idosubaru

i'm not an EJ22 expert, but think your 94 has hydraulic valve lash adjusters right? if so they could be bled down. if it's leaking somewhere you should be able to hear it. i'd listen through the oil dipstick tube (remove dipstick), remove the valve covers and open the throttle body. through the throttle (intake), exhaust, dipstick or valve covers you should be able to hear where the pressure is being lost too.

pardon the humor. without knowing more details it's hard to answer your question. you wrote "I WANT POWER". how much? how much money are looking to put into it? a non-turbo with lots of power is giong to require well into the thousands even if you do your own labor. more thousands if you pay someone else to do it. it's hard to offer advice without knowing these details. then there's the distinction to be made that some like the looks of power.....spoilers, exhaust, turbo scoops, monster lifted (never-offroaded) trucks, diesels, lots of goodies that don't get used or do very much, but give a certain feel for the vehicle....there's lots of choices for those that want that as well. so there's an aesthetic value to be considered as well (for some people!)

friend of mine, kate in college had her ford explorer returned with no oil, they forgot. the fortunate thing is that she only made it less than a mile before seizing up from the shop, so that was certainly obvious. they paid for everything to have it fixed. shop will probably deny it of course, but they do have insurance to cover such things and they do when they have to. legal fees won't make it worth your time to persue though. do not take this to the dealer....you'll be talking an enormous price tag. your best bet is to get a used engine (a late model) or a rebuild from CCR and have it installed. call them and ask for pricing.

Screw the dealers, they suck, i'm glad you've liked your experience. the same can be done with even your local auto parts places. the national chains maybe not, but the locals have the flexibility to price match. local shop wanted $220 for an XT6 head gasket set. they came down to $150 when i showed them the online pricing i could get.

i scanned in and posted pictures of the installation instructions that come with these ujoints. i either posted them on this forum or over at http://www.xt6.net it's been a while, but from memory i believe they lean more on the generic side and don't specify every little detail.

i'm with GD, usually a used shaft is fine. get two so you have a back up. they can be found for cheap. i have a couple lying around myself. i did install Rockford Ujoints in my XT6 driveshaft. they make a ujoint that's meant to replace the Subaru staked in ujoint. like GD said you have to cut the old one out and do some manipulating to install the new ones, but it can be done. i have an XT6 driveshaft with 3 new u joints in it and they are replaceable and greaseable now. i cut out the ujoints and took the shaft and new joints to the shop and they charged $100 to machine the shaft and install the joints. it's an expensive endeavor. i had 3 or was it 4 driveshaft failures and just got tired of replacing them, and even with a couple parts cars of my own i was starting to run out!! so i went for the new ones. but i put lots of miles on my vehicles and plan on keeping them for a loooong time.

some 2.5 goodies will fit the 2.2. a "semi-high" output EJ22 is like....20 hp more than stock. i don't know what you know about motors, but that's nothing. if you want 10... *maybe* 20....real stretch...horsepower more to the wheels you're going to need exhaust work, intake work (debatable whether that helps at all), crank pulley, new cams, advance the timing and run on premium gas. lighter wheels will help acceleration as well. that's alot of work and money for what will basically feel like...."i think it's faster". and...you'll be doing the same thing you want to avoid the turbo for. you'll be changing the driveability of the vehicle...exhaust and cam work gain you HP, but at the cost of moving the power band higher. which reduces your low end and doesn't make the car drive as nice in certain situations. now, if you want to tear the heads apart and match intake and exhaust pulses, bench flow testing, port the heads and increase your compression ratio, get different pistons....you're talking major work and thousands upon thousands of dollars of work for a few horsepower. are you looking to tear into the block and due some serious engine building or are you looking for bolt on, easy additions that make your car faster. in reality those things just don't really exist for a non-turbo vehicle. buy a rear spoiler, some chrome rims, paint the engine, get an electric super charger, get some racing stripes, mount your battery in the trunk and you're looking at +75 hp!!!!

if you weren't living in the red then a headgasket job should fix your issues. they are very stout motors with the new headgaskets, you shouldn't have any issues doubling your current mileage with new headgaskets. the new headgasket design won't blow a second time.

oh yeah, slick! electric super charger, adds 60hp!!! WOO HOO! you are going to be screaming......back to reality.... depends on your definition of "fast", but modifying a non-turbo car is kind of like refinishing an outhouse, there's just not much you can do to it. it may sound good, look good and function well, but you're really just limited. it takes lots of money and time to get much out of a non-turbo engine. depends if you really want fast or just look and sound fast. you're best bet is a turbo. either install an EJ22T or install a turbo on your no-turbo engine. i know others that have installed a turbo on the stock non-turbo engine. it's easier and if you manage the boost and temperatures well you can get great performance and reliability out of the engine. be careful spending large portions of disposable income on vehicles. if you can withstand that urge now, it will pay off later. i know, i'm an idiot for typing that on a car forum.

