GeneralDisorder

Yep - that's the first thing I would do. Check for vacuum leaks. GD

One of the last great "learner's" cars IMO. In many ways it's actually simpler than my '69 GMC Truck. Frankly I consider myself very lucky to have owned an EA81 as one of my first cars (that wasn't borrowed from the parents). I learned a lot out of neccesity and though I wasn't as accutely aware of it at the time as I am now - the EA81 saved me a lot of headache's through being a very simple and forgiving machine. GD

Generally I've seen differences in exhaust valve color on cylinders that were exposed to some quantity of coolant - this also will often "steam clean" the carbon from the chamber and piston top. Typically the change in color is not an indication that the valve is actually bad or in need of replacement. Just that there was something wrong with the chemistry in that cylinder. I would definitely lap the exhaust valves at the very least and reset the clearances. I've seen enough exhaust valve problems that this is just good sense IMO. The last set of heads I had redone the shop had to replace about 4 of the valves and he said they were all "significantly" worn on the face and seat. That engine had 200k on it. GD

I assumed it was because there is a possibility that the hole pointed out by the arrow is not blind and may be open to the crankcase or an oil gallery. The loctite is to keep engine oil from causing issues with, or leaking out of, the threads. GD

No problem - get back to us on what you find. EA81's are very simple so this shouldn't be hard to figure out. GD

Sounds like you have a rough idle with maybe some occasional missing going on? First we will need to know model, year, carbed/FI, etc. Otherwise the only thing I can think of that's common to all of them would be a vacuum leak. That will cause a rough idle and missing. GD

Check all your fuses to start with. Actually put your hand on the pump while someone cranks the engine over. It should be pretty obvious if it's running or not. First thing is to check for voltage at the pump connector while cranking. If that's good and the pump doesn't run then you have found an issue. If you have no voltage then start checking the fuel pump control unit located above the hood release handle bracket at your left knee. It needs ignition switched voltage, tach signal, ground, and then feeds power to the pump and some of them also run the choke. GD

I have seen it, but not a ton on the drum shoes. I HAVE seen pad material delaminating from the backing plate. I just did rear brakes on an '02 Honda Odyssey and one of the pads had nothing but the backing plate lett. All the others were 30% or better and the calipers were fine. My analysis was that the pad material just came loose from the backing. GD

If the turbo had actually failed it would be belching blue smoke out the exhaust - is that the case? They do not leak externally...... GD

As I said - learning experience it's fine. But don't expect it to be a great deal from a price standpoint - syncros and bearings are VERY expensive for these things. Typically only a few (the one's needed) are replaced and new seals fitted. Otherwise the cost is prohibitive. They are simple transmissions. Some shafts, gears, bearings, and syncro's. Nothing that anyone with a press and some hand tools couldn't tackle. You don't need a "lab" but it's nice to have lots of toys all the same. Though frankly I feel that having all that stuff just teaches people they need a bunch of special tools for each and every operation - when in reality they just need a little common sense. GD

What is it with you and three year old threads dude? Most of these people don't hang around here much anymore..... Why not just start a thread and ask your question? Bad form. GD

Perhaps they also have "instructionals" (VHS ) for how to avoid useless bumping of posts that have not been active for over three YEARS GD

Interesting. I see what you are saying. Most valve looseness is due to wear in the valve train - the adjustment's don't back off but the cam and it's follower do wear. That is minimal in a roller-rocker system though so it could be the case that the adjustment *doesn't change* appreciably and in doing so the tollerance is taken up by the valve seat wearing, the lash reaching a zero point and then further wear creates an actual gap between the valve and the seat. This is all speculation though. I'll actually take measurements when I get it apart and see what, if any, changes are present in the valve lash. GD

Yes it will be a 4.111 - all the 90 to 94's are 4.111. You could also use a newer Outback tranny - 97 to 99 - typically they are more expensive but if you happen opon one..... GD

Change nothing other than the muffler. The rest is not a significant restriction. Personally I like the low-buck method - cut the muffler off and bend a new section of pipe to replace it. Not actually that loud with no muffler. Or a cherry-bomb works too. GD

