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idosubaru

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Everything posted by idosubaru

  1. Thanks, I’ll see if I can look up the difference. Do you know if they’re a lot shorter? Legacy’s look so low but I guess a lot of that is the lift blocks, not just struts. I can probably snag a used one somewhere to experiment.
  2. I need a strut assembly that’s a little shorter than 00-04 outback when not installed. Does any one know of an option that’s maybe 1-2” shorter than an 00-04 outback strut assembly? Are 96-99 outbacks shorter? How do Impreza, Legacy, Forester compare to 00-04 outback?
  3. oil - use thicker oil. Do not run that 0W and I wouldn’t even run 5W. Just keep topping it off and it’ll be fine. is the Subaru oil actually using less or are you getting it changed at Subaru and they’re adding a little over the fill mark? Rotors are pointless to replace on subarus. pads - get Subaru pad clips and grease the pins with high end grease suitable for slide pin bushings, not generic caliper grease. those are the two most important items that cause 75%+ of the failures and issues I see and no one freaking talks about them and jabbers on over benign pad brand EBC stupidity and rotors which barely even matter for daily drivers. pad brand is not noticeable unless you’re racing. I tow waaay over the tow limits and various brake pad brands make zero diffenrce for average daily driver use and heavy towing in mountains on 6% highway grades. Get Subaru pad kits with new pad clips. They’re excellent quality and the clips are superior than most others which tend to rust. The Subaru ones don’t. GD uses Bosch Quietcast (you can check hes mentioned it before) in his shop and he’d have probably the best data driven choices in that regard on this forum. I use them from time to time and the pads are fine. He’s in Oregon and doesn’t have rust concerns. but they’re pad clips rust much quicker than OEM so if you’re in rust prone areas I’d go with Subaru pad kits or use Subaru clips with whatever pads you want. I’ve seen this with multiple pad clip brands and haven’t narrowed down any that stave off rust like OEM Subaru ones.
  4. Yeah those heat coins are not installed by Subaru or from the factory. That means a shop worked on it and installed it as part of their warranty. They won’t cover they’re specified warranty if you overheat it. ive only ever seen them installed on engines that have gone to a machine shop. I’ve never seen a mechanic install one. Makes sense that yards would but I’ve never gotten a yard engine with one on it.
  5. The throttle body coolant lines aren’t needed. Technically they’re needed for warning the throttle body in cold weather to prevent icing. I removed them while living in areas that get down to 0 degrees and “humid” without issues. The large vacuum line is for brakes. The smaller ones are for cruise control, and 4WD diff lock engagement of MTs. If you want to ditch those then you’ll have to remove those systems or find alternate operational methods. The tiny U shaped coolant like up front behind the alt, I’m unsure but it’s integrated into the block and out of the way, unseen, so I’d just leave it.
  6. Subaru parts only. Bare minimum relate that tensioner because it’s failed and the lower toothed pulley, that’s the most prone failure item by a long shot and they’re only $35 each. I’d just replace it all - al pulleys, tensioner and belt and water pump with OEM.
  7. 1996-1998 EJ22 - basically all parts are the same and interchangeable. If it has dual port exhaust then it's a 1995 or earlier. There could be two different plug wires and two different timing tensioners but that doesn't matter since that's best identified by looking and matching anyway. basically everything else is the same or interchangeable.
  8. With the radiator cap off a running (and maybe hot/warm) engine, the coolant can push out due to heat expansion or water pump activity. You pulled the cap after driving it? Didn’t it spray everywhere? And yes coolant can move on a warm engine. So depending what you mean, that is hard to tell if it’s normal or a problem. internal breaches can be very small and intermittent. I’ve seen a few EZs that only exhibit symptoms under loads (hills, AC, ambient temps over 85) and they’d drive asymptomatically for months over the winter until outside temps hot higher. that was funny to me considering the engine temps are so high and controlled, I would not have guessed ambient temps could impact internal headgaskets area that way.
  9. I can’t tell what the photos of cyl 5 show? You probably know this but that engine has a warranty heat marker on it. It looks like it’s on the block so that block maybe has already been worked on before?
  10. I’ve gone way beyond limits on an EJ engine and it was fine. ferp just described shaving enough to require intake spacers to line up the manifold. That’s almost certainly more than 2 thou past limits. I wouldn’t even sweat 2 thou but I haven’t done it so.....???
  11. The exhaust note description is odd to me. I would make sure what you’re feeling and describing are definitely transmission issues. I’ve seen people get confused between what is an engine issue or transmission issue and engine issues can cause erratic shifting. I’ve had a number of people over the years who describe that they have a transmission issue and I end up repairing an engine issue. Under covers. No. They are routinely missing with age, I’m usually surprised to get a 10+ year old Subaru that still has them.
  12. headgaskets. maybe you'll get lucky if you keep diagnosing but I wouldn't bet on it.