spend a couple minutes wiggling the flywheel, it'll come off. alternately tap each side with a rubber mallet (or hammer with a non-damaging tap). then grab it from each side with your hands and wiggle it back and forth. might not feel like it's doing much, but get fired up and put some stank on it, it'll come off. if you don't have an impact gun for the front pulley, put a socket wrench on it and swing a hammer really hard and really fast at the very end of the socket wrench handle. (goggles might be a good idea). that's the make-shift *impact* wrench method. it'll come off that way.

beat dead horse icon, how do i use that? anyway, sounds like the typical headgasket symptoms. a cracked block is certainly a possibility, but not nearly as probable as the headgaskets. the blocks don't just crack either, they probably only crack due to a failed headgasket and then continuing to drive the car while overheating. so if you drove it for quite some time with a bad headgasket (overheating), the risk of the block cracking goes up substantially. remember, block issues are very rare, most people replace the headgaskets without issue. i'm not talking about the block to scare you (like the dealer is!!!), but to let you know that i don't know how long you drove the car while running hot so i can't make a judgement call really. you have a few options. if money doesn't matter, pay the $1,500 to replace the headgaskets. doesn't have to be a subaru specialist, my buddy who's a mechanic has done a few of these EJ25 headgaskets and he rarely works on subaru's in his shop. they aren't anything special. kind of easy as far as head gaskets go really...except that there are two of them, that's kind of annoying! if money is an issue practice using the *search* button and read your options on this forum. you can save money by installing a 2.2 liter engine, that's the cheapest solution. replacing the head gaskets ($1,500) or replacing the engine would be much more. CCR is the way to go if you want a rebuilt engine. comes with full warranty, great company and it's brand new and should last a loooong time. it will have the new updated head gaskets on it too, so no worries. i'm calling BS on that dealer. i doubt they did enough testing to truely diagnose a cracked block and not the headgaskets. i garauntee the headgaskets are bad, so that they make a claim like that is totally erroneous and they are obviously short on their house payment.

what kind of driving you do greatly affects gas mileage. 30 for mixed highway and city driving is really good. there are some 90's legacies capable of 35 mpg. a FWD manual should yield good results.

if the wires were just cut, which they should be, then it should be a matter of just properly splicing them back together. i doubt they did much more than that. need an update on what the new plugs, wires and such did first....all this talk about ideas and compression testing is really a waste of your time until you look at simple stuff and replace those ignition components.

i'm having similiar issues with my XT6 AWD Auto. new radiator, water pump, radiator caps, thermostat, radiator hoses and the fans work fine. only really did it when it's above 85 degrees outside and the a/c was on. turning the a/c off would typically make the gauge drop back to normal. climbing mountains at highway speed it would do it as well. now that it's late in the year and cooler it stays pegged normal, but it'll surely return next summer.

is it possible the new to you pedal assembly needs greased or is bent, keeping it from reaching it's full range of travel? those are two items i wouldn't be surprised to see from a junk yard pedal assembly.

i unplug my transmission dropping resistor because i like the way it shifts better without it. drives much better that way and it causes the trans indicator light to blink on start up (16 times or whatever it is indicating a "fault"). you may try unplugging it just to see if how things change. it only takes 6 seconds to unplug it and doesn't hurt anything. it could be argued that it actually helps the transmission to not have this thing....quicker shifts, less heat build up as the clutches are engaged quicker so less slipping and heat build up. i know it's a stretch, but all that to say it definitely doesn't hurt anything. i'd swap out a TCU (TCM) as well to see. has anyone traced the lines from trans to TCU? with all the accidents it's been in i'd wonder if there's a wire issue somewhere (hence the buzzing as well and the problem carrying over to the new trans). was the transmission ever replaced before, i'd also be curious is if it's possible a different trans was installed and the TCM isn't quite the exact right one. being all 4EAT's, they are all close and semi-compatible, but being a little off could cause issues?

sounds like one of the plugs is still connected that shouldn't be.

