idosubaru

wow he dropped the F bomb. FEA-that's Finite Element Analysis for those that are lucky enough to have never had to do it. the point is getting the information out there and letting everyone make their own decision. he's suggesting it, there's nothing wrong with suggesting it and letting people make their own decision. to emphatically declare you must do it one way or the other is short sighted and doesn't serve everyones interest. if you rarely take long trips and don't care to take the risk and don't have the money, then no matter. some people rely heavily on their vehicle for their work or traveling long distances and road trips and don't like to worry about it. and many americans don't want to watch the temperature gauge...or they just don't. in reality $1,500 is not that bad to pay for reliability. someone to spend a couple car payments on an item that will get them another 100,000 miles seems financially reasonable if you've got it. $1,500 really isn't that much money to many people, particularly people that know little about cars and don't want to have to worry about it. and also, people that don't know much about cars basically have the alternative of $20,000++ for a new car. sounds like a logical choice to me.

if you got time, an extra vehicle and it doesn't really matter then by all means pull it and do it right. if you have a manual trans, pull it to check the pilot bearings and throw out bearing and clutch. no point it risking those on such a big job, do them at the same time. i'm not as familiar with the newer ones, but removing an engine takes awhile. i can finish and EA82 or ER27 headgasket job in no time in the car with air tools. pulling the engine would take much longer. pulling and installing an engine takes hours. for those that do it alot it gets quicker but in general it's time consuming. the guy that created a website for the headgasket job recorded his hours spent on each task. he recorded 11 hours for removing engine and checking valve clearance and 6.5 hours for reinstalling. now those are inflatted numbers, he admits he was slow and we know that's a long time. and many of those items you have to disconnect anyway to pull the heads - like exhaust manifold and such. but that's still a significant amount of time, particularly it will be for a first timer as well. in my oppinion on the older ones which i have much more experience with, you can save a ton of time by leaving the engine in the car if you have air tools. without air tools it's alot nicer on your back to get the engine out of the car. i haven't worked both ways on an EJ yet to really know the difference so i can't say it's the same, but for the most part it seems like it is. clearance issues with valve covers and you're golden after that if you leave the engine in. another point to make is that pulling a motor your first time takes quite a while. i've pulled some double digit number of engines and have a pretty good feel for the EA, ER and EJ series stuff. but for the first time it's usually a time consuming process.

a local shop might want to pull the motor to do the job and possibly replace the oil pan much cheaper since the engine is out anyway. worth a shot if price is an issue. oil pans typically don't do much more than seep so even if you left it for later i can't imagine it's that big of a deal. and frankly i think you said you don't have much oil loss between changes? if tha'ts the case much of what looks like an oil leak may be coming from somewhere else and just sticking to the edges of the oil pan? i'd probably trust a dealer more than any random shop, but if you have any good recommended shops or people you know, then i'd look into that. what you want is not the cheapest guy, but the most honest guy you can find, and don't assume dealers meet that requirement.

if the gaskets are leaking then i don't know what choice you have. sounds like about the right price if they're replacing the gaskets, water pump, timing belt, etc. i'd ask them how long the gasket job is warranted if they blew a second time already, what's to say they won't blow again? makes me wonder if they even checked the heads, milled them or anything the first time around. i would bet they gasket slapped it.....pulled the heads and without any checking or milling they installed a new gasket. bad idea. i'd ask them this time if the price includes milling the heads. i think CCR sells "new" engines for under $3000. might want to call and ask them. if you spend $2,500 on this engine...it might be worth an extra thousand for a brand new engine with no issues and a great warranty. pretty sure that oil pan will be much harder to replace than you think. i'm not positive about your exact vehicle, but they usually require unbolting at least hte engine mounts...and i usually do the trans mounts to so as not to stress those. then the front of the engine/trans assembly has to be lifted up to allow clearance for the oil pan to come out. don't be fooled by visuals, what you can't see is that the oil pan has baffles in it and the sump protrudes down into it, so it doesn't just "pull off" like it looks from the outside. it has to be manipulated out and leaving the engine in place doesn't give you the room for that to happen. now...i could be wrong on your specific vehicle, but i'd check before assuming it's easy.

in general that is a nice score for bad weather or off road. but if it's a PT4WD, which i think it is, his rear diff isn't getting any power sent to it. on pavement he'll be in FWD.

for non-turbo engines. turbo's can see dramatic increases with little work. i think that's the difference many people don't understand, at least i didn't know that back in the day.

you should be able to find alot of good information using the search function. the general consensus on power upgrades for an EA82 on here is: "EA82 power upgrades = polishing a turd" i've read that a number of times. if you're looking for power the EA82 is going to seriously disappoint you unless you're used to driving really slow vehicles. there's alot of good things about EA82's, i've owned them, own one and get them for friends, but power is not the motivating factor.

i agree you want to make sure it's not something simple. leaks can be tricky to track down, but it's well worth the effort to avoid a costly repair that was uneccessary. make sure the coolant is full before you start the car and it should be fine to drive. it's cold out, so drive with the heat on high and go easy on it and you should be fine. your temperature gauge will tell you, if it starts drifting up then stop the car immediately. 5 miles shouldnt' be a big deal at all. have some extra coolant with you in case you need to shut the car off, wait for it to cool down, refill and drive again. will be hard to tell if it was replaced i would imagine. you'd have to get in there and do some close inspection and would need to see something obvious to verify. i do not put it past anyone to charge for something that wasn't done, but there's no way to prove it. of the dozens of water pumps i've done, i've never seen any fail, Subaru OEM or aftermarket cheap-o's, but it could happen. it could just be leaking at the gasket like someone else mentioned. if it wasn't cleaned well enough or the gasket was contaminated that could have caused it to start leaking prematurely, in this case you'd only need a new gasket not a water pump.

