GeneralDisorder

Nice body. Sounds like a good solid ride - keep up on the cooling system and watch the oil pressure. GD

Well - here's my analysis (I'm a mechanic): 1. They removed the transmission from the vehicle. That's probably 2 hours of labor right there. 2. Transmission was stuck in gear, so they dissasembled it and found the front diff was chewed out of spec, and (I'm assuming) the "gear and hub assembly" was causing the stuck shifter. The worn R&P might have nothing at all to do with the stuck shifter - it may just be that it was out of spec and needed replacement anyway. Dissasembly, inspection, and quote for parts/labor = another 3 or 4 hours. 3. Parts come in Sat morning. Probably started at 6 or 7 AM on the job. Cleaning, installation of R&P and reassembly of transmission is a good 2 or 3 hours of work. Installation in the car is another couple hours. 4. 11 AM they test drive, and call you to pick it up. That's easily 12 hours of labor. Frankly I'm surprised that's all they charged you for. That's no small job. Splitting the transaxle is a MESS and a half. Now that's assuming they actually are being honest. Ask for the old parts - ALWAYS. And make sure they know you want them back UP FRONT before they ever start work. Get it in writing that they will save all the parts. At my shop (we do commercial and industrial machinery) we save all our "job boxes" with all the old parts for a minimum of 30 days. It's really difficult to tell what went on - you need to speak with the tech that actually performed the work. Don't argue with the supervisor or the service counter people - ask to speak directly with the tech - ask for the old parts, and ask for an exact explanation of the procedures performed, and the analysis of what happened and his thoughts on the causes of the problems. Don't be rude, don't act like you think they are ripping you off - be curious, take notes, and come back here with the results of your query. Get the old parts if you can - take detailed pictures of them and post here for us to see. GD

Yeah - and they seem to be the same part as far as I can tell. That's a good price. If he's going to do those, and he's still listening, he should definately take you up on that. I just never have enough stuff to make the shipping worth ordering from thepartsbin.com.... but I also have a dealership that gives me wholesale on anything I want. GD

I agree with that statement to a point. The point at which you have enough money to buy a newer car..... It's a very, very fine line. At what point do you say - "gee - I could just buy something with a warantee that's faster, newer, and gets better mileage". That's assuming you only have one car of course. Me - well I'm a glutton for punishment, and I have 6 Subaru's. There's absolutely no way I'm not making it to work and my commute is only 10 miles. The expense required to properly care for these 15+ year old turbo's is pretty outragous really. The mileage the thing gets is horrible, and the parts are rare and expensive. I wouldn't have taken it on if not for the amount of money and effort already put into it by SoobGoob - it would have been a pity to see it all for nought. He put in a new low mileage engine (resealed with new HG's, etc), fuel pump, turbo-back stainless exhaust, O2 sensor, and lots of other little bits. Probably spent nearly what the car is worth. Given the amount of time and money already put toward it, it seemed like he should at least get something out of it. So I'm trading him my Legacy wagon and I'm going to DD the turbo. My commute is short so mileage isn't such a concern for me, and he really needs a wagon for skiing as he pointed out above. I'm toying with the idea of an EJ20H conversion and maybe going with my EA81 Hatch as a daily.... Choices, choices! GD

You should start your own thread. Or better yet - use the search. GD

GL's and up are standard with tilt. That includes RX's. Only DL's and STD hatch's didn't have it. GD

If the belt covers aren't on I don't pull the radiator. If they are I do as I don't want to either destroy my knuckles, or damage the radiator in removing the crank pulley - neither of which is very much fun. GD

I've always just centered it up with my eyeball and torqued the bolts down. Once they are torqued it's not going anywhere. If you torqued it off to one side of the bolt holes then I could see the potential for some knocking action..... Using some bushings would be easy too - just fit them to the bolts and drill the flywheel to the OD of the bushings. Or you could pull out the rear main seal and tap the crank out to the larger EA82 bolts. There's definately options. GD

Affirmative - listings I have show the same part up till 2002 for basically every Subaru. GD

The interesting thing is that the PCV valve I think is the same as your Gen 1's.... One of those weird parts that hasn't really changed.... ever. GD

