GeneralDisorder

The clutch fan is ONLY on AC equipped cars. The electric fan is ALWAYS the primary and is thermostatically controled. If you don't have/use AC, and your cooling system is working properly.... you don't need the clutch fan. Those who need more cooling can source an EA81 AC fan - they are electric and will fit where the clutch fan was located. GD

Small correction/education moment: the pressure line in question going to the switch (known as a "Form X" style switch) does not trip the switch - it's purpose is to "unload" the discharge pipe from the compressor head - there is a one-way check valve that keeps tank pressure from flowing back into the discharge pipeing from the receiver. The form-x releives the pressure in the discharge line so that when the compressor starts again it will not be starting under a load. Since this tube alternates between pressure and atmosphere - it is used to signal the auto-drain valve. Consequently - if you ever have a compressor of this style (the majority are now built this way) that refuses to start after running up to pressure, shutting down, and then dropping below the switch set-point.... you have a problem with the Form-X valve, or the check valve that's threaded into the tank ("tank check"). Used to see this all the time in our shop - customer's would bring them in and be totally baffeled about why the machine wouldn't start up after the pressure switch kicked it off. Pretty simple fix with some bits from grainger or mcmaster-carr, etc. I've got more than one compressor for free with some stupid problem like this that takes 10 minutes to fix and cost's $5. Right - compressor discharge temps are typically about 200 to 300 F. So it might have been too close to the discharge and even if it's a good bit away - if cycled on and off rapidly enough it will get hot. If that's the case then you need to switch to copper tubing. Which is no big deal really - you just use common copper refrigeration tubing. Easy to work with and uses similar fittings. I agree - and the addition of a y-strainer to keep the valve clean would further improve upon the design. You wouldn't beleive how many plugged auto-drains I've cleaned - even the $700 "robo-drains" that are completely loss-less (drains the water but keeps the air) - because people fail to provide adequate filtration for their drain system. Pretty sad when you see these engineers install a $700 robo-drain and don't bother to install a $7 y-strainer :-\. GD

Sounds like you are over-tightening the nylon tubing fittings. It doesn't take much for the ferrule to cut into the nylon and compromise it - either that or the tubing is located too near to a heat source such as the discharge line from the compressor or even the discharge line unloader tube going to the pressure switch - I'm assuming these machines are of the reed-valve variety with form-x style pressure switches that automatically relieve pressure from the discharge pipe when they reach operating pressure and shut down? This is a pretty simple little unit - though if it were me I would likely replace the tubing with clear nylon and also add a strainer before the auto-drain valve. That will prolong it's life immensely and I could easily see the chinese black nylon tubing being junk - still for the price it's hard to beat even with a few pipe fittings, some new tubing and a Y-strainer to trap rust and crud. Nothing beats a timed-drain, but then $99 isn't in everyone's budget for their compressor. But you should do *something* as draining it every morning is really not sufficient and if you make your system basically leak-free you can just leave the machine on all the time. My compressor is always on. Having water in your air tools is BAD. GD

Alloy vs. steel shouldn't even matter - the thread engagement is the same for both from what I've seen. GDC

6mm x 1.0. The factory nuts are "whiz-nuts" with a built in locking flange. Or you can just leave the fan off - non-AC models didn't have one so unless you will be useing the AC (many don't work so people just pull them off) then you don't need the compressor fan. GD

Any bearing house - 6207-2RS-C3. It's a sealed electric motor bearing - same thing. GD

Replace the solenoids with 33 Ohm, 5 watt ceramic resistors - either at the plugs for the solenoids or at the ECU itself. The ECU is just looking for a valid resistance from the solenoid's actuator coil. I do this all the time on my SPFI swaps. You can also just leave the solenoids connected as this will do the same thing but they are messy to look at and do tend to fail unlike the resistors - cleans things up, less likely to fail, and they cost about $1 each . GD

You are using oversized 1600 pistons? You should be using EA82 SPFI pistons. The compression increase is better. Boreing it is a bad idea - the cast-in cylinder liners can spin in the case if it's not properly bored and most machine shops do not have a bore plate for these. Take .020" off the heads, and some off the block - that will also increase compression. Accell coils are junk - use the stock coil or one of the non-mexico MSD's etc. 2WD distributors don't have any benefits. The advance curve is the same. And the module's are more expensive and they suffer from more rapid bushing wear. You should do the SPFI conversion instead of a Weber. Use MegaSquirt for the control system and you can likely push about 120 to 125 HP. GD

