idosubaru

that is not a relay. do you have an FSM or owners manual you can look at to see if it says anything. check under the hood, they usually have diagrams under the hood for vacuum routing and other information...maybe it would show a relay location, but probably not? if you take more pic's maybe we'll see it?

check your fuses on the fuse panel. in addition to the fuse panel, the XT6 has a fuse for the a/c system located in the engine bay right by the relays. it's a stand alone fuse, sitting all by itself that is easy to miss or forget about. has a black cover so it doesn't stand out either. says 15A on it (15 amps). see if yours has this fuse and check it as well. i tracked down my non working a/c problem last year and checked fuses and other stuff only to find this fuse was blown...should have checked it first! i would double check the relays. and make sure you didn't ruin them while testing (apply voltage to the wrong terminals).

i haven't seen one with one fan and no air conditioner so i'm not sure what you'll see. my guess is that you'll only have one relay there, so you won't be able to "swap" them around like i mentioned. to test one relay, you can test it with a voltmeter. also if you know where to apply the 12 volts to you can give it 12 volts and see if it "clicks". if you're not sure, post a picture of that area and we can probably tell you which one is the relay you need to check. it's usually a square looking black item with 4 contacts and 4 wires connecting to it.

the p/s is "passengers side". the relays for the fan are just in front of the passengers side strut tower...at least in the US they are. not sure if they flopped things around in countries where they drive on the other side of the road. anyway...the a/c relay and fan relay should be together in front of the strut tower. how many fans does yours have? two or one? here's how to test it. unplug the relays until the a/c doesn't work, this will tell you which one is for the a/c and you'll know that relay is good. then swap the other (one or two depending on your vehicle) relays into the a/c relay socket. best to turn the a/c on-off, don't just leave it on while plugging in your relays, to prevent ruining them. one of the relays you insert in the a/c will not work, the a/c won't come on and you'll know that relay is bad and that relay socket is for the fan that doesn't work. sorry to make that so long, it's really simple. just swap the relay's out to narrow down which one is causing the problem. if it's just two relays it should be very, very easy to verify. relay's often start working if you move them, knock them or beat them around a little, so don't be surprised if it starts working when you go unplugging and moving them around. but don't plan on it working for long, they'll eventually stick again very shortly.

i'll add to this since i have experience. i've done it as emergency repair measures before - bad driveshaft, bad diff...etc. no difference at all.

FREAK!!!! i was 7 miles from you guys, had i known that i would have stopped by when i was there.

the cheapest and best alternative is to get an entire vehicle. it's not hard to get an entire EJ vehicle for next to nothing. i've passed up one free one already this year and it wasn't even wrecked. to get one wrecked or with a bad transmission for chump change is also very easy to do. EJ22's can be found really cheap as well. the other important question is if you're doing the work yourself. if not then the cost of a swap could be considerably more than an EA82 rebuild. finding a random shop (assuming you have no connections or whatever) willing to do this around this area is nearly impossible, if you do the prices are insane. around this area it would be cheaper to pay someone to rebuild an engine than do a custom swap if you're paying someone to do all the work and don't have contacts/friends/people helping you.

they rebuild subaru axles and have an excellent reputation. there is a link to them through the CCR website. do an internet search for MWE axles and they'll come up. they have also posted their information here on USMB. he just finished 4 for me today. here's the USMB link: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49775&highlight=marshall he now has XT6 axles in stock and ready to go.

sweet, makes sense. i edited my first post. that explains why there always seems like less when i go back in there the next time!

it's because the emergency brake is on the front calipers (as opposed to the rear setup like many others).

the front calipers need to be turned in just like a bolt. clockwise to go in, counter to come out. they are on a threaded spindle, trying to press them in won't work or will break them. most auto parts stores carry a $3 tool to that attaches to your ratchet. one of the sides of the "box" (that's what the tool look like) will fit your calipers. or you can make one out of an old socket. just grind/cut off most of the socket and leave "ears" sticking out to grab the forms in the top of the calipers piston.

actually i have a couple spare racks anyway, so there's really nothing against using the stop leak stuff in this one before i take it off and trash it right? unless it could affect the pump? i've shipped parts to New Zealand, Germany, Holland, Australia, Canada...and other odd places, international shipping isn't too bad unless you need it super fast.