the ER27 engine in the XT6 is an EA82 engine with 2 more cylinders slapped onto it. same pistons, rings, rods, valves... after that almost everything else is compeltely different. the steering and the air suspension (AWD only, not FWD) are two of the weirder and problematic XT6 issues... if it's AWD then beware of the air suspension. plan on converting to coil overs as the air is very tricky, failure prone at this age and parts are really expensive, and noone will know how to work on it. if it's FWD then it already has coil overs so no worries. steering is electric and typically people don't know how to fix them. they usually need new brushes installed. special steering fluid as well, no ATF or power steering fluid recommended on these jokers. if the tires don't match, be cautious as that can ruin an AWD transmission. if it's FWD don't worry about it. biggest cause for concern is overheating. this engine will run forever, but even the best engine gets destroyed if overheated. problem is this car is old...almost 20 years old. radiator is probably old and in bad shape. if you're lucky and it's new or in good shape, then you're not as lucky as you think...it's probably been replaced which means the last one failed and the car may have been overheated before. same with water pump and thermostat, i replace them right away, no point in wondering if it's 20 years old or not. radiator and coolant hoses and radiator caps too. radiators are REALLY expensive because no aftermarket version was ever made. Subaru only and big dollars. this unfortunately encourages people to put off replacing them. the transmissions don't have many problems either. when you get it changing fluids is recomended and changing the ATF (if it's an auto) is highly recommended if you want it to last. keep them from overheating and running out of oil and they will usually run about as long as you feel like relpacing brakes, rusted out exhaust, tires and other maitenance items.

it will run, i'm sure the vehicle is fine. that's a good deal, get it and fix it. big question is if the check engine light is on or not. that will make a huge difference on how you go about fixing it. it'll be something easy. FET, CTS, ignition, t-belt, no fuel. make the call based on fixing it and selling it. take it from me, i've bought and sold (or kept) probably 15 or so of them. parting out is not the way to go, winter coming won't make it any better. unless you have alot of time and really enjoy doing that sort of thing. parting out isn't worth it to me and i keep lots of spare parts for my own herd of XT6's. it takes a long time to pull parts, store parts, take and post pictures, post ads, keep them in decent shape, test them, answer everyone's questions, shipping takes forever to deal with and you typically need to hold them for quite some time because you will only get a good price if there's someone that really needs it. otherwise you'll get $50 for the motor and trans, if that. i just sent an Auto AWD (80,000 miles) and a manual AWD to the scrap yard with excellent trans and motors in them. noone wanted them. everyone says "do it", "part it", "sell those rare and hot parts"....thing is places where these things are rare...there is not anyone there to buy parts either!

he just mentioned slight vibration while going straight down the road. it wasn't there when first installed, started coming on after a week or two? i'll check with him. i actually tried to talk him into a used axle (i posted here with no response) or MWE rebuilt because i've had bad luck with new ones exploding.

a local guy i know has a 1988 GL Hatch, EA81. he had some vibration issues that turned into noise making issues. he first tigthened the axle nut which was loose. then he ended up replacing the ball joints, wheel bearings and axles up front with all new stuff. all went away. this is a couple weeks ago. he said it has started to vibrate again recently, just like it did when it started to go bad a few months ago. sounds to me like either the axle isn't tight again and worse the hub might be shot? where should he go next?

look out for infrequent gas stops. i had a 91 XT FWD manual and got 40 mpg (42 in the winter) on all highway driving. the radiator is likely older than dirt and water pump is ???. like he said, heat will kill this engine. and you don't want to do that since this engine won't have any problems going well past 200,000 if you don't over heat it or run it out of oil. to protect against overheating i'd replace the water pump, thermostat, hoses and clamps. keep your eye on the oil level. or replace all the seals - oil pump, cam, crank seals are all right behind the timing belt and easy to replace if you're comfortable doing that kind of work. if not, just don't run it out of oil!

i would not use the radiator cooler, i don't even use them for my ATF. dedicated is much better. the radiator gets hot and stays hot. i'd get a dedicated oil cooler if you want one.

wiring is not compatible from auto to manual...i'm sure you can cut and splice if you wanted to do something fancy with it, wire is wire so to speak. but nothing plug and play beween the two. you do not want to drive with the diff lock locked. it is "locked" when the button is depressed and the lever is pulled. the lever is movable by hand, but you have to disconnect the actuator to give the cable some range of motion. then just switch the lever back and forth by hand (it's on the passengers side) to "lock" and "unlock" the center diff. i can't recall if forward or back is unlocked off the top of my head. FSM will show it. if it's locked and you can't get it out, just don't install the rear half of the driveshaft, then it won't matter. install the rear half once you get the diff lock figured out. you'll need the front half installed to keep gear oil in the trans, as it seals the rear extension housing. you can probably also supply vacuum or compressed air to the actuator to get it to move the lever...maybe...never done it but it may be possible.

slow down hotdog. a little (or a lot) of oil leaks isn't a big deal. millions of cars are leaking oil right now, not a big deal. if it showed up really low on your dipstick....that's not really as low as you'd think. if it's showing up on your dipstick you're probably 1 quart or less low, that's not a big deal. even at the bottom of the stick you still have plenty of oil in there to prevent any engine damage. now...it is imperative to add some oil. take note - the distance between the full mark and the other mark at the bottom of the stick is one quart - add accordingly.