idosubaru

definitely annoying, but hang in there this likely isn't as bad as you may think. first you want to make sure it's not something much easier to deal with than the transmission. describe this sound, where does it sound like it's coming from? if you put the car in neutral and drift will it still make the noise? do all of your tires match in size and tread? (this only matters if it's an AWD). so....is it AWD or FWD? if you put a fuse in the FWD fuse holder in the engine bay does the issue go away? this points to the common torque bind issue. any recent work done to the car? do you do any towing or hard driving? it could also be a wheel bearing, brakes or axle. these are much easier to fix. does it sound like it's coming from one side? can you feel it in the steering wheel or the seat/car? even if you needed another transmission that's not the end of the world either. you can find a transmission for $250 or less (i have one i'd sell for instance) and have it installed for $200 or less (local transmission shop here charges $150 to install a transmission you supply). that's only $450, which isn't that bad for your vehicle. that 2.2 motor in your car will last forever if you don't overheat it or run it out of oil. those are excellent motors, so stay positive, you'll get through this and in 10 years you could still be driving this thing! answer the questions above and we can help you a little more.

yes, fluid should definitely come out in large amounts. sounds like the oil pump or TC is bad. rather than tear into the trans often it's easier to just find a used transmission for cheap. who knows what went wrong or if any little tidbits went through and damaged the trans even further. used transmissions can be had cheap, might be worth having a look. you can get transmission for under $100 sometimes. the pull it yourself yards have them for $50 some places and even have sales lower than that. worth a look at least. i have a couple transmissions i'd let go for $100 that i know are good. find someone like me with the trans you need and you're golden.

it has fluid in it right? does the transmission pump fluid when it's in neutral? i'm wondering if your shift linkage is busted or something wrong with it? in other words you're putting it in neutral sitting in the car, but it's not actually changing it at the transmission. look under and make sure it's actually moving the gear selector at the trans. check it all and make sure it's all golden and looks normal. after that i'd be suspecting something with the TC or oil pump unfortunately but a trans expert i am not.

this might not mean anything, but the FSM's for the XT6 are not even close to being right. no TPS will adjust by the Subaru Factory books, so it wouldn't surprise me if other TPS specifications were correct. best to adjust them by ear. turn it until the car starts bogging down and sounding like it's going to stall, then bump it just a hair back. that's where it needs to be. sounds rediculous but best way to adjust them and makes sense once you see how they work and how to do it. there's a great write up about how to pull one apart and clean them up to smooth out some issues as they age. i think it's at http://www.xt6.net but maybe it was on here. xt6.net is really slow lately, that issue is being worked. have fun,

troubleshooting a 2006 is best done under warranty. if you're not getting the service you need then go up the ladder/chain of command. the squeaky wheel gets the oil they say.

check out the TOD or tick of death. use the search function and you'll get tons of information. it is not the guide seals or whatever he said. no it is not cause for alarm and it won't cause damage. change your oil all the time. the HLA's are great because the valves never need adjusting but the down side is you need to change your oil all the time or they get dirty and stick. when was the last oil change? do you change it often? how many miles? more than likely your tick is due to an oil pump gasket. reseal the oil pump or buy a new one and you're golden.

the XT6 engine (ER27) was never offered as a turbo. it is all custom if you want to turbo that car. there is no easy way to do it. you'll have to decide many things on your own since it's custom. stock fuel or stand alone? that's a big money item there. the stock fuel system sucks so if yo'ure looking for real power then after market is the way. you can add an extra injector of course as band-aid to the issue and make sure you're not running lean. you want turbo pistons? the good news is that EA82T (4 cylinder turbo pistons) drop right in the XT6 since the XT6 engine is just an EA82 with two extra cylinders. bad news is that's a complete tear down and rebuild of the block basically. well you can swap pistons without tearing it all down but that's another topic already covered. exhaust, intake is all custom work. will all depend how much money and effort you want and also largely depends on what kind of horsepower you're trying to achieve. which brings up another point....the ER27 isn't really a good candidate for a turbo. the better option is to just convert it to an EJ Turbo of some sort. better reliability, all sorts of after market support, higher output capability and would end up being the same cost probably. unless you're planning on a very inexpensive turbo build of the XT6 but that would probably not be very reliable unless you just wanted very low boost. xt6.net is really slow right now, but all of this has been covered. hopefully that slowness issue gets resolved soon.

