Gnuman

IIRC, in 2003, the EJ25 got the redesign that it should have gotten in the first place, resolving the headgasket issues at last (the jury is still out on that last part, let them get a few more miles under thier timing belts before quoting me on that)

The latter. the fuse is used to lock out the rear drive output. When you insert a fuse, there should be a FWD indicator that will light up on your dashboard

Nope this is a plain jane USDM setup. Bought here in CA by an older gentleman that drove it for the first8 years of it's life, then my stepdaughter drove it annother three years before giving it to me (with a dead clutch and bad balljoints) at 135K miles. Heh, in the year and a quarter that I have had it, I have logged 56K miles all by myself. . . I truely love this car. I got it with a fair amount of body damage (original owner disdained bodywork unless it affected systems he was interested in, and the stepdaughter lived in SF, so bodywork would not have served her well. I'm in the process of correcting that) but a good powertrain (other than the clutch), did a few PMCS type things (plugs, air filter, oil change, gear oil change for the tranny) and drove it until the clutch went. Then I put in a new clutch and balljoints. I admit that I have not been "nice" to this car, other than keeping up on oil changes, but the car seems to love it as it performs as well or better than most of the new cars on the road. I still get between 19 and 30MPG depending on how I drive, and if I'm towing something heavy. And a top end of 120MPH is more than enpough to satisfy me, as it is more than I will be using on the open roadways. Car was rock stable at 120 as well. Felt like most cars doing 80. . .

To answer your question regarding replacements: the headgasket that was the most problematic was the DOHC version, and Subaru redesigned it to make it longer lasting. On those early 2.5s, this corrects the HG issue. On later models, I understand that the issue is not headgaskets, but I'm not sure what it is.

Thanks, 777. Does your speedo seem off to you? I get the impression that mine is about 5MPH high at speed, but OK on surface streets. I plan on robbing the speedo from the donor just to be sure. . .

the 2002 is interference. The headgasket problem has moved from the "combustion chamber/coolant jacket" to "coolant jacket/outside" union. Subaru has "remedied" this with a stop-leak type product. Lifters are solid now, not hydraulic like yours are. In 2001 they changed the auto tranny WRT the AWD system (I believe torque bind is greatly reduced this way, on the order now of the manual trannies). Suspension also changed, and you no longer have struts in the rear. You have coilovers instead. More goodies added to the interior, but I'll bet you expected that. . . No real issues thqat I know of. the SOHC engine is a bit easier to work on than the DOHC that you have is all

They may be. I would grab the diff from the donor as well, just to be sure. Also, I believe that they went to a new transmission design in 2001, so I'm not sure your TCU/wiring will match up without some fiddling, unless you are going to a manual tranny?

I can. From the diagram itself, the dotted line goes to the hatch opening, not the door.

WhAt are you looking for, exactly? the 2002 model year used the same engine as your 2000, and the tranny from EJ series Subaru should swap in just fine. Be sure to make sure the Diferential matches the tranny though. The easiest way to do this on used parts is to get the diff from the same car as the tranny. If the diff has a different gear ratio than the tranny, it will tear up the tranny, causing expensive problems.

The two sizes are 14mm (a bolt at the top), and 17mm (a nut below). You will also need a 12mm box wrench to remove the battery cable from the rear of the solenoid. Remember to remove the ground cable from the battery first, or things may get interesting if that cable touches anything metal. . .

You are probably looking for 63112 A and B in the .pdf above. Does that help any?

Nope, no airbag. I just have the L model, not the LS. Granted I am in the process of upgrading most of the parts the the LS level. . .

Sparkey, do not give up on that car just because the previous owner rode it hard and put it up wet. Yeah, there are a few problems right now but they will be fixed in time, and then you can start to really enjoy the car. I also got my car as a derelict, and have put a good bit of cash into repairing/upgrading it. At this point, the car is not for sale. At any price. It would be somewhere between hard and impossable to find a car that would serve me so well with such reliability. Yeah, I just said that. Find the vac. leak. That will likely go a long way towards fixing the idle. Also check the throttle position switch, as if it is badly aligned, it can cause the ECU to not recognise that you are at idle on the throttle, causing it to not idle the engine. This will also throw a code usually. the other thing to do is spray some carb cleaner down that hose that you found (and pinched) causing the idle to not return even as well as it was. This leads to the Idle Air Control valve, which can get dirty, causing it to react more slowly than it should. Is the valve ticking gone yet? If not you may want to pull the valve covers and clean the Hydraulic Lash Adjusters, or even replace them as needed. Setright is correct on the parking brake, and I would strongly recomend checking all of your brake pads. It sounds like the Previous owner was. . .Ummm. . . less than diligent. . . on maintainance. This means that what you got to start with was a project. What you will have when you have it running right is probably one of the best cars that Subaru has ever produced. They are that good.

OK, I propose a group trip to Tokyo, to pay the crack-smoking "engineer" that did not test-fit the original EJ25 for acessability of regular maintainance items a visit. We just want to share our feelings with him about this engine. . . Yeah, that's it. . . share our feelings. pay no mind to the bats we are carrying. . .

