idosubaru

can you post a picture? something is certainly weird. you're sure it's not coming from the ATF fill tube where it fits into the trans? you need to verify that part of the transmission housing is flat where it's leaking. if it's flat and the pan is flat it should work. are you sure it's the right pan as well? i guess so if it fit and the gasket fit? i'm still wondering if it's really the pan and not something just above it...which is why i ask about the fill tube/dipstick tube.

just got a new XT6 the other day..finally found the AWD Auto i wanted. the fuel door latch doesn't work. i push it and nothing happens. never looked at one of these jokers before, any clues? did a search and couldn't find anything...except posts where people didn't know how to open it!

how old is this vehicle? the radiator could be plugged up. no coolant loss? are the fans turning on when the car starts to overheat? i'd look into the radiator being plugged. when the car is warm...feel the hoses and make sure both are hot to the touch. a clogged radiator will often result in one of the hoses feeling "cold" to the touch. after that i'd think about the water pump....not sure on how to test it.

get a good valve spring compressor. i bought one from advanced auto parts and it's a POS for the older subaru motors. does not work well, if at all and is dangerous having lack of control with all that pressure.

this has been discussed/argued in other threads but i don't know that you need the proportining valve anyway. try searching on some other threads if you have questions about that as i'm not positive.

the engine and transmission come out of the engine bay as an assembly. no need to pull them apart, just pull them at an angle. XT6's will come out the same way as well.

old radiators become inefficient. how is yours? how is the radiator cap as well? in my experience, compression testing is not helpful in diagnosing head gasket failures. all of the slow leaking gaskets i've seen that run and drive fine will test fine. as a matter of fact i've seen them test higher than the other cylinders if they start leaning towards "getting worse". i believe too much water in the cylinders somehow bumps up compession artificially or the gauge just doesn't like it. whatever the reason, i've had good readings on bad head gaskets. i'm not saying yours is.

i didn't think these has retaining screws but wasn't sure. older soobs do. unless i'm mistaken i think the rotors should come off if you take the caliper bracket off. let someone else chime in but that's how it usually works. newer ones usually have no problem coming off. some taps with a rubber mallet if it's stuck at all. if you jack the front of the car off and try to turn each front wheel slowly you can probably isolate which rotor is warped and only replace that one. you'll feel the wheel "catch" at one point of the rotation. this is the bad rotor. make sure your caliper slides are greased well and the piston moves in and out fine. a sticking caliper will heat up and warp the rotor.

if you wanted to risk it you could keep on going since it's a 1996 which is a non-interference year. not that i recommend that. the tow bill and follow up "emergency" repair bills usually aren't pretty. my buddy has 200,000 on his toyota he bought with 60,000 on it. supposed to change belts every 60,000 and he NEVER has. if he wasn't 1000 miles away i'd do it for him.

are you talking about the axle nut (big joker, usually 32 or 36mm)? i didn't think you need to remove the axle nut to get the rotor off. should only need to remove the brake caliper (both pieces) and any retaining screws on the rotor.

i would be very surprised if a parts store had a new one. you can try on-line with advance/auto-zone/etc... to see if they carry it at all but my guess is dealer only.

it's at the top of the block towards the front of the engine, the bolt head is on the passengers side. i know exactly what o-ring you're talking about, didn't think about that. picture is no where to be found. i'm going to compression test and clean it off see where it leaks from after that. now that i think about it, the oil dipstick always popping out leads me to believe it's blow-by as well.

when pushing the caliper pistons in did you unscrew the cap to the master cylinder? if not, this can blow the seals in the master cylinder. it's not that uncommon for master cylinders to fail during brake work....why would only be speculation but i guess a master cyilnder close to on it's way out gets subjected to slightly abnormal use during brake work and finally let's loose. who knows, all i know is that i've seen it happen a few times. actually i've never seen a brake master cylinder fail independently...it's always been right after brake work, but i've only seen a couple fail. i like to bleed the brakes with air hose that they use in aquariums (you can get it at any pet store or wal-mart in the pet department. this clear air hose lets you see the fluid as it's coming out (and if you loop it around properly you can bleed yourself). anyway...being clear you can see if there's air bubbles in it. if you're constantly pushing air bubbles through the hose then you have a leak somewhere (look for fluid) or your seals in your master cylinder are bad. if the calipers are installed and you're not loosing fluid, in my experience it's always been the master cylinder that causes soft or no pedal pressure. though other things can go wrong, i've never had to diagnose the brake booster or anything else so i can't help you there.

