idosubaru

how old are your radiator caps? you could try adding the conditioner that subaru uses. the bubbles in the overflow tank are suspicious and not a good thing to be seeing but i'd try to make sure it's not something simple.

the meaning of that flag may represent a war to you, but not to those that show it. the south is fantastic. georgia is my vote for best state in the country overall. i'd move there tomorrow if it weren't for family. i don't mind rednecks, while there are some real hee-haws out there, they still beat the ghetto hands down. at least they'll usually only shoot you if they're pissed at you or drunk. in the ghetto it's just a roll of the dice....

in my experience rotating it around should shut the engine off or make it stumble really bad. did you get the engine up to operating temperature? the idle valve may be open all the way and affecting things if the engine isn't up to temp yet. you can't really screw anything up engine wise playhing with the TPS adjustment, so don't be too worried about trying it out once it's all together. you're the man!

are you sure it's the headgaskets? is it actually overheating, can you see the gauge saying it's overheating? sounds like maybe the radiator is partially plugged. how much stop leak was used in this thing in the past? the a/c causes the air in front of the radiator to be heated as it goes through the condensor so the air flowing through the radiator is much hotter than with the a/c off. maybe the radiator is clogged, not enough to run hot normally but when the a/c is on it puts it over the top. are your fans turning on when it gets hot or the a/c is turned on?

better to worse: FSM, Haynes, Chiltons and there's a How to make your Subaru last or something...i forget exactly what it's called but i've never seen one, though i've seen a few pages. in reality the FSM is the way to go. keep your eye out here (post a wanted add) and on ebay, get them cheap. well worth it.

ignition wires, air filter, vacuum hoses, etc.. maybe ask if they could do a quick visual check on easy items like those to start with.

fusible links and ECU are likely gone. replace those first and move on from there.

noise at a wheel is not indicative of a transmission issue. wheel bearing, brakes, strut, cv shaft are more likely. narrow down the issue before assuming anything.

adjust it by ear. with the car at operating temperature twist the TPS until the car just starts to cut off, then back it off a hair. that's how i do it. check your wiring 6 to 8 inches back behind the TPS, i've seen shorts in the wiring behind the TPS. swapping in another one won't help that at all. usually you can roll the wiring around between your fingers starting at the TPS and working your way back as far as you can reach. if you get to a short in the wiring the engine will change noticeably. and it's usually repeatable making it obvious. the TPS adjustment specifications for the XT6 are wrong in the Subaru FSM so be careful if you're using that.

other oil leaks typically flow down around the rear of the oil pan making it look like the culprit when really it's something else. i'd verify for sure it's the pan before getting into that mess. how much oil are you loosing, in other words how muhc per thousand miles, etc? can you look very closely and see if there's any oil above the pan where it's wet? if it's above the pan it's likely coming from somewhere else. oil pans are annoying if you've never done them and aren't familiar with jacking the motor up. you want to be careful about overtightening the pan bolts. the lip of the pan is very thin metal and tightening hte bolts will bend the oil pan lip at the bolt head concave upward, into and cutting the gasket. will make it difficult in the future for a new gasket to seal successfully. if they are loose then that's one thing, but be sure to go hand tight only with them, they have very low torque specifications. unbolt engine, lift it up to get to the rear oil pan bolts. may have to loosen or unbolt the rear transmission mount bolts as well to get it to move enough to reach them. that's probably only necessary if you're removing the pan entirely though.

i've never had a problem but others have had very difficult problems getting the trapped air/air bubbles out of the coolant. i'd look thoroughly through this problem and read up some posts on "burping" the system as they call it. some have had multiple refill attempts not get all the air out. hate to see you overheat an engine just because of air. except that rarely, if ever do we see any 2.2engines with bad headgaskets even at 200,000+ miles. i have not seen any 2.2's for sale locally with a bad headgasket even ones with 200,000 miles (except beefed up turbo's, but they don't count!). see 2.5's at all sorts of mileages. there's one for sale locally right now for $1,300. i've never seen a 2.2 ever (eventhough they've been around much longer and have had many more chances of being overheated due to old age and bad radiators...the stats are in the favor of the 2.5 since they are newer overall, but they still blow way more). that doesn't really matter and ends up being a glass half empty/glass half full type of discussion. on to testing your motor..... be advised: the hydrocarbon test is not proof positive of whether you have a bad headgasket or not. i have seen first hand (and you can read it in other threads on this board) that the 2.5 is a very strange beast. a 2.5 with a bad headgasket can pass the hydrocarbon test. obviously if it fails that tells you something, but if it passes that doesn't mean anything. reading through the myriad of threads already existing on this topic may help you. there's TONS of information out there. i've seen a bad head gasket 2.5 pass compression, leak down and more than one hydrocarbon test. it can be difficult when they first start to nail them down.