I have yet to check the redline MPH for 4th. it is 80 in 3rd, 50 in 2nd, and about 25 in 1st. 2nd I can start from, 3rd needs a good 15mph to do any good, 4th needs 25, and 5th is no good under about 50. nice wide powerband there. gives me two to three gears at any speed, when needed. Gotta love that kind of flexability. Yes, i love the engine in my Subie, and the tranny is at least as good. That damn thing actually belongs in a truck, not a car! I have seen cars with twice the engine size pushing half the tranny as my Subie. My question was not how to get more MPH out, however, but is the MPH I got the actual top end, or os there a speed limit on this year? I did not list my tranny in my original post as that is not germain to my actual question. If I was posting a problem, I would have listed it, but I don't have very many of those. . .

use sealant sparing ly where metal hits metal, or on sharp corners. The gaskets in the set replace the use of sealant in all other cases. where metal hits metal is the oil seperator (at the rear of the engine, make sure yours is metal. If it is not, replace it with a metal one.), the mating surface of the oil pump, the oil drain pan, and the two halves of the block. Sharp corners are the cam covers around the cam seals, as well as the two plugs at the rear of the cam area (DOHC EJ25). Head bolts can be reused. Be sure to follow the torque sequence. Also, the cam berring caps are torqued to 14Ft-lbs, and the cam seal caps are torqued to 7ft-lbs. Have the heads checked for flatness before they get resurfaced. Most of the time they do not need it. resurfacing them when it is not needed takes away metal that does not need to be taken away, and changes the compression of the cyls without needing to. If the machine shop has to replace or grind any of the valves, make them adjust the clearance on the cams. It is a lot easier for them to do so than it is for you to (it is one of those things that can get very expensive very fast).

Go to the dealer (or 1stsubaruparts.com) and get a couple then. Also, check your wiring for shorts or other problems. There is a reason that this thing went out, and you really should find that problem and correct it soon.

I will add a second to that. You should have seen my brake pads the first time I changed them (that reminds me, I should probably check them again. . .)

OK, we know that FHI's legal department made the engineers put in a high speed fuel cut at 115MPH because that is what the original tires were rated for. My question is this: when did that fuel cut start? Is it coincidence that my Emily tops out at 120, or is that the artificial top end implemented by the ECU? I want to kow if I have actually found the top end of what my 191K mile engine will put out, or if the plug is being pulled by some engineer because it is too powerful for the tires. Don't get me wrong, 120 is fairly amazing for a 14 year old NA engine with 190K miles on it, and without mods at all. I was just wondering about that speed cut. It does not feel like I'm hitting a cutoff (I can feel it in lower gears as I hit redline, but 120MPH does not feel like that, it just simply will not go any faster). Color me curious.

You forgot to attach the plow blade, Hound. . . Carl, I plan on it. Also, since I'm actually living in my Subaru, so I'll probably be putting a page up about how that all works. Subarus are about the perfect car for poor people. Maintainance is minimal, reliability is extremely good, economy is decent, and since no one knows how great they are, you can still get them cheap. . . Every once in a while, I really pay attention to how well Emily is running, and every time, it amazes me all over again. sitting at 191K miles, I hit the gas at freeway speeds, and she just surged forward, like she was saying "Oh yeah, it is about time you decided to hit the gas! Let's GO!!". Not exactly what you expect from a 14 year old NA 4 cyl wagon with close to 200K on the clock.

Wow, Oskar, that looks a lot like Emily, but with a raised roofline. Never seen one like that. What year is it, anyway? I have 190K miles on Emily, and she runs like a top. I suspect that yours is about the same. What color does yours list as, and what features come on the GX? Oh, and WRT the Forester on the last page, I see a wagon as a Subaru that has a sedan version as well. Legacy wagons also have sedan cousins, Impreza wagons have sedan cousins, Outbacks are lifted Legacys or Imprezas, and so on. There is no Baja sedan, no Tribeca sedan, and no Forester sedan (sorry). When Subaru releases a Forester sedan, then the current Forester will be a wagon. If that sounds harsh, I'm sorry, but I know of no other way of saying it.

I have seen drum brakes on a Legacy wagon, but it is a bit rare. I mentioned that it is something to watch for. The same with AWD. The LS package gives you several nicities, so I would go with that as a starting point. If it is an Auto tranny, insist on a test drive and see if the tranny drags or bucks at all on corners. The auto was much more prone to this (torque bind) than the manual. I would do the timing belt service just to be certain. Add refurbishing the oil pump to the list Nipper gave: new oil pump O-ring, and tighten the screws on the backing plate for the oil impeller, then reinstall with a thin coat/bead of RTV or better. the screws back out with time, and I have seen several of the O-rings installed badly, causing oil leaks. at 120K the engine is just getting broken in. The rear sway bar on the LS also requires getting the rear trailing arm and a few other bits as well. The front is unchanged, as far as I know.

Listed capacity is 1500 pounds. Uh huh. . . Let me see, I have pulled to date: a Mustang 5.0 on a dolly (about 1K pounds more than the weight of the Legacy), a matching (well it was an LS, not the L I have) 92 Legacy wagon, both of these over hilly terrain. I have also hualed an engine/tranny combo, a pair of engines, and a refridgerator inside ( at seperate times). I have yet to find a load she has trouble with. I got my hitch at etrailers.com, and it is a class II hitch, which is rated for 3500 lbs. I plan on adding a stronger pressure plate and clutch, and AGX struts to the rear swaybar I just scored from the matching wagon I pulled recently, so towing capacity will only increase from what I have already done.

Carl, it looks like you are having a great time in that WRX (IIRC). I will have to post pics of Emily when I get the matching doors on her. The doors come from a dead (crank pylly fell off while it was being driven) 92 LS wagon with sunroof and all. I'm hoping to transplant the sunroof as well, along with the cleaner wheels and rear swaybar.

I would not trust any engine touched by Dealer 1. Make them put in a CCR rebuilt engine at dealer 2 and make dealer 1 pay for it, as they killed your original engine. You can also get SOA involved, and get a Subaru rebuilt engine (rebuilt by Subaru) installed at dealer 2. Do not let dealer 1 touch anything else on your car, or make them give you a new one for breaking the old one (not that they are likely to do that)