  13. ATF related stuff is all drivers side and underneath the radiator, so it's unlikely. But I'd definitely be tracing those lines to make sure, who knows if there was additional issue/damage/attention to areas other than the primary impact. I've worked on, looked at, and rebuilt numerous totaled Subaru's and while the major impact is in one area, it's never a surprise to see weird additional minor things elsewhere on the vehicle from the incident itself or later attempts to repair, remove/transport vehicle on tow vehicles, storage, borrowing parts, vandalism, etc. The torque converter is a good item to look into - they're failure modes aren't well known and tricky to diagnose sometimes. Are there any electro-mechanical issues like whirring or whining that aren't related to just RPM fluctuations?
  14. Gas analyzer will confirm it. Chemical block test sometimes works but sometimes gives false negatives (says it’s fine but it’s bad) drive it until it gets worse or you notice Coolant loss. It’ll get worse and be obvious then. Should take a few weeks or months. its old, they fail, but they’re also super easy to replace. head bolts are all external and overall that’s a tiny engine Super easy to install new gaskets
  15. Serpentine pulley bearings - replace every 60k. $10 each for two of them and takes 30 minutes. If it’s been that long, replace them. Standard 6203 bearings available anywhere, I order Japanese bearings from amazon. AC line is the 50 cent oring that fails where the line bolts to the compressor. 12 minutes to repair it. I wrote an article about it years ago and now it’s all over the internet. Very common 01-04 Subaru H6 item: I’m surprised you didn’t mention valve cover or oil cooler gaskets at this age. Routine maintenance by 200k and/or enough age.
  16. when replaced are the pins sticking or freely working perfectly? who is installing them and what kind of pin grease is being used? If they’re aftermarket calipers and this thing sees winter road chemicals they could be rusting up. id install a used set of Subaru calipers from a rust free state with Sil Glide or other high quality pin grease, not generic permatex, etc. if the caliper absolutely checks golden and is fine - then replace the brake line with one from Subaru. ive seen other manufacturers lines fail internally like this but not Subarus, that’s rare. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lines were replaced previously and are lower grade aftermarket. on ones that fail you can tell by waiting until it is problematic, jacking the wheel up - it’s locked/hard to turn. Very briefly crack the brake line hold down bolt and it release the fluid pressure (which will be on the caliper side) and it is immediately freed up and the wheel now spins fine (ignoring high rust spots or other high spots on the rotor). Press brake pedal again and repeat - wheel locks, won’t unlock when you let off the pedal, crack line and it frees immediately. That’s how you diagnose it quickly. or generic grease is being used on the pins - that swells the pin bushing and the caliper hangs. It can be intermittent at first as the bushing offers resistance and nkt a hard stop yet.
  17. Which side - drivers or passengers? Follow all transmission lines from start to finish and ensure none are compressed, twisted, kinked around a bend, or otherwise compromised. Generic hoses that aren't molded for OEM applications routinely kink. They're predominantly centered under the radiator and drivers side fender area. If they were busticated during the accident and puked fluid the transmission may have been compromised depending what transpired during and after the accident. did they try to limp it home, drive it up on the truck...with leaking ATF lines...etc.
  18. Another option may be to disconnect the connector and plug in a used Or cheap switch, without actually removing the old/installing another. Just disconnect and plug in. plug it in and in like 3 minutes you can tell if that resolves the issue.
  19. What he says is still true here as well - Many shops lean heavily mechanical, don’t regularly test circuits and and are likely to guess before test. A shop/mechanic adept at electrical testing would be ideal in your case unless it’s real obvious the switch or something obvious is the cause.
  20. Yep, they’ll likely never hit those high water marks again. But if you avoid the low percentage headgaskets of the EZ, you’ll have a close second with no timing belt maintenance. Driving 120,000 miles without ever thinking about maintenance except those easy (less than 30 minutes) pulley bearings and air filter and oil is pretty cool. I have two daily drivers in my driveway - 265k and 205k and it’s pretty cool never thinking about them. I’m like “oh shoot do I need to do anything on them!?”
  21. Is 2011 still the EAT trans, that’s not a CVT right? 2011 is close to the introduction of CVT. 1. Any check engine or flashing transmission lights? 2. Check for any outstanding recalls or TSBs for the trans shifting. 3. Check the transmission pan and make sure it’s not dented. There’s very little clearance between the pan and internal uptake inlet. 4. has the car ever been wrecked? 5. This is a long shot and possible waste but if you can DIY it’s at least simple and not too $$$ relative to a shop or trans swap: change the trans fluid. If it’s a 4EAT try some amsoil.
  22. Rather than remove it, can you just disconnect the wire to the switch? If the lights go out when you do that then this may help diagnosis. And then someone/mechanic could test the switch operation with a digital multimeter at that disconnected wire. Just stick the probe(s) in the connector and see if the switch turns on and off properly or has erroneous readings.
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