Gnuman

The O2 sensors are both less than 50K miles old, genuine Subaru, both replaced at the same time, while I had the engine out to replace the T-belt and seals. Replaced the plugs at the same time, as well as the air filter. I have been getting P0420's since before I replaced the O2's and the PO was fond of using really cheap gas (also skimped on maintainance as well, but that is another thread. . .) I am suspecting that it is the cat, but I am really hoping not. I have not yet run seafoam through the top end, and may do that today. I was just hoping for another answer. . . *sigh*

Title says it, 96 Outback wagon, 4EAT, 340K miles, took it to get smogged today and it failed at idle, with 158PPM (max is 100PPM). It has been so long since I have had any issues with smogging a car that I have forgotten how to bring down the HC number. Any clues?

I *got* my 96 Outback at 2095K miles, and I'm over 315K now. your car should be fine to get to 250K as it is, based on the info you have given. Just keep oil in it and the like. Tnhe previous owner on my car had neglected the car fairly badly, and I had a bit of work to on on her when I got her, but that is coming along nicely. I just did the timing belt and seals recently, and the car is happy as a clam now. (how do we know clams are really happy?) personally, I would not settle for 250K miles. . . Go for 300 at least.

I had a release bearing fail in my 92 wagon. Drove it for 4 months with the clutch cable disconnected as it had also taken out the pressure plate with it (bearing had seized and ripped itself to shrapnel, then ground down the fingers on the pressure plate until they all bent in around the bearing). Had to get a whole clutch kit and put it in there. When I could finally afford one I fixed it up right and all was well. If you are wondering how I drove it: put the gearbox into neutral whenever you have to stop, then start the car in first gear and shift by matching the revs of the engine to the revs of the transmission. with the clutch cable released the pedal goes to the floor and you can start the car in gear. Yes, it was ugly, but it worked and I *needed* the car. . .

it does not apply why to fwd/awd cars because it worked by shifting the weight off of the rear bearings, by sending it forward. in fwd/awd cars, this only adds *more* weight to the bearings, if they are in the front. . .

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all, I have been away from my computer. Yeah, it was sounding like a wheel berring, but I could not find any physical indication of that. I'll just go ahead and have a new berring swapped in and see if that fixes it. . .

yes, the noiuse was there to begin with.

The sound is like a wheel bearing (wowwowwow), except more of a grinding noise, and it happens even going straight. there is no looseness in the wheel when it is up on jackstands, and when I pull the halfshafts out of both front knuckles, they both turn freely with no hint of anything like this happening. Front Diff also feels very smooth and shows no indication if bearing problems. sitting in the passenger seat, I feel the vibrations through my feet like it is right under them. None of the wheels are loose in any way. I came in suspecting a wheel bearing, but could not find any confirming evidence with the wheels off the ground so I'm asking for a second opinion from you all. car is a 97 OBW 4EAT, 110K miles. I just replaced both front halfshafts. Thinking about putting both front berrings in, but I do not want to just throw parts at the car. . . Any ideas?

You should count that as two: my 92 was sold to my partner and she drives it all over the place, but those EJ22s are indestructable anyway. . . That and my '96 is now stable to run for a while. . .

Yes, the tensioner pulley should pivot freely when tightened all the way down. Otherwise the tensioner system could not work. Looks like the hole that the tensioner pulley threads into may be a bit messed up. Subaru sells that bracket for $40, Pick and Pull has it for $16. guess where I got mine. . . To be sure, you are using the sleeve that goes into the hole in the tensioner pulley, right? also, that sleeve is supposed to be free-moving in the tensioner pulley itself. When I took it out of the car, Mine was all bound up, and I had to push it out with a larger bolt so i could clean it up. if that sleeve (which is really a spacer) i9s bound up, the pulley will not pivot when tightened down.

Hopefully the other bit(s), are not lodged anywhere they will do harm. In better news, when you are done, your car will know it is in a good home, where it will be well taken care of.

