idosubaru

This will be a dedicated road trip vehicle, built for gas mileage. It was going to be an XT, but I changed my mind. Since I have two AWD soobs that I can drive at any time, this one can be a summer only FWD vehicle. I have a 1998 Legacy GT sedan and I'll be installing a FWD transmission in it. Which FWD manual trans would be best for gas mileage in the EJ series vehicles, or does it matter? Is 1995 the latest FWD transmissions subaru offered? What kind of RPM's do these FWD trans pull at say 75 mph? Mine is currently AWD.

you have it exactly right - break that wire and you are "locked". un-break it and youre back to stock configuration with the TCU in control. if you want a light, you'll have to run a power and ground wire to get a light to come on when in the "locked" position. that is what i did. in the "locked" position, the circuit is broken and an indicator light comes on, and for that light you'll need power and ground obviously. but you can do whatever you want...wire a light, alarm, buzzer, radio, horn, siren, timer, computer...whatever you want to come on whenever you want, when it's "locked" or "unlocked", that is all entirely up to you and is not directly related to this mod at all.

i've heard of folks doing this before without damage. would they plan some kind of fail-safe to save the transmission for mistakes like this? an auto tranny stuck in 1st sounds bad for sure. do you mean the shifter is physically stuck? does it move at all?

even if it wasn't a headgasket, all that overheating on a 20 year old headgasket won't do it any favors. i wouldn't pay much for it.

the belts don't usually "slip" on their own, something likely caused it. the tensioners should be checked, the pulley bearings, the springs and make sure everything turns smoothly. line it up and turn it by hand a few times to verify everything is turning smoothly.

i actually plugged the old broken one back in and showed him how to replace it once i mail him a new one. so....i guess it may possibly be working now, i drove the car with the sensor completely removed. maybe it'll actually work with the broken sensor in place? we'll see. if the solenoid/vaccuum line isn't the problem i'll be back! thanks dudes!

yes, all the rear stuff will carry over, basically the entire rear end. the bolt holes may or may not be in place for the rear cross member and center carrier assembly of the driveshaft but they are easily drilled and tapped if necessary. mr. radon documented converting a FWD XT6 into AWD over at xt6.net, might want to check his thread out. if you're not a member, give me a heads up and i'll make sure you join smoothly.

gah! well i broke the solenoid by the thermostat (purge control solenoid i believe) and pulled it out, which required removing two vacuum lines that just sit there sucking wind..and the engine idles but it's rough. could this be the cause? thanks for the offer connie, that's great. he's 3 hours away so if i have to go back down there i'll likely want to take that dash piece with me just in case...i'll keep it in mind if there's no vaccuum issue.

picked up a loyale for a buddy, gave it to him today but have a quirk. no matter what button is pushed, air only comes out the vents. not a huge issue, except that defroster is almost a necessity for safety reasons. anyone help me out on where to look or what part may be to blame for that? "the dash must come out" is not what i'm hoping to hear! 1992 Loyale PT4WD

you'll get lots of oppinions here from people that have never done and will never need this modification. don't do it if you don't need it and don't understand the harm it can caues if you use it improperly. that's the disclaimer. if you want an off-road, snow driving machine - just read my responses over at xt6.net, we have all the info including the exact pin-out you need over there. if you want to read all of the oppinions on the matter, search here, it gets debated and argued all the time. for specifics, return to your post at xt6.net. here's a link to the thread with a picture of the pin-out you need, the one wire you need on an XT6 auto AWD trans: http://www.xt6.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1562&start=15

no need to worry about it.

i'd suggest starting with $600 as a base for a timing belt change. someone just this week had a timing belt installed for $275, but we'll shoot high for $600. add in the costs of the water pump and tensioner pulleys on top of that, price them online with the crank and cam seals and see what the $600 timing belt plus parts comes out to. compare that to the $1,400. they may not have included all the same parts in the first quote. similar to the old bait and switch marketing tactic.

dealers do "belt only" jobs as well, so make sure you're getting what you want no matter where the service is getting done. do not assume dealers will do the best in your situation with what you want. when i do someone's timing belt i explain to them that on a 60,000 mile belt it may be okay to replace the water pump and pulleys every other change. then i explain that on a 100,000 mile belt you're asking the water pump and pulleys to make it to 200,000 miles if you don't replace them with the belt. that's more risky than i'd want to personally be, particularly on an interference engine, but the ultimate decision is up to them. i can replace just the belt, only the pulleys that are noisey or feel bad, or replace them all.

they don't now, but the older ones used to and they're nearly identical in many respects to the newer ones. like i said, i've done it to auto's and manuals. manuals, same story, no difference. the transmission has internal bits, center diff on manuals, and rear extension housing on auto's, that don't magically disappear when you run it in FWD. added weight and added losses to the rotating works. if you want good gas mileage, get a FWD manual soob. they are out there, or they can be made to suit, and are capable of 35-45 mpg depending what models/trans you want. playing with your AWD soob to get a 0.04% increase in gas mileage is not the ticket, there's an option out there but you're looking in the wrong place.

