Gnuman

My tow dolly bragging point is a 60 mile trip (with hills involved) towint a 92 Mustang 5.0 ( which itself outweighs the Subie by 200Lbs), and when you add the dolly, I was pulling 1000lbs more than my own weight. OK, I never got it into 5th, but the engine pulled the car(s) happily.

1) OK let's tick off the point where they are giving bad info: the 1990 EJ22 engine in your car is a non-interference engine which means that you could be going 80MPH down the road and if the belt broke, or "slipped a tooth or two" You would loose power and coast to a stop, then have to get the belt fixed. The valves and gears never share the same space in the combustion area. in 1997, they changed the design for several reasons, with the cost being that from then on the valves and pistons may impact if the scenerio above happened. 2) It would take a lot of an oil leak to cause a problem with the timing belt. I have worked on engines that were running just fine, qand had the O ring in the oil pump defirmes, and when I took the cover off, oil dribbled out os where the cover was. Yes, I replaced the timing belt on that car, but not from oil damage. It was simply the end of the service life for that timing belt. I also fixed the O ring and resealed the oil pump as well. . .(he was wondering why it was leaking so much. . .) 3) with gentle driving, the likelyhood of the cracked tranny mount bending the driveshaft (or even getting it to bind) is very slight. The reason I would have it replaced is because it may put undue stress on other mounts, causing them to fail earlier. You know, I plan to be up that way in a few months, I may swing by and toss it in for you, if you have already gotten the part. PM me if you are intersted. . . (also check the price of the part, compared to the repair estimate. . . )

OK, if they are different, it is likely that the nut has been replaced with an aftermarket one. The top bolt is a 14mm, and the bottom will be either a 14mm nut (as it should be), or a 17mm nut. You should not have to use more than a deep socket and a 6" or 8" extension. I pull these off often, and I'll tell you, compared to some cars the Subaru is bone simple. . . .

They really still are. Or, at least they are considered a "niche" car, for a particular kind of person. . . I guess "that kind of person" is me, at the very least. (red text was from me, black is the original poster of the quote)

My 94 has a towing capacity of 1500 Lbs, with the 2.2L. It can pull a lot more than that, but that is what it is rated for. . . I believe is you got the bigger wheels, (15") you got a bit mor towing capacity, owing to larger brakes and stuff. . .

EG33 And the engine type is "stamped" (actually molded into the block) above the #1 cyl. You can usually see it if you look between and behind the P/S pump and the alternator.

I'm using the Bosch Plus 2 plugs in Emily (my 92 wagon) and they seem to be doing just fine. I have plenty of power, good milage (25MPG on a 12 year old car, and I'm not exactly light on my right foot, if you know what I mean. . .)I just Seafoamed and put a new O2 sensor in, and the car feels like it is alive and wants to go eat up some roadway. . .

Contrary to your request, I will not take it easy on you! I will welcome you to the board with all the enthusiasm I can muster! Take that! OK, now that I got that out of my system. . . I have not heard of an aftermarket turbo for the EJ25 (which you have). Perhaps a new 2.5L turbo will fit in there but it will cost you a lot of money. Perhaps a few more details about the car can help to find a solution to the car feeling "too heavy for the engine". . . By the way, I'm very close to you, in Oakley (think Antioch), so perhaps I can take a look at things if you have any problems. . .

fork is a better word. . . that "tounge" is the clutch release fork, and really should not be rattling. Is there a good level of fluid in the resivior? has the cluch been slipping at all? Is there residue from a possable fluid leak in the area?

You have a phase 1 2.5 engine. The highlighted text is a classic symptom of a bad headgasket. What happens is that the gasses from the combustion chamber blow into the coolant area and cause a vaporlock (as if it had not been properly "burped"), which can cause the heads to warp if not remedied quickly. My guess is that it is time to have the head gaskets replaced. If the waterpump were the problem, then you would not have gotten enough flow to shove the coolant out into the overflow tank. . .

The shaking indicates a likelyhood that it is a front wheel bearing. Do you have jackstands? if not you could do it with just the jack, but that takes a bit more time. . . Jack up each corner, like you were going to change a flat tire, get the tire off the ground and give yourself a bit of room to grab the tire from any direction. Putting a jackstand under the car at this point makes things a bit safer, but you need to try to move the tire from top to bottom (try to shake the tire, not in the direction that it normally turns, but from the top and bottom). if you get any movement top to bottom, you have a bad wheel berring, or a bad ball joint (if the balljoint is bad, only the bottom will be movable and not the top) If you can shake the top of the tire, you have found the bad berring. Keep going, there may be more than one. . .