Go to the dealer - they are like $12, etc. GD

Just post in the wanted section here - somone will have a set. They don't typically go bad - the block threads are aluminium and a wire wheel will typically clean them up. I would just reuse them personally. Your local dealer can order them as well. GD

Yeah - I could be wrong on that 2.0 shimless comment. I didn't use wiki for anything - all that is from memory. I'll fix the EJ20 deal but I'm pretty sure the rest is accurate. At least that's been my experience anyway. GD

They look just fine to me. You have plenty of thread engagement if that is your concern - as to if these nuts are the proper one's for those rims - you will have to inspect the seat in the rim to know for sure. Being Subaru alloys I suspect they are just fine but it never hurts to double-check. GD

I'll pull out the book and scan them for you tomorrow . GD

'99 Legacy L will be a phase-II EJ22 will it not? Either way - Piston slap gets quieter with increasing engine temp. Rod knocks get louder as the oil thins and typically they will knock under load and will have an audible "back rattle" when the throttle is snapped closed. At any rate thats not a real good price for something with an unidentified engine noise and freshly traded in with no maintenance, etc. What do you want to bet it's in need of it's 105k service? There's $1500 down the drain if he has Carr do it.....that puts the price (more realistically) around $5000 with that service and the array of other stuff it's probably going to need. He could do better. GD

I would say 4 to 6 hours - depending on how many shims you end up having to replace - a good number of them will just be a quick check with a feeler gauge - no adjustment needed (mostly the intake side never seems to need much done at all - they typically don't need re-shimming even after 210k). Others may require that a new shim be ordered if it's not on-hand. It neccesarily adds to the job when you have to stop, wait for parts to come in, and then proceed again. If you are not removing the timing belt set then it's just a matter of clearing some work-space around the valve covers, removeing them (plug wires too), and carefully checking each valve for proper clearance and adjusting where needed. Typically the ones needing adjustment are on the exhaust cam so are more easily accessed from under the car. It's really not that big of a deal - the worst part is actually getting to the valve covers, dealing with the spark plug boots, and removing the covers, etc. It's tight on the DOHC cars. I reccomend a valve adjust any time the engine is out of the car - clutch repair, oil seperator plate, head gaskets, etc - all of these are common enough on the EJ25D's that frankly it's rather odd to have to do the valve adjust with the engine in place since it's usually coming out for one thing or another . But it can be done and it's not that bad. GD

Fixed GD

I respectfully dissagree - the screwdriver is simply what *some* people have used in place of the Subaru valve adjustment tool - which DOES NOT require removing the cams or belts, etc. It is, however, $300 from SPX. It simply compresses the valve in place so that you can pop the shim out of the bucket. Obviously this doesn't work on shimless buckets but it DOES work just fine on the engines being discussed here. You use a large flat-blade screwdriver to compress the valve spring and bucket - the valve and bucket being the fulcrum and you use a convient spot on an un-machined portion of the cam. Many people have done this without any trouble. In place of buying a $300 tool that you may use twice in your lifetime or complete dissasembly of the cams, belts, etc it is an acceptable solution. Be careful of course - that goes without saying. But to call it "asinine" is not warranted - especially if you haven't tried it. GD

People do their own valve adjustment all the time - it's not talked about a lot on this forum but there are TONS of threads on it over on NASIOC (where a large percentage of owners have EJ20 and EJ25 DOHC turbo's). Many people do it with a large screwdriver used as leverage to compress the valve spring/bucket and pop the shim out. You take a feeler gauge and check the existing clearance - write that down. Then you pop out the shim, measure it with a mic. and order a new shim that's smaller to enlarge the clearance to spec. It's pretty simple and the shims are ~$6 each from the dealer. You are looking about about 4 hours and about $100 to $150 for some exhaust valve shims and the valve cover gaskets/grommets. This aint rocket science and I've seen what neglecting them will do - I wouldn't sugest waiting till you need a $1200 valve job or a head gasket replacement (especially if they have already been done!). This would be a mistake IMO. I would NOT assume a head gasket replacement means a valve adjust. Dealers very often don't even resurface the heads - let alone do a proper valve adjustment. Especially if the mileage doesn't indicate a need. Many folks open them up to find the clearances are fine at 105k - but don't bet on it because if they aren't you won't make it to 210k. You are only 20k miles short of where I've seen neglect of valve clearance go horribly wrong. Don't take the chance. BTW - you need to find a new shop - if your shop can't do a simple valve adjustment for you..... well that's pretty lame is all I can say. That's a pretty routine affair in the world of machines that I come from. Their price and labor estimate is pretty rediculous also. At that kind of labor rate you might as well just go to the dealer - you aren't saving much paying these jokers $90 an hour. Most dealers are right in the same price range. GD

