idosubaru

V5 - actually the rear seats usually aren't too hard to remove, but your family won't know that! with the caveat that you know where the few bolts are of course. the more annoying part is removing trim. but i don't think you have to remove any side trim to get the seats out, so that's a good thing.

EJ25 headgaskets leak? just kidding. replace both. replacing one is a very very bad idea and that's not oppinion speaking, that's experience. you'll be glad you're fixing it and dealing with it, this thing will run forever once you're done if you do it right. can be done with engine in the car. tons of info on this, i'd start reading through all the threads and make your decision based on what others say and your time, tools, personality...etc.

ha ha, i don't care, no appologies needed for me. just a fair warning that their are some hardcore pet lovers. anyway....when you removed the brake light, wasnt' it fastened by a bracket? did you remove the entire bracket/brake light assembly? i agree that the back rest will likely have to come out, though i seem to recall some plastic fasteners that push out easiest from inside the trunk...again not something you dig into often so my memory is vague. someone with an FSM needs to chime in...that should show it. stop by your local subaru dealer if noone here pipe's up. if their nice they'll show the page in the FSM that tells you how to remove it.

yep, they will definitely wreck your timing belt. i actually like having it removed, no worries about it coming off again. no problems here and i won't have any either, it's already been quite a while like that. i could argue it ADDS reliability since it cant happen again. if you were really bent on replacing it, i wouldn't bother until you're in there again for something else.

7 years. HG issues were 1996-2002. once produced you can't expect it to go away. since 2003 they don't have issues and are not "having" HG problems.

i think it's funny, but many like pets more than people or treat their pets like people, so you won't likely get away without commentary on that. did you look in the trunk up under the panel to see if there's anything there holding it in? could you get any of it up, the front, the corners, anything pried up at all to at least tell what was preventing it from coming out?

yes i've seen that ring come off before. remove it and all will be fine. you can cut it with wire snips if it's just hanging there, saves you from pulling the belts back off.

subaru doesnt have any oil pumps? i bought one earlier this year. or are you talking about just the oil pump parts?

owners manual?????

oh yeah, read up on oil pans too, a search might help. they are notorious for leaking soon after installation. if the bolts have ever been "tigthened", you're more prone to have this happen. the bolts if tightened can cause the oil pan mating surface to be concave up at each bolt hole (towards the engine so to speak). they need to be flat, otherwise the gasket won't seal. keep an eye on them when removed.

some patience wiggling should do it. mount it back to the block if that helps steady it. a rubber mallet to the shaft to push it through the oil pump housing may help as well, but go light on it.

risk? what if something jams your timing belt covers into the belt and breaks it? and before you laugh, ive seen that happen but never had any broken "open" belts. do i say the covers are a risk and should be removed to increase reliability? no, just take your pick and move on, the tiny chances you're taking issue with are miniscule.

oil pans suck...they look simple but getting those bolts off is the easy part. after that you won't have clearance to get the pan out. what you don't see is the oil pan has baffles in it and the sump runs through those baffles, making it impossible to remove unless you unbolt the engine mounts, rear trans mounts (unless you want to try and not do that and strain other components)...and lift the entire engine up to gain clearance for the pan baffles to pull through the sump. this is one PITA job to start and then realize how tricky it really is. (that's how i did it the first time)

we don't, we hate the covers! it's nice that yours are friendly and easy to deal with. once you've owned over a dozen you'll realize that often the inserts in the covers strip, or get rusted and seize to the bolt...then they start cracking and falling apart and becoming a complete annoyance. without them the timing belts become a 15 minute job and not "under an hour". and as for the snow...i'm just guessing and have no proof, but i'm guessing most of us are not packing snow up under the front of the car! i drive through alot of snow and off road and have packed it to the point of being stuck but never had any in the front of the engine bay like that. that would suck.

i would also check the clutch adjusment or cables as well (unless it's hydraulic then you cant').

time it off the flywheel (manual trans) or flexplate (auto). under the intake manifold is a rubber plug in the bellhousing where you can see the FW or FP and they have the timing marking on them as well. before you go ripping the covers off though, might want to make sure the markings are clearly visible, rust and scuffing can make them unreadable. on the XT6 the middle cover is the least problematic and there is no rear center cover so it's easy to leave that one (i just use 2 or 3 of the bolts in it, not all). then you can still remove the rigth and left front and rear covers. can't recall the EA82 set up...

that's definitely the first thing to check, only takes a couple minutes. but that's not a fool-proof test, there's another failure mode that doesn't show up by doing that - a seized u-joint. they can seize to the point there is no play at all by hand, even the kind of back and forth play a U joint is supposed to have when not installed in the car. these won't show up by grabbing and shaking. you sometimes can see and tell by looking, but best to remove the shaft and check if you're not sure as they are difficult and possibly impossible in some situations, to spot visually.

