GeneralDisorder

Come off the manifold with steel tubing to a JIC fitting and do the same on the exhaust. Connect the two with braided stainless flex. Go to a coupleing/hose supplier and have them build what you need. It's not a big deal for them. Or just drill/tap the port on the head and do it the right way. I don't understand all this talk of tapping into the exhaust pipe - there's just no reason for that. GD

I suggested it because I've seen it work on the phase-I EJ's before. I bought an EJ22 and drove it about 100 miles home - found the thermostat gutted and I pretty much knew what was going on at that point. I replaced the radiator to no avail and changed the thermostat twice, etc. I know how to burb EJ's and trapped air wasn't the problem. I gave up and tore it down - there was about a 1/2" spot on the bottom of the #3 fire ring where it was pushing exhaust gasses into the coolant. Basically running without a thermostat keeps it colder - to the point that many head gasket failure modes will not "open up" under the colder operating temp. I beleive it has to do with the warpage of the heads - the leak may be more or less closed when cold and then only expand as it's heated. He definitely had all the bad head gaskets symtoms - nasty overflow bottle, exhaust gasses pushing coolant into the overflow and then over-topping it and running out on the ground.... etc. His engine went to a friend that's going to frankenmotor it (after a rebuild of course). So no Subaru engines were harmed in the making of this EJ22 Outback GD

They are mechanically similar - there are some wireing differences and some things that won't swap with post-facelift (92+) models. Most anything mechanical that you need will work. Notable differences..... in '93 they changed the rear coil-over springs from cone shaped to normal cylindrical springs..... headlights take different bulbs..... that's all I can think of just at the moment but there's more. Fenders, hood, grill, bumper, and lights are all different and not interchangeable. The post-facelift stuff is actually longer because they lengthened the front end slightly. Personally I prefer the pre-facelift look. The headlights look better IMO. GD

Definitely an EA81 pump. They have the stepped, longer nose on the drive shaft. The other's are EA71 for sure. GD

Redline 75w90ns. But it's $10.48 a qaurt at DIP and you will need 4 qaurts. GD

Glass is a bad idea - chips, cracks, pitted, etc. Can't repair them. With the plastic one's they can be sanded and buffed out and it takes a boulder to kill one. Almost impossible. The older Outback fogs are a great example of why you shouldn't use glass for front lighting. GD

No - actually if you go that direction the pistons will slap the cylinder heads because the phase-I EJ25D has pop-up pistons that rise above the deck at TDC. And if you use the thicker 25D head gasket the resulting compression will be too low. You can change the pistons over to 251 pistons.... then run the 251 head gaskets as well.... might work. I don't know that this has been tried with phase-II 2.2 heads - probably has been done with phase-II 2.5 heads..... basically you are building a phase-II engine and you would need phase-II belt covers, phase-II timing belt, etc. They are a lot different. GD

Yep - do the Maxima swap. I build them for people if you are interested - contact me by PM, etc. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=100559 GD

The 25D head gaskets do not mix coolant and oil. But that engine does suffer from higher than typical bottom end failure - due to overheating. Overheating breaks down the oil and causes it to of very low viscosity. If not changed promptly after an overheat there is a higher likelyhood of failure down the line. Any 25D with a blown head gasket or that has blown one in the past is suspect in my book - I generally turn them away or flat replace them with 22's. The 25D is also quite a bit more expensive to maintain - from it's timing belt/tensioner arrangement, to it's DOHC heads that have silly bucket/shim valve adjustment and are typically in the $500 range to have rebuilt..... it's less reliable AND more expensive to work on..... all around not the best choice in my opinion. GD

A compression test will probably not show a bad head gasket that is still able to run. Almost certainly not in fact. GD

It almost sounds like the AWD is not working properly for you. The pulling in slippery conditions make me think that your rear wheels are not pushing enough. Could be a weak transfer clutch pack, etc. When was the last alignment? Might be worth it to have it checked.... GD

It's either resonance in your intake duct work (try rotating the section between the two filter boxes), or you have the "ghost turbo" from your power steering pump. It's not uncommon. GD

No - you didn't miss anything. They don't make them - at least Subaru never did and I don't know of any aftermarket suppliers in the US. There's probably a number of them in Austrailia where "roo-bars" are a common sight on newer Subaru's. Unfortunately there is very little (like virtually none other than what fits from newer models) aftermarket support for what amounts to an 18 year old japanese sedan/wagon. GD

