idosubaru

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.

this vehicle is AWD? if so then you need to get some matching tires on there soon. even if that isn't the cause of your noise it will likely be the cause of something shortly if your tires aren't matched. tires can cause noises, i'd check them out carefully. might need a shop to see if any wheels are bent or balance is off, tires are warped....etc. does it at 30 but not under? in that case i'd guess driveshaft ujoint but that's rare on a vehicle that new. how many miles? any recent repairs, accidents, important history?

i installed a new passengers side tie rod on the drivers side. was brinding the wheel when turned. whoops...forgot i did that while i was in there. thanks all....

the above ideas are awesome. i agree with attempting to pound out the drill bit first by using a smaller punch/drift from the opposite side. whether or not that works the final blow will be nailing it the opposite way, like GD said it WILL come out.

finding a 2.5 block in that price range is difficult and not common. 2.2's can be had on the cheap, but 2.5's command a much higher price tag unless you're lucky.

check fluid level and ATF lines to make sure fluid is flowing freely through them and the radiator.

nope, scrap yard.

i tried spary on 3M adhesive i saw recommended by others. didn't work a lick. i don't even think it lasted a month. dont have that car anymore so i don't know what to tell you. back in the day i had dowel rods pinned between the trim on p/s and d/s moulding to hold it up. looked real nice (nope, just kidding!).

always remember, you are only unbolting the intake, not removing it. so there's no need to disconnect all the goodies associated with it. once it's unbolted you only need to lift it enough to clean the old gasket off and slide the new ones in. there's no need to take all the stuff off of it. like he mentioned, be prepared to make sure nothing gets down the intake ports. if the intake manifold has coolant passages (i think it does..i know the older EA and ER series do), then you may want to drain the coolant some so coolant doesn't pour down into the cylinder when you lift it off as well. very simple to do.

nah, it very gently settled on the ground. the ground was soft and gave way as the car jack (a very large one) gradually tilted sideways. wheels were still on and didn't have far to fall. fell very smoothly actually. my old XT6 never would move when i jacked up one side. someone on the xt6 boards says it's because i had an LSD rear diff in that one and i haven't installed that yet in my "new" one. or maybe it was just dumb luck or bad memory? plan is to try the FWD fuse and see what happens. then jack the car up and see what i can find in terms of tire rotation/feel. what else can i look for/check? i'm almost positive it can not be simple binding as i had the duy solenoid C swithc installed in my other one and this is much worse. it nearly grinds to a halt and does not move with serious peddle and much noise/convulsions. doesn't sound too good huh? just what i need...a trans swap!

my cousins wagon with the 2.5 has more power than our 2.2 impreza OBS. unless you'll be towing alot of very heavy loads the 2.5 power difference shouldn't matter. if power does matter, turbo is the way to go.

i have a parts car i'll be removing axles from soon as well....look forward to replied.