nice links nipper. and that's just the tip of the ice berg...i won't start a hijack on the ones that i know about. complaining/common issues forum is an interesting idea, there probably is a good way to manage these kinds of things. on the same note - might want to post that in the site suggestion forum and see what they come up with or see if it's already been discussed (it has).

impact wrench or with a socket wrench and a long pipe or a breaker bar. bolt and crank are iron, you won't strip it. if you meant "how do i hold the engine in place while i do this", is it a manual or automatic transmission? for a manual put it in gear, put e-brake on and chock the wheels as best you can. for an auto remove the bell housing access plug and look for the hole in the flexplate, insert a stout 3/8" extension in the hole to keep the engine from turning over. this has been asked dozens of times as well, so there are plenty of useful threads on here if you run into issues or arent' comfortable with it.

good point, to their credit Subaru has done a better job than i expected them to do (but i'm skeptical of dealers anyway). why is why i recommend continuing to talk to them and search here for others experience resolving this. this isn't really about what Subaru should and shouldn't do. few on here could run a business successfully so it's no surprise that this thread gets side tracked into rants. a dozen years? the EJ25 was only 4 years old when his 2000 was made, that's not very old at all. it is wise to buy an engine that has been around for 5 to 7 years regardless of make or model to ensure issues are resolved in it. your decision making should reflect your sensitivity to this kind of information. subaru has no problem making long lived engines for decades. your short sighted view that one mistake means "buy toyota", isn't logical - the end result would be having one manufacturer in the world...or even none considering all manufacturers make mistakes. Subaru made the EA81, EA82, ER27, EG33, EJ22...and others for decades before the 2.5....and they all easily attain 200,000 miles. and the EJ25 easily makes over 200,000 with the possibility of an undesirable headgasket replacement in there. if one issue runs you away from a brand then you could theoretically not buy anything...because every manufacturer has made mistakes, just hope you don't buy them i guess if you like rolling the dice?

i'm at my parents house right now...they live right by the Hanover Watershed, Longarm lake i believe they call it. probably only a few miles from you. i almost always deal with the Hanover Subaru guys, have you tried talking to them much at all? i only ever had workings with the parts department since i do all my own work, but they were always about 50 times nicer than the dealers around baltimore...and i might be underestimating that. as for the "dont' work for free" comment. tell them they don't need to diagnose it, tell them you know the headgasket is bad and ask what they'll do for you. tell them you'll pay the $79 diagnosis fee if they tell you what they'll do once they test and find out what you already told them, and they're offer is acceptable. might want to read through and search some threads here, lots of people have posted success in having these fixed (but plenty have not either), but might be worth a shot to see if anyone else had it done at your mileage. all manufacturers have "issues" that are known. some electrical, head gaskets (others have these issues), wheel bearings, brake issues, 4WD issues, transmission issues.....it is not uncommon for particular makes, models, engines, chassis or transmissions to have one particular item that fails before the rest. makes sense really. it just so happens yours sucks bad and is expensive, so i understand the annoyance. but all manufacturers are probably aware of their weak points, but there are other considerations when determining how to handle them. and it also just so happens that Subaru's have fewer of these issues than other makes, making them and excellent choice if you like reliability, keep cars a long time and don't want to waste lots of time working on them. but...the caveat is you bought the one model that has the most issues in recent memory - TB (if it's an auto) and HG. "they said they'd provide assistance", well you talked to a shady person. maybe you're lucky, but in my experience people like that are everywhere. he was delegating responsibility (service rep telling you they would provide assistance). you go to the dealer and get pissed at them and his job is done. and he would probably say "$500 towards a new car is assistance" to which you and I would call that what it is "BS". have you tried calling him back and asking about your "assistance"?

agree with GD - the rear struts can and will poke through into the interior of the car. seen that before. i posted a picture earlier this year of a board members RX that rusted out underneath to the point where the rear wheels collapsed in and rested against the inner fender wells. the wheels were actually rubbing against the metal. not cool and definitely a safety concern. of course yours could be benign, inspect it closely and see how far it goes.

there's an EAxx push bar for $50 for sale in the classifieds. yours doesn't have front tow points? the XT6 has tow hooks up front?

or replaced with an incorrect sprocket. sprockets can get damaged, replacement with the wrong one could leave the dot still up front (but the wrong one in the rear) or could mean only the front one is wrong (rear is fine). i don't know if XT6 sprockets are different from EA82, but i do know they will interchange on the crank...there's another possible screw up.

why was it harder to get in on that side? just the axle issues alone? other than that the impreza axle's worked for you just fine? no swapping joints or anything?