avg_joe

Can the height be measured with the heads installed? What happens if they are too short? And what kind of revs are these engines happy with? With the red area starting at 6, and the tach reading up to 8 grand, it makes me wonder what these engines are supposed to be able to do....without grenading. It always feels like there should be another gear, on the highway. And on the freeway it feels like I'm flogging it to go 70. I'm that slow guy in the right lane....getting passed by semi trucks. I've always had bigger vehicles, with V8 engines that are barely awake to go down the highway. I still can't get used to how my Goldwings like to rev, either. The '77 loves the RPMs, the '82 favors the bottom end of the tach, but will still use the whole thing, without complaining. I foul plugs on the 77, because I tend to under-rev.

I'm curious to know how many times a set of heads can be resurfaced before it starts bumping compression up enough to warrant higher octane fuel? I would think that the machinest would take off the minimum amount to make it flat, but it's still taking off material. I know that the heads on my newly transplanted 2.5 have been machined twice in the recent past, and unknown if it had been done in the previous 190,000 miles(I would guess at least once, but just guessing). The engine sounds good, seems to pull solid, and revs smooth...as far as I rev. I've gotten up to 5 grand a couple of times, but I usually don't like to use that many revs, when there's another gear...I'd rather shift. I just got it running, I don't wanna blow it up right away.

Issue has been solved! I ended up getting a different engine from CL...then discovered that the seller of said engine lied about it's condition. I found another engine on car-part.com that had broken it's timing belt due to idler pully bearing malfunction. I asked the seller to pull the heads off before I got there so I could see the cylinder walls, and they looked good enough. I put my freshly surfaced heads on it, with Six Star head gaskets, new water pump, timing belt, and idlers. I FINALLY got everything in/on/filled/tightened, etc....I get in, turn the key from off to run a couple of times to verify that fuel pump is working, and to get fuel up to the engine.....I take a deep breath, and turn the key to start and crank the engine.....It cranks fine....I repeat several times, cranks fine, but no attempt to start......!!!! I get out and stand there scratching my head, thinking......,........,........(kind of a slow thinker) Then I think 'I don't remember hooking up the coil', so I hooked up the coil to the wiring harness, and it fired right up. I made sure the coolant was properly burped, and have driven it 50-75 miles in a couple of trips. Had I been a little bit more willing to listen to reason in the beginning, I could have saved myself a whole bunch of grief! I had put over $1700 into that engine, and was having a hard time with 'throwing away' what I hoped were good parts. You guys were right, and I should have heeded the good advice.

O.K. I will check into the O-ring. And coolant hoses were gonna get replaced anyway, for the reason you stated. I'm wondering why the automatics got an oil cooler, while the manuals didn't.

I ended up finding a decent(hopefully) short block for my 99 Forester, from a donor that suffered from a broken timing belt. It has a cute little oil cooler that the oil filter screws in to, so apparantly it's from an automatic trans. car. Do I have to take it off to put this engine in my manual trans. car? Thanks. avg_joe

I have 2 junk 2.5 engines, and wonder if any of the innards are re-usable. One engine has stripped head bolt holes, and the other one has some cylinder wall scoring. Pistons seem o.k. on both engines, are they usable in another engine. I haven't split either engine, but I'm assuming the crank, and rods would be good too. I hate the idea of junking parts that are still serviceable, and I seem to be gathering quite the collection.

From bad to worse!! I finally got thread repair stuff, and did the two holes that were known bad...Only to discover that it must be 1.25 pitch, because my head bolts won't thread into the inserts. Can't see how to fix this one, now. I guess it's back to engine shopping again. The really sad, ironic part about this whole debacle is, I got the Subaru so that I could SAVE some money by not driving my 1/2 ton 4X4 pickup all the time.....Now I'm in so deep on this thing, I can't justify not fixing it.