Very useful! Even for folks that have photoshop. I wrote a similar tool for my Mother a number of years ago that allowed her to select a bunch of pictures and make a "compound strip image" for use on ebay. It both resized them, and merged them into a vertical strip so she could avoid paying for multiple images in her auctions. I probably have the code for it around here somewhere..... I like this one though for it's explorer plug-in style interface. An excelent find and I thank you Skip! GD

Centering isn't neccesary. The carrier bearing is a CV bearing. It will operate at any angle (within reason), and so it is not required to have it perfectly centered. I held mine in place with a jack stand and some shims while I fabbed some brackets from scrap steel. Not even a hint of vibration on my Brat. Peel back the carpet and pad where you are going to weld to avoid starting a fire like I did EA82 flywheels don't have the bevel on the front (engine side) that the EA81's do on the outside edge. For this reason it is neccesary to do some slight grinding on the bottom of the EA81 bell-housing to clear the extra metal on the EA82 flywheel. They also have slightly larger bolt-holes for mounting to the crank. Not enough to matter because the centering hub on the crank is the same size for both, but when all the bolts are in place the EA82 flywheel will turn ever so slightly till the bolts are tightened down. Many folks have used them without issue including myself. You can also make or buy bushings to fill up the holes with if you so choose. It's not needed though. GD

That's typical. It's probably in need of a new sending unit. They are about $40 from the dealer. The stock sending unit is 22 years old at this point and wants replaceing. Test the oil pressure with a known good mechanical guage. I like to see 20+ at hot idle. If I see less than 15 at hot idle it's time for a new oil pump. Sometimes replacing the seals will do it, but it sounds like that has already been done. Haynes manual is correct, Chiltons is wrong.... IIRC. I've used the Haynes many times back when I was still unfamilair with the procedure. Never led me astray too far. As a general rule I prefer Haynes over Chiltons anyday. Pull the radiator. Engine stays in place. Do the cam seals, water pump, timing belts, and tensioners/idlers at the same time. If it were me I would replace the oil pump with a new one. His assertion of the timing having "jumped" is BS. The ticking is the hydraulic valve lash adjusters and it's almost certainly related to his oil pump seal replacement. The lifters are getting air in the oil supply. Many things can cause this, and if I had the timing belts off already I would be pulling the cam towers and replaceing the metal-reinforced o-ring for the cam tower oil supply galley. These tend to fail, and being an 85 it certainly has the non-reinforced o-rings used prior to the change unless they have been replaced. Get them from the dealer, or thepartsbin.com. There's a procedure in the Ultimate Subaru Repair Manual (USRM). Check the links on the main page. No special tools are required. If you are doing the cam tower o-rings then get a 10mm ratching wrench. Makes removing the valve covers a lot easier. Right on Doug. Looks like you are relatively close to me. PM me if you need more help. The EA82 is quirky, so don't get too frustrated right away. It's not like other engines. You can leave the timing belt covers off as long as the splash guards and skid plate are in place. They are more trouble than they are worth. Do a search for threads on this debate if you want to know more. GD

I think you missed a member we once had that was banned for...... being a mental case. That was a "joke" intended to poke fun at the ignorance of said member. GD

Yep - imagine the frustration of buying 20 year old cars where the vac lines have been worked on by every shop in the county..... Oh wait.... you own one don't ya? :-p The FSM's show where the orifices go and I'm sure your local dealer could order them. If they are really nice they might even photo-copy the vacuum diagram for you. I know my friendly dealer will. Although YMMV on dealership "niceness" :-\. Parts of the country other than the left coast are prone to less-than-stellar assistance with anything older than 2000. GD

Well - as good a guy as you are, and as much as you have learned from our adventures into Subaru mechanics so far, I think you just bit off a bit more than you could chew this time around. And the expense involved was insane. With what you spent, and what I've spent so far the cost to put this thing back on the road has got to be over $5,000. The older turbo's just need more lovin, and as many folks have found out the hard way - they aren't a good choice for someone that only has one car, a limited income, and a need for reliable transportation. GD

The very last time I started it before I changed the sensor I got a CEL immediately. Car was completely cold - been sitting for several days. I was a bit thrown by that, so I connected the read mem connectors and it was the code 22. So I don't know what was up with that sensor.... it seemed like the code would only show up after warmup on the previous test runs, but then on that last try I got the code right away. I didn't do anything different, nor did I disconnect the battery. But I didn't disconnect it when I changed the sensor either and the code didn't come back when I restarted it. I think the sensor was just intermittant and the ECU threw the code when it saw the sensor wasn't reporting. Pretty sure it will. I'll try to test it in a bit... GD

