idosubaru

definitely buy new, these are a safety hazzard if the end joint breaks you loose control of the car. scarry looking if you've ever seen it. tie rod is easy to replace. just a castle nut and ball joint on one end connected to the hub and a large nut connecting it to the steering rack/inner tie rod. essentially only have to remove 2 nuts, that's it. if you carefully note where the nut is located on the old tie rod, you can get the new tie rod installed almost identically in place and probably avoid the need for an alignment. to save some posting and tangent replies, others here will strongly disagree and say go for an alignment. i let my tires tell me if i need an alignment as i have to rotate and inspect them often anyway (AWD you know), and i've never had to get an alignment. i've got about well over 200,000 total miles on subaru's with never getting alignments and my tires wear perfectly. alignments are cheap but hey if i don't need it and don't need to waste my time then all the better. and that's one thing i can't do myself, so avoids my car from ever going into the shop. so, go with what you feel comfortable with. if you don't feel you can do a good job installing the new one exactly the same as the old or don't pay much attention to your tires then get the alignment. i'd get a used set of hubs and rebuild them with new seals/bearings/grease then you can swap them in place of your old hubs and not have as much down time. that's how i do it.

overheating the engine is very bad regardless of the cause, so yes driving it if it's running hot is a bad idea. radiators are super easy to install. can't get much easier. once the fans are off (easy), there's like two bolts holding it in place. it has "legs" that seat in the radiator support on the bottom and two bolts up top. sometimes have to retract one bolt facing "UP" on the top radiator cross member just to keep it from catching as you remove it. so...remove hoses, fans and two bolts and you're done. make sure it's a clogged radiator. let the car warm up and drive for a bit. once it is warm you should be able to feel both hoses getting really hot. if the radiator is clogged it's likely the drives side will be hot and the passengers side will be cool. if both sides are hot then the radiator is likely good. feel the radiator itself too. hate to see you dump money/time in a radiator and that not fix the problem.

typically head gasket replacement is fine, fix the valves if any are damaged. if the car was abused, driven overheating extensively then there's no telling.

Vehicle? Mileage? has the fluid ever been changed? does the POWER light blink multiple times when you first start the car? i'd check fluid level and look to have it changed if it never has.

what kind of car this is for? year, model and engine.

there you go, this swap sounds easier and easier the more i hear. the broader the year gap between the SOHC and DOHC, the more i'd look into it. once you find a suitable SOHC, you should verify the year and any changes between 97 and the year you have.

we can banter all day long but aluminum parts for this application are perfectly acceptable. cast iron is cheaper than aluminum and the use of more expensive material for that part doesn't fit in their design philosophy for whatever reason. just because subaru didn't use it doesn't mean it's not acceptable. that's horrible logic. subaru, or any other car manufacturer does not make decisions solely on reliability or performance. many cars get better gas mileage, performance and reliabilty out of non-OEM parts or designs. why...well i could speculate but that's the manufacturers call, not mine. the OEM design is good (in subaru's case, can't say that about them all....ha ha...) and not a bad thing and i wouldn't fault anyone for sticking with it. but to say everything else is inferior is not valid.

i'm confused, power doesn't get out of snow does it? are you sure it wasn't burning rubber smell? i've been off road in snow and ice and with enough spinning on hard ice the tires will start to burn and smell. sounds like your clutch is slipping if you're smelling it? clutch slipping or not engaged fully or needs adjustment. are any of those possibilities? there are ways to test the clutch....does it ever slip on a start up a steep hill?

i have not done this swap, but have pulled some EJ motors. i am not positive but will offer my oppinion. i find it hard to believe this isn't a drop in swap. swap the entire engine assembly into your existing car. it should be plug and play, no need for an ECU change. swap the entire long block, intake and everything. the only issues you may have are the exhaust. if they are different, just get the exhaust manifold for the SOHC engine you install and it should bolt right up. a long shot - is the wiring harness on the engine different? i highly doubt it, but if it was you could likely swap your old DOHC engine harness onto the SOHC engine. 2.2 swaps into the 2.5 cars are done regularly without much issues, they plug and play, retain the same ECU and have no issues. certain years require bringing the 2.2 exhaust manifold with it, but those bolt right up to the rest of the "2.5" vehicle exhaust after the headers. bolt on swap. and they plug right in as well. if the 2.2 swaps are easy, i can't imagine going from 2.5 DOHC to SOHC is that big of a deal.