Engines are OUTRAGEOUS!!! I don't understand why they are so expensive. I found out that the head bolts are 11mm with 1.5 pitch....Absolutely no hope of finding thread repair locally. I guess I will order a set of helicoils from Amazon, and see if it will hold. Secret parts, egg-shell head gaskets, snake oil in the water, NO aftermarket support, assembled with unavailable tools........Who wouldn't love a Subaru?

A regular torx bit fits about as well as a no.2 phillips bit fits into a no.3 screw. A mute point now, anyway. As I discovered that at least one of the bolt holes for the heads is stripped. I made a quick trip into town, and couldn't even identify the size/thread pitch of the head bolt. Which makes finding thread repair difficult...... I guess I'm looking for a different engine.

I have heard of people using an unlit propane torch to search for vacuum leak, instead of spraying carb cleaner all over. Just 'spray' the propane on the suspect area, and it should react the same as if you sprayed carb cleaner.

The bolts that hold the cam caps on. I was going to replace the plugs at the end of the cams, and the oil seals.

I ordered gaskets from Six Star. I got the whole set, with all of the other gaskets and seals as well. Figuring that I might as well do it 'right', since I have it all apart. Torx plus....... WTF?!?!? I went to Fastenal, Home Depot, Menards, O'Reilly auto parts, Advance auto parts, and Napa auto parts........ Out of all those places, NOBODY even knows what they are. Fastenal could order them, but not one other place could even order them in. All I can say about the whole situation, is.....Good thing I still have my Ford.

I've got the heads off. Looks like my mechanic is off the hook for this one, as it was the side he didn't do. When I took the head bolts off, the middle 2 bolts were only hand tight on the passenger side, and it was pretty obvious that it had been leaking. All bolts were tight on the side that I had my mechanic work on. Looking at gaskets online, are Fel-Pro a good choice?

Do I need to take the cams, and rocker shafts out of the head? Or can I leave all that stuff intact? At this point, the engine has been opened up almost as many times as the passenger side door, so I'm thinking that cams, rockers, and valves have been inspected, and are in good shape, and wouldn't need to be disturbed. I'm trying to follow the steps in the manual, but am unsure what is actually needed for a HG replacement, as the manual goes through step by step removing every bolt, from every hole, and seperating every part from it's assembly.... After a good night's sleep, and a good cup of coffee, I am leaning more towards fixing, and less towards making it a cube. I really do like the car, and want it back on the road.....sloppy shifter, and all. I am in WAY over my head on this project, and I get frustrated.

A 100-200 dollar job?....... Possibly forgot to mention some of the special tools needed? Apparantly there is a special wrench for each pulley, and a whole host of goofy hardware to hold all the timing stuff together whilst it's apart...... And who knows what else. This has begun to turn into a fiasco, and I'm starting to lose what little faith I had. I have the engine out of the car, and in the garage, but now am stuck without having any of the special crap, and don't know if I should proceed with dis-assembly, or just hoist the engine over the engine bay, cut the chains and let it drop and send the whole works off to the crusher.

I would HATE to have to do it like that, but if I had to, I guess I would. But I was able to make enough room by shoving and stacking. Thanks for the other links, and model year info. Since I am a Soob noob, I don't want to jump to any conclusions, and wouldn't know what is what. And there isn't a Subaru dealer, or a Subaru knowledgable mechanic(that I know of...yet) nearby for me to pester. So all I know is what I've found here and on Youtube, and I have been absorbing as much as the old grey sponge will. I will look into the trans gear oil. I have fluid for all the gear boxes, and have every intention of replacing it all, while I have it inside, and torn apart. I will look at the manual, and see if I can figure out what a clutch slave cylinder looks like, and where to find it. I suspect that bearing is probably bad, though. While in 5th, on power, the shifter moves toward neutral, and if I have my hand against the shifter when I come off the power, I can feel the shifter slide back into place. If my hand isn't against the shifter, it falls out of gear. It doesn't always do it, but seems to be more so after it has been driven for a while, and is fully warmed. I took a couple of days off, but I'm going to work on it some more today. I work overnights, and every other weekend, and this was my weekend on. Plus, I have 3 damaged disks in my back from a ladder incident in the year 2000, which makes 'crouched over the fender' a torturous position....Which seems to hinder rapid progress. I will keep plugging away at it, but it might be my summer ride, instead of my winter one.

