montana tom

Yup a haynes manual is as good as it gets but.... Use it for general information ,big grain of salt for following their "procedures" better to ask here for real world experience. I like to replace sensors one at a time, try the tune up , then the maf and last I would try the o2. No sense spending all your $ rite away!

I just helped a neighbor with a similar problem,turned out the maf had an intermittent problem . Cleaning maf did nothing. I switched a working one from my 94 to his 96 and problem was gone. I was told here at usmb that there is a poor solder connection inside that is known to cause this kind of problem. New /original equipment maf are expensive , used ones could have the same issue pending. We went with the 50$ china copy on ebay. So far after over a month no problems, car idles and runs normal again!

How many miles on this ? At 150,00 or less they all need head gaskets ! Any maintenance records come with it ?You need to determine where your coolant is going. How much have you added ? Have you looked underneath for leaks? Have you talked to the dealer where you bought it ? Are you or one of your freinds mechanical or are you at the mercy of repair shops ? Usually looking from the bottom up where the head's bolts on to the block you will see drops of coolant. Wipe everything down and run the motor if you only see antifreeze near the bottom of the heads you got bad gaskets. Yes there are other ways for a shop to test as well.

That year engine has known head gasket issues. If your temp gauge is moving and your heater is intermittent, your coolant is going somewhere ... if you got no puddles ... its going past the head gaskets! Lots of options for a fix , just hope you didn't pay too much for it.

600.00 $ Buy it... to bad it's an automatic. Find a 2.2 motor or call the jap takeout motor outlet and see what they are offering. Don't let this good deal get towed off unless its being towed to your house !

If you can move the shifter while the engine is running and get no engagement or grinding ... then I agree with imdew , look at the shift linkage.

Hi all ; Traded for an unknown used engine a few years ago , just to have on hand.Finally got around to needing it this spring... and what do you know.. rod knock on start up and audible knock at certain rpms. So I am going to split the case and see just how bad it is, before it self destructs . I.m looking for recommendations to buy on bearing type , ring type , should the pistons be replaced at the same time ? What is commonly found needing replaced when opening this motor up ? Should the crank be turned no matter what or is it possible to just put in new bearings ? The last subi case I split was an EA 71 , never gone deeper than the heads on a EJ motor.

My 2000 & 2001 obw both had this problem .. removing the entire light assembly and sealing with form a gasket is how i got mine to stop. Be glad you don't have a limited edition with a sunroof , mine leaked horribly ... turned out to be the body seams ... had to remove the headliner to find & fix it !

Thanks Fairtax; second time you've helped . TP sensor was not the problem .. just like you suggested. MAF apparently is the culprit , switched it out with a good one from my 94 and she purrs. Heading back to the shop now to see about taking this old one apart to fix it. Thanks to you also ccrinc for your tip .

2000-2004 for sure

Tar like goo on top ? you mean the outside of the head near where the manifold bolts on ? Or inside where the valves are ? If you mean under the valve cover at what would be the bottom , then don't worry too much . Oil pools there and does not easily flow away.... the heat bakes it into goo.

Hi all ; Trying to help my neighbor out with his 96-2.2 5mt legacy. Problem; Start's in the morn normal runs for a few minutes ... stall's..restarts easy runs less than a minute stall's . If you try to drive it then it cuts out, rpms up & down . If you work with it ,after awhile it starts to run normal . I checked all the wire plugs to everything , looked over and cleaned mass air .all to no avail. During one of the 40 second restarts as it was trying to stall I unpluged the tp sensor and it quit trying to stall and went up to 1100 rpm (800-900 normal) I took it for a short test drive and it ran good . Replugged tp and stalls. I adjusted tp and it idled ! Yes... except 200 yards down the road and its cutting out...xxx ...pop hood unplug tp ... runs fine so I try driving it to town unpluged...(this won't work... ) ran like a raped ape ! 80 mph 4 miles in . and 4 back... I was shocked . I had a used tp from a jap takeout manifold , wont fit the throttle body but pluggs in to the harness ok. Plug it in idle drops to 800. This car had codes for mass air & tp as well as misfire and o/2 . when I first looked at it . I cleared the codes and even with all the stalling and cutting out , They never came back UNTILL I unpluged the tp ??? I went ahead and gambled his $ 69.00 for a hitachi tp sensor.... hope it works ok. Anybody familiar with these symptoms ?

Mike; The pass cam should have been movable, drivers is under load. But a compression test is probably a good thing to check. same with any codes.

