Scottbaru

Not sure about the code, it's my friends car, I didn't know he was having trouble 'till yesterday. He says it actually ran rough on cold starts, like a cylinder misfiring. He's thinking now it was clearing the coolant from the cylinder. He took it to a dealer, plans to get it to his indy after they take a look. It's about a five-mile drive, hopefully that won't do damage. If the oil looks good, it should do no more damage if it doesn't get hot.

Could misfiring be an early symptom? A friend of mine is trying to diagnose his '01 OB, says he had misfiring when cold, recently overheated, suspects HG. One HG was replaced under warranty, and he took the stopleak. He says his oil looks good, and no bubbles.

A friend has located a '99 30th anniversary with low mileage, we may stay in the family. Long drive to get it, but likely we will, love these cars with the 2.2l.

I've totalled quite a few cars (mostly hitting deer), and my wife has worked in insurance for decades, they always fold when she starts in on them . I've wanted to keep each car, and it always cost too much. I think they want 