idosubaru

i saw some other threads that were jacked up, i think there are some "issues" today. you have "books", are they factory service manuals? those are the best if you're doing this serious of a job. they are a tiny percetage of the cost of an engine rebuild and you should get them. haynes, chiltons, etc aren't suitable alternative for a first timer doing engine work of this sort. get some pistons from ramperformance if you have a few hundred dollars to spend. they have lightweight pistons and can increase your compression ratio as well. on that note, don't use all of your discretionary funds on a motor rebuild. lots of people start and don't finish projects (i've bought alot of them!), don't set yourself back like that. looks like you're on the right track by rebuilding an engine that's not in your car, so stick with that philosophy and keep yourself from getting stuck. if the engine you have it good you might be well served to leave the short block in tact. there's not much "power" to be gained by playing with the short block. depends on your own situation, $, time and desire but a tiny percentage of available power might not be worth the time and money involved in addressing the things shawn mentioned...crank, mains, rod bearings, rods, pistons, piston rings...etc.

no, it's matter of oppinion and personal preference. i never pull the motor unless it has to come out for something else - replace trans or clutch too. here's what i recommend to mitigate this stupid argument - if you have air tools then do it in the car, it's really easy. if you have hand tools then maybe pulling it is the way to go. either way it can definitely be done in the car without much hassle. it is super nice to have the engine out of the car to work on but it also takes alot of time and effort to get it out and back in. a clutch is really easy to replace. swap some components - flywheel, cluch, throw out bearing, pilot bearing and some new clips and you're done. that stuff is all in the same place, all sitting there together. that can be done in 30 minutes. head gaskets are an entirely different level of complication, requires disassembling the entire front of the engine - all the belts, timing belts, then on to the valve covers, heads, intake manifold, exhaust, cams, milling the heads, cleaning parts, checking valve clearances, replacing seals and gaskets, having the heads checked/machined...they're totally different jobs in terms of time.

good point THE DUDE, that's a good thing to look up too, there are a good many users that have had success with Subaru replacing the headgaskets. and the job would run a minimum of $1,000 typically closer to the $1,500 for a complete job....clutch and other items while it's out. although the local dealer here charges $1,500 just for the headgaskets alone...that doesn't even include a new timing belt/water pump.

well i'm an engineer too, aerospace at nasa, i'm no stranger to numbers or subaru's. it is a good idea to convey in percentage terms, i think that helps people understand more than "some". but to suggest a %5 window seems overly tight, how about 9-16? ha ha. i.e. dodge neon's, i've replaced those as well.

ha ha, that's funny. if you can pull the motors yourself you can probably slap on the new headgaskets yourself can't you? with new headgaskets that motor rocks, you'd be golden.

search the forum here, there are TONS of threads, information and a webiste documenting the entire affair. as a matter of fact right now DONT'T TOUCH ANYTHING. scroll down and look at the bottom left of this webpage, you'll see a list of similar threads, many of them listing "headgasket" in the title that will help. the search function will give you more. as a matter of fact - all five have nearly an identical title to your postm ,there's lots more once you start hitting the search button too. some time reading and searching will be well spent.

dude that sucks. fluid change won't help his TB at all? loose connection i'm sure is a long shot? what a PITA this has been for you, hang in there.

yes. rarely, hubs are the last thing to remove, if i remove them at all. i'd guess it's more of an only child thing than a maryland thing!!!

can you edit your post to EJ25 instead of EJ22? he mentions a percent, but he's never said where that number comes from either. that percentage is his oppinion as far as i know. another point to someone buying a used subaru - who is more likely to sell or trade in a vehicle - someone with a perfectly good running EJ25 or someone with headgasket issues? so...whatever the percentages are, i'd guess the percent of ones on the market for sale with issues are higher than those being driven. to the original poster - again...this forum is one of our best resources, read through the headgasket issues, read through the handful of people that bought used EJ25's only to find the headgasket was blown...there's actual proof of that, no guesswork, speculation or debate needed. it's all documented right here. read through that stuff...and make your decisions accordingly. if you don't care about a small percentage chance of possible issues, then who cares. for instance - i wouldn't mind driving an EJ25, but i would rather my wife have an EJ22. that small percent doesn't bother me, but i'd rather sway the percentages in favor when choosing her vehicle....and i did, we got a 2.2 for her. they are both excellent motors, but the EJ25 does have more issues than the EJ22, so take that information and use it to make the best decision given your finances, resources, desires for the vehicle and personality.

buy property. excellent investment anyway. then be sure to marry someone who thinks it's funny to have 10 or 12 cars in the yard.

because of 2.5 headgasket problems from 1996-2002 (end date is not exact). some like to debate this, but to avoid debate and questions just type in "headgasket" in the new generation search function on this website, youll see reference to 2.5, EJ25 blowing headgaskets, overheating, etc. i'd avoid that engine. yes, this is a board and people come here with problems and it isn't like all of them do it, but there's no shortage of them either. look through all those "headgasket" threads and note that none of them are EJ22, 2.2 liter engines. the issue is fixable and the "new" style headgaskets fix the problem once addressed, so another option is any 2.5 that has new headgaskets (assuming it was done right with the new Subaru updated head gasket). i can swap engines, replace head gaskets and all that jazz, no big deal. but not everyone can do that, so i suggest making the decisions according to your own situation and desires. i personally would never let a friend pay "top dollar" for any 2.5 in that year range - like i said do a "search" and you'll see why.

thanks for the input.