Hmmmmm. Now, that second part has me doing some thinking. The engine has been out of this car 2 times in recent history, and the second time was only a couple of months ago. So I'm hoping that it isn't stuck too bad...but that reminds me, I need to pick up a couple of big pry bars. However, the clutch has been getting progressively 'funnier'. Most times it works normal, but sometimes it won't want to slip into a lower gear, and I have to double clutch to get it to slip in. I've been going to do some looking around on here for some previous issues posted, and here comes the answer.....before the question, even. So, before any more mind reading happens, I will also look into the sloppy shifter linkage, and possibly some bearing that gets worn out, causing it to want to slip out of 5th gear on decel...or is that part of the aforementioned 'clutch disengagement issues'?

I have heard that they can be done in the car. But for me, not having ever done it before, I think I want it out there in the wide open spaces, so I can see what I'm doing. I went back to that site linked in a previous post, and did find a service manual.....as a web page. That's gonna make for a lot of trips up and down the stairs, from the computer room to the garage. Maybe I can convert it to a pdf or something. I would like it printed, as I can only sit in front of the computer for so long, before I have to get up and DO something. I have gotten much of the extraneous stuff unbolted, unhooked, and what-not....Hopefully I will be ready when the cherry picker shows up tomorrow. It should be interesting. Thanks for all the input, so far.

I tried to find the service manual at the above link, but the only thing there for a 1999 is written in Swahili, or something. I did go on youtube, and watched some videos that were pretty good. I stopped in to my mechanics, yesterday, and asked him a couple of questions....He put in the cheapest head gasket he could get, and was unaware that the water conditioner needed to be added... So that is looking like the reason for all my troubles(at this point). I have the car in the garage, now. And I am beginning to remove the extraneous stuff in preparation of the cherry picker that I hope to pick up today....and I guess I go to all the auto parts stores in town, to try and find a manual. Now, if I could get my garage temp up above 40 degrees....

I had a shop do all the work, so I don't know what they used. They are a good shop, but don't know Subies, so I'm sure it didn't get done with the tips and tricks that are well known here. The first overheat may have been pretty severe, as I didn't know that I had to look at the temp gauge every time I looked down at the dash. Subsequent overheats were shut down quickly. My main issue with putting a different engine in, is the feeling that this one still owes me!! I almost doubled the purchase price with the piston replace job, and just hate the idea of throwing good expensive parts away. I don't have the car inside yet, so I haven't even started investigating. I think I've got the space figured out, though. If I shove and stack all the woodworking stuff over to the wall as far as possible, over by the 85 gallon water tank for the fish in their winter abode(in summer, they live in the front yard), put 2 bikes on the lift, and the other 2 bikes as close as possible to the lift, I should be able to roll the sidecar rig off to the side far enough to get the car in.... This would be much easier if one of you would like to buy a 1977 Goldwing................

It's head gasket for sure. Bubbles galore. Also, with the thermostat removed, it still pressurized the coolant system with enough pressure to pop the cap of the overflow open. I was unaware that these things needed special 'snake oil' in the water. I suppose I will have to order that online. There isn't a Suby dealer anywhere near me. I guess I will have to order the official Subaru thermostat, too. When I took the thermostat out on my fateful voyage home, I must have left it at the shop that I stopped at. I'm still trying to get all the crap in my garage shoved over to one side, so that I can get the car in without having to leave the sidecar rig outside in the winter....But I can't bury it too deep, cuz I might need to drive it, if my truck dies! I will look at getting the timing stuff, too. I think that it has been done recently...but not by me. I've done belts on my Goldwings, so it probably isn't too different. Looks like I'm gonna have to get a manual for this thing.....Anybody got any favorites?

