idosubaru

10w30 - owners manual should collaberate what we're all saying as well.

nah, the parts aren't that expensive and they're all "right there" behind the timing belt, so shouldn't cost that much more. most shops replace timing belts and occassionally the water pump with it, that's it. so if that sounds good to you, roll with it.

at $2,200 you aren't going to get "unrisky" vehicles like a new car. but...the impreza you speak of is about as close as you can get. very reliable vehicle for that price range. if there are no records, it will need timing belts, water pump, thermostat, basic tune up. that's the case with any vehicle of this age and mileage, not impreza specific. that 2.2 is solid, i made sure my wife's car had it. the car-fax will likely show all sorts of flags...ten pages of red, bold letters exclaiming the reconstruction, don't let that scare you. have a mechanic try to figure out what kind of accident it was in and how bad it was. are the air bags functioning properly? reconstructed title isn't bad, but nice to have it checked.

should be higher than that, like he just mentioned. was the car warm or cold when you tested it - it should be warm. remove all the spark plugs and prop open the throttle plate when testing - this will give you low readings if you don't. were those things done? i wouldn't suspect thsoe things to keep it down that much, but who knows. is your battery strong and firing the motor up without problems? a slow firing battery will reduce the readings as well because the psi measurements are based on a certain engine speed, if you're not reaching that speed due to a weak battery...readings will also suffer. if the motor was blown, i wouldn't expect the same readings all the way around like that...50 on them all, very odd to not have some difference across cylinders. i'd suspect the gauge to be clogged with oil or something.

there's no way to tell. we don't know what kind of driving you do, if you're letting it warm up before driving, how many miles, AWD or FWD, what kind of condition it's in, are you heavy foot or drive like grandma....there's too many variables to say "this car gets X gas mileage". 20 mpg is low, but expected if you're doing alot of city driving, using the gas and brake pedal alot, and letting the car warm up on cold days.

first - what year? if it's your 1996 EJ22, then it's non-interference so the answers diff. for an inteference EJ22 (1997 and newer) i'd say replace tensioners (or bearings/grease) and water pump. but if yours is the 1996 listed in your profile then it's a non-interference engine and you could put those off. you risk some reliability since it's not that abnormal for a water pump or tensioner to fail between 120,000 - 180,000 (your next change). i personally replace these items (water pump and tensioners) every other timing belt change on 60,000 mile belts. personal preference there though, since there's no way to garauntee when they will or will not fail. if the small change of a belt breaking or pump failing isn't a big deal, then just replace the belt and don't worry about the tensioners and water pump. if someone is driving that would never notice a car overheating...i'd like to replace the pump for that reason as well so the motor doesn't get toasted. cam seals, oil pump seals, thermostat while you're in there for sure.

i wouldn't do either. if you're spending that kind of money, get a low mileage tested used unit with a warranty. subaru transmissions are resilient and have very few issues, most of which are resolved with proper care - don't overheat them and change the fluid. people are so anal about engine oil and never change their trans fluids/oil, that trips me out. go used any day. two people have bought JDM engines on the xt6.net group this year (i am one of them). both had bad headgaskets. i know that's engines and not trans and plenty of people on here are driving good JDM motors right now. but these "low mileage gems" can easily burn you and the "warranty" consisted of them offering me a headgasket set which i never received either. i'll probably avoid the JDM route myself, but you can get a good unit from them, plenty of others have. go used is my vote.

and don't drive in it with busted CV boots - your axles may make ALOT of noise very quickly.

you can replace the piston without splitting the block. do a search on this forum for instructions on how it's done. pull wrist pin, then rotate crank until the rod pushes the piston out far enough to remove it....or just thread a bolt in the hole created by the valve!!!! and yank it out...that's sort of a joke, but that damage could help in removal once the pin is out.

im guessing you have a cracked block or bad heads. the initial overheat probably cracked the block or heads. the more it was driven hot(which i would suspect if it was out of town, away from nowhere), the more likely this becomes. if it's loosing coolant, coming out the tailpipe at start up, then it could be the block or heads. often the heads are not pressure tested, only milled, checked for flatness and possibly a valve job. it's an expense that is rarely needed, but if it's skipped and you miss a bad head you end up in a bad situation. is it loosing coolant? that would indicate to me it's what i just mentioned. if it's not loosing coolant i'd suspect the system isn't working properly.

first - did the same one warp both times? yes, sticking calipers often cause warped rotors - either the parking brake mechanism sticks (on older soobs where the e-brake is up front) or the caliper itself sticks, which is most likely on your newer generation. if it's isolated to one side and you'd rather not replace both, you are fine to replace just one. the pads/calipers seat to the rotor, they don't care nor does the brake system have any way of "knowing" that one rotor is a millimeter thicker than the other. the pads/calipers will seat accordingly. also - what rotors did you use, cheap-o aftermarket rotors may be lower quality and easier to warp as well, i've seen them warped out of the box. i would guess replacing the boot and greasing it should prevent future problems.

4x4 manual trans, wagon. picking this car up for a friend. what transmission will this thing have, will it be PT4WD or FT4WD? it'll be SPFI right? how are these things size-wise anyway? are they small or have decent room for the drivers and passengers seats? are they as cramped as an XT6?

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).