get a used one if all else fails. i'm not sure about copper and "bellow", and what exactly that is so i can't really comment.

i don't like the stock design. it incorporates two pieces of metal separated by a thin rubber ring. this rubber deteriorates and will fail at some point. the stock OEM pulley can separate and is a reliability concern. people have run aluminum pulleys with no issues for a long time. a properly torqued pulley will not spin off. it's a cast iron crank and bolt, torque the nuts out of them and they will not budge. they claim small percentage HP and mileage, that's fine but i like the reliability of a one piece design more. if they made a one-piece cast iron pulley i'd favor that over the stock POS. incorporating possible failure modes for little to no gain in funcionality is stupidity to me, but i am an engineer prone to focus on minute details noone else cares about!

good job pulling the codes, that's a tricky process on the ones i've seen. check the fluid first. the transmission speed sensor is located on the rear extension housing, i believe it's an external sensor and you can probably test it fairly easily. maybe you should check the connections first (make sure it's plugged in and the wires look good) from under the car. it's very close to where the rear driveshaft slides into the transmission. test continuity of the sensor and it's resistance and see if it matches what someone else gets off of a good unit. someone here probably have one lying around they can test for you to compare too. i'm not sure where to get those spec's from. maybe it's in the FSM too if someone wants to post that.

you will not find your problem here, i'd look elsewhere.

he installed the transmission? did it do this before the trans install? if it didn't do this before the transmission was installed then it's certainly something related to what the install. transmission mounts and pitch stopper all need to be checked. motor mounts as well. basically anything related to the transmission install or any other work he did.

most of the lower priced versions are underdrive pulleys. i was looking a few months ago and found nothing for stock sized pulleys on the cheap. i'd price stuff out before cutting your own. if you can come up with low priced stock dimension pulleys (and not the under-drive ones that saturate the market now), i'm in. if you're interested in under-drive pulleys (smaller than stock), they are indeed a dime a dozen.

it could last 1,000 or another 100,000 there's no way to put a number on it. if it's wasn't large pieces i'd be inclined to say it would go in the 10's of thousands of range...10,000 or more but who knows i certainly wouldn't be surprised if it ran a week. be nice to know what they are saying. aluminum or not? if it's aluminum and you can pinpoint some cylinder wall issues that aren't too sever the car will run nearly as long as you want to maintain it, assuming you replace any oil it wants to burn. if it's bearings....ah, not long.

dealer quoted my cousin $699 last summer for a timing belt job. so yes, you could easily be gouged. i did it for cost of parts only and the total came to about $300-$350 i think and i did it right. i replaced the timing belt, water pump, thermostat, timing belt pulleys, oil pump seals, cam seals....you get the point. dealers quote did not include all of that which i think should be done. your 2.2 is the last year for the non-interference 2.2 so if your timing belt did break there is no chance of damage to the engine. so if you wanted to keep plugging along in it you can. have the plugs, wires, PCV valve, and thermostat replaced as part of your tune up. cost will vary. be absolutely certain to use Subaru OEM wires and NGK plugs. NGK's are probalby $40 at Subaru, same exact plugs are probably $15 at the local parts store. you don't have to have it done by subaru, i never do, but always use Subaru replacement wires for this motor and the 2.5. this is not a dealer required service either, any competent mechanic can do it. these items along with an air filter and fuel filter would run in the $150-$300 range depending on all the possible variables. ask around (on here or word of mouth) for reputable local mechanics for sure.

even later 2.5's have HG issues. issue went from initially an internal head gasket then an external head gasket leak for which subaru dealers use the "conditioner", a coolant additive, to treat. not sure on the last year the 2.2's were available either. in general manual transmissions are much simpler by default and have fewer issues. auto's have the "torque bind" issue but are otherwise quite reliable as far as automatic transmissions go. get an aftermarket transmission cooler if you ever do get an auto trans...that goes for any vehicle not just subaru. at $30, it's great insurance. many transmission shops install them with new transmissions for just that reason. the 2.5's are great motors and not a bad choice at all, but they dont' carry the reputation of the 2.2's either.

