idosubaru

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.

spark plugs and wires are a good start. use OEM wires, i personally use magnecor wires as they are excellent and never need replaced which means they yield like new performance after 100,000 miles. and they do, as i've had multiple sets for that much and more. otherwise, don't get anything other than OEM Subaru wires for this motor. use NGK plugs only. be sure they are gapped properly. check your tire pressure. next time you buy tires get the skinniest size tire you can get. typically you can step down at least one width in tire size (or one up). if you do high speed cornering or drive aggressive then don't get thinner tires as they won't perform as well (but you wo'nt notice a difference for daily driver typical driving). 02 sensor, but i've never had any mpg increase from changing these, but everyone else says it can help as do the advertisers (but i certainly don't trust them!). what kind of driving you do makes a difference as well. more time on the brake and go pedal equals less gas mileage. make sure you don't have any unnecessary weight in the car that you're carrying around. i don't claim it's accurate but i read before that on average (whatever that is?) every 100 pounds of extra weight can reduce gas mileage by 1 mpg. for all highway miles extra weight doesn't make any difference though. i would see zero difference driving with a loaded car entirely on the highway then unloading and driving home empty. but for more stop and go circumstances possibly.

what? an EJ motor will bolt right up to an EA crossmember with no modification? that's crazy talk, i never new that but i have a couple EJ22's lying around. i wonder what kind of gas mileage the EJ22 is capable of with an EA transmission. i know my impreza gets crap for mileage compared to the older EA vehicles. my 6 cylinder XT6 with gets better mileage than my EJ22, both with AWD auto's.

cool thanks, will (or won't!) do. i wasn't going to, but sounds straight foward, i'm swapping soon as i can two the car here. looks like snow may delay that. thanks again all.

probably could. CCR has a great reputation with subaru motors and has been around along time and done nothing but subaru. price the parts or ask the local shop and see what they come up with.

cool, no need for FWD yet. i figure if they're the same gearing and it's a straight swap why not have dual range right? it's exactly the same as the FT4WD trans in there except extra gearing. i'll swap the RX motor and trans into my XT Turbo at the same time. thanks again all! awesome, you're the MAN!!!

sometimes you need to rock it back and forth or turn it a little to get the splines to line up. they can be picky and want to set dead on before it'll slide. if there are different axles (i'm not familiar with all the varieties of EJ's out there) count the splines on the transmission output shaft or on the old CV shaft and see if they match the new one too.

i think youre on the right track, i can't imagine the car running fine when cold if the timing belt was hosed. although having a cam position sensor i can see why he's so intent on checking it out on an interference motor. ECU is cracked up on the wiring to one of the sensors could be shorted/bad? probably a good idea to test continuity resistance of the cam sensor wires from the ECU pinout if you have new sensors but still have the code. i don't know the spec's of those sensors, you'll need an FSM or someone to tell you. dealer can tell you if you can't find it elsewhere. ask for the resistance of teh sensor, or test it and compare to someone else's.

thanks, makes sense. how hard is it to swap this 89 dual range RX trans into an 87.5 turbo XT FT4WD? only issue is room for the additional shifter? (not including the low range) the gearing is the same right?

is the dual range RX transmission a FT4WD or does it have a FWD mode as well? i thought the dual ranges were all FT4WD, but saw another thread today that says there are dual range trans with FWD modes.

if the CE light is on, have it checked and post what the code is. advanced auto parts, autozone, etc can read the codes for free. or dealers/mechanics do it for a charge $40-$80. give us the code and code description the decoder thing spits out. and also, mileage, ever had a tune up? recently in the shop?

if you have a 96 outback, try posting in the newer generation forums in case the valve HLA setup is different than the older generation. there were changes to valve trains in the newer soobs, but i don't know when. a moderator may end up moving this to new generation if he sees it.