TKFlight

Goodyear Eagles, bought them by themselves and got them put on when the mechanic inspected my legacy. I think it was under $100 a tire like 80 a piece I believe, but that tire place gives deals on new tires so not sure if you can land the same price.

Like I said I understood that going in, when I land another job I'll definitely be ripping off the intake manifold and replacing the o-rings for the crossover pipe. The stuff I used isn't even gunky, coolant is green as can but I understand where you are coming from due to the small passages in these motors. I know someone who also has a 2.5 and they dumped in another Bars Leak product and when I took off their radiator cap I almost fainted. It was definitely the pellet stuff. Subaru Coolant Conditioner or something else? But yes check for bubbles in the over flow.

If its in the cabin then the culprit is probably the heater core Usually those products don't recommend being dumped into the overflow, you really go out on a limb with that stuff. I can't say anything because I've used Bars Liquid Aluminum(looks like aluminum flakes in the rad), to stop the crossover pipe o-rings from leaking. In the market for a job and can't be ripping the intake manifold off, I took the chance. If I get burned down the road I get burned, coolant is just green with little aluminum flakes. Glad its not a bunch of gunk, but that's beside the point. like said above sounds like air in the system, but how is it getting there? Would a faulty thermostat cause wacky readings?

Certainly. Since you already have everything apart and don't know when it was last done. Mind sharing that method lol? Planning on changing my timing components and 3 of the bolts look at bit rusted, the rest look good.

Please don't dump a miracle head gasket fix bottle into the cooling system. If the head gasket is already blown the Subaru Coolant Conditioner isn't gonna do much, its a preventative measure.

Could be head gaskets, but strangely I had the same problem(haven't had a smell in awhile) and had no head gasket symptoms. I did have a coolant leak from the crossover pipe for awhile and had to keep dumping anti-freeze in, I found out it was the crossover pipe by looking towards the back of the engine under the intake manifold. I had a nice pool of coolant sitting there, what it did was run down the back of the engine and hit the Y-Pipe. It also probably made more pools somewhere else and is probably why I still got a smell for a little while after. After about a month of fixing that I guess now all the coolant has burnt off. Don't jump on the head gasket train just yet, as long as the person did the job right and didn't use the single layer gaskets I'd lean toward something else right now until proven otherwise. You say it isn't losing significant amounts of coolant and it has never overheated, any bubbles in the overflow?

Adding ATF fluid to the engine for cleaning? I mean I've heard of it, and I'm not saying you are wrong, but it sounds like a backyard mechanic type thing. My opinion is why would it have detergents if ATF fluid is in a non-combustion environment? You are probably just better off using Auto-RX if you want to do an engine flush, or using a good synthetic oil. For me, tranny fluid stays in the transmission and engine oil stays in the engine. But if he wants to pour it in then he can pour some in, to each his own. Again I am not saying you are wrong I know car guys have their own ways. @naldo; I assume you checked the engine oil level? If the car runs and shifts fine I doubt its the torque converter. From what you are describing it could be piston slap. What type of oil did you put in may I ask?

Tough spot lots of people get stuck in that situation. My opinion is, unless you are buying a brand new car, why buy another used car that you don't know what its been through. Unless your 95 is rusting away, and the repairs are going to break the bank I'd consider fixing it.

I've heard of it before, maybe put some ATF fluid around the it and come back later on and see if you can pull it off.

Put 2 Reman Napa CV's on my 01 Legacy GT, they looked pretty good. Came with new roll pin and axle nut, put close to 1.5k on em now. No vibrations or anything strange, can't really beat the price. Plus a core charge. On NAPA's site it gives a Cardone Warranty, took a chance so far I didn't get burned.