Good on the timing belt, and the "tooth" that was a plastic plug. Coolant could be coming from upper hose or throttle body preheat hoses ,or even the water manifold on the block. Have the shop check their work. Why is it running rough ? You might want to do a quick compression test to confirm that the compression is equal in all 4 cylinders. Still no codes ?

Mike ; If your timing belt did slip you may have bent a valve ...It is an interference motor... would explain your clicking noise and rough running . coolant on top of the heads is probably something other than head gaskets . As far as machining the heads , I haven't personally seen one that "HAD" to be done. Your earlier post on gorilla glueing a flywheel tooth .... were you joking ? It might stay attached till the starter touches it but thats it. Get your friend at the dealer to see if its his HG job gone bad and if so maybe they need to fix it. Where did you use a felpro multilayer gasket set on a timing belt job anyway ? Or are you referring to the dealer who should have used subaru HG's . Smelling coolant after repair work is BAD ... should have been back at the shop the next day !

Michael; Put your radiator in and get coolant in . Did you confirm that your engine had slipped time before starting the tensioner replacement ? Was the motor ticking the same way since your hg replacement or has it changed since your tensioner repair ? You said the motor runs "better"..... is it shaking a little ? Rough idle maybe ? These motors can make some odd noises even when running well but I have some doubts about yours .

I agree , safer than ruining one.

If you decide to do this yourself check /ask here for guidance first . Lots of posts about changing timing belts (its not that hard) the head bolts use an odd method of tightening (tighten ,loosen, turn 90 degrees ,turn 45 degrees it works . You can do this, but only if you're slow and careful. Check prices on parts , gates offers a good belt kit, subaru head gaskets (don't skimp) all the pieces I mentioned including oil / air filters. After you see about cost doing it yourself check with a dealer on cost and IF there is a subaru specialty shop with good recommendations ask them for a quote as well. Make sure they are changing all the parts I mentioned on their quote.

Hey no problem , lot of guys here know more but I've owned and worked on subi's for the last 30+ years and i've picked up a few tricks. Yes ; it can be done at home but it is a large job. Easiest to pull the motor out but it can be done in frame you'll just have to unbolt motor mounts and the upper link to jack up the engine. At the same time you do this you will want new timing belt/ tensioner / idler pulleys / cam & crank seals, water pump . Ever do timing belts before ? Remember this is an interference motor so you must do it right the first time. Also use high quality parts ... no china junk or you will be an expert after you do it all over again .

No, this year group has external leakage (thank goodness) 150,000 is just about normal to need HG on this motor. Won't get in the oil , but will slowly lose coolant and heat up if you push it to hard. Check it out if this is your problem get it fixed sooner rather than later... eventually it will do damage to the head if allowed to continue leaking.

Ok ,swapped out the latch /actuator assembly today. Took about an hour . hardest part is finding the two screws where the inner pull handle is and all the plastic push pins and clips that hold the cover on the tailgate. You must also remove the two side plastic window trim pieces (pops off) to find the last two push pins holding the cover on . After that its straight forward. The white plastic lever on the right side of the latch must be flipped to unlock the rear latch.

Look very close from the bottom where the heads bolt on to the block , use a bright light . look for any coolant seeping along the gasket , particularly on the pass side. It drips on the catalytic and leaves no puddle. You can also look near your heater hoses , one small hose leads up to the throttle body , it can spring such a small leak its hard to find. .This year group has head gasket issues (less with 03-04) How many miles on this ?

Hey dude; You should bring that subi up to snow country ! See what a subi really can do. Nothing like pushing snow over the hood and your subi is grinning from her grille to her tailights . Good post , nice to be able to help friends and neighbors.

Hard to say for sure but it sounds like your new starter is N/G ! your old starter most likely could have been easily repaired but ... I suspect that you had to turn it in for a core... I have heard of adding a relay but have never had to. Take out that new one and using jumper cables and a screw driver test it on the bench . Pos cable + battery to pos starter connection , neg cable -bat to housing of starter( at bolt holes) use screw driver to jump from solenoid to + battery terminal . A good starter should turn over as soon as you make contact... if not ... big spark.... its bad ,take it back and get another.

Could be electrical... but look at the timing belt first. A sudden no start on the 2.2 with fast cranking is usually a timing belt. That engine is a non interference motor so not a problem if the belt has broken/slipped. Pull the end timing cover off (3, 10mm bolts) and check belt for condition and tightness... you won't have any doubt if the belt is broken .