Gnuman

I am glad your friend and his mom were in a Subaru when that happened. The car gave it's life to protect thiers. A very honourable demise to be sure. It saddens me that your frinds mom will not accept that the car did it's job perfectly, protecting them, and finds excuses for the wreck. That is an offense against the memory of the car.

There is a place on CO that sells used Subie blocks and wanted to sell a buddy of mine an EJ25 block to bolt up to his EJ22 heads. I was leery of this plan and called them, and also talked to some people I know about it. Now, I'm getting the view from this board on what you think of this plan. I do not like it, because I do not trust them to match up, but the company says that it bolts right up and if you use an EJ25 HG, there are no problems. I still do not trust it and talked a few of the guys that I'm working with who transplant EJ22's into Vanagons. One has a buddy that has done this and says that the compression ration goes from 9:1 up to 14:1 and there is dificulty starting unless you get a gear reduction starter. The guy does not do his own repairs, so he is in need of something very reliable. His original engine should have been (93 Legacy wagon bought with 60K miles on it, and it had the knock then), but I suspect abuse level neglect by the original owner, who all but stopped driving it several years ago. . . (I wonder why. . .). What I'm guessing happened is that they went to Idjit Lube and they didn't tighten the drain plug which backed out on the highway as they were driving. Then the Oil light comes on and they say "that can't be right, we just got the oil changed" Right up until it started clattering. . . So what should we do to keep from breaking this guys bank? I'm thinking that we can lift the engine (without pulling it from the car) and drop the oil pan and replace the bad berrings from the front rods, and go from there. Other than that, the best option I can see is an EJ22 short block.

What all is involved in retrofitting to R-134? Just replace the hoses? Or is there more?

In general a transmission rebuild is considered a high dificulty item. Are we talking about an auto or a manual transmission? Auto is harder than manual. generally cheaper (and easier) in the long run to replace the transmission. Shops that do a lot fo rebuilds on transmissions will have the special tools needed to do the job right.

Well, I would not say that you should never machine a head, but the only reason for it would be that the head is warped. How badly was it overheating, and for how long? Oh, and I'm a Subaru mechanic in the (far) East Bay. . . I'm a lot cheraper than a shop, and love Subarus in particular. Head gasket problems on this vintage of the 2.5L engine are more common than on other Subaru engines, but that is easy to do. Most Subaru engines are so reliable that the couple of % of owners that have head problems really shows up, in contrast. Send me a PM if you want me to take a look at it and see what I can do. (I would test for warpage before talking about machining the heads for example. New gaskets may do the trick by themselves)

The tires part?

Well, it needs to, in order to keep up with mine, just south of you. . .

Could someone post a pic of the rim without the center? I think this is the rim I have and need 4 centers for, but I want to be sure. The ones I have are the ones with "teardrop" shaped holes around the outside, and has a large cap that covers the lugs.

Isn't "Upstate" what they call everything not NYC?

I'd like to see that when you get it, if I may. PM me when it gets there and I'll drive up to you.

No, that is what a Subaru Owner looks like when his (or her) headgasket blows, and they see the bill. . . I also have a question about idle speed. On my '92, it tends to "hunt" a bit. Is this a clear indication of some condition or other (O2 sensor going? TPS? Something else?)?

Yeah, the other one is part of the outer tie rod. . . (you get a tie rod and it comes with it. . .)

I think he is looking for this: https://www.parts.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getLocator&siteid=213799&chapter=AML732&appSectionid=21&groupid=10054&subgroupid=61895&componentid=0&make=32&model=Legacy&year=1992&graphicID=E732140&callout=3&catalogid=1 Item #3 is called a Tie Rod Boot, and goes for anywhere from $16 to $25. (they are the same for both sides)

Jared, If you were late for work, and that is why you were running the tank down, that is not "purposely" running it down. Your car does have a Low Fuel light. It may be inoperative at the moment, but it is there. Now that you know that it is inoperative, I recomend not letting the tank show less than 1/4 full (when it drops below this point, time to fill 'er up) at least until you can track down where the fault is, and repair it. Possable points of failure are the bulb, the sender, or the wiring in between (in order of likliness).

Bullet, are you trying to adjust the hillholder cable (the bottom of the two cables on the clutch fork), or the clutch actuator cable (the top one)? If you are adjusting the top one, a 10mm and a 12mm box or combination wrench are needed (one of each size). YOu hold the larger (12mm) nut while you back off the 10mm so that both will turn. Now, while pulling the clutch fork back toward the firewall, pull out the cable to see how much free play there is. there should be 1/4" to 3/8" that you can pull away from the fork. Adjust accordingly. Next, while holding the 12MM nut in place, tighten the 10mm nut against it to lock it in place. If you are needing to adjust the hillholder cable, you need a 14mm, an 8mm, and a hill to be pointed up. . .

