richfoub

Yep I have considered going with a hitch on the back and a small trailer to haul stuff like bikes etc Probably wouldn't hurt the gas mileage too much if I found something light enough. I've seen new rear struts for sale that have stiffer springs, might check those out as well. I used to have an old Impala that had air shocks, they worked great when there was a bit of weight in the trunk, I wonder if they could be an option as well.

It was a small, independently run brake/tire place that stuck the tires on and reckoned there was something wrong. I've checked the outer surface of both rear rotors and they nice and shiny, so at least I know the brakes are working. I tried to explain to my wife that the front brakes do just about all the stopping anyway, so I'm not too worried. Once it gets a bit warmer I'll take both rear wheels off and see if I can find anything wrong with them.

Had my Legacy in to have the winter tires put on some rims a few days ago before our long drive out to Vancouver. When I picked the car up the guy at the garage said the rear calipers need replacing. I should've asked exactly what they saw that made them think they needed to be replaced but didn't. The car stops ok, I don't hear any noises when braking. Can't pull the car off the road just now as the wife's driving it. What should I look for when I get a chance to check out the rear brakes? Richard

Got the heads back on with a bit of swearing and some rubber bands to hold the head bolts in place as I lowered the heads at an angle to get them back in. Would be much easier with some kind of small winch to hold the head while you position it into place as it's a pain to support the weight of the head and wiggle it into place. Borrowed a neighbours 3/8" torque wrench and followed the Subaru procedure for torquing. With the final tightening I just figured out where 90 degrees should be when tight. Put everything back on, didn't have any extra bolts/nuts lying around at the end, which is always good. Turned over fine but wouldn't start right away, figured out I had the fuel lines routed incorrectly so once I got them connected properly it fired right up. Ran with quite a loud tick on the driver's side for the first couple of drives. I changed the oil and filter as I wasn't sure when it was last done and after a couple of drives round town the tick disappeared and the engine now runs nice and quiet. So far we've put about 1500km on it since the head gaskets were replaced, including a 1000km round trip out to Vancouver and back. Temperature gauge gets up to about 1/3 and sits there. Fluid level in the overflow bottle hasn't shifted. Heater works great. Thanks for all the input. Richard

Have a '95 Legacy wagon with the 2.2 and auto trans, thinking of upgrading/swapping the rear suspension for a bit more load carrying over the summer holidays. With a roof box on, rear cargo area loaded right up and four bikes on the hitch at the back I'm suspecting it'll sit pretty low. What can I do to bring the rear back up so it's not bottoming out on the suspension over small bumps? Can I go with stiffer shock absorbers or maybe a lift kit in the back? What other options are around? Richard

Yep I've been tossing it over in my head, thinking that maybe marking the bolts with Twink or white paint would be the way to go. Think I also need to buy a 3/8" torque wrench as my 1/2" one is too long to use under the car. Will give it a crack tomorrow after work.

I've replaced the head gaskets on my EJ22 and have the heads back on the block. The engine is still in the car. I used rubber bands to hold the head bolts in the head as you have to tilt the heads somewhat to get them back on the block. I have the sequence for torquing the heads back down but it utilises a torque angle meter to get the correct degree of final tightening. How have others done the final tightening? It seems like there wouldn't be enough room to include the meter between the head and the chassis rail? It looks pretty straight forward to do the top bolts but those lower ones look difficult. Have researched quite a while online but have found no tips on how to correctly torque the lower bolts. Any suggestions? I noticed briansmobile just turned each bolt a quarter turn to make it 90 degrees which is fine if you can do it in one movement but more difficult on the lower bolts where 2 - 3 movements might be required to get a quarter turn.

I've replaced the head gaskets on both sides of the engine and have the heads back on the engine. I'm trying to figure out how to torque the lower rows of head bolts. They were quite difficult to get undone with a long breaker bar. There doesn't seem to be enough room to get a torque angle meter in there to correctly torque the bolts.

Can I re-use the head bolts when changing the head gasket? I see most places selling head gaskets recommend new head bolts.