thoughts - let me do all of that for far less. i'll do it for half the dealer cost. maryland dealer quoted my cousin $699 for a timing belt change. $1,400 is way high. i did it for her for far less. a timing belt costs about $70, water pump not much more so they're making some serious loot for a couple hours of work. but you also have to make sure you're comparing apples to apples...is that just the water pump and timing belt or does that include any tensioners or timing belt pulleys? that should also include the oil pump seals and checking the oil pump backing plate screws while they're in there, it's right behind the timing belt, which as you can guess must come off to install a new belt! $600 for rear pads and rotors is definitely rediculous. unless you have vibration when braking, you only need the rear pads. yes they'll give you some BS horror story, but there's no way your soob needs new rotors unless something really crazy happened. rear pads are less than a $100 and take about 30 minutes to install...so you do the math, they're making about $1000 per hour. and it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't replace the rotors, but charged you for them since yours are fine. but...even if they did replace them that's still too much. $600 for valve cover gaskets and wires also seems way high. are these the right figures and are you including everything they're including? seems outrageous, but i guess that's why some of the DC area mechanics make 6 figures.

a machine shop will install all three in an entire driveshaft for $100 and that's in an expensive part of the country, so might be able to get it done elsewhere cheap. that's for all 3, cheaper for just one. a driveshaft/driveline shop with lots of off road experience might be better set up, random machine shops may or may not want to mess with it. if you do it yourself, be careful cutting, it's easy to nick the yoke depending what kind of tool you use. and it would be best to talk to any jeep guy or someone that knows how u-joints work, has done some work with them before. there's some trickery in persuading the yoke and end caps to seat properly and get the ujoint feeling nice and smooth when it's done, particularly on a custom install like this. you might be able to find more information in the older generation forum as the older driveshafts are nearly identical in principle, but they fail far more often because they're older and have more miles. so there's more experience there and i know it's been covered before. but....previous poster pretty well covered everything.

is cleaner helps immediately, it'll completely cause problems down the road. the pins need grease, cleaner will wipe it away. you need to remove the caliper and see what's happening. either the pins need greased or the caliper is sticking. caliper rebuild kits can be bought for a couple dollars and rebuilding the calipers is REALLY easy. blow the piston out, clean it all out, replace the only seal in the entire thing...one seal around the piston bore, then the new boot and clip and you're done. calipers are really simple. the most annoying part of the entire job is bleeding the brakes when you're done. or buy a new/used caliper and be on your way. if rebuilding it for your first time, buy a used one and install it and rebuild your old one for practice.

i think the FSM says to pump them up by hand and install them. i've never had great luck getting them fully pumped up, but i just soak them in a bag of oil and pump them by hand while submerged, then install them. use engine assembly lube everywhere...all over the cam and such. at start up you may here some light tapping, oil will flow through at start up and pressurize everything properly. on the EA and ER series engines you can run the oil pump with a drill, or by hand and flow oil through the engine without ever starting it, which is nice, but the EJ series oil pump is integrated with the crank.

i've disabled the AWD and even removed parts of the drivetrain. i've done it due to failing u-joints, rear diffs, or other issues and have driven for extensive periods of time like that, so i've seen what it does and does not do to gas mileage. first of all, disabling AWD does not increase MPG. i've done it on automatics and i've done it on manuals. i've disabled the AWD, i've even removed the driveshaft and rear differential from the vehicle and driven it like that. still no increase in gas mileage even with driveshaft and rear differential removed. like nipper said, why bother or risk component damage and the effort working on or worrying about it for little if any possible gain? now, i've told you the end result on multiple vehicles, both automatic and manuals that i've done this too over the years. i'll let everyone else who's never done it debate if it saves gas or doesn't and all they why's and why not's about it. and like others have said, this gets talked about alot and is easily covered with the search function. what you'll get either by searcing or posting a new thread is lots of oppinions.

you next timing belt won't be until well beyond 200,000 miles, now is the time to replace or at the very least, inspect, every timing belt pulley in there if you plan on keeping the car for while. water pump, oil pump seals and check the oil pump backing plate, and the cam seals. it's a bit of a gamble to expect the original timing pulleys to make 200,000 or 300,000 miles, they loose grease and will eat your timing belt...which on your interference motor will cause major engine damage.

head gasket issues are reported to be addressed some time in 2003, exact date unknown (publicly at least). if that concerns you at all, go with '04. if you think about purchasing a 2003 or earlier, check into the extended subaru warranty, i'm not sure what years it applies to but they warranty the head gasket for some year vehicles to 100,000 miles.

wow! that's the last thing i thought it would be. guess this goes in the for sale section, can't imagine ever needing it.

I thought this seal was an XT6 crank seal, but it's not....or i don't think it is. Subaru OEM part number 806742110 Oil Seal 42x60x9 i looked it up online but it just says "oil seal" it's not a rear main, it looks to be about the size of an EA82 crank seal, but looks a tad bigger unless this one i just removed shrank?

you also say it won't let you put it into "drive"...but you can put it in other gears? or the shifter doesn't move at all? if the shifter moves, but takes awhile to actually engage you need to check your fluid level immediately. if that's not the problem then your internal oil pump seals may be leaking. if you can't move the shifter at all...then read what's already been suggested.

1992 Loyale SPFI PT4WD, EA82 while doing a timing belt job for a friend of mine i broke the cylinder off the end of that sensor behind the thermostat housing. is that the AAV or canister purge solenoid? i have to wait for a crank seal to be ordered tomorrow so i can't test drive it until i get the timing belts back on. what is this and will the car drive until i get another? i searched but since the database won't support three letter searches (AAV) it's hard to find much.