The manifold gaskets rarely fail..... at any rate that's largely a myth on modern engines. You won't burn a valve if you run without the exhaust in place let alone a small leak. That's not what causes burnt valves. As I see it there is only three possibilities: 1. Wear. It simply wore out to the point that there wasn't enough contact with the valve face and seat to properly cool it. Overheating and cracking/chipping/flaking of the valve face occurs till the hole opens up more and then the thing just becomes a torch and rapidly declines. 2. Lash adjustment too tight - valve never fully seats - see above. 3. Lean condition - basically running too hot. Retarded ignition timing, lean injector, no EGR on engines that need it's cooling effect (not specifically Subaru's), detonation, preignition, etc. I'm just wondering what people's experience has been with burned valves and if they know for certain what, if anything, made it not return for them..... I've read at least one post where a member had the same valve burn again after only a couple months. I'm leaning toward some kind of lean condition as I have seen plenty examples of EJ's that have run 300k without this happening. Thus it would seem not to be a "normal" wear effect. Tight valve tollerances might do it but I would assume that most of the EJ25D's on the road have never had the valves adjusted.... GD

Generally it's a bad idea to tow anything heavier than the tow vehicle and quite frankly it's safest to stay below 2/3 of the weight of the tow vehicle. My truck weighs about 6500 lbs. I try to stay around 5000 lbs or less for towing (total trailer+load weight). Other than that it's about braking performance (might need trailer brakes), and how much power you have to spare after the vehicle itself takes what it needs to get up to speed. Therin lies the rub - EA81's don't have any spare power . GD

Interesting theory. I haven't got the engine out yet (brought it home today and verified their mechanic's claim of low comp. on #4) but I'll pay attention to that as a possibility when I pull the head off. The EJ22 I worked on recently was a manual adjustment (no bucket/shim stuff) and baring a valve hanging open due to deposits..... well the head guys said it was from a lean condition and likely a bad injector so that's what I went with. The valve looked closed - well as closed as is possible for something with 1/4" hole burned into the side of it . Definitely a possibility worth looking into. If the valve hangs open then it can't dissipate heat from the edge of the valve into the seat and surrounding aluminium of the head (which is primarily how valves are cooled). As soon as you create a gap at that point you generally experience a rapid enlargement of the "hole" location as that spot gets larger and dissipates less heat - hotter and hotter. Eventually it becomes like a cutting torch and just blows away material very quickly. I'm not following how they get too tight as they age though - that's counter-intuitive to what I'm used to. What's the mechanism behind that? GD

Sure can. Just did that for a friend's '98 OBS. Just use the bracket from a '97 or older. Don't know why they went to the new style tensioner. The older style was bulletproof and easier to compress. All the new style's I've seen leak and I wouldn't reuse one nor would I attempt to compress one. I just buy a new one most of the time unless it's a special request to swap back to the older school one. GD

Depends on the size...... and quite frankly do you *want* to tow a trailer that big with a car that has 74 HP and can barely get out of it's own way with a running start? Can you say "death trap"? Seriously - don't consider towing anything larger than a dinghy on rollerskates or a motorcyle/jetski trailer (single, not a double ). You take your life into your hands with that kind of HP and any kind of weight. Mountain passes become 25 MPH affairs with stuff like that and people are rude and make rash descisions when stuck behind you - THEY might kill someone even if you don't manage to off yourself in the process of getting to a campsite. Play it safe and buy a tent - one that you can carry on your back. ..... I never understood the Pontiac Vibe - why would you pay several thousand $$ more for the Pontiac logo slapped on a Toyota Matrix? This was a female purchase wasn't it? :-\ GD

Calipers can pretty easily be rebuilt if it's a seal failure, etc. I think the reason people no longer replace both very often is that failure's are really rather rare with these. It is not uncommon to see a 25 y/o subaru with original calipers and no issues in that respect. Properly maintained they *should* last the life of the car. Accidents happen though...... That said, if it's been sitting and the caliper has failed due to rust (water in the fluid - it's hydroscopic and will absorb water from the atmosphere) I would replace both. I have occasion to work on stuff that's been sitting for years, and most recently I just did the rear brakes on my '69 GMC - one cylinder had failed. I replaced both and bled out the nasty old fluid...... I'm just saying there are circumstances - depending on the nature of the failure - where I would replace all the "good-for-the-moment" parts on the other wheel because I know they are at a higher probability of failure. GD