OK, it took a bit longer than I expected. I went to Pick and Pull today and grabbed the bracket that was stripped out, and redid the timing belt with a working tensioner. I took a test drive tonight, including a few fairly steep hills. Wow, that was a major improvement!! I barely had to touch the gas except to accelerate, and even that was a lot less than I used to need. got stuck behind a slow moving driver on one of the steeper hills, so I went around, and boy did Betty jump on that!! The previous "mechanic" had all but raped the engine, but I was able to bring her back! She now knows she has a good home with me. It only cost about an extra hundred dollars in parts to make her right. . . . And that from pick and pull. . ..

Thanks, i needed a giggle this morning! Engine is back in the car, and all done except coolant and final checks. Hopefully, I'll have good news later today on how it runs.

More bad news: the bracket that holds the timing belt tensioner has two threaded holes in it for the bolts that hold the tensioner piston in place . . . or at least mine used to have threaded holes. . . the reason they were so loose coming off was that the previous "mechanic had stripped those holes out. . . Beginning of next month, I'll be going to pick and pull to grab a new one and redo my timing belt with a good bracket on the engine

I happen to know it has not been given that. I did test it once on premium, and it did not run any different. . . Of course, three out of four cams being two teeth off may have had a bit to do with that. . .and yes, the one that was right on was the left intake where the cam sensor is. . .

Wow, indeed. . . My guess is that the previous "mechanic" stuffed it into the lower rad hose to keep it from dripping coolant, then forgot to take it out. . .

I can take the bad with the good. I really can! *sigh* I started on the drivers side head today (cleaning it up in prep for new seals) and I found one canted forward, almost out of the fitting! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/o7Gm_-8dHrr7Wcu4aGaiiQ?feat=directlink Also one of the bolts on that cap was just past finger tight (ready to back out on it's own). In better news, Houston, we have confirmation of HLAs! that has to be the best part of the whole engine right there! (can you tell I'm a fan of HLA's?) https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nzr1mfZx1dIj6MtXPdaYUQ?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/u-n_L78M1aa5OwAD-0bhnA?feat=directlink Oh, and the previous "mechanic" was a believer in "The bigger the blob, the better the job" it seems. Must have used half a tube of Permatex on the half moon caps at the back of the head. Yeah, that will be getting redone. . .it is cleaning up fairly well though, so that is good. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gCKvfbQJXQeClck2jhMXCA?feat=directlink

Oh yes. really worth it!! Turns out this engine is the 96 MY phase 1 EJ25, the only one to have HLAs so thisw will be a very fine engine when it is done. I just may have to come in here and vent a few times before it is done. The engine should be in really good shape too, as it is coming to me in a thick protective coating of old dirty oil and sludge. . . .

Yeah, it gets that way when you buy a vehicle knowing it has "issues". . . I'll just be glad when this is done and I have finished laying hands on the engine to revive it.

well, I cracked open the valve covers and found that I do indeed have the HLAs instead of the bucket and shim system of the later model engines. When I pulled the remains of the timing belt covers off, I found that three out of the four cams were two teeth off. I guess that accounts for the lackluster performance I was getting from this engine.

