idosubaru

post in the parts wanted section too, occassionally FSM's are put up for sale on the usmb as well.

actually....i still think i'd look into the distributor and CAS. that's the one item that i've had problems with twice that were very hard to track down. tested good, car acted very strange. after hours of testing, swapping parts and following the FSM, it finally started after swapping in another distributor. had that happen twice. i know you can't swap, but maybe you could take it apart and clean up the CAS and internals.

AH! that's crazy. so you ruled out the wiring harness completely it sounds like? too bad you don't have a dropping resistor and or ECU to swap. i have a couple ECU's one or two are turbo's.....you want to post the part number of your ECU?

HA! hey, my house is 40 minutes from you, watch out!i'd stick with the NGK's as well. used platinums once and nothing drastic happened either way. i like torque master the best...no maintenance plugs. but they're expensive as monkey balls and don't offer anything except they never need to be changed or gapped (there is no gap). i think you said it best: the stock NGK's held up well. you did mention before that the car has low miles and likely sat for quite some time, so they probably are original.

as far as daily drivers that i owned for awhile: first XT donated due to overheating first XT6 lost due to an engine fire. i was in the laundry place during college in downtown atlanta. someone runs in hysterical that a car is on fire in the parking lot. i walk to the window and look out and see my XT6 up in flames. i stood there, laughed, realized i couldn't do a dang thing and walked back to removing my laundry. someone asked if it was my car and i said "yep" and i kept unloading and folding my clothes. everyone in there was frozen, looking at me with squinting eyes, either expecting or hoping for more reaction out of me. second XT6 - accident third XT6 - at 220,000 fire wood on the freeway ripped my entire exhaust off (i mean all of it but the header flange) and i believe punctured a hole somewhere in the oil supply as the motor seized a day or two later. as it sat pending warmer weather and a decision on it's fate - i was playing in the snow with another soob and ran into the drivers side door/fender. too much rust and body damage so it got parted and scrapped. Others: parted out a few some to the scrap yard due to moving and couldn't get rid of them or part them quick enough sold some

i think the emergency brake is on the front just like in an XT6. if this is the case i'd suspect the e-brake to be sticky since both are hot. i find it unlikely or very uncanny that both front calipers would start sticking at the same time with nothing in common other than age. grabbing the e-brake lever on the caliper and moving it back and forth a few times will free a sticking e-brake, a very nice thing to know since it's an easy fix in a parking lot somewhere. on an XT6 i'm almost positive this can even be done without removing the wheel. they are super easy to rebuild. new oring around the piston and a new boot with circlip and you're done. if you haven't done one before i recommend doing them one at a time, that way you can see how the boot and circlip is installed on the second one while you reassembled the first. it's very straight forward, but nice to see exactly how it goes together if you haven't done it before. and of course grease the e-brake mechanism and the slides.

since he sent me an email and asked me to post i'll agree with what's been said. get the used transmission and hold on to it until problems return. $250 is a good deal and low mileage as well, and i'd be surprised if it doesn't start slipping again in the future. i've heard that electric signals can get fuzzy and components can work better after battery disconnects. doesn't happen often, but it does. disconnecting the battery and also running new ground wires (on the engine) are typical electrical clean up *tricks*. the exact cause and prevention i don't know. transmissions can be very resilient, i'd be tempted to keep driving your existing trans until the problem comes back. but this is coming from the guy that had to drive in 2nd gear from kentucky to maryland...it took about 16 hours i think. that sucked, but i got home and swapped transmissions so all was good! i knew my trans had issues but it was winter and i didn't feel like dealing with it then. good luck!

EA82 hubs can be found for $25-$35 used, i imagine EA81's shouldn't be too far from that? this gives you a few options. first you can just install a used hub if you don't want to mess with bearings. another option is to install new bearings in the used hub. you can take a couple days and don't have to worry about your car being down. finish the hub on your own time and swap hubs when you're done. no down time is good if you only have one vehicle. pay attention to your axle and axle nut - make sure it's installed properly and the nut is tight. hubs are ruined if the nut backs off. also might want to check your ball joints while the hub is coming off.

perfect excuse to get another soob! a solid soob can be bought for next to nothing, dedicate it for snow driving and nothing else. save your tires, spread out your miles, get a multi-vehicle insurance discount.....all will save you money in the end. and...having an extra vehicle makes it nice if you need to take one down for work or waiting for parts.

i'm not very knowledgable about tires but winter tires are very very soft rubber, not meant for summer driving. it doesn't surprise me at all that the fronts would show it worse/first.