HAW!! the group that I'm working for has at least three Syncro Westies on the lot. Most of the work being done right now is getting the Syncros ready for Syncro De Mayo in a week. . . My job in that same week will be yanking an SVX engine/wiring harness so that it can be put into a Vanagon (at least this is my guess). Now an SVX engine in a Syncro. . .bwahahahahaha!!!! So did you use Kenedy kits or the Smallcar stuff? I like the Westy except for the engine, so Subifying them sounds like a real good option to me. . . (they always start with a waterboxer based Vanagon when Subifying)

Actually, it is easier if you take off the trim panel below the column, and the 12mm bolts that hold the column up, then remove the radio trim bezel (there are two screws there that hold part of that black trim in place). Then there are two screws that hold the trim panel to the HVAC control, then two on the top of the "dome" over the cluster. Now you are ready to pull out the mirror control switch and the rear defrost/cruise control switch panels (one screw behind eack of these) there is also a panel on the right side of where the column was that hides a screw. now the black trim panel comes off easily (it is a lot harder sounding than it really is) and you can get to the 4 screws that hold the instrument cluster in place. Remove them and pull gently until the speedo cable comes loose, then disconnect the wiring harnesses from both sides. Now you wil have the instrument cluster in your hands, and can get to the bulbs easily on the back. Check each for continuity, so you know which ones to replace. I have several spares of each size (let's call them large, med, and small). PM me if you need me to send you some. . .

Despite the evidence of others having similar problems, I think the dealer is jerking you around. In the older (90-97 at least) the timing is controlled by the ECU, as is the spark itself, and the fuel mixture and injector operation. Have them check out the knock sensor, and perhaps get them tp reflash the ECU as it may have become corrupted.

Yes, you can get away with that with no problem. That is only a minor difference in weight, actually.

If you finalise the CD-R then it should look to your player like an ordinary CD. I know the CD head on my '92 Legacy wagon is in need of adjustment (it will skip at the drop of a hat, and many "production" CD's will not work, while CD-R copies of them work fine). if you are burning in CDDA format (Compact Disk Digital Audio) and finalising, there should be no problems at all. Most CD players will not play MP3 format CDs, if that is what you are trying. . .

Now that sounds like you do a bit of professional radio communication. . .as in Public Safety services (Police, Fire, Ambulance). . . Or am I way off?

Unless it has changed since the 90-94 years (which I doubt), you use Dexron II ATF. Synth is at your descretion, but a lot more expensive. I have to research where the tranny filter is for your car, as I did not see one in the engine bay where they are for the 90-94 years. There is, however a drain plug on the drivers side bottom of the tranny that you can drain (part of) the tranny fluid out with and refill with fresh. I say "part of" because the Torque Converter does not drain this way (or at least not much). If you are shifting at 6K and you do not have the accelerator flored, then you already have tranny problems, and they need to be addressed. This could be a large indicator of why your milage is not what it perhaps should be. . .

You have to get Mom rivets to go with them though. . .

Shawn, you Subified an 81 Westy? was that an air cooled one? That must have been a PIA to do. . .Where did you stuff the radiator? I know that in the later models (waterboxers) burping it can be a pain as well. Burping a Subified vanagon will be an interesting experience. I'm doing freelance work for a coupel of guys that take totaled Legacies and pull the engine/wiring harness and use them to Subify later model Vanagons. Seems the Subaru engine is orders of magnitude better than the Volkswagon one. . . Who'da thought. . As an aside, most of the upgrades I got for Emily were from cars that we parted out (stripped, actually). Several other Subaru owners in the area have also benefitted similarly. I actually went a year backwards on my stereo so I could retain the AUX port on the tape deck, while adding the CD head (from the same car). Now I have all forms of media available to me: Radio, Tape (Logic controlled, so I can skip tracks if I want), CD, and iPod. . . this on a 12 year old car. . .

Not an Oops. That shim is the final adjustment, is my bet. . . Or am I being too generous?

I need the valve clearances for a 98 EJ22 preferably in mm. This is for an engine that is out of the car and the manuals I have do not list them anywhere that I can see. Are they the same as an EJ25? I need both intake and exaust clearances so i can adjust these valves.

My Legacy is a '92. I know what has been in there. no matter how much you think you have cleaned it, I would not eat anything that has been stored in there. . . .

Blitz, I have to comment on your signature. You have just put into words what I have been feeling for several months now. Thank you for that. I served from '83 to '89 myself, so I feel I have a right to say that. (served Army, 35H Calibration Specialist. When you pick up a torque wrench and know that you can trust your life, and the lives of everyone that gets into that vehicle, to it. . .Thank me. I repaired tools from torque wrenches to oscilloscopes. . )

It still sounds like a great deal. Remember that a lot of people come to this board to get help with problems, so they get pretty badly overrepresented in this venue. Not many people starting threads about how great thier cars are running, or no one responds to them anyway. . .