A safety valve is a device that is used on many types of tanks and boilers to prevent the tank from exploding. This thread is to prevent me from exploding. . . Betty Bear is my 96 Legacy Outback that I bought off of a friend. I knew she had been lax on maintenance, and the last person to do any real work was either a crook, or an idiot. . . maybe both. Betty rolled over 300K about 12K miles back. I have been scrimping and saving for the parts to do the service I know she needs: Timing belt and all new seals at the minimum. Let's start off with a look at the beauty i'm working on https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3EtXskxmgZTl8owJxL_IIQ?feat=directlink As you can see, this beauty is well worth the effort I'm going to be putting into her. You may have noticed the lack of a hood scoop. That was not added until 97. So with no idea how many miles were on the timing belt, but a growing suspicion that it was well past the service interval of 105K miles, I started in on the job. the first thing I found was this: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6manHShzh2032TR2_4w_Kg?feat=directlink What amazes me more than finding this was that the car did not overheat at all! Yeah, this sort of set thde tone of the whole job right there. . . https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QBab6tFgVjZi_2gz26CMDw?feat=directlink In this photo, you will notice that the middle timing belt cover has been cut in half by the timing belt. This happened before the last time it was worked on (new heads because the original timing belt snapped), but the last "mechanic" did not deign to replace the damaged parts. . . https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AGFWL0cH_iF7ulT2VXumaQ?feat=directlink he didn't even bother to put the bolts back in the rail that keeps the power steering lines secure. . . https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qjn9gAnwCY6YyLR6g8PBKQ?feat=directlink and if you look closely, you will notice that the oil separator is that silly plastic pos that has been causing so many problems. Good thing I have the new better working kind on hand to replace it with. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TFD1pJEiR4C17LIFc2E74w?feat=directlink Oh look! an original 96 MY engine! I'm still wondering if it has HLAs or if it has that shim and bucket deal that the 97-99 MY engines had. Yes, I'll be reporting back later on that. On top of some missing bolts, several of them were not the original bolts that came on the car, and really really not the right size. You know that one nut that goes on the drivers side lower stud to hold the block to the bell housing? Well, that nut turned out to be a 9/16" nut, instead of the usual 14mm one that came on the car. and it was cross threaded all the way down the stud as well. Took me two hours fighting with it to figure out that it was a replacement bolt, and then annother hour fighting with it to back it off. . . By the time I got the engine out of the car, I was fuming so hard that I just really had to take a bit of a break from the car and come in here and vent for a bit. Thank you all for the use of your collective shoulders to cry on. It is getting better, as I'm certain that when I'm done, this car will be one hundred times better than it was when I started.

I have had a couple of 90-94 legacies, and never had a problem with the fuel pump. Now I have a 96 Outback, and the pump went (this is the second pump I have seen go out in a Subaru, the other was a 97 Leg sedan). I must say that the level of quality in the 95-99 subarus was just not up to the standards of the 90-94 (or the later ones, even). They tried way too hard to cut costs during those years. The Fuel pump from a 90 Legacy will run an Outback just fine, by the way (I had to pull the one from my 92 for a bit while i searched for a replacement I could afford), but the 00 and later (guessing as to the year they went back to a plug instead of open leads) is probably a better bet in as far as fuel flow rates are concerned. You can also get an aftermarkey unit that is rated much higher than the OEM unit for about $100. Often tuners will pull the nearly brand new OEM pump out of thier late model WRX's to put one of these more powerful units in, and then they sell of thier old ones for cheap. That is how I got mine, actually. Look over at NASIOC to see if you can find one that way.

2nd is not slippy, and engine brake in first is good.

and slips something nasty when cold. I replaced the reverse clutches, and swapped out the Duty B with one from Pick and Pull, to no good effect. Swapping out the clutches with new ones helped a bit, when cold, but nothing when the tranny is warm. I want this tranny to work, not a swap out with an unknown one from the yard. . . Anyone here good with the internals of the 4EAT?

I'll be posting pictures soon ( i have to take them, you see), as I have been too busy to do so, with the 93 Leg wagon that lost reverse in it's 4EAT, just as I was almost finished, the owner asked me to reseal the engine. . . That whole job will be done by tomorrow and I'll have my new fuel pump on Monday, I'll bet. When I get paid for the 93, I have parts I need to pay for for Betty, to clean up her cargo area. I already got the parts for the front. When the interior and paperwork are reasonable, I'll be pulling this engine, and perhaps the transmission for reseal, head gaskets, and perhaps new clutches in the transmission. the car has 300K on her, so she will need a bit of TLC in the drive-train area. . . As it is, the engine leaks like a sieve. . . More later!