Gnuman

Thanks, that sets my mind at ease concerning the wheel at least. On the ticking, I was able to reproduce it, and it does get less when the clutch is engaged, but it is still there. It very much follows engine speed, and with the clutch engaged, is very dificult to detect over the normal vibration of acceleration. With the clutch pedal depressed, and the tranny in gear, it is the most noticable, but it is still there with the tranny in neutral. when the clutch is engaged in neutral, however, the ticking all but goes away. . . It is strange, and I will be looking at a few things tomorrow to see if it is something obvious, like a loose exaust manifold or somesuch. . .

the single wire is the sensor for the guage in the dash, and the two wire one is the one that Josh (Legacy777) recomended replacing. It is the sensor that the ECU reads.

Clutch is brand new (well 1200 miles on it. I replaced the clutch just before the trip) the ticking only happened this morning as I was dropping my daughter off at school. Ticking happens when the clutch is depressed, and follows engine speed. I drove later today, and did not experience the ticking that I felt this AM. I'll be driving it again tonight to get gas and will be looking for the ticking (trying to reproduce it). the tranny does not make any noise when the clutch is engaged, and it has smooth power in all gears. Even the speedo seems to be more accurate ( I tested it on my trip. first the odo by watching how closely the numbers on the odo matched the milage to whatever town I was approaching, then the speedo on cruise against time and distance. the odo is accurate, and the speedo matches closely to the average speed that I was going. Well within 3 or 4 MPH). I put the car up on jackstands this afternoon and discovered that the right front wheel is dragging just a bit, so I'll have to address that (probably just need to clean up any gunk I find in and around the caliper, which may be dragging a touch). Does anyone know if it is a common repair to pull out a flat spot on an alloy wheel? It is only a minor one, so it should be easily repairable. Oh, does anyone know if the Potenzas (re92) will work with a five tire rotation? From the tread pattern, I suspect that they are directional, and will not work. I need a good set of tires that will work well with a 5 tire rotation pattern, as I'm being sent an alloy wheel for the spare, and will need 5 new tires, and to rotate them with the spare in the mix. If the Potenzas will work for this, I'll go with them, unless there is a better all around all-season tire available at about the same value?

Adnan, I think you may have read that as the reverse of what I meant. when the clutch is driving the gearbox, the ticking goes away. when the clutch is not driving the gearbox it was there, this morning at least. I put the car up on jackstands this afternoon, and everything seems to be working well with the clutch engaged, so I'm not too worried about it. I did find some bad news, however: it seems that I must have hit a pothole pretty hard with low air pressure in the right front (which was on the back until I rotated the tires again today (it had been a while) and there is a small flat spot in one part of one of my alloy wheels. Does anyone know if there is a place that fixes that kind of thing? it is not real big, so it should be repairable easily.

Overall, the trip went far better than I could have hoped for, but a few strange bits cropped up right at the end: When I idle with the clutch out (released) I get this ticking that I can feel all the way to the shifter. When I put the tranny in neutral, and engage the clutch, it all but goes away. That is the biggest one, the other is that my A/C seems to have some gunk in it that is reducing the efficiency of the A/C. I bled all of that out, and put new refigerant in, and it is better. what worried me is that the low side fitting (where you put new R134a in) was clogged so badly that I had to open the system and take a knife to open a hole so i could get new refrigerant in. . . One last: the A/C system seems to take a lot of currant from the charging system. close to 35amps, actually. with both rad fans going, and the heater fan as well, I guess there is a lot of draw, but that much? Oh, and the fans are on all the time too. . . after 1200 miles averaging close to 80MPH (set the cruise on 85), I think that is pretty good all in all.

Time to bring this thread back from the grave. . . I just got back from a cross-country trip (SF to LA, then Albequerke, NM, then Mt Pleasant IA, then chicago, then Wasington DC, then NYNY, then boston, then home. 1200 miles in all) and I had no problems on the trip, except that the rad cap was worn out, and I started getting coolant smell. What was right, however, was that this 14 year old NA 4 cyl wagon will still make and hold 120MPH in rolling hills, and I never had to downshift for any of the hills, except when traffic slowed me down too much. THat is including several mountain ranges. Oh, and by the end of the trip I was getting on the order of a high26 to a low 27MPG at altitude. This car has proven itself so well that I will probably never own any other brand of car again. Ugly grille or no, Subaru's rock! (I don't buy them for looks anyway. I buy them for hows they are made.)

92 Legacy Wagon, NA, 2.2L 120 held in rolling hills (gentle grades up and down) at midnight on a straight road in Nebraska on the way home from Boston this week. And my struts are shot at that. All in all, I'm impressed that it handled as well as it did. . .

I never said that you shouldn't. I just said that I wouldn't, as I could not resist using it to more of it's potential than the Highway Patrol will allow Congratulations on your new baby, and here is a wish for many happy miles down the road.

He did. it is a MY97, and thus interference.

Did the SVX even survive that long? and he did say that he was talking about 2.2 and 2.5. He said nothing about 3.3L engines. . .