put it in park or put it in gear if you don't have the caliper on. if you have an appropriately sized crow bar or digging bar (works best), you can wedge them in between the lug studs and rotate until it hits the ground so the hub can't move any further. the impact method works best here. and it can rough up the threads on the lug studs, but it's never anything a die can't clean right up. have a 3 foot pipe to put over the end of your socket wrench or wail on the end of your socket with a hammer, it's like a pseudo-impact wrench and comes off every time. what are you working on? if this is all to replace an axle and it's frustrating, then consider leaving it as is. a broken boot is no big deal. i routintely put 50,000 or more miles on axles with broken boots and clicking around turns. if you're not offroading, no biggie. good luck

any before or after shots of the damage? things to worry about: does the rear trunk or window leak? was there any fender damage? any damage to the rear suspension - possibly alignment issues that would eat tires is no fun. was the gas tank damaged? salvaged is fine, the more you know about it the better. and the better deal you get the better. this doesn't sound like a great deal to me, but if it's what you want and in your range then go for it.

this is a valid statement. at higher temps more gas is lost to fumes/evaporation. filling up in the heat of the day will result in more gas being lost in fumes and less going into your tank. probably a small percentage, but it helps with pollution/smog as well. this is a slightly different conversation than they are having about BTU's and winter density...blah blah blah. i don't know the specifics of that, but people debate gas properties every time a gas mileage thread comes up.

get that XT6 running! every company has an engine failure at some point. this certainly doesn't make a trend or prove anything, it's the only one i've seen on the boards or personally so it shouldn't cause alarm.

that's crazy. 2005? warranty, woo hoo!

sounds like you already got it down. don't pull the engine. pulling a motor is time consuming and buys you very little in your situation. just replace your timing belts and front end stuff like you said. if you're concerned about that leak i'd make certain it's the rear main or separator plate before removing an engine.

the rear trailing arms actually aren't that hard to remove. they look alot more troublesome than they are but there isn't much to it. if the bolts are seized and rusty that can be annoying, but other than that they come out much quicker and easier than i anticipated.

rear diffs are a dime a dozen. $35-$100 depending if you can find it locally or need someone to ship you one. i'm with nipper, i'd be much more concerned about the center diff (manual) or transfer clutches (auto) in the trans. much more expensive and a much bigger job. rear diff is no big deal. perfect excuse to upgrade to an LSD unit while you got it off.

tire bulge should be independent and not related in my oppinion..unless subjected to harsh driving conditions then that could cause issue. sounds like your rear strut needs replaced. replace the entire assembly with a complete unit and that should do it.

97 and up the 2.2 is an interference engine so you want a new belt in there. install new belts, water pump and oil pump seals. inspect or replace the cam seals as well. and be prepared to replace any tensioner pulleys that are noisey or loose as well. that's annoying as you don't know until you get in there and they are expensive. water pump and the tensioner pulleys can cause the timing belt to fail if they have issues. i'd rather replace than expect them to make it to 150,000 miles.

what do you mean by "front end work"? oil pump, timing belts, cam seals, crank seal, water pump...none of them require pulling the radiator or the condensor. i've never pulled either for that type of work on any subaru...EJ22, EJ25, EA82, EA82T, EA82, ER27. if you do need to remove it, best not to remove the condensor at all unless you have to, the lines are not very flexible or forgiving.

on the bolt....a socket and a very long pipe. but rear boots typically last much longer as they don't flex nearly as much. the ones closest to the exhaust will fail first, particularly if one is fairly close obviously. that being said, split boots don't typically last very long. unless you're offroading hardcore your CV's won't fail with a split boot so you can leave it alone as long as you want. i've gone 50,000+ miles on front and 100,000+ miles on rears with the boots gaping open. my XT6 had split rear boots when i bought it at 105,000....still had the same split boot axles at 220,000 and i just had the carcass towed away a couple weeks ago. axles were fine, never made a noise or gave me issues. i'd leave them before worrying about putting a split boot on. save your efforts for a job down the line. maybe when both are broke in a year or 2 or you have to replace a rotor or something else, then do the axles. that's what i do and i drive a fair amount off road...still no problems. i got split boots on my rears now on my new XT6...i don't plan on replacing them ever.

they should all be the same unless you want to measure the circumference of each one to verify the numbers independently. tires can vary by manufacturer even if they are the same size. kind of like shoes and clothes...but not quite as bad.

if your motor is toast then CCR should be able to use your heads on a new rebuilt block. or just ask them if they can build that set up for you. i like the idea of getting a new block and reusing everything else you have on it. that should make it as easy as possible in terms of exhaust, intake and EGR compatability issues (if any). i think CCR rebuilds to stock spec's, i doubt they'll upgrade parts. and with good reason, for normal driving a stock 2.2 is superb in reliability. they routinely make 200,000+ miles with ease. is this legacy originally a 2.2 or 2.5? they had both in 99 depending on model right?