*edit - pictures on page 4* Just bought a '97 OBW with 169k on it. Pretty ugly misfire on #4. Pulled the plug and she's clean (so it's not oil fouling or ring wear - blow-by isn't indicated by the PCV, etc, nor is it burning any oil). Cylinder shows 60 psi. Looks like another burned exhaust valve.... Just about two months ago I had a customer's '97 Legacy L (2.2) in here with the same issue - except it had REALLY burned a valve and had zero compression on #4. 199k on that one. I did a search of the board here and people mention seeing it. I haven't heard a ton of incidences of this and not much in the way of specific threads talking about it. What's the consensus on the cause? I had figured a lean condition on the EJ22 I just did so as a precaution I installed new injectors, fuel filter, etc. Everything else checked out on it and it's running super smooth now. My plan right now is to tear it down, rebuild the heads, and replace the injectors, fuel filter, and on this car both O2 sensors (the wire to the rear one has been cut off at the sensor - don't know what that's about yet). Any other sensor's that people have found to cause a lean condition or is this just a faulty injector issue? I'm really starting to get paranoid about EJ injectors - this is Honda territory from what my head guy tells me And slightly off-topic, but this EJ25D has near 170k on it and I bought it from the original owner. It's still got the factory head gaskets . It showed no signs of overheating and it was driven here from Bend most recently and before that it was somewhere in Vermont . GD

What's the point of having a shop do it? Then you don't even know what was done, if it was done correctly, or how to troubleshoot it in the future. Plus it's expensive and pointless unless you are doing it as a learning experience. Turbo cars are cheap these days. Find a WRX with a blown engine for $5k or $6k and drop in the built-up engine of your choice. Then not only do you have the power, but also the brakes and suspension to handle it with. Turbo swaps are a nightmare due to the differences in the engine bay - the engine cross member, radiator core support, wireing, etc, etc. Paying someone to do it is just asking for problems down the road. That's a can of worms most people should just never open. GD

I buy all my timing belt/water pump kits (with idlers and tensioners where required) from MizumoAuto or TheImportExperts on ebay. I just bought a 97 2.5 kit with belt, idlers, water pump, cam/crank seals for $158 free shipping and I know the 2.2 kits are around $120 free shipping (shorter belt)..... Those are the most expensive parts from the dealer and as long as you replace them EVERY time the belt is done the aftermarket stuff is fine. Subaru doesn't call out those parts to EVER be replaced which is rediculous IMO. I've done all the shopping around - the ebay guys are by FAR the cheapest around. I've not had a single issue except an incorrect idler pulley on one order and they corrected it within 2 days (MizumoAuto in that case). I have got DOHC belts with improper timing marks on the belt but it was noted on the paperwork I received that the marks should not be used. The belt worked fine and the marks were indeed WAY off. Tis the price you pay to get a hell of a deal. It was worth it and I don't need the marks anyway. Everything else you should get at the dealer and I forgot to add the thermostat+gasket. Also if you get the ebay kits don't forget to buy an OEM water pump gasket from the dealer as the one's included with the aftermarket pumps are paper. After you buy the ebay kit, this will be your new dealer list: Head gaskets Intake/exhaust gaskets cam support o-rings Valve cover gaskets/bolt grommets Thermostat+gasket Water pump gasket GD

I talked with the parts guy at my dealership (he's been there for over 20 years) and he said it's up to the discretion of the mechanic as to if the car needs one or two bottles. I'm sure one is probably fine if it's not leaking yet. My Forester with 240k on it..... I replaced the radiator and didn't add the stop-leak. WOW!!! I've never seen a head gasket pour coolant on the ground like that one did. It was all over the exhaust and you could smell it wherever you parked the car. It would run low in a matter of just a few days of around town driving. I put in two bottles on my parts guy's reccomendation (I was about to buy the head gaskets for it ) and it stopped immediately and hasn't come back nor have I added a drop of coolant. That was over a year ago. I'm sold on that stuff. Yes it's a repair in a bottle which I don't normally condone..... but it's dealer approved and it actually works. Even if it's a temp fix it got the car off my to-do list for over a year now. Totally worth the $1.50 a bottle IMO. When/if the leak comes back I'll deal with it - but with how well the stuff worked in my case the engine might be too high on the mileage end of things to bother repairing by the time the problem returns. Which would be fine by me...... GD