look at the latest model 2.2 you can find and see if you like it. see if you can tolerate the year/body style then you'll have an awesome car that will last just as long as any other used car you're going to end up with and they have fewer issues. cheaper and more reliable if that's what you want. type in "headgasket" on the search forum and see how many 2.5 head gasket threads you'll see. i'm not saying the 2.5 is terrible but i'd rather have the 2.2 since it has far fewer isses and awesome reliability back to the early 90's. the reliability aspect isn't confined to "models" as they all use same/similar engines and transmissions. reliability is more accurately split into 2.2 vs. 2.5 and automatics vs. manual transmission.

i checked part numbers between non-turbo and turbo subaru's i have lying around and the MAF sensors were identical. the part number is printed large on the side of the MAF, have a look and see. i bet they swap.

the rear main seal, torque converter seal and rear seperator plate gasket should all be replaced at the same time. less than $20 in parts, a few hundred in labor. $300 - $600 depending on area/mechanic. check around for prices, this is a very straight forward job that anyone can quote. any BS and hang up and go elsewhere. i'd check a transmission shop as well, some will only charge $150 to swap a transmission (you provide the transmission_...my point being that's all that's required to replace the rear main seal basically. either the engine or trans has to come out to get to it. after that's it's under an hour labor. if they'd do a trans swap for $150 they'd do a rear main for $200/$250. i'd consider that a very good deal.

i've only owned about 15 of these things and sold a bunch so what do i know? seriously though we do live in entirely different markets, but here's what i'd do. it's all about time and what your time is worth. first - the severity of the rust is important. the rusted car will sell if it's sheet metal and not too terrible. you can work on that some yourself. if it's not safe and that bad then this isn't a good option. if it's really bad then you want the other car to be able to move on it's own power. you have a bad transmission? well if time is an issue swap in the AWD trans and lock DUTY Solenoid C (VERY easy) and run it in FWD. you won't need to swap the rear drive shaft, rear suspension (very large job and the mounting holes are not always there), and rear hubs, etc. that would save a ton of time, but you won't have AWD. if you have the time swap the AWD stuff over and sell it..hopefully at a better price if AWD is a good thing down there. the TCU should swap no problem, the wiring harness i would guess should be the same. might want to check and make sure all the pinouts are there before you start the swap and decide if there are any wiring issues (i'm guessing no) and if you got the time for those issues if they are present. there's a guy in colorado right now dying for a XT6 motor if you're willing to sell a good one. he just threw a rod.

the TCU (transmission computer) won't use the ABS sensors, so no worry for your transmission. remove the ABS sensor from the old hub and install just the sensor on the wiring harness plug. no need to install it in the hub, just install the sensor so the computer sees the proper resistance in line. or you could measure the resistance of the ABS sensor on the other side and plug a 25 cent resistor into the wiring harness plug for the missing sensor and the computer will be happy. also you can just unplug the wiring harness plug from the computer to get rid of the light. i can't tell you where the ABS computer is though. usually you can find a plug for the computer somewhere easy like above your feet by the fuse panel, just have to know which plug it is. i wouldn't worry about the mismatched tire pressure. it is a bad thing, but that one instance should not kill your transmission unless you're really unlucky. i towed one 700 miles (without addressing anything AWD related, tried but the shaft wouldn't come off) and it's still driving excellent to this day. i don't recommend it, i don't do it on purpose but....i wouldn't consider it the end of the world.

bam, what he said. he's got you pointed right. let us know what you find out.

make sure the coolant reservoir and or the hose it has running to the radiator aren't leaking. they are very weak systems. i've had a number of older subaru's that didn't even have a working overflow tank. to this day i don't know how or why that is, but i've definitely driven a subaru before that for 100,000 miles would never have any coolant in that reservoir but the motor was fine, no coolant loss. a new radiator cap might not be a bad idea. they can leak tiny amounts only when warm. of course i wouldn't expect any of this on a 2003 with only 40,000. that being said, i'd keep a close eye on it heat is nothing to worry about.