don't need too. buy cheap car. remove blown headgasket engine. install non-blown headgasket engine. sell car. he had posted questions about his blown headgasket in his car, so i was just linking the two threads together (in case you were wondering why i made that comment).

i wouldn't expect a mechanic to skimp on a couple seals, i'm distrustful of them, but would'nt expect too many to say they replaced a simple seal but don't actually do it. what they're more likely to do is...."hey mr., that one pulley was all bunged up and they cost $200 new so that'll be an extra $300 for parts and labor on that". if you can get it down to svxpert, do it. i do my own work, but i'd much rather have someone i know working on my car if it's at all an option rather than some random guy...even more so in that dreaded part of the country you live in, that place is horrible. and he's a subaru man, he knows his stuff, always better that way too, no surprises. as for how dangerous your leak is, really depends on amount. you just don't want the engine to get low on oil, that will destroy it quickly. take note of how much it's loosing and keep adding it. if it's just dripping and pooling up, that's not necessarily too bad and quite normal on older subaru's. BUT - leaking front seals can dump oil fast, like drain the engine in a matter of seconds, so it's not to be taken lightly either. i'd have it addressed soon if you're not sure.

that's not an action shot, it just has two flat tires. hey wait...dont you have a headgasket to replace first!?!??! i don't know jack about handling ....and i hate to say it since i'm always big on lots o' ground clearance, but won't lowering that wagon help, get some of that weight closer to the ground?

HA! BS! if someone else can do it, I can do it. i'm not up to date on this stuff but the "sealed" units aren't typically automatic transmission fluid related i don't think, i think it's other internal bits - like a manual trans center diff that may be sealed. but again i'm not up to date on the latest and greatest out there and am unsure what you're talking about. but...if they can do it at the dealer, it can be done elsewhere. i stopped in and asked the dealer in atlanta what synthetic fluid they used in their LSD's and they showed me their stash of yellow Penzoil bottles just like you buy in the store. why would you want to know this? it seems like it's on par with asking what brand gasoline the dealer uses.

it's been covered, but 215,000 is high. yes there are plenty that go beyond that and the 2.2 is certainly capable of it...but lots of car owners are not. the years are more likely to kill this motor than the miles anyway...after 15 years often at least one radiator, hose, thermostat, water pump, clamp, radiator cap will have failed or have been replaced. if the car was driven hot....or oil changes not adhered to, or mismatched tires been used, then the engine and trans may not be in as good of condition as they could be. there is no shortage of subaru's with engine or trans failure before 200,000 miles...many on here can post pictures of them. but more often than not it's due to overheating or lack of oil/maintenance. i've been looking for two friends recently and just in the past two days seen dozens of 2.2's with 200,000 - 292,000 miles in good running condition. inspect it good and make your decision accordingly. after you get it home, revel in not having a car payment, enjoy that. a compression test is a good tool if the engine condition concerns you.

there are some late 90's legacy wagons and impreza's sedan's and OBS(except the impreza RS) that have the 2.2 liter engine. i think even up to 2000...2001...2002 maybe some impreza's have the 2.2. i'd go that route myself since they don't have the head gasket issues. no way i'd drop 9,000 on a newer 2.5 unless it was 2003 or newer, but that's just me and i'm a little different than most. up to 1996 the 2.2 is a non-interference engine (like the legacy you speak of). 97 and up 2.2's are interference engines. all 2.5's are interference.

put the car in gear - brakes on and block the tires. socket wrench with pipe or breaker bar - some quick punches with those will get it tight. a rubber hammer on the socket gives you a pseudo-impact wrench. i posted in your other thread as well.

put car in gear, brakes on, block tires for manual trans. on an auto remove rubber plug in the bell housing and stick a socket extension in the bellhousing flexplate, there should be some gaps/holes in the flexplate to wedge a socket extension or a heavy duty screwdrive into. then crank the nuts out of the crank bolt with a 1/2" socket wrench and a long pipe or breaker bar. cast iron bolt, cast iron crank shaft - tighten that joker good.

no chunks, just gunk. it runs, drives and sounds fine so i'm not worried about it.

it's not a consensus item, it is okay (with assumptions like...you did'nt leave the socket hanging from the crank!??!!). just know what you are doing. engines need to be cooled, without any cooling on it, the engine will heat up indefinitely until failure. at 30 seconds running time you're not reaching an internal heating threshold that's not seen under normal circumstances. i don't know that anyone can tell you that....at 4 minutes 32.5465 seconds you'll reach the threshold at which internal cylinder wall or temperature differentials begin to deviate from norm.

check your owners manual. unless the engine has problems, there is nothing to gain by using higher than the recommended octane. i'm not weighing in either way, only stating that your owners manual should say. lots of gas/octane material out there to read to understand this. on older soobs you can you can get a higher horsepower by advancing the distributor and running higher octane gas. running 27 degree advance on an ER27 that comes stock at 20 degrees will gain about 7 horsepower if the dyno numbers are right in my head (you can verify this at xt6.net if you'd like). now.....whether that translates to better mpg, i don't know and whether the newer EJ series vehicles that don't let you do any advancing of the timing mechanically can take advantage of that i don't know either.

+1 for very short duration.

on the XT6 and XT it's like jeff said. you don't even need to reach up there to pull it out, just pull it all out from the engine bay and it comes right out of the cluster since there's nothing holding it in. on installation, run it through the wall and reach up behind and plug it in. i'm not sure how different your EA81 is, but i'd definitely look to see if you can do it this way. yeah, not much room but who cares if it takes 2 minutes why bother removing anything?