idosubaru

good point john. i posted pictures of what happened to myxphalyx (member here), his RX rear wheels both collapsed inwards due to rusted out rear crossmember. the rear wheels collapsed in to the point they were wedged against the inside of the car. i would check those rear suspension areas, indeed i have been more discerning about that since his incident. scarry that he had just drove it an hour and a half on the interstate.

there's a single blue wire that's not part of the wiring harness (because it's part of the power steering recall) that bolts to the back of the power steering pump. looking from the drivers side of the engine bay you can see the back of the pump. this wire is either connected to the negative terminal at the 5 oclock position or the stud at 3 oclock. both of these positions have other wires connected to them, but this single wire will be exposed and running along the length of the bottom edge of the windshield, not covered or hidden in the harness. anyone with an XT6 want to help me out here? all it requires is looking under your hood.

dude that interior looks awesome. having nice interior is one of the hardest things about an older vehicle.

the cam o-rings don't come off for a timing belt change. if the cam seals, crank seal or cam oring areas appear wet, then it's a good idea to replace them. not entirely necessary, but i always do. if you don't, you're expecting them not to start leaking anytime during the next 100,000 miles.

i would guess that eventually you will have to do what you just said, remove and replace. i tried sealing one up a hundred different ways and it never worked. liquid sealant, black sealant...a dozen different kinds, inside and out and it wouldn't work. you can try some of those methods first.

might want to post in the "historic" forum, since this is an EA71. don't know if that will help at all, but those guys know the older stuff.

that's complete BS on 1.5 quarts low starving the engine.

that should be a fantastic vehicle if what they are saying is true.

?!??!? that's bizarre, that aint normal!

there's no proof, but i would guess that it's more likely they did something wrong than it randomly seized or lost oil for no reason. where was the oil changed last? did you check oil level or where the loss of oil was occurring? i would have wanted that checked before taking it in. was it making noises at all before it seized? any oil spots in the driveway/garage? any smoke coming from the engine prior to seizing? basically...any signs of oil loss before this happened? if it ran out of oil there's 3 or 4 quarts of oil to be found and that doesn't hide very easily. if they did the original repair, i would not trust their diagnosis of the failure. of course they're going to say the oil is low, anything else could point to them being at fault. low oil would be your fault or no fault...so naturally they'll point to that as the cause. it is likely they've cleaned up any possible clue as to what really happened. if you trust them then i guess you'll have to ignore my negative viewpoint, but far more people that i know get hosed than get treated well. and it is highly ironic that just shortly after a major engine overhaul it looses oil and seizes a cam...the chances of that happening right after this major engine tear down and not being related to the tear down...really, really small in my oppninion. the only one i've ever seen did not break a belt and did not skip timing so there was no piston/valve damage. in this case, replacing the cam should bring the engine back to operational. not ideal, but neither is your situation.

LF has the wrong hub in it, what does that mean? good luck will!

i would replace the entire axle with an MWE unit or Subaru axle. i wouldn't replace both without reason. they do not tend to go at the same time. typically the one closest to the exhaust will break long before the other side for the inner boots (closest to the exhaust). this applies to the fronts and rears. the front outers break often due to the large range of motion for steering. the only benefit is if the mechanic is going to give you a substantial break for doing both at the same time. but that is rarely the case from what i've seen. they'll try to make it look like a "savings" but it rarely is. again, this can only be determined by your mechanic and how he's willing to work with you. other than lifting the car there's no savings in time for the mechanic to replace both axles at the same time. if you really are concerned about it, look at the boots on the "good" side and see if there's any cracking beginning. if you can see significant cracking in the boot...but it's not cracked all the way through yet, then consider replacing both.

