idosubaru

bryan, no worries then, you're probably right. not that hard to loose a bolt or even crack the timing covers. the older/more brittle they get the worse that tends to be, yours being so new i wouldn't expect it but definitely not uncommon still.

the engine could run okay after replacing pistons and rings, but there is risk involved and you don't by a new car to "take chances", that's what used cars are fo. you are certainly right to demand a new engine. too much money and expectation of quality and reliability at stake to open it up and replace it. if you wanted a car that needed work, money and time put into it you could have bought one of those. you paid for quality, service and warranty and it's about time they stood up to that. i've seen other posts on this board where members have had their engines replaced. might want to see what kind of problems they had to get to that point. i'd hate to see the engine experience severe damage to the point it is certainly ruined and they have to replace the engine....before the pistons arrived. i think that's what would happen to mine if i had to drive it while waiting for the pistons to arrive, i just know my "luck". it would probably happen on a backroad, by myself with noone around. bottom line, i've seen others have engines replaced, i'd look to have it replaced as well.

looks like the timing cover bolts. there are alot of them and most older subaru's are missing at least one. a fair number of people on the older generation forum (including myself) are running without ANY timing covers, so i'd say you don't have anything to worry about by missing a bolt or two. if you don't like it, source a known good used part and have it replaced next time you have the timing belts, water pump or oil pump seals addressed (if that ever comes to pass that is...). the zip tie should work great actually. or if the threads are still in it and good get a bolt for it. the only issue is anything loose that has enough play to run into the belts or radiator fans, but that's ALOT of play so you won't have that problem. good luck and have fun, gary

DUDE !!!! send some of those officers to the east coast. these guys do NOTHING, but act like their doing something. crime, what's that? revenue generation, that's what they do. not to fault them, it's dictated by the higher ups, gov, $, etc. but the system definitely doesn't work like the average citizen would like...or most expect. AWESOME you got the car back. that rocks. sucks on the clutch, but probably easier to fix than bad body damage. did they hack the steering column up in wiring it?

yes advance or others will pull the codes for free. being ignition related wouldn't surprise me and a tune up like you're doing is a good start. very straight forward and easy job. be sure you're getting NGK plugs and they are properly gapped for your car before you install. if they are from the dealer they will be NGK's, but you can get the same NGK plugs at any autoparts store as well. use OEM wires only (which you are). take care in seating the wires on the spark plugs, make sure they are fully seated, feel for the "click" when they seat, that's the definitive sound/feel that makes you sleep better. use anti-seize on the spark plug threads (available at any auto parts store) and there's also a grease for using on the spark plug wires so they aren't ruined next time you have to pull them out (if ever again!) good luck and have fun, gg

i think money/time well spent would be on an aftermarket trans cooler. at 110,000 miles i think you have a very good chance of not having any issue leaving the old seal in place. and the car isn't that old either, another bonus. still good to make sure the torque converter is seated properly, it can come out some when you pull the engine. probably didn't, but on older cars they stick right to the flexplate sometimes. just make sure you don't use the engine to trans bolts to push the torque converter in and you're fine. good luck and have fun.

i think it's just a matter of things expanding and seizing internally. let it cool down and it'll free up. i had the same thing happen to my first subaru a 1988 Subaru XT 4 cylinder. didn't know anything about cars, it overheated and i kept driving it....had to down shift from 5th to 4th as it lost power, then to 3rd, then 2nd then eventually it just stopped and wouldn't turn over. came back the next day and it fired right up and i drove it for another 2 years after that without issue, after i replaced the water pump of course. ended it's life with coolant loss issues...probably head gaskets but who knows. now that i work on all my own stuff i probably wouldn't believe that story if someone told me.

you could get the part numbers off of that website. if you know someone in the states, have them buy the parts and mail them to you. i've done it to new zealand and norway.

these guys have EA82 front rebuild kits for $3 and $8. can't beat that. https://www.rockauto.com/ no XT6 kits though, not that anyone else cares!!!!

there are rebuild kits out there, i found one for less than $10 a couple years ago for my XT6 front calipers but have not been able to find another set. well worth it and easy to do. i can't recall where i picked that kit up. wish i would have bought a few sets. for brake fluid, i find it a good idea to buy more than i think i need. for how cheap it is, i'd hate to spill a bottle or need more than i think and not finish the job.

it's not terribly difficult to replace, at least inspect for any leakage if you don't want to replace it. how many miles on the car? if you're up around 200,000 then i'd think about replacing it. thing is, if it did start leaking you'd be pulling the motor again to replace it. probably more likely for an old seal to leak than a new one. i've always replaced them but also can say that leaking torque converter seals aren't very common. installing the torque converter can be tricky, do a search here and you'll see plenty of threads about people not being able to get them to seat. the last 1/4" is difficult to seat and if you don't do it or don't notice, you'll break internal parts of the transmission when you bolt the engine back up. so be prepared to pay close attention if you pull the torque converter out. on the older 4EAT's the torque converter has a ring seal on the shaft, might end up needing one of those as well if you pull it out. shaft has a groove that the ring seal fits into. this is a dealer only part for sure. good luck.

sweet that would have been cool to see...in a way, hate that it happened of course. nice pic!!

axles are easy enough to replace, i'd replace it and see how it does afterwards. make sure the axle nut is tight and the washer is on the right way.

