idosubaru

frank, a very good friend and mechanic told me when retrofitting never to use R134a with oil in it. he said the most consistent results he has is just converting straight to R134a without any oils. mixing of the oils is a bad thing. but this is all talk, lets get down to business. if you're not planning on having this vehicle long and the A/C is working i would't worry about flushing it. just recharge it to where it needs to be. it's probably a leak causing issues, not the stuff in the system (maybe not ideal but doubt that's keeping it from working entirely if you just put one can in). recharging won't mean much if you have a leak. the most probable cause of leaking on a car of this age is the valve stem core. often you can see wetness or tiny bubbles if you peak down the ports at the base of the valve stem cores. but if you've recently charged it'll be wet anyway. replace these as they have tiny seals at their base. replace the valve stem cores on both high and low pressure ports of the a/c system. if you don't want to buy the $3 tool to remove them or open the system up to replace them, you can tigthen them a bit and hope that seals any leak that may be there. there is also a tool that allows you to replace them without opening up the system, but they are much more expensive. if you do open up the system then that's the time to go ahead and buy the generic box of a/c o-rings at the auto parts store and replace the o-rings at every fitting that you can easily get too. only takes a few minutes and tightens everything up. i just did all this on tuesday so it's fresh in my mind. i was adding charge last summer and it wasn't holding. i replaced o-rings, valve stem cores, pulled a vacuum and charged. all is well now. you could just vent the system to the atmosphere, the high pressure will blow some of the stuff out. then recharge.

are you asking about the swap itself, auto transmissions or 4WD capability? swapping is a PITA like he just said. if you can, wait for a good deal on what you want then sell the other. if you have loads of spare time and want to do this, then tear it up. having a complete donor car would be key to making this easy on yourself. it's easy to pick one up with issues for not much $. the auto transmissions aren't too bad. keep the tires matching and buy a cheap spare trans just in case. i had to replace mine around 155,000. the used one i insatlled made it another 70,000 no problems and i'm installing it in my other XT6 hopefully someday. i'm a weirdo but i don't mind the AWD auto transmissions at all in terms of off road traction. install the Duty solenoid C switch and an LSD and you're golden. the switch is the key though, it's awesome. but i don't rock climb and plow through pits...unless i have too. more function than play for me and i never have problems getting where i need to go.

exhaust work is simple with two major annoyances. working on your back/under the car. and rusted/deteriorated bolts. spray them good with liquid wrench or PB blaster (WD40 is not a good alternative). best to wet them good a couple of times prior to working on it, particularly if they look bad. there should be gaskets at any exhaust flange or juncture but i am not familiar with foresters specifically. typically they have a doughnut gasket at the front of the converter assembly and a gasket at the rear. in texas i doubt it would matter at all what you replace it with. i live in the north east, famous for rediculous emissions and auto laws. i replaced mine with an aftermarket converter ($35), welded it in place of my old (hollowed out) converter and all was fine, passed emissions easily. each state is different though, some (like VA) are immensley anal about exhaust work....but i can't imagine texas being like that. the state...that every time i drive through it i see multiple vehicles towing (well...pulling, towing is kind of generous!!) other vehicles on the interstate with a rope or chain. i'm surprised your converter is bad, are you sure?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-475-JDM-Subaru-Legacy-BG5-1995-Fog-Lights-Switch_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33709QQitemZ8070282677QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

i'd imagine a failed bearing could cause irregular tire wear. is that warn tire on the same noisey side? warn/damaged bearings may allow the wheel to "fall" in to recover the loss of material. that's all speculation, i've never seen it happen. lost hub caps are unfortunately normal and shouldn't be the cause of any issues. sounds like youre talking opposite sides - tire is not on the noisey side. have they been rotated recently? the problem may actually be somewhere else (the bearing side or up front) if the tire spent some time on another hub. i'd check the air pressure as well. the rear underside isn't rusted badly is it?

could be rear brake pads as well. does the noise go away when you press the brake pedal? if so, it's brake pads. could also be the rear differential if it's an AWD. this is likely not the case since you said it's "the left side". the rear diff would sound centrally located. so it's likely the wheel bearing. cheapest and easiest fix is to get another hub and swap it out. used hubs are $35 each and easy to replace. replacing the bearing is the best option. i personally like to buy the parts, have a local machine shop install the bearings and i swap the hub out. i have spare parts so i can do this while i'm still driving (though i've never had a wheel bearing fail, replace them at 200,000 miles as preventative) and then i have no down time with the car. around $150 for the average shop to do this.

yes you need the gasket, the "mouse" style. on the seals link you posted, there are three seals. you'll need the top two, not the bottom one. the top one is the oring that goes inside the pump housing. the second one is the seal on the outside of the oil pump, that the shaft goes through. the last one is for the oil pick up tube in the oil pan. you do not want to bother with this one. firstly getting the oil pan off is annoying....and that's the easy part! no need to replace this one. in all there are 3 parts needed for an oil pump reseal on an EA82. the o-ring, the mickey mouse gasket and the shaft seal. on the ER27 (XT6) it's the same except it does not have the oring inside the pump housing.