EA82's sound way trickier than an XT6. an XT6 you only need to remove the lower 2 strut mount bolts to change an axle. so with the wheel off that's only three bolts/nut - axle nut and two lower strut mount bolts to replace a CV. EA82's have that little room/freedom of movement or is it too cluttered in there?

is it at all speeds? 5mph in a parking lot or cruising?

have you posted about the vibration problems on here? is it at all speeds, where do you feel it, is there any noise associated with it? i would remove the driveshaft and inspect it. a loose ujoint is typically noticeable on the car easily enough, but a seized joint can be nearly impossible to tell without actually removing or disconnecting it, but is equally as bad. have you tried rotating the tires to see if the vibration "moves" say front to back?

attack one code at a time. start with the most likely and move on, often others are incidental and won't come back. i would also concentrate on the CTS issue first. you replaced the CTS, when? have the codes reset now and see which ones come back.

can you describe the noise more? is it always there while you're moving? does it change with speed? how long has it been doing it and has it gotten any worse over time? rotating your tires - back to front and front to back will tell you if it's tire related. the noise would then be up front. if it was brakes, the noise should go away when you apply the brakes. start rolling and when you hear the noise gently press the brakes just enough to engage them, but not enough to stop the car anytime soon. if the noise goes away, then it's your brake pads or caliper slides needing regreased. rear diff should be more a a grinding than high pitched, but maybe it has a bad bearing? rear driveshaft should have associated vibrations with it, so that shouldn't be it.

if it's not torn all the way around then it probably hasn't been like that for long. if there's no clicking with the steering wheel turned at full lock then the joints might be okay. a boot could save it. unless you have a good honest mechanic willing to save you a buck, it'll cost about the same to just install a new axle versus replacing the boot alone. so it's easier typically to replace the entire axle and costs about the same. axle replacement is probably the best bet for you. axle replacement usually runs $150 - $250 depending on your mechanic/local rates. i would price out a Subaru axle or buy from MWE in colorado, they are superior than off the shelf rebuilt axles at the auto parts stores. figure roughly $350 labor plus parts costs. price parts yourself online at autozone, advanced, Subaru online parts. $450 - $600 is my off the top of my head guess, but it varies depending on your mechanic and what parts you use. i'm not sure what range of springs will work. you could look up WRX struts on http://www.thepartsbin.com or autozone and see if the part numbers for the 04 and 06 are the same in the rear. if so you're golden. if not, you'll have to look into it further. i know the lug spacing on the hubs changed around 2005, so there's a chance other suspension changes were made as well.

axles are really easy to replace, the only hard part is the axle nut. they can be annoying to remove if you don't have air tools or a 3/4" socket set for them. i busted 3 1/2" sockets and even a breaker bar before finally upgrading to a 3/4" set, now it's easy. it's not that many bolts at all to do it.

awesome, got it!

awesome, hopefullly you nailed your problem. someone on xt6.net disassembled and cleaned his TPS with excellent results. he may have posted it here as well, i don't recall. the XT6 FSM TPS testing values are way, way off. they're not even close, it's impossible to adjust any TPS to the FSM spec's for an XT6. the TPS on the EA82 is completely different, but i would make sure the EA82 FSM values are correct.

you've got nothing to loose by calling the previous owner. car-fax is a tool, i wouldn't depend on it, but i wouldn't avoid it either. a clean car-fax by no means indicates you're getting a perfect car. but if it's previously been in an accident or something that's certainly good to know. i would never consider car-fax as something to rely on in terms of verifying a "good" car, but it's helpful in weeding out bad ones.

relubed the sliding parts, i consider that significant part of doing the job right. they are typically very dry when i pull them. i have rebuilt some XT6 calipers in the past, but not my current DD yet.

why can't you use your existing crank pulley to time the engine? i assume you have the correct pulley on the engine right? at most you'd need the timing marks to time off of, that should'nt be hard to come up with. post in the parts wanted forum maybe? i don't think XT6 and XT pulleys are interchangeable. and if they were i don't know that the timing mark would be the same. of course you could compare them and see.

i had this problem on a somewhat similar engine, the EA82 derived ER27. the engine ran great and had no issues other than oil consumption and smoking when the leaking oil hit the exhaust. that was really annoying. i did as you mentioned, tightened the leaky bolts, then tried tightening them some more and could not get the oil to stop leaking. it is certainly driveable, the smoking exhaust hitting oil being the most annoying aspect. keep oil in it and it should run fine.