Being you have an XT - there is a higher probability of wireing harness problems between the ECU and the engine bay - this is due to the ECU being in the trunk on that model vs. under the dash on all other models. People have found issues with the wireing harness factory crimp joints under the door sill trim, etc. Water can get in there and can cause corrosion of the wires and crimp joints - IIRC that typically results in a no spark situation. The thread I saw a few years back had pictures of the culprit connection which I beleive was located under the passenger side door sill/rocker trim. Perhaps grossgary will chime in with more info here - he has owned more XT's than probably any member on this site. Here's a site that details how to test a transistor (amplifier, or in igntion system terms they are called an "ignitor"). http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/tran.htm As you can see a resistance test is not the only thing used to verify that a transistor is functional - they are more like a diode than a resistor and will only conduct in one direction so you have to be mindful of the direction you test and to fully test them you need to switch them on and off..... But I think it more likely that you have wireing troubles. As far as ECU's - any XT4 ECU from one with the same type trasnmission will work - the numbers don't matter. GD

Yes - all the optical distributor systems are the same from '86 to '94. I know for a fact you can use any of the optical distributors and you should also be able to use the coil and bracket assembly from any '87 to '89 DL/GL with fuel injection and any '90 to '94 Loyale. The ECU itself is slightly different because yours is an MPFI system. But that ignition should be the same. GD

ALL Subaru EJ DOHC engines require valve adjustment. Subaru does not manufacture a DOHC system that uses any kind of hydraulic lash adjustment (that I have seen). The '96 OBW had an EJ22 and they were SOHC engines. Additionally - you WILL burn an exhaust valve if you let it go. I just did a valve job on a 97 OBW with a burned valve due to zero clearance on one of the #4 exhaust valves. Engine had it's original, factory head gaskets and had 169k on it. They missed the valve adjustment at 105k and it did not make it to #2. Before that I did a valve job on a SOHC EJ22 with solid lifters ('97 Legacy) that burned the same #4 exhaust valve at 199k. Also never had a valve adjustment. Again it did not make it to the #2 valve adjusment. IF YOU DONT ADJUST YOUR VALVES YOU WILL BE PAYING FOR A VALVE JOB. Trust me - you don't want to pay for that. On the DOHC engines it WILL be over $1000. The heads are very expensive to work on and run about $450 to $500 for machine work to rebuild them, repair the valve damage, and set them up with correct shims, etc. When the exhaust valves burn you lose compression in that cylinder - it will start small and work it's way (rapidly) up to a total misfire. The OBW I did ran like a 3 legged dog and had 60 psi in the #4. The EJ22 was much worse and had absolutely zero compression on the #4. You couldn't drive either of them really - very, very nasty idle and no power. GD

I wouldn't replace the flywheel - just have it surfaced ($40 or so typically). Exedy is typically a good clutch set but I always prefer dealer clutch parts due to many problems with aftermarkets of all brands - wrong parts, poor quality, fitment issues, etc, etc. I play it safe and hit the dealer parts counter if at all possible. Sometimes it's not due to financial concerns.... GD

Still sounds like a bad ignitor to me. ECU's on these almost never fail. I have never even seen it. What do you mean they didn't run that style long?!? They ran it from '86 to '94 - that's 8 years. And they are dead reliable systems - ignitor failure and CTS failure are about the only things you see and even those are rare. Just pickup a used coil bracket with the ignitor and try it. Even if it does turn out to be the ECU - they are common and cheap since they never fail. People are always ready to blame the ECU for stuff - they just don't really fail. I highly doubt that's your problem. GD

Only the front one is a converter. The other is a hollow resonator. GD

Sounds like there's no problem with it to me. You are not in 2nd if it's running at 3k at 45 MPH. And these don't have locking torque converters or a 4th gears so...... sounds like it's just fine. Take care of it and flush the tranny every 30k miles. It will help it live longer. GD