Most major auto parts stores will pull the codes for you for free. Call around to see which ones will where you are. Once we have the codes, we can procede from there.

Kudd, all of the cars listed in your signature are EJ22 engines. EA was old gen stuff (FWIU). I cannot see harm in going back to dino oil on that car, or even changing the viscosity to match your climate.

The car has 152000 miles on it. I seriously doubt that the O2 sensor has ever been changed. When I hit 180000 I plan on a refit (new t-belt, all new seals, new waterpump, torque the oilpump screws and reseal it, new O2 sensor, flush coolant, new clutch, etc). This car has had basic maint since the day it was bought new (by a friend), and then by my stepdaughter, who gave it to me when it started getting expensive for her to have fixed. I'm not even sure that the T-belt was changed at 105K. The only reason I'm waiting until 180K is to get all the parts I want to change at a rate I can afford (I'm stockpiling the parts). The engine is non-interferance, so I feel safe in pushing it that far, but not much farther.

I know it is normal for the idle emissions to be higher, but my car differs more than the "average" they quote. I'm wanting to bring that down is all. Wouldn't the cat be at a similar temp, considering that the car was already warmed up? I can't see it fluxuating that much. . The numbers I got were: Idle: 44PPM HC (average 29, limit 120) 0.28% CO (average 0.10, limit 1.0) driving speed: 6PPM HC (average 20, limit 140) 0.10% CO (average 0.10, limit 1.0) The CO2 was 14.9% at idle and 15.1% running. The O2 was .1% both places. Yes, I passed. Yes I still have room to spare. Yes I still want to bring my idle numbers down a bit. The question is will Seafoam help at all? If not, what will (besides a new engine, which I'm nowhere near close to needing)?

The good one says 80W on it. It is also the one that says "Logic Control System" on the tape door. It is made by Panasonic, and is the same for 93 as it is for 92. It is 1.5DIN (standard stereo slots) high, so you would need to get a spacer to put in an aftermarket stereo that is of a standard size (as most are). The total sterreo area for the 90-94 Subies is 2.5DIN. There was an optional CD player that is 1DIN high and plugs into the back of the tape deck/radio/amp. in 90 and 91, they had an AUX port on the front that you could plug a CD player (or, nowadays, an MP3 player like the iPod) into. Why they phased that out in 92 I dunno, but I puut the older radio into my car (with the CD player option as well) and now have this unit left over. There are a few lights burned out on mine, on the lower half of some of the preset buttons, but the sound is good. If you want, I can bring it up there for the price of a tank of gas. . .

I'd have a hard time admitting that I knew what butt-crack smelled like

If you have the good tape deck, you have an 80W amp built into the deck (IIRC, that is total , so you get 20W/chan). Are you sure your speakers are good? What symptoms are there to point to one chan being bad? I have a spare radio (of the type that is 80W) and live fairly close to you (well perhaps it is just close for me because I love to drive my Subie. . .). If you would like me to come up there and help you check it out, shoot me a PM.

What you are calling "pimping" is called "ricing" in the circles I run in. The Forrester is just the wrong car to do that with. YOu could perhaps get away with it on a Legacy, or an Impreza would be prime for it ( WRX is a good place to start. . . ) I have to side with Mtsmiths on the look of low profile tires and oversized rims on a SUV class vehicle. I can go him one better though: I saw that on a Hummer H2 a couple of weeks ago. I laughed so hard I almost wrecked. . . It is a case where A and B simply do not belong together under any circumstances. . . Like a Pickup Truck made by Lincoln, or a station wagon made by Porsche (and yes, I have seen both of those as well. . .) There is an old Harley saying "Chrome don't get you home". The Forrester is a car that is designed to get you home, no mater what is trying to get between you and that place. "Pimping" it will only take away from it, and add very little. Just my $.02

I got my emissions tested in order to register my car the other day, and I noticed that my hydrocarbons and CO were a lot higher at idle than at running speed (they test at idle and 2500RPM). I was wondering if a can of Seafoam would help this at all? I still passed with lots of room to spare, but I want even better emissions if I can get that. I also had my largest tank-fill today. with 358 miles on the trip meter, I took 15.150 gals for an MPG of 23 and change. I really do not want to get that close to 15.8 ( the tank size listed in the owner's manual) again, I must tell you. . . I drove most of the way home with the low fuel indicator on, because the gas is $.05 to $.10 cheaper per gal out here, compared to where I'm working right now. Would Seafoam improve milage any, if it cleaned up the top end? Or would that be an O2 sensor thing I need to look at? I know that my O2 readings were the same for running speed as for idle, so I dunno if the O2 sensor is bad ( or even bad enough to cause the fuel trim to be off). I'm thinking that perhaps a can of Seafoam might help those two things. Or am I selling myself snake oil?