No - it's probably an older part-time D/R RX tranny - that's the only way it would match the 3.7 rear diff. Any other "normal" D/R tranny would be a 3.9:1 final drive ratio. The '85/'86 RX tranny would be 3.7:1 final drive and 1.2:1 low range. So it's most likely an '85/'86 RX tranny. It would not have a center diff lock because it doesn't have a center diff - none of the part-time 4WD trannies did. That is exlusive to the FT4WD stuff. GD

The 4EAT is a better tranny. More reliability, same economy, and the ability to do things like paddle shifters and duty-c mods for fullly locked 4WD instead of AWD. Conversions are also possible but I wouldn't - the 4EAT is an awesome transmission in my opinion. I've replaced a TON of 5MT's due to all kinds of failures - mostly bearing failures. I've never had to replace a 4EAT - they are great trannies. GD

This "mechanic" clearly doesn't know an oil pump from a well-diggers rump roast hole. The oil pump couldn't possibly leak oil on the exhaust. Not even in the same zip-code with respect to oil leaks. GD

Much abliged for the glowing review of my work! I'm proud to say that I actually grab stuff and check for play before I condemn very expensive bits of my customer's cars. Turns out - the previous steering rack replacement job was buttoned up with the lower section of the steering u-joint not fully seated - the bolt was above the groove in the splines. It was tightened but the splines being engaged by the joint were about 1/8" wide. Over time this got pretty loose and sloppy. A simple cleaning of the splines and bolt threads and proper installation of the joint cured the problem completely. I suppose this was probably just a case of incompetance on the part of the "tire guys" at Les Schwab, but to reccomend a $1000 repair to someone's car without fully inspecting it for the location of the "play" is borderline criminal. I really hope they do the alignment for free after you bring this potential "scam" to the management's attention. Oh! And for the record the steering u-joint took like 20 minutes to fix so that was $20. The other $40 was for the axle boot job. GD

Weeping driver's side rear corner of the head gasket.... look there for oil and on the engine cross-member. Pretty common with that head gasket. GD

Yes - sitting or infrequent driving can and will destroy head gaskets. I've seen it quite a few times on older stuff. GD

Pretty much a waste of time and money. You will spend hundreds and gain little. Enjoy it for what it is - which is not a sports car. GD

No. You will eventually burn out the duty-c solenoid.... this is an automatic right? If it's a manual you can't disengage the AWD at all. Why would you want to disable the AWD? GD

The 1.8 doesn't have a knock sensor. But otherwise it should work without much issue. You can bolt the 1.8 manifold to the 2.2. It won't have knock control but as long as you run mid-grade gasoline or better it should be fine without it. GD

Sounds like a head gasket to me - that's pretty much par for the course when they blow. 1. Pull the engine. You don't want to do this in the car.... trust me. 2. Have the heads resurfaced and new valve stem seals installed *at the least*. Have the machine shop check the valves, seats, and guides as well so you know where you stand. 3. Use ONLY Subaru head gaskets, manifold gaskets, and exhaust gaskets. On these engines - it's a gamble you don't want to take. 4. Use ONLY Subaru thermostats. Other's have a high rate of failure. 5. Get your complete timing belt kit from "theimportexperts" or "mizumoauto" on ebay. Get one with a water pump, etc. Around here the consensus is that you should change all the idlers every time you do the belt. 6. Also replace the cam carrier o-rings (not in the kits). Get these at the dealer. GD

First of all - you have the wrong idea in your head. We aren't buying "unknonwn junk yard" engines. Most of us buy engines from "automotive recyclers" that are tested and come with a warrantee. Most of them come into the hands of these places because the car was wrecked - IE: it was moving under it's own power well enough to get into an accident. Further - they are tested and inspected - the oil is drained and checked for metal, bore scopes are used to inspect cylinders, compression tests are done and number recorded, etc. I just bought an EJ22 engine from a local import recycler. 175 psi on every cylinder, 160k on the clock. Engine was $450 with a $100 core. For another $50 we upgraded that warantee to 6 months. That's $500 for the engine after the core return. You can't touch this for what it would cost to rebuild an EJ22 and quite frankly that engine has a good chance of seeing 300k if it's properly cared for. That's why we do it. GD

That play is normal. It doesn't mean you don't have bad joints or bad grease - but you can't tell anything from grabbing the DOJ cups and moving them. They normally move like that around 1/4" or so. GD