throttle body sticking open maybe? then loosening as it warms? i doubt it, but i've seen sticking TB cause high idle before. should be able to tell, when it does it just check the TB by hand and make sure it's closed all the way. some (many) vehicles by design will rev high on a cold engine. once the engine reaches operating temperature the idle smooths out to nominal rpm. the engine is designed for and most efficient at a prescribed temperature so that's why they do that. that yours if variable could be an issue with the idle control valve...not sure how the EJ22 does that though as i have never had to deal with that yet. if there's a valve involved (IAC - idle air control valve) then typically just cleaning it out will alleviate the issues. they get black soot in them and they tend to stick open or not operate smoothly.

87 GL so this is an EA81 not an EA82 right? how old is the thermostat, it could be plugged. are the fans blowing the right way? any leaks or coolant loss? is the coolant full? i'd guess the radiator is plugged then the water pump. most older subaru's have bad radiators. not many that i see have what i'd call reliable and decent radiators. look for greeen corrossion.

true and the air tools help a ton. you spend much less time working a bolt with air tools. add up all the head bolts and cam bolts and that's alot...even more on the XT6. and if you're cleaning the holes properly...you can spend alot of time huncing over for sure. air tools make the biggest difference. but i can see where all that hunching over could be painful. i had to drill a bolt out of an engine not too long ago, that was not fun and i felt it in the lower back after all that time working that thing. welding, turning, drilling, extracting....blah blah blah...

head gasket set will include new valve stem seals which is all you need for a head job (not including the tools/supplies for doing a valve job). i have a shop do all my heads and they test the springs and have yet to find any out of specification...even on 150,000+ mile motors. i think new springs and valves are rarely needed.

pulling the motor is not the quickest way to do it. i find pulling a motor very annoying. easy and straight forward, but it's annoying. there are only two tricks to doing this in the car and they are very simple. a 10mm ratcheting wrench and some grease. that's it. i've done this multiple times on the XT6 (6 cylinder) so it's even tighter and has more bolts...still easy though. here is the only hard part...getting started. get a ratcheting 10mm wrench. this will allow you to pull the valve cover bolts the easiest. the drivers side is a complete pain with a normal wrench because sockets won't fit and ujoint adapters don't work. have to use a wrench. a regular wrench = big time annoying. a ratcheting wrench = easy. makes all the difference. do not do this without having a ratcheting wrench. you'll need some high quality grease to hold the rocker arms on the heads when you reassemble the cam towers. the arms will just fall off otherwise. use grease to hold them in place while you install the cam tower. once the valve covers are off ALL of the cam tower and head bolts come out VERY EASY. there is plenty of room. the valve covers are the only tight spot. (unless you have a turbo motor then there's lots of tight items, but they're in the way even if yo'ure pulling the motor). if you want to save time, air tools are the key. once the valve covers are off, there's plenty of room to use air tools to remove all the cam and head bolts. to save time having air tools is the key. there are alot of cam tower and head bolts. and to properly do a head gasket you should be running bolts down and back each head bolt hole to clean it out a few times. very time consuming with hand tools. very fast with air tools...but be careful of course on aluminum threads either way. every EA82 and ER27 i've done was very easy to do in the car...and out of the car. but pulling a motor is annoying, all those hoses, wires, throttle cables, torque converter bolts, clutch parts, engine mounts, radiator hoses, heater hoses, lining stuff up, angling the engine properly. it gets easier after you've done it a couple times which i have, but there's no way that pulling the motor saves any time on a head gasket job. good luck and have fun.

don't waste your time if you do mostly highway driving. i've driven in FWD mode and even removed the driveshaft and even a differential at one time. it doesn't make any noticeable difference in gas mileage. maybe if you do a ton of city driving it would (i don't know because i don't do that), but i doubt it based on my experience. i did it because of a bad driveshaft and bad rear diff, not to increase gas mileage but i do keep a tight eye on my mpg. keep engine in tune, replace fluids. get one size skinnier tires and also taller tires. will hurt handling if yo'ure into racing and taking tight turns really fast. but will improve driving in rain and driving in snow (the thinner tires will). helps a good bit with mileage. get larger rims/wheels too helps. increase rolling diameter (larger overall tire diameter) and lighter wheels helps as well for highway mileage anyway. synthetic diff fluids front and rear, high tire pressures and don't carry around needless weight. on an XT6 installing a non-stock muffler helps a little bit as well. the stock muffler sucks on those things. don't know about your car though.