there are some dinky coolant lines around the manifolds that can spring leaks only at certain speeds, temps, etc. throttle body usually has a coolant hose passing close by to warm it up. check particularly at any clamps, they typically crack there. the intake manifold gasket isn't as hard to replace as it looks when you first look at it.

no need for that test. watch the temperature gauge for high running or fluctuations and the overflow tank after runnning for bubbles or nastiness on the inner side walls. in other words, if it failed that test it would also overheat or fluctuate noticeably in temperature and teh overflow would give it away. and the 2.5 in general can pass that hydrocarbon test even with a bad gasket and in your case the 2.5 in that car leaks externally, not internally. the real issue isn't if the car has it now, but are you prepared to deal with it in the future and willing to take that small risk associated with buying the car now?

by what he's saying it's staying in 3rd and not shifting into 4th. the 4EAT transmission will stay in 3rd until it reaches a certain temperature. i do not know the circuit or sensor location for this function but it may be related to that. i'd probably look at a wiring diagram for your transmission and see where that sensor is, then test the resistance of it per the FSM values. what do you mean by "good color"? how many miles on the trans? when was the fluid changed last? how long ago did it start doing this? any other transmission issues ever? any major engine/trans work done to the vehicle recently? does it have an aftermarket transmission cooler on it?

i guess do it with the car warm so you can blast the heat at your "feet" or hands in this case. start practicing standing on your head inside so you're good on the floorboard when it's cold out.

with what you're doing you're only speaking of rear diffs right? the stub axles on all of those are identical for all EA82 and EA82T's. the stub axles differ on the front differential from EA82 to EA82T.

the cable is straight forward to replace. the best advice i think i can give you isn't spefically instructions, but either take pictures or look very closely at how the cable is attached the pedal assembly. it's very simple and straight forward but it's also easy to go and put the new one on and say "how did that go again?". same with the nuts and rubber boots on the trans side. but really it's a very easy job to do, it's just a little intimidating the first time since it's new. once you're in there you'll be most annoyed if you have to do this outside.

is this a PT4WD push button 4WD trans or something else? what do you mean it's hard to get out? are you moving, in snow, off road, sitting still....

there are thousands of gas mileage threads. you should read through them. use the "search" button and search for "gas mileage" in the topic titles. a few mpg loss for a vehicle that old isn't that abnormal. i'm not saying you can't get a little more, but it might be a needle in a haystack. tune up is a good place to start - plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, PCV valve for starters. another obvious place to start is to check your brakes, mainly have the front caliper pins ever been greased? they should be, can save you some mpg and may prevent premature rotor or caliper failure. at this age, the wheel bearings could use some fresh synthetic grease, but who's going to do that for the sake of gas mileage i don't know.

i'd be interested to see some torque values of bolts that have been run for 30k, 50k, 100k too with good headgaskets. be hard to see those kinds of numbers though.

what engine is this? what are you trying to do with it? i always opt for a full valve job, mill and test the heads. then you know yo'ure golden once you get it back together and won't have to go back in there again. if the block isn't worth all of that too you, then find some used heads.

no

emily - do you have any insight on the failure of a replaced gasket? have you seen any? gah, silly we didn't think to request a response from emily. they would surely know more than anyone, and be able to talk about it, about failures of a replaced EJ25 headgasket.

be interesting to see similar EJ22 pic's since they don't blow headgaskets.

there are vent hoses on the top of 4EAT's, but they are not vacuum hoses and are not meant to connect to anything. try unplugging the shift resistor temporarily- usually on the passengers side strut tower. see what that does (i disconnect them permanently on mine, i like the way they shift better). try inserting the FWD fuse and see how it drives. these are all shots in the dark so to speak, just curious how it acts. might want to check your transmission fluid lines to the radiator. is the radiator original? if there's any blockage in the lines or radiator it could impede fluid flow. another long shot, but who knows if the system was opened up when the engine was removed. has the fluid been changed at all? how many times and how was it done? can you contact the previous owner and ask them?

good point. the one completely blown head gasket i've seen, it was an XT6 not an EJ25, it was driven while overheating, it blew at the exhaust side. the exhaust side of the head would probably heat up the most?

dude that sucks. i can't offer any input on that one. slapping on some new head gaskets and a used head and you'll know pretty quick if the engine is good. headgaskets are easy enough to do that maybe it's worth it to you to try it out? i wouldn't bother splitting the block, i'd hope it's good and if not i'd look for another used one.

well that sucks, but keep your eye out there are good soobs and good people out there and you'll have much better luck with them. good luck with it. if you can expand your search area to a couple hours away that can really open up some options. okay, most people don't drive like that, so that's the difference. but the SPFI and MPFI will get even more than the carb's if you drive like that. the 40-42 mpg i mentioned was normal highway driving at 70mph if mpg sells on you vehicles, you would thoroughly enjoy an MPFI XT driving the way you do. benebob gets mid 30's in his 6 cylinder XT6 AUTOMATIC...driving the way you do. i'd be curious to see how high an MPFI XT would get driving like that, but i don't own one that runs right now.