DeltaWye

Be really, really careful tightening those valve cover bolts back up. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/160895-managed-to-bust-out-part-of-the-casting-on-the-cam-tower-not-sure-whether-to-replace-or-repair/

I had to do a search for that as well. It seems to be the brace that runs from the bellhousing to the cowl area to limit how far the engine moves/stresses the mounts. I was wondering what that thing in my way was when I was locking up the flywheel while undoing the crankshaft bolt.

Yeah, the kit I got came with the light too, I forgot.

Well I may have been wrong about the solenoid being the cause of the hesitation, it was quite a while ago and I wasn't the one working on the car at the time.

No kidding. Well that would be handy to have, maybe I'll give it another shot.

Ah, that rings a bell. We had this code come up about 10 years ago and I remember now that it was hesitating pretty badly when you'd hit the throttle. Went on for a long time before the code came up. Don't know what the repair involved as I didn't work on cars at the time. It did fix the problem though and has never done it since.

Also, if the problem only started right after the work they did, wouldn't it be reasonable to ask them to give it a once-over?

I think sometimes there's corrosion between the cap and rotor, you could try a scotchbrite pad and some contact cleaner and see if it helps things. Just make sure you don't mix up which wire goes where. If it helps, a new cap and rotor are pretty cheap, I got the Beck/Arnley ones and they were made in Japan. I think the NGK (9350) FE27 wires are the correct ones for these cars.

I tried the dye trick last summer but couldn't see anything, of course I didn't have the special glasses at the time. I bought a set at NAPA when my primary car's A/C went out this summer, but of course I didn't need them since I could hear hissing at the condenser where a rock had hit it. The Subaru will have to wait until next year as there are things that need fixing right away for the winter (rear window defroster has only 2 wires that work) and the front right wheel bearings are shot. Apparently they can go bad while the car is just sitting there for 4 months. Waiting on parts from Subaru now because NAPA couldn't get the inner seals. I don't think these cars run the A/C in the winter for defrost like the new cars do so there's not much motivation to get it going right now. I know it's bad for the system to not use it from time-to-time but I just have too much to do and screwing up that cam tower really set me back.

Thanks, I guess that makes sense. I thought maybe it was specifically for the Canadian market but maybe all cars headed to the North part of the continent had it done at the dealer and cars headed to the South had it done at the factory? I'm in my 30s and I remember back in 1994 A/C was still a luxury, at least on economy cars. The original A/C still runs on this car when I charge it with an aftermarket refrigerant but it leaks out in hours. It's on the list...

Wow, it embedded the youtube video automatically. This forum software is really, really nice.

I couldn't agree more. I have only had one work once, every other time it failed. Usually they just wind up spinning freely in the hole you drilled but sometimes they snap. As you said, if you break it off, the problem is now much, much worse. They should be banned and I'm not a fan of banning things. I broke one off in a metal shear once. Wasn't even seized, I just tightened it without backing off the lock nut first, just a duh moment. Because they are hardened it becomes almost impossible to drill it so it sat for over a year. I finally found something that worked - a diamond burr in a die grinder. A decent one was around $20. If you're in Toronto, go to Atlas Machinery. Mind you this was a 3/8" bolt so I had some leeway, but it did a surprisingly good job of getting my previous off-center hole back on center and hogging away the Ez-out and bolt. This was in thick steel though so even though the first few threads took a beating, there was still plenty of grab and it was just a set screw. Left threaded drill bits are worth trying, though they can also break off and make the problem worse if you're not careful. Much, much better than EZ-outs though since they aren't trying to wedge themselves in. Of course the Big-box stores around here don't carry them, they just carry the crappy EZ-outs. That's probably why I seldom go to Big Box stores anymore. I tried the welding trick once (on the shear) but it didn't work for me. Would probably work better for a steel bolt in aluminum. Then again, I can't weld for S___. Here's the video I watched that made me try it:

I can't really offer much help to source the part other than to try Subaru. Even if the original part is no longer available, they may have a superseded part that will work. Or put a request on the looking for parts forum. Since the only problem seems to be a mechanical one, I'm thinking but it may be worth trying to fix the relay, at least to get it going. You can't drive the car now anyway, right? I'd make a diagram of the terminals if they aren't numbered and label all the wires and remove it from the car and have a close look at it on the bench. Then I'd put a multimeter on it and figure out what each pin does before I started messing with it. Maybe someone has a wiring diagram for this car? That would help source a substitute relay/relays. If there's enough metal exposed you could try to solder a terminal or some wire to what's remaining. If you can overlap it enough to make a good electrical connection, you can put epoxy around the repair to secure it. You'd need to verify a good connection with the meter. Last ditch effort would be to open it up, it's probably sealed so you'd need a dremel tool, and try to repair it inside.

Just reading some of my earlier posts, I did use the air ratchet to run the pump before I put the timing belts on. Hopefully it got some oil into the new camshaft before start-up. I ended up putting everything back together before I started the engine - I figured it was either going to work or it wasn't. I didn't use any sealant on the valve cover gasket and there's no sign of any leaks either there or on the sealant-only joint between the cam tower and cylinder head. I used this stuff: https://www.amazon.ca/Permatex-51813-Anaerobic-Gasket-Maker/dp/B0002UEONM You don't get much for the money but someone here recommended 'anaerobic' gasket maker for this job. It was very hard to squeeze out until I cut the nozzle back further. I probably put it on a little too thick but I put it more towards the outside edge so it would squeeze out there. I put a thin bead between the O-ring and the main cavity, also recommended by someone here.

Does the relay control other stuff? Could a different relay not be substituted?