seems high for my area. then again it's in nice condition and if it suits your purposes it doesn't seem like a bad deal. they'll knock off a few hundred i'd bet. seems like old school subaru's have a decent demand in the PNW so that might be a factor as well.

sounds like you paid a premium price for the cam belt, water pump replacement. i don't know the exchange rate though or your area, so maybe that's about right. but at least they did it right, best to do the water pump while yo'ure in there if you're keeping the car for the long haul. as for the transmission, have the fluid changed. the radiator issue could have caused issue with the transmission since the ATF runs through the side of the radiator tank. have the transmission fluid changed and install a new radiator. radiators are VERY EASY to install. remove the hoses (screwdriver) the fans (some 10mm sockets/wrench) and like 2 12mm bolts (socket/wrench) and then disconnect one electrical connector. takes no time at all to replace a radiator. do not try to repair the side tank, it's possible but it's an annoying job. just replace the radiator with a new one and you can do it yourself. hopefully the engine didn't overheat when the radiator busted. be sure to install a new thermostat and radiator caps since you've already addressed the rest of the cooling system - water pump and radiator. a tune up should help your mileage - plugs, wires, and air filter. these are great engines and it should last quite a long time, so in those terms you could get a good value over the long haul.

be a great idea to change your transmission fluid. installing a transmission cooler is a great idea too, particularly with all the hills and hunting for gears that your transmission is seeing. if the car is hunting for a gear, keep it in the lower gear until you're up the hill or just loose speed until you get to the top of the hill. if it's shifting back and forth multiple times going up steep hills, that's not great for it.

in this case, the "bigger is better" philosophy is incorrect. the automatic transmission is designed to run with fluid at a certain operating termperature. the goal isn't to make the fluid run at the coolest temperature possible. the goal is to make sure the fluid never exceeds damaging temperatures due to non-nominal instances that may increase the ATF beyond normal temperatures. these may include but aren't limited to.....degraded ATF cooling systems (usually old radiators), an overheating engine (which overheats the radiator and ATF if still equipped), or hard driving like towing, hills, climbing, frequenty shifting and offroading...etc. Subaru's are small light duty vehicles. Unless you're towing something large up mountains on a frequent basis you won't need a large cooler, the smallest will due just fine. have a look at the stock set up...even the smallest aftermarket cooler is many times more efficient. and yet people drive automatic transmissions to 200,000 miles with the stock set up. a bigger one will be more a PITA to install anyway. i'm not one to say a larger cooler will cause issues, but i'd stick to keeping it close to the stock design on this one.

i always replace the orings behind the cam carrier cap. they are always deformed and degraded. although they are usually not brittle. i can't imagine a situation where oil would leak profusely from this area like it could at the cam seal, but while you're in there i'd get it done. they would be much more forgiving than a cam seal if you didn't replace them...but you're right there. for future reference, you can but the "cam seal kit" or "cam kit" from http://www.thepartsbin.com which has the seal and o-ring with it. that's what i always use. they are cheap enough to always keep a couple on hand. maybe someone close to you could drop one in the mail so you can have it by the weekend? i'm out of town so i can't.

and and if you drive around long enough with a flat tire the bead gets broken as well....and eventually it'll even come off too.

i would definitely pay to do it, but if yo'ure still inclined to do it: drive a car or truck (the heavier the better) up onto the side wall of the tire. get it just right on the tire just at the edge of the rim and you'll break the bead. then working it off with some garage tools....no fun but it can be done.

you're awesome!!! i totally look forward to this! "you need a new transmission" followed by a large 4 digit estimate. don't let on you know anything, i want to see how bad they try to hose you!

have you tried this?

has there been any recent work done or accidents...or your mechanic missed his yatcht payment? i'd start with a fluid change as well(has that ever been done?). check the transmission electrical connections and make sure they are seated firmly, not dirty/corroded and none of the pins inside the connector are done. this is a quick and easy check.

you won't have to take it out, you'll have to swap the rear diff (which is very easy to do and they are very cheap as well). even if you find out the ratio is different, you'd be better off getting the right diff and using this transmission anyway.

there are multiple possibilites on the 4EAT so you are right in checking first. can you call Subaru and ask them to look up that part number for you? if it's a different ratio you can still use the transmission, just swap in a matching rear diff.