what makes it internal (like a piston ring) to the point that it has to be completely torn down, unlike an external cam seal that's easily replaced individually? that seal isn't accessible from the side, where just removing the tie rod and boot gives you access? this question might be beneficial to the original poster anyway since he can't source new or used racks. that link was interesting but it's only argument against replacing those seals was corrossion and mileage. i don't necessarily have either of those. i would rather have a reasonably priced new rack, but that's not going to happen on this older gen stuff. i'm not one for additives, but if you're considering replacing the rack due to a minor leak anyway, it's low milage and has no other issues, are "stop leaks" worth a shot? i can't wait until i have all of my extra parts with me so i can look at this stuff and see it.

some members of xt6.net posted very recently issues of leaking grease and other issue from cvaxle.com, i'd avoid them. i would choose MWE...he has 4 of my axles as we speak.

anyone post a picture or FSM diagram, i'm not picturing where these go since i'm used to old generation stuff. i understand it's a separate mechanism and that's about it.

what's the difference between this brake lube and wheel bearing grease for the slides? didn't see anything mentioned on the link.

no warranty on the headgaskets - if that's the case and the engine is that old, then i'm with nipper, consider replacing them now. the JDM motor i got last year (not an EJ25) had a very bad headgasket when i got it. i'll never buy one again. cost, who's doing the work, time, reliability and all of that are decisions only you can make. if you're going to be completely put off and put out and hate the car if the headgaskets blow down the road, then there's no question - do it now. if you travel long distances in this vehicle then maybe that's another vote for having them done. around town you can get the car home even if they do go out. 500 miles away might be a little trickier. many people post about how "terrible" their car is and use the USMB as a sounding board after they have problems, but if they'd make good decisions to start with they would have avoided that stress in the first place. we do not know you or your situation so how you manage a low percentage, but viable risk, is up to you. if you can do the work yourself, then tear it up. it's a $1,000 - $1,5000 job to pay someone to do headgaskets. best to just do it now if there's any question and you can. it's far easier with the engine out. with new headgaskets the vehicle you have now is quite likely to see 100,000 miles with very few problems, that's worth the cost of a headgasket.

what year is the motor? how many miles? is there a warranty? are you doing the work yourself? there's no way they used different headgaskets or had completely different engines over there, so i'd guess they're nearly identical in terms of long block assembly and materials. i wouldn't change the headgaskets. there's a higher probabilty of never having issues than having issues, so why go through it now? just depends how preventative you like to be and how much time and $ you have now and later to address things. if there's a warranty...which it seems like there should be, i definitely wouldn't touch the gaskets.

i've never done it, but i have pulled a few racks and it seems like there's usually room down there to work. not much, but the boot is completely accessible so i can imagine whatever is underneath of it may be as well. to gain clearance you could try removing the two metal hangers that hold the rack to the underside of the car. then loosen the bolt on the ujoint for the steering wheel. that's only 5 bolts and would allow the rack to move a little bit if you need extra room. and you'd avoid the more annoying items, you wouldn't have to remove the fluid lines, loose fluid, bleed the system or remove the tie rod end and screw with the aligntment. it's worth a shot. if you remove the tie rods and find you can't complete the job, it's not that hard to remove the rack and you didn't really do any extra work trying since the tie rod end has to come off anyway. let us know what you find out. i will post my results here as well, though i suspect it'll be a few months before i get to mine as it's not leaking that bad and i probably won't be driving that one much.

From searching i came up with this at another site: e-brake cable, backing plate, rotor and caliper is that to say you can do the swap without exchanging the hubs? if it's just a matter of swapping drums for disc's that sounds much easier than swapping the entire hub like i originally thought was the case? i was under the impression i'd need the entire hub for the ebrake drum set-up of the discs?

hey nip, why does the leak condemn the rack? that seal isn't replaceable? i have one too that leaks out of the boot some.

is there not a seal inside that boot that can be replaced? remove the inner tie rod and shouldn't there be a seal in there? don't have my FSM's with me.

see below...

pay via credit card and you hvae options to contest the charges later at least. i'm VERY confused you it drove fine to the shop but then the trans was shot? something isn't right about the way i'm reading this. were there any signs at all of trans problems before you stopped there?

2.5's do have piston slap issues. it's not really serviceable, you have to live with it essentially. i mean it is, but requires tearing the engine down. the good thing is that it shouldn't get worse and won't cause any problems. you might want to search the new generation forum for "piston slap" and see what results come up. the descriptions in other threads might help you pinpoint if this is piston slap or not.