I have a 99 Forester with the 2.5, 5 speed. It's got almost 200 thousand miles on the odometer. I've only had it for a few thousand miles. In that time I have had some issues. It developed a slight miss which progressed into a dead miss from a cracked valve. (my diagnosis from subsequently wandering around here, and looking at pics....valve looks like a blow torch took out a pie shape piece) I brought it to my mechanic to figure out, and he figured it was junk.... I talked with him about it for a bit, and we decided to investigate further. His initial diagnosis was based on taking the plugs out, and finding one that looked nice, and one that was black, and cruddy. Obviously grossly oil contaminated. We did a compression check on those 2 holes...One seemed acceptable, and the other didn't move the needle. Now we figure head, and decide to tear into it. Mechanic calls back in a couple of days....back to the junk prognosis. It seems that the oil contamination was from a possible broken ring, or other piston problem, and thus raising the cost into the prohibitive range.(He's been my mechanic for years, and knows how I hate to spend money...I only bring him the stuff I don't wanna do, or don't have equipment to do.) Mechanic calls back in a couple of days....maybe not junk after all. Mechanic was talking to some other dude, who told him that it was indeed fixable, and not too terribly expensive. The block gets sent to a neighboring town, where they(whoever 'they' are) proceed to replace a piston. The block gets sent back, and my mechanic puts it back in the car, and I drive away.... I'm unsure at this point who installed the head gasket....'they' or my mechanic...a mute point, anyway. All goes well for a couple months, I drive it regularly back and forth to town, about 7 miles away. It does great, I even took it on a couple of longer trips to the in-laws, about 60 miles away. I figure all is good, as I have continued to monitor the vitals, and everything seems right. I tried to take it on a 300 or so mile round trip, and experienced overheating out of nowhere. The first time it got hot, I don't know how long it was hot before I noticed the gauge, but there wasn't a warning light, or the 'service engine' light. I let it cool, poured some water in, and filled the reservoir, which had popped the lid open, and blew water all over the engine compartment.(which is what alerted me to the situation...I saw steam, and smelled coolant). I aborted that trip, and made it home. Watching the gauge closely, and stopping whenever it started to get hot. I thought it was thermostat(wishful thinking), and replaced it. I drove the car for several days, in varying conditions, and it seemed fixed. Tried my 300 mile trip again.....same thing. Now it's obviously a head gasket. Is it worth putting any more effort into this engine? I will be doing this one myself, as my mechanic isn't a Suby guy, and has told me so. So I guess it's up to me. I love the vehicle....It's everything I need it to be......well... except running, of course. Is putting a 2.2 into it an option? Or maybe a 2.2 frankenmotor? This is supposed to be my winter vehicle, and we just got our first big snow. I really want my Suby back on the road. It's soooo much nicer to drive around than my F-150 in 4x4. Thanks for any input. avg_joe

Hey all!! I am from MN, as the title states. A few years back, I picked up a 96 legacy on it's last leg, and hobbled it along for a couple of years, before it was going to cost more than a few bucks to fix. In that time, I had come to really like the little thing....I had even gotten pretty good at cramming myself through the ridiculously small door opening without looking like I was drunk. When it died, I looked around for another Subaru, and found a 99 Forester with a 2.5 and a 5 speed. It only had 195 thousand or so, and had been gone through recently, due to a bad valve(I was told). I figured it was good to go, then, and picked it up. It's only been 4 thousand miles, and I have had a piston replaced, along with the valves, and had the head gone through, and now have a blown head gasket. Needles to say, my appreciation for the Subaru has begun to diminish. It blew it's gasket about 90 miles into a 300 mile journey. I went through several gallons of coolant, and prolonged my 4-5 hour journey into almost 11 hours. I made it through the last 75 miles much easier, after I was able to find a shop that would help me, as I didn't have any tools along. We took the thermostat out, and then I was able to continue on my way....Stopping to add coolant when the gauge started to read warm, and my toes started to get cold. It seems that I have a bit of research ahead of me, to see whether I try to save this thing. But I wanted to at least introduce myself, before I start asking a bunch of questions. avg_joe