Yep pretty much what I did the other night, topped up engine through top radiator hose, topped up radiator, emptied out overflow bottle, all looked good after that. After we got home this evening coolant was overflowing onto the ground. Also the other night I could see big bubbles coming up into the overflow reservoir out of the overflow hose. Luckily it looks like a pretty easy fix, if everything I've read about the EJ22 is true. Do you have a part number for the correct Felpro head gaskets? What else should I order?

It must be the head gasket. We just took a short drive around town with a few stops. The temperature gauge went up and down, more up than down and when we got home the overflow reservoir was overflowing onto the ground. I found this explanation on another posting about about overheating. "If its a head gasket, what happens is the exhaust pushes past the gasket and into the water jacket. It then pushes water out into the overflow bottle and eventually out of the overflow" Looks like I'll have to fix it, as the guy we bought it off is surely not going to take it back.

I had the same problem. Turned out there was very little coolant in the system. If you do a search on this forum you should be able to find the correct way to re-fill the cooling system.

So I got a new thermostat and gasket from the Subaru dealer today on my way home from work. Got a chance this evening to go out and fit it to the car. First I have to drain the coolant from the engine/radiator. I open the tap on the passenger side at the bottom of the radiator and about 1/4 cup of fluid trickles out, even after I removed the radiator cap. Hmmm, I'm sure I should get a bit more than that. So then I'm thinking the reason I have no heat and the engine is overheating is there is probably bugger all coolant in the system. So I fill (like I've read) the engine through the top radiator hose. After a while fluid starts trickling out of the top radiator connection which means the thermostat must be open. I thought it was normally in the closed position and only opened when the engine reached a certain temperature and needed cooling by the radiator? Or am I wrong? Then I re-connected the top hose, put some more coolant where the radiator cap goes and squeezed the top hose to release any bubbles. After I couldn't get any more coolant in the radiator I started the car with the heater on and fan on lowest setting. Yay! the heater is working. Squeezed the top hose a bit more and put the radiator cap back on. Took the car for a decent spin round the block, including a few good accelerations, temp gauge sat at about 1/3 and didn't budge. Popped the hood when I got home, there was probably about 1 cup more fluid in the overflow reservoir than when I left. Both radiator hoses are now warm. I read somewhere that Subaru head gaskets normally go bad by letting coolant into the combustion chamber versus the oil sump, if so would pulling the spark plugs show me that 1 or more plugs should be lovely and clean while the others show normal combustion characteristics? Also the heat in the cabin was toasty but not quite as hot as I would have thought. Maybe someone has removed the thermostat? Should I drain the system again and see if that indeed is the case? Richard, in Vernon BC.

Thanks for the info, will stop in at the local Subaru dealer tomorrow for a new thermostat and keep my fingers crossed. I found a couple of good how to's on purging air from the system after re-filling, so will make sure I follow those to the T. I already topped it right up and massaged the top hose to get any bubbles from the system before my last test drive.

Just bought a '95 Legacy, first drive today and it overheats. Gauge went all the way up, heater on full was only blowing cold air. Nursed it home. Top radiator hose was hot, bottom hose was cold, overflow tank, which had been half full was now overflowing. Got online searching for an answer, as we all do. Have read many posts, some saying head gasket, some saying thermostat, some saying radiator cap, some saying air in the system. Car has 275,000kms on the clock, had timing belt and water pump replacement about 50,000kms ago. Did some poking around under the hood in between online answer searching. Took it out again for a quick lap of our neighbourhood to get the temp up again, this time keep it idling at home while looking into overflow bottle. There were some big bubbles coming up randomly in the coolant, does this point to head gasket problems. Smelt the exhaust, might have a bit of sweetness to it indicating coolant. Might pull the plugs to see what they look like. From what I can deduce right now basically the coolant in the engine gets hot, this expanding fluid is pushed out the top hose into the radiator and then into the overflow bottle. The thermostat is meant to open once the engine reaches a certain temperature so the coolant can then flow through the radiator to get cooled. So maybe if the thermostat is not opening this could be causing the overheating? Also if coolant is not flowing through the heater core because the thermostat is hindering flow this could explain the no heat situation inside the car? Anyone like to ad their two cents worth?