How do you feel about free-lance mechanics? I do work on Subarus as a means of "extra" income. None of what you mentioned seems anywhere close to out of my range. Send me a PM and we will talk. I live in the Delta Area (Antioch then go a bit east)

I would stay with the NA (non turbo) Legacy (or Outback) wagon, if you cannot get a good deal on a Tribeca. The main problem with the Tribeca calling itself a 7 passenger car is that the two rearmost seats are too small for anyone but kids. As the Tribeca just came out this year, you will not find any used, but the sales have been slow and you may be able to get a good deal from a dealer that just wants to get rid of one. I have a 92 legacy wagon, and it handles bad weather conditions very well. The Tribeca should be about the same in that regard (Subaru has been doing All Wheel Drive for a long time). they list for 30K to 40K (US) so they may actually be a better deal for you than most of the others. . .

First off, the oil pump is on the other side of the engine from the clutch. While you are in there, have the bell housing cleaned out and get the upgraded clutch. Have the flywheel turned while you are at it and get the release berring, and pilot berring replaced. While the flywheel is off, have them check the rear main seal (preventitive), and there is a plate on the back of the engine that was originally metal, but sometime in the mid 90's they went to plastic. get that upgraded to the metal one, it maintains a better seal. Josh, I'm sure you know the plate I'm talking about, can you link to a pic (I know you have a pic. . . )?

Best of luck to you. I honestly hope you can get annother deal like that.

OK, I'll weigh in on this too. I kinda like the front end of the Impreza, but not the rear (also do not like clear taillights). As for "Factory Rice", they did that with the STI last year at least. That monstrous rear wing is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen on a production car. The plain WRX was OK, though. I will never own either of these, however. I hate to see potential wasted, and if I drove either of these cars to thier potential, I'd be in jail toot sweet . So I'll stick with my Legacies for now. I'm happy enough with the 13 year old one I have, and will not be "upgrading" any time soon. . .

Yeah, I was thinking that it would not be a good deal for you either, but I gave the price as a reference number. . . The heads I quoted are from Autozone, and are rebuilt, so the machine shop work has been done on them. six of one, half a dozen of the other from where I'm sitting.

OK, I have a friend in CA that has a 96 EJ22 for $1,100, unless you get a better price. The engine in question has just over 60K miles on it. . .

the EJ22 became interferance in late 1996, for the '97 model year.

First of all, take the car out of the garage and turn it around (back it into the garage) so you can get at the engine bay more easily. As for how much it would cost, I dunno. look around for the cost of rebuilt heads, as a high estimate. when you pull the heads off, you will need to have them surfaced at the least (or you will be doing the job over soon). In my area I can get them done for $60 a head just to surface them. Now if the valves are bent, they may have damaged the valve guides, which would need to be replaced, that at least doubles the cost of the work to the heads. On top of that, there is the likelyhood of cracks in the head (those valves are hardened steel, the heads are aluminum, which do you think will be the first to go?), or at least divits on the valve seats. If that is the case, you have just exceeded the cost of rebuilt heads. That is just in machine shop work. Autozone in my area asks $450 a side for rebuilt EJ22 NA heads for a 97. So overall you are looking at 1K in parts as a safe bet. Oh, and the machine shop work you cannot do yourself, unless you happen to have a full machine shop at your disposal. . .

The pistons will also be dinged up, at the least. The block should be OK though. It will be a lot of work to fix this. You are far better off swapping the motor out and rebuilding it as a long term project to use as a spare down the road. Wheather you fix it now or as a long term project, you will be putting a lot of cash into this engine if you keep it. That is easier to take, perhaps, if spread out over a longer period. Meanwhile, you will have your Subie back on the road (if you take the swap out option), w2hile you repair this engine. . . You are looking at valves at least, and perhaps heads (or at least head work. ie:valve guides and such) along with the possability of needing new pistons (slight, but there). Swap out the engine and get the car back on the road, then you can take the old engine apart ande asses the level of damage caused by the misalignment. You can go from there as you see fit.

OK, I have read through all the replies to this problem, and the only thing I can come up with is that it is SOAs problem, not the dealer's. The dealer seems to have tried to do well by you, despite your review of the loaner car they sent you home with (loaner cars always get thrashed, and often start out that way ( a trade in that is too beat up to resell, but is still in good running order) ). The problem is defective brakes that got past QA at the factory. Perhaps the rotors were not correctly hardened, perhaps the calipers are bad, I dunno. It is not up to the dealer to fix the factories mistakes. It is up to SOA. Find the name of the local SOA factory rep and give him a call. even have him take a ride with you if that can be arranged. Have SOA fix the problem, and do not be so pissed off at the dealer. They are trying to do right by you, but thier hands are fairly well tied in this matter. As for the rest, how is the rest of the car holding up? If the brakes are the only problem, then getting them fixed (even on your own dime) is a good investment. You should not have to pay to get them fixed, but fixed they must be. . .

Actually, they do. On a MY91, there are two sensors, one for the guage, and one for the ECU, which does all the things you described above (except activating the temp guage).

If you are going to dump your Subie for something as simple as a HG, drop me a note, I'll take it off your hands. What you describe sounds like a clasic vapor lock. Change the thermostat, with a genuine Subaru unit (the aftermarket ones do not work well, if at all), and fill/burp the system before making any rash decisions. Send me a PM if you want help with this.

why did the old tranny need to be replaced?

Your throw out (release) berring is going out. As for the starting issue, it could be one of two problems: the starter is bad, ir rhe ring gear cast into the outside of the flywheel is bad (worn, chipped, whatever). You can check the latter when you replace the throw out berring. My recomendation is to buy a good clutch kit and replace all of those parts and surface the flywheel while you are at it. This will save you from having to pull the tranny out again in the near future.