains, running A/C) the radiator hose may be collapsing as well. i'm having that problem right now with a new aftermarket hose. insufficient radiator sounds highly suspect like mike said.

the sprocketed timing gear is typically the noisiest one, so at least check that one and plan on replacing it. i replace nearly every one i come across. mercury cougar? easier to work on but you'd be doing it much more often so that doesn't count!

is this on a 1990 legacy? what vehicle and how many miles? there are a number of options but my first guess is a ujoint in the driveshaft. check the ujoints for any play. if it's very light and "flutter" like you said, you might not notice any problems unless it's removed or you have a really good eye for spotting seized ujoints. the joints could be seized instead of having play in it and in those case they are very hard to diagnose without actually dropping the driveshaft down. before going through that you might want to make sure it's not a wheel out of balance or a bad/old tire as well. i'm doubting it's your diff, but it's not impossible. they normally like to make noise, not just vibrations. there are a couple other things to check but i think they are less likely so im going to stop there.

i've never heard of that, but obviously it's been done before. might just want to ask some smaller shops if they'll let you? technically speaking i don't think insurance companies would even allow that for most shops and if they did i'd expect to see that reflected in the price. the 10x20 garage you have sounds reasonable if you clean it out. maybe rent a storage unit for a month to either clean your garage out or turn it into a makeshift garage?