idosubaru

yes a bad battery can still "run" and start a vehicle but cause other problems.

yep that sounds good if they're attacking the rust and painting it properly which it sounds like they are. i'd look and make sure the frame or rear suspension isn't rotted so bad that it might start falling apart soon before making a large investment in the paint and rust though. a board members car ended up stranded at my house because the rear wheels collapsed in and rested against the inner fender well due to rusted out underneath.

GD is right, the shop is FOS. there is no way an EA82 engine ECU can give you any code that would lead to an immediate diagnosis of a bad valve. first - look up info on this board about the EGR valve (NOTE - the EGR valve and valves in your engine are COMPLETELY different, so don't get confused). anyway, the EGR valve stuff is very easy to fix. do some searching on the board here and you'll find info on fixing, replacing or just removing it. if you keep oil and coolant in that motor it will have no problems making it to 200,000+ miles without any major items except timing belts (required replacement every 60,000 miles).

phil - your fan needs to be yellow. if it went up that much because of the fan change i'd look into that a bit more. maybe you need two fans? how big is the new e-fan? is it pulling air the right way? runs highest at idle or on highway? with or without a/c running?

correct, the car won't run if the timing belt brakes on an EJ22. i've pulled ones at 100,000 miles that look fine on the EJ25, still has the subaru stuff on it with minimal wear. actual breakage will depend on many, many factors with a built in margin of error and safety factor. so yes, any belt should outlast it's service change interval buy a fair amount. when an idler bearing seizes or oil and antifreeze get on the belt or the car overheats (and the belt gets hot)...it is desirable for the belt to far exceed it's suggested change interval. the tighter they make tolerances the more likely to have customers sitting on the side of the road, that doesn't make for happy customers.

that's a ton of money for a paint job, but probably about the right amount if he's doing the job right. i'd be more concerned about how they're treating that rust and if they are fixing it in mind to make it last. if that's the case then that cost may be close. cutting out metal and properly building it back for a good paint job is alot of work and custom but the best option if you want to keep the car for awhile. a cheap paint job can be had for $500 and will do little more than cover the rust and bubble up in a year or less and start flaking off. make sure you're not paying $3,000 for $1,500 worth of work. find out how they are tackling the rust and if they are doing this good of a job it should have some kind of warranty with it, get that information too. no matter how good it looks when it's done, there's nothing worse than paying lots of money for a paint job only to have it go sour in a year.

Subaru's aren't the weirdo mobiles that they may appear to be. it's an engine and transmission that mechanics will gladly work on if you like paying the bills on it. parts are not hard to find. the 2.5 motor has been around in various forms since 1996 so there are plenty of parts and manufacturers that supply stuff for them. for 100,000 miles and 5 years none of this should be an issue really as most newer cars don't have problems getting to that mileage with minimal to no repair costs outside of maintenance items. really depends more on the mechanic than the vehicle. subaru's are not special, but good/honest mechanics are. i see $1,000 repair estimates all the time from subaru dealers and mechanics on friends and family vehicles that i end up doing for next to nothing or isn't needed. is that subaru's fault..no the mechanic.

alt and batt often fail in pairs. i see it all the time when friends/family call me with problems. off the top of my head i'd say 30-50% of the time they have a bad batt or alt, they are both bad or the other fails in a matter of months. i'm not an electrical pro but what i've seen supports what these guys are saying. i'd have the batt tested or heck if it's old at all might be best to replace it, they aren't that expensive. if your connections were dirty/corroded the battery may have a very slow leak in it as well, might be another sign that replacement is in good order. with a good alt, battery and tight connections there will be little to no corrossion at the terminals.

sounds like you got it about right. simply put - prop the throttle open, disconnect plug wires, unplug fuel pump, remove plugs and crank the engine over a few times for each test. prop the throttle open and you don't have to hold the gas pedal down. the gas pedal keeps the plate open so air moves freely to the cylinders, otherwise you'll get a slightly lower reading sometimes. remove all the spark plugs (the wires will be remove when you do this so yo'ure done with that). pull the ignition coil wire if you'd like, i never do. unplug the fuel pump and crank the car for a bit. keep it simple, those other steps are unneccessary in my oppinion. test compression. the oil in the cylinders will help seal rings that have blow-by. so if you're compression is low and goes up with some oil then that cylinder has some blow-by. this doesn't work so great in subaru's because of the flat 4 design. in a subaru the oil will pool at the bottom of the cylinder and not evenly disburse around the cylinder walls very well so it's not all that efficient of a test on a subaru. a leak down test would be more appropriate. or just attach your air compressor to the cylinder with an adapter and add air with both valves closed and see where it's escaping. if it's blowing through the oil dipstick and crank case venting areas then the rings are bad. through exhaust or intakes and it's valve related.

