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it shouldn't be any more than 13 or so psi since the radiator cap should release into the bottle. check if there's a blockage on the cap? I've seen caps that have the rubber part expand over time and jam the relief valve mechanism from opening.

Sounds bad, it'll need to be torn down anyways. Plan on removing the pistons and cleaning out the ring grooves. It's a turbo, if you see heavy varnish inside the heads chances are the rings are gunked up too.

EJ253 will have an open deck. EJ255/257 will have semiclosed decks. The piston tops are different between the three.

you did the ej22 already so most things are the same, here are the differences: ej205's came with plastic cam pulleys, also the cam bolts need allen key's. they are a pain most of the time, look up some videos on how people get them off beforehand. I've removed rounded off bolts with a bolt extractor. can't heat the ones with plastic cams without weakening them. not much you can do with the turbo. check for turbo shaft play when it's off, the exhaust housing likes to crack around the wastegate port. it's safe to continue to run it if it still seals, just not optimal. crank bolt is on much tighter than ej22, 133ftlb instead of 95 in the ej22. if you don't have the crank holder tool loosen it with the engine in the car and someone standing on brakes in gear. headbolts are reusable if not corroded. wipe off and clean lightly, no wire wheel. if there's no corrosion it's safe to reuse. consider reringing the pistons since you're already in there

Nothing cleans catalytic converters directly. Probably injector cleaner rebadged to say catalytic system cleaner. It does too little to work and you'd get better results cleaning the intake valves with seafoam.

Guessing the mating surfaces aren't flat anymore. Next time you do an oil change, lay the old washer on the table. It should be completely flat and uniform. I've seen weirdly deformed ones where the center hole is no longer round. If the pan was still good, the crush washer eventually flattens down to look like a regular washer.

Been reusing mine for 10 or so years now. It's a washer.

I agree with ido, leave it as it is. at this point, changing it might cause more leaking. we don't know if stopleak had been tried on it before; likely yes. note on "stopleak" type products, they contain chemicals that soften and expand nitrile orings. use them once to see if it helps, if you keep using more eventually the orings will turn into a gummy mess.

if you haven't touched the axle nut, likely the dust shield rubbing on the new rotor. pretty common on subarus with disc rears. you can bend it away or grind a bit of it off. or just run with it until the noise goes away.

Why not a bluetooth to fm adapter that plugs in the lighter? Some even have aux input. https://www.google.com/search?q=bluetooth+fm+adapter+car+aux

more importantly, get into the habit of checking your oil level when you get gas. these engines tend to burn oil when they get older. you want to know if it's something troubling like having to add 1qt of oil every fillup. if doesn't burn more than 1/2qt between 3000mi oil changes, you have piece of mind and can check less often. it's game over when you see that oil light on your dash. betting your mechanic friend would have plenty of horror stories on this.

Try spinning the wheel with one hand and grabbing on the shock spring with the other hand. It's easier to do with both tires off the ground. My guess is something wrong with the bearing causes the tonewheel to rub on the knuckle. It's probably disintegrated enough to not make noise unless braking.

more importantly, why is it groaning. if it's not brakes related it's probably a failing bearing or loose axle nut. figure out the groaning issue first, remove the abs sensor from the hub see if it stops groaning

Compression test would answer the bent valve question. Throw it back on the car enough so you can hook up the starter and do a compression test on it.

you can rule out clutch fork and any clutch related issues by trying to get into gears with the engine off. if it still doesn't get into gears only other thing you can check is the shift linkage. otherwise it's an internal issue with the trans

The computer has no control over the battery light. From the 2pin connector, one wire goes to the battery lamp -> fusebox -> positive rail. The other wire goes battery positive as directly as possible. If the voltage the alternator puts out is too high or too low compared to the positive rail at the fuse block , the light comes on from differential voltage. One wire should have some resistance to the positive battery. The other should have very little resistance.

Check and clean the 2pin connector carefully. Replace if needed. That connector is the sense circuit, one wire runs as directly to the battery as possible, the other goes through fuses, dash circuit, through the dash battery lamp. Oldschool subarus have a light bulb for the battery for resistance and the charging circuit depends on that. The alternator uses the voltage differential between two wires to regulate power. If the connector is dirty or wires are corroded, the extra resistance will force more voltage. Yeah and unplugging it completely disables the charging so the lights turn off. No computer involved. The light turns on if there's a big enough voltage differential. No idea how newer ones work, they have leds and digital gauges.

NGK plugs already have nickel alloy coating on them. On aluminum you can install them dry. I do. There's very little room to access the rear plugs, I usually use a plug socket -> short extension -> tiny wobbler coupling -> wobbler extension -> wrench. Outside temp sensor would be on bumper, lower opening near license plate.

Probably same as MEK around here, great for cutting oil/grease, that stuff will melt rubber and some plastics. It leaves a residue so go over everything with brake cleaner just before putting on rtv.

I'm fairly sure Aisin doesn't make the idler pulleys, esp the cogged one. Have them take a picture to confirm.

looks like it's a push in clip from the picture. i'm not sure. you have the new assembly already. cut into the black area of the old assembly until it frees up the wiring.

not sure how it would end up on a worn set, on a new set when i pushed out the hub again it was very little effort on the press, like only moderate finger pressure on the lever. no way to tell until you do it, if it binds and you have to press hard to pop it off, it's likely too late... and most of the time that's the case.

did you forget to put the outer seal in after pressing in the hub? i did one time. had to press it out and reassemble everything. not sure how long lasted, many years though. this was a new bearing.

The damper rarely fails, on a 2010 I doubt it's the culprit. You could get away with removing it completely and bridging the lines. You're describing the fuel pressure regulator, it's near the injectors and has a third port that goes to a vacuum hose. Unplug the vacuum hose while the engine is running. It should not have fuel coming out. Fuel pressure probably doesn't hold overnight, but it should hold for a couple minutes right after key off.

update: took the car with the 4.44 box out today. it does 3000ish @ 65mph and a bit over 3900 @ 80. so no idea what transmission they put in yours. it might be one of those close ratio ones for rally.