cv's generally don't rumble and vibrate the steering wheel. i'm one that drives on broken and clicking CV's for 50,000 miles with no worries. but with rumbling and feeling it in the steering i'd fix it. sounds like it could be the wheel bearing though. if it's that bad, it should be obvious once you get the wheel off and have a look at it. if you pull the axle shaft out and it's still noisey or hard to turn by hand then it's likely the wheel bearings. if time/money is a concern i'd replace with a used hub. they don't fail all that often and they generally give you lots of warning (noise) before they actually fail so no worries about being stranded. replacing a hub isn't that hard at all, much easier than replacing bearings. or pull the hub and take it with new bearings to a machine shop and they'll replace them for you much cheaper than taking the car in for wheel bearing replacement. that's why i did last time, took my hubs into a machine shop. but my bearings weren't bad, just doing it for preventative maintenance. if the bearings are that bad, the hub could be ruined though so you might need a new one anyway.

read the write-up i did about repacking the bearings. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50430 takes about one minute and no need to order, pick up or buy parts.

agreed, and if all the spark plugs weren't out, the throttle not propped open, etc that can also reduce the readings. but low compression can also point to mistimed valves. are the tensioners both good (no stripped threads, causing them to be sloppy)? tensioners can seem to be on right but not be holding the timing belts in proper tension which can affect valve timing. i'm not thinking this is tensioner related because the readings are the same on both sides, but maybe the timing is off? sorry...i know you checked that already.

the EA82 headgaskets are easy to do and can be done easily in a weekend, even in a day if you have all the parts you need. no special tools required, air tools help immensely with getting headbolts out and cleaning the head bolt holes. the heads should be machined, checked, repair the cracks between the valve seats and a valve job in my oppinion. if you do the headgaskets, be sure to replace them both. replacing one is a bad idea. easiest solution is to get a known good block. then you don't have to worry about all the head and valve train issues and possible rust/damage to main or rod bearings. best to repack (or buy new) the timing pulleys, replace the timing belt, water pump, oil pump, crank seal and cam seals while you're in there. the water pump, oil pump and cam/crank seals are all behind the timing belts, so they are right there in front of you when replacing the timing belts. i can do all of this in 2 hours so it's not that hard. double that for your first time. you could just try slapping on two new headgaskets to get it running and see how you like it. then while it's up and running start sourcing a good EA82 block and the transmission you want (dual range) and get them ready for a big swap. pull the engine trans togehter when you're ready and install the "new" engine and trans already bolted together, won't take long at all. for that matter you could start doing that now and get the motor/trans you want. get a good engine, bolt it to the dual range trans you want and pull your old engine/trans out at the same time (they'll both come out bolted together) and swap in the new stuff.

i'm used to 150 psi, are the older models a little lower? i thought SPFI had higher compression ratio pistons that MPFI EA82? but, i don't think that's enough to keep it from starting, those look good. is the injector shorted and staying open too much/too long? that might not be possible, just asking. could the ECU be bad? i know you've checked but: spark plug wires? (1 and 3 front to back on passengers side. 2 and 4 front to back drivers side). electrical timing is set properly? timing belts are lined up dead on (each cam is 180 degrees apart from the other, one up one down)? all engine harness, distributor connectors are fully seated? does it have the right distributor? some are different across different EA82's? maybe someone swapped distributors at some point?

i know nothing of the EA82 starters, but the auto and manuals will not interchange on the XT6 probably for the same reasons you just mentioned can sometimes be an issue on EA82's.

could the clutch just need to be adjusted properly? i've seen new clutches often need help shortly after installation. don't know if that could cause noise, but could cause the pedal issues. the cable could be stretched/bad too. badly adjusted cable is bad on the clutch as well and maybe is causing noise? don't know, but worth a look.

do a compression test and post the results here. i looked back through the thread and the fuel injectors are getting wet? are you sure it's fuel and not coolant?

have you tested the fuel injector? can you still get it to start by pouring in fuel into the intake?

i would not use an easy out, they suck. i've broken dozens of them and they probably work about %10 of the time (on easy stuff, they never work on the difficult things). use a left handed drill bit to try and extract it. if you're familiar with helicoil, then keep using that on any stripped or bad threads. get a right angle drill (you can rent one if you don't have one) to help drill if you can't get to the bolt. be very careful drilling into the head, go at an angle or too deep and you may hit a water jacket. a machine shop would be nice. if you're down this far and having these issues, might want to make sure it's done right if you run into any trouble. i would not reuse the head gasket. that's just my oppinion which is precautionary, i certainly don't have any experience with that though. if the car hasn't been heated up then i bet you could get away with it, but i'd hate to try it myself.

engine wiring harnesses fully seated? i know someone who had an issue they couldn't track down and eventually figured out that they had bent a pin on one of the connectors while inserting it. straightened the pin out and the mystery was solved. this was at the ECU though. after 6 months is the gas no good? gas goes bad. i got an XT6 with that issue before. had been sitting awhile and wouldn't start until i got new gas in it. is the injector good? it clicks/opens closes with 12 volts? or is this a constant duty cycle injector?

yes, bad gas can cause a motor not to start. very common with any motor, cars, mowers, tractors, anything that sits for awhile. like mentioned earlier, i'd let the fuel pump do all the work. disconnect the hose by the fuel filter and let it go to town. be sure to cut it off as soon as it's near empty as the gas cools the pump. it'll heat up and be short lived if ran without fuel too long.