but they're listed at $42 through advance so they're still $34 each? the XT6 is actually listed cheaper than the EA82 4 cylinder at thirty something.

excellent company, excellent product, honest company, excellent experience with many sets over the years. they indeed last forever and are inexpensive. i've put over 150,000 miles on a set. my buddy was replacing his OEM jeep wires every 30,000 miles...we put a magnecor set on it and he's now around 100,000 on that set. very good to deal with. i injurred one of mine and they fixed it or sent me a new one, i can't recall but it was painless and no charge. the EJ series wires are excellent as well and won't have the issues like other aftermarket sets have. if you know the EJ series they are really an OEM Subaru only item, but the magnecors are the only other option i'm comfortable with on those engines. be careful replacing them though, i put them on my best friends car and a subsequent moron replaced them with some cheap-o off the shelf crap. you can order through them direct or their website but you can typically get better deals through distributors. a little searching on the internet should do you right.

probably a good idea, the 3.0 is still a baby and not much track record. probably be a fantastic engine, but i'd rather not be the one to find out either way. the 2.5 is great.

05 will be fine.

an ideal set up would be to own two cars. a FWD XT is capable of 40+ mpg and have you other for the dual range fun.

why won't they match?

not true, you can also run in RWD. which the title of this post suggests he is doing.

rebuilt motor, bring it if it's known to be rebuilt and known to be a good job. entire block? just head gaskets? turbo gaskets, water/oil lines? sounds like a good car if it's a quality rebuild.

the SVX has the only higher final drive ratio, but like mentioned above it has different axles. it would be a very very small difference in gas mileage anyway. getting different tires is probably a much better alternative - skinnier and taller = better mileage. tire compound makes a difference to but harder to compare.

what are the differences between the 2.2 and 2.5? i've yet to see a local 2.2 with a blown headgasket for sale eventhough i've seen some with 200,000 plus. see about one 2.5 every month or 2 for sale with a bad headgasket....and that's only the ones that admit it! the problem areas may lie where the 2.2 platform was changed to accept the 2.5 goodies. seems to me the coolant passages would be similar since the heads are interchangeable between the two, but i've yet to open an EJ yet either.

i wouldn't get the 2.5. there! the turbo seems expensive. there's a local selling a 93/94 legacy turbo for $2,000 appears to be in great shape. i'm tempted but i'm moving.

forgot about value. if you plan on reselling and it's badged as being in and accident before then that will deter prospective buyers. it may even end up with a salvaged title depending on your state laws.

you will definitely want a stand alone/dedicated ATF cooler. yes your car has one now, every automatic subaru has one. they are incorporated into the radiator side tanks. very weak design and since the ATF doesn't even pass through the fins, only the side tank..and coupled with the fact that the radiator is heated by the engine coolant makes it most inefficient. an aftermarket cooler costs $30-$40 brand new. completely bypass the stock ATF routing and go with a dedicated ATF cool, it's well worth the investment.

if you get larger wheels you get smaller sidewall tires so the actual wheel/tire combo size does not change. but...if you wanted to go with larger rims and tires you can do that as well. the dealer is F.O.S as usual. "mess up the cars sensors"??? what they have "wheel size sensors" on them? ha ha. your limitation will be clearance if you want larger tires too, but you can for sure go up a size or two with no issue.

does it matter AWD/FWD? i don't guess it does but dealer gave me FWD sway bar bushings and they wouldn't fit in my AWD. that plymouth idea sounds crazy...any chance of posting a picture of those? if anyone else tries this, post pic's if you can. just curious, i won't have time to do this any time soon.

pat yourself on the back for not reusing that thing after it was beat though. that's one job you don't want to say "well that's good enough" on.