the original OEM Subaru part is metal with a rubber o-ring compound exterior. when you replaced your timing belts you also pulled the entire cam carrier off, pulled the rocker arms and all?

noone has used the word "cheap" or said anything about this place. we're making sure that people know the cam shaft o-rings in question here aren't really o-rings in the typical sense. they have metal in them, orings do not. there are alot of seals/o-rings on the cam carrier, best to make sure we're talking about the right ones. are you talking about the ones between the cam carrier and the head? were the ones you got metal?

this is a common question, use the search button and try to read some past threads/debates/arguments/oppinions. it's a volatile subject at times.

you can remove the belt and drive the car 4 miles. as long as you don't need anythign that is driven by the belt you can drive it just fine. 4 miles is no problem to drive on just the battery. don't use anything you don't have too electronically. in reality 4 miles is nothing for a battery to get you somewhere. you won't have power steering, but that's no big deal. you're buying an entire alternator to fix a broken bolt? are you sure a new alternator will fix the problem? can you post a picture of it?

so it's unlikely that a 98 Auto will work in a later model year?

can you put the legacy VLSD guts in the EA 3.9 rear?

they are on the bottom, but that doesn't really matter. do not buy a generic o-ring for this part. like GD said this is not a normal o-ring at all. i have seen (and posted the pic even) someone re-use an old one with sealant. the sealant got sucked up into the oil passages and caused oil supply problems to that side valve train. the same could happen with a normal o-ring. the good news is that the partsbin o-ring is indeed the right part. thepartsbin is the only aftermarket supplier i've seen that carries this (one reason i'm impressed with them). Subaru sells them for $2.10 each i believe. alot for an o-ring. but it's not a normal o-ring and it's still less than $5 for the two you need, so no point in trying to be cheap about this one. i've bought tons of them from Subaru, i usually keep a few on hand.

i would check those wires you were messing with. if they shorted and damaged the ECU they will likely do the same to the next one you install. that's nuts, you can really smell it?

fusible links are next to the battery under a black cover. check those. remove and reinstall, making sure they have good contact. do you have any power at all? are the battery and connections good, tight and clean? have you done anything to this car recently? or it's been a daily driver for a year straight and then the next day it does this?

be sure to use something strong. i prefer a ratchet extension. crank bolts can vary wildly in effort to break them loose and that effort can shear whatever you put in the flexplate, dropping the remainder down in the bellhousing.

do the water pump if you're doing the timing belts. belts are good for 100,000 miles so you won't be going back in there anytime soon. otherwise you're relying on the stock water pump to go 200,000 before you get to the next timing belt/water pump install. do it all now and hopefully you're good for the next 100,000 miles. check all the timing belt pulleys, replace any that are loose or noisey for the same reason....if the water pump or the bearings fail they take the timing belt with it and this is an interference engine.

no tool necessary. you can put it in gear if it's a manual transmission or use the access hole in the bellhousing to get to the flexplate and hold it in place there if it's an automatic. i've done both many many times. an even quicker and dirty way is to let the socket hang on the crank bolt and bump the starter (be sure not to start the car). be sure there's something for the socket wrench to rest against, it will slam against it and knock the bolt out instantly.

is the distributor lined up properly? this can be easy to get wrong. do you have another distributor to swap in and try? what is this? a turbo, non-turbo? has the engine ever been pulled or had major work done to it? no check engine light? did you use any parts that might not be compatible...like earlier year ECU?

interesting, thanks for the follow up. i'll be sure to never neglect getting springs checked in the future.

if it sat for a year i wouldn't be surprised if it's a little noisey for awhile. it will probably go away. some MMO, ATF, Seafoam should do the trick. lots of oil changes. change it early the first few times, or at least i would. change it often afterwards or at least keep an eye on the color of it if you want to go beyond 3,000 miles. doubt you'll need to but could be oil pump related as well, resealing the oil pump may help. does it sound isolated to one cylinder or "all over" and random? if it's isolated to one cylinder then it's more likely the MMO and others will help. if it's all over and affecting them all, then it's more likely to be oil supply related. my bet is on the later. give it a little time though, they can be really noisey after sitting for awhile or a rebuild/reseal but quite with some running.

i removed the belt driven pump on my XT Turbo. now the XT Turbo is an EA82 model, so is your GL/DL an EA82? if so, the XT6 rack will swap right in without any issues at all. you'll need the rack and the hard lines that attach to the rack. if you do that, it's a straight swap, no custom work at all. then get the pump and lines as well. not sure the layout of the DL/GL though, might be some minor things in the way, spare tire or something. but that's no big deal. i do not have it powered yet though, haven't decided on powering it full time or trying to get the stock power controller/computer set up to run the pump. but i know jeep guys that run these pumps as well and they run them constantly powered with no issues.

if the 2WD trans drive and shifts fine i'll take it. any idea when you'll have it out? month, end of summer, end of year?

might help to give an idea of what you're looking for - how much work you want to do, custom or bolt on, how much power you're looking for...etc. you're not really going to make an XT6 'fast' so i wouldn't consider it a good candidate for making fast on a low budget. a better muffler, intake, distributor timing will help some. a good tune up and cleaning up any grounds, power, sensor connections can help just as much as some mods too. best to start here, get the car running well stock and then go from there.