i tightened the bolt and it did slow down the leak considerably....but it was still leaking. and leaking from other places as well (like mjdc suggested it would, good call!) i was using 10w-30 oil. i switched about a week ago to 20w-50 and it hasn't lost any oil since then. maybe it's due to something else and maybe i'll see oil loss shortly but it appears to have "gotten better". i'm going to clean the engine and do a compression test and see what i get and how much it's leaking.

dont pick on jeff...he gets enough of it at xt6.net keep posting about these lifting blocks.....i like the idea.

you disassembled the ECU down to the board and soldered in the burnt out resistor? that's pretty sweet, nice job. messing with the ECU is not profitable, it's been discussed a number of times. the amount of $ and effort would be better spent towards a stand alone like MS. unless you're highly efficient with computer hard ware and software. how did you burn it out? i recall this last week and you picking up another ECU, but don't remember what you did to burn it out.

i replied to your PM, you can copy and paste it here if you think it'll help someone later. but yes, that green is your enemy. clean it out as best you can but it'll usually come back once it's infested the connector. on the couple that i've actually cut the green corrossion even works it's way back the wiring harness once it gets up in the connector. i'd start looking for a non-green used connector.

the connectors or wires to the TPS could be bad. the only time i've seen it, it was obvious because you could just wiggle the connector by hand and the engine would buck, shake, try to stall then idle smooth....all over the place. connector was clean and fine. i worked my way back from the connector and started bending the wire around looking for short, got to a place about 3 or 4 inches behind the connector where every move i made in the wiring would cause severe engine idling issues. i installed another connector with 6-8 inches of wire and all was well. have you ever touched the TPS or throttle body before for anything? the TPS on an XT6 can be cleaned out fairly easily. someone just posted a write up on how to do it at http://www.xt6.net , he said his car smoothed out considerably in drivability.

i'll bet this isn't that new to you. i'd bet you've had similar experiences before...i'm fond of the ones that send emails and PM's asking how to fix something or for advice without ever posting. i usually ask them to start a thread and i'll reply there.

dealer quoted my cousin $699 for timing belt and water pump last summer. i'd say you're looking at $500 - $750 depending on mechanic/dealer/local prices and what exactly you get done. definitely add a minimum of $500 if the timing belt hasn't been replaced or you don't know.

look at your L and H ports and see if it looks "wet" down inside the valve stem. use a flashlight to peak down there. if it does, it would be worth the 50 cents to replace the valve stems or at least tighten them. they have seals at the base and are a very common cause of leakage. funny thing though....i never see "cheap" a/c fixes when talking to others but i know for a fact that these valve stems leak and need replacing.....so how many $1 fixes plus charging end up being WAY more is what i'd like to know! i've stayed away from the leak additives myself, maybe someone else can comment on that for you. i replace the orings and valve stem cores instead.

i look up 80's subaru's all the time on autotrader, did it today. you shouldn't have a problem doing that. expand your range as much as possible...consider flying somewhere and driving it home. i've gotten some of my best deals/subaru's that way. well worth the effort to get a good deal on a great car. there are some subaru's in the northeast, but northeast sucks for rust though....

sounds normal. could be due to warmer temperatures/summer. your owners manual will explain that this is normal, it specifically mentions oil pressure. it could be reading low just due to the sending unit being old/dirty/bad connection. it's the one wire sensor in front of the oil filter if you want to have a look at it. just pulls apart and slides back on. that connections could be bad or the sending unit is old. if it was anything mechanical i'd guess the sending unit first. they are cheap and super easy to replace. you could be loosing some pressure due to age, but that would only be gasket related, not oil pump related. unless something really odd was going on, you will be fine to take your trip. if there are other symptoms, lots of oil loss/leakage, or something like that then let us know and we'll go from there. otherwise you're golden.

if you think about fixing it, i have a 1997 OBS passengers side impact parts car. you can have the shell with the parts you'd need to fix this, doesn't look bad at all. this one would have the front cross member/radiator support, bumper, hood, drivers side doors. if i see a sedan for cheap i'll let you know. i saw something, wasn't a sedan, may have been an OBS for $700 somewhere but can't remember where.

put what back into what? not sure what you mean. you talking about cost to do these things? are you paying a mechanic or doing it yourself?