GD is right. tell us how you really feel GD!!!! WOO HOO!

they both appear solid. there aren't any significant issues to speak of for either one. the 2.5's have been around for over a decade now, there are lots of users, many active members and most people that work on engines here have seen them, taken them apart and played with them. many on here have yet to work on a 6 cylinder, take them apart and not many cumulative miles for the 6 cylinder members on this board. based on that, i'm conservative and would stick with the 2.5. only based on that it's *more* proven, not better. there are more samples, more time to verify the integrity and far more cumulative miles for the 2.5. that's all my own oppinion of course i don't think either motor is better than another...lest we start another argument out of this thread! either way it appears you're getting a good motor. the "6 cylinder" isn't unique. this is subaru's 3rd production 6 cylinder. in the late 80's early 90's was the ER27 and in the mid 90's was the EG33. both turned out to be excellent motors (although they cheated with the ER27 since it was basically an EA82 block with two more pistons literally slapped on). but yeah - no timing belts is a huge ++ for sure. not familiar with numbers but if power is a concern...definitely get the H6. much higher potentail than the 2.5 non-turbo.

i would recommend one with new headgaskets over one with old in general, if it's a good deal of course. if yours was listed publically for sale, i think i saw it. although i'd really rather buy one with bad head gaskets and install them myself or have them installed. otherwise you don't know how badly the engine was overheated prior to the gaskets being replaced. if the owner is ditching the car or it's a vehicle being flipped i'd be more worried that it was carelessly overheated...but it's all guesswork really. assuming it wasn't overheated multiple times and driven hot the engine will be fine. head work, head gasket replacement and a valve job are not the same as rebuilt. rebuilt typically means the engine block was addressed - main bearings, rod bearings, rings, all checked and/or replaced. either way, engine work isn't anything to be scared of, anymore than an oil change, if it's done properly of course. there are corners that can be cut, so it would be nice if the person selling the vehicle had receipts showing the heads were tested, resurfaced and a complete valve job done. i'd like to see that new subaru gaskets were used too.

oh my monkey nuts! i was staring at that motor and couldn't figure out what that was until i read your reply! BAH HHHHAAAAHAHAHH!!!! HA HA!!!! is that really legal? no side marker lights?

4 hours sounds normal for first time and going to get the parts too. the cover typically are a PITA to remove that's why we leave them off. awesome yours didn't have any problems.

there's one way to find out tim, get to it! given similar displacement and what we've seen from will, kevin and the other guys on here i would expect similar numbers (roughly).

a picture of the oil leakage marks may help visualize possibilities.

this thread was back on topic..... doesn't have to be an argument. comments like "learn basic math" don't help us discuss. that's irrelevant and a cheap shot. kind of like if i replied "18 minus 16 is 2"...you're still in highschool. and "16-16 = 0", how many timing belts have you replaced on the side of the road?" meant to be funny, but you get the point, you don't have to discuss and make jabs at the same time. that turns discussions into debates or arguments. discussion is good, everyone trying to prove everyone else wrong is bad. all the question marks and wording of the question suggests others don't know what they are talking about. expect some sort of reply when that happens. this is really an argument over semantics and not the engines or anything else (most arguments are!). it's a circular discussion because both 'sides' are talking about something different. noone here is saying "EA82's and timing belts are unreliable". most familiar with the soob lines know the EA series motors are great, reliable engines. the fact is that "EA82's are less reliable than EA81's". the differences, numbers and stats are small in the automotive realm, but in the flying arena minor differences matter much. i've seen numerous frozen, shattered and broken timing pulley bearings...no biggie on a car, i would not want to be on a prop plane when that happened.

worth checking out, with that many issues it is hard to sell a vehicle. at least check it out, make a very low offer based on the issues and if they don't take it, call them again in a month. my bet is that it's still available then.

good point, i have a block and head that were driven a couple months with failing head gaskets. the localized overheating destroyed them. right where the breech was in the head gasket it ate away the aluminum, creating a gouge exactly where the leak was. with some stellar welding they could be repaired but i'd suspect some serious warpage due to that long term localized heating as shawn mentioned.

thanks guys, i'll try it on the OBS and see what happens. makes sense lots of different stuff.

it's for an EJ vehicle but i got it from someone else who got it from someone else....so don't know what it's for. no numbers or names on it to go from. how many different EJ front covers are there?

correct, his 95 legacy 2.2 is a non-interference engine. screw the timing belts up all day and you won't hurt the engine (figure of speech of course!) you'll know right away if it's right or not, and the EJ timing belts come with handy dandy marks on the belt to make it nearly fool-proof. look up the endwrench (subaru based info) articles on EJ timing belt replacement, tells you everything you need to know for the job.

lots of online places carry them, search around for the best deals. there are others, but i bought my last set from: http://www.ultrarev.com/home.php?cat=0 i believe they have 24 hour ordering and customer service. for the same magnecor wires: XT6 8mm wires - ultrarev = $45. magnecor direct = $77. 8.5mm wires - ultrarev = $78. magnecor = $130. EJ22 wires - ultrarev was $16 cheaper.

i suggest a leak down test as head work is much easier than block work. can you do a leak down test? i've seen blown headgasket engines show good compression and also higher than normal compression (+10%). i guess that added fluid (coolant) in the combustion chamber somehow makes up for the losses in those cases. either way, that you're seeing good compression doen't completely surprise me. if it were valve stem seals...they'd be closed during the compression stroke but i would not have guessed they would leak that much oil. removing the venting, PCV stuff may pose issues that i'm not aware of.