I just trim the stock one. Not as much as the above poster though. I leave both bends in it still. I'll try to take a pic. GD

That's not just a Subaru thing. Many vehicles of the 80's did that. Notable entries include most of the Datsun/Nissan lineup of old... At any rate that's a "design feature" as us engineering types like to call it. Hold the handle up as you close the front doors and it will stay locked. GD

Might have popped some of the freeze plugs out of the heads. Start figureing on a head gasket job and inspect carefully as you go. Technically your 88 is not a "Hatchback". It's refered to as a "3 Door Coupe". While it *is* a hatch it needs to be distinguished from the EA81 Hatchback, which was still being produced in 88. The EA81's came first, so the Hatchback label was already taken. For clarity here and elsewhere you should start calling it an EA82 3 Door Coupe. GD

Beware as some of those things *look* identical from the outside, but open/close at different temps. It's probably uneccesary anyway. Trace the lines to where it goes - it's probably part of the EGR or EVAP system. Niether of which is neccesary. If it were me I would likely replumb around it, or if you really care test it first, and assuming it's good repair it with some JB weld. Also beware about replacing vacuum lines as some have "orifices" in the lines. Best thing is to chop the old ones up into 1/4" bits and make sure you didn't miss any as they are little brass guys that are shoved into the end of the hoses. GD

First thing we need to know is if you have an EA81 or EA82? EA81's are pushrod. EA82's have timing belts. Which is it? GD

Always liked the Outback sedans myself. Some day I'm going to find an early, white Outback sedan and put an EJ20H into it. GD

All excelent discussion, and thank you all. My very decent local dealer parts department came through with an in-stock post-TSB sensor (they changed them at some point) for 25% below list (love those guys!). Installed tonight, torqued to 15 ft/lbs, and ran the engine for 45 minutes. Drove it a bit, and let it idle through 5 or 6 cycles of the radiator fans. No CEL. So it was afterall just a coincidence that the sensor had failed as well as the vehicle portion of the harness. I perhaps wasn't as clear in my initial post as I might have been - the sensor was original to the replacement engine - it was not exposed to the heat damage that ruined the original engine and sensor wire on the harness. The plant was swapped wholesale from a 94 turbo wagon which was "running excelent" when the engine was pulled at only 109k miles. The engine was destined originally to be a swap into something that didn't have a turbo but sat for several years till the gentleman decided he no longer wished to complete the task. That's when the engine changed hands to the PO of the new-to-me 91 SS and was installed by said PO. He was unable and eventually became unwilling to get it running so that's when I stepped in and rescued the whole mess from the crusher. I wonder what could have caused the knock sensor to fail durring the couple years that the engine was in storage? GD

I wouldn't go so far as to say "As solid as any other". But I agree they aren't all that bad when compared to other brands. In stock form, and with excelent maintenance, they often do very well in N/A trim. The (relatively few) turbo's that are left out there are survivors. Many having multiple head gasket and/or head replacements to make it this far and this long. Turbo's (all turbo's really) are maintenance hogs. Well - I would point out that Subaru redesigned the heads 3 times before just giving up on the EA82T's after 90. And actually the EA82T was only made for 6 years. EJ22T was made for 4, and EA81T was made for 2. So yes there are a few more out there, but not "WAAAAAY" more. Sure - but you are a competant mechanic. It's not that the EA82T is without it's redeeming qualities, or that it's not reliable if maintained in stock form. It's that it's basically an uneccesary engine in the scheme of things. It's got barely any more power than an N/A plant, can't handle much over stock boost levels for a reasonable amount of monetary assistance, and gets terrible mileage to boot.... so why would I want one? So I can beat my head against the frustrating wall of performance that others have as-yet been unable to break through? No - if I'm going to take the time to mod an engine then I would rather use that time to just drop in an EJ22 N/A. And if I want a stock vehicle with decent HP, I can drive a Legacy with 130 stock. Also no turbo. The point is that there really isn't a place for the EA82T anymore. It's got very little to offer anyone with enough sense to stop and think about their options. If you just want to play with a cheap turbo engine then I guess it's a good learning experience. But for practical purposes they just aren't "fun" when there's so much better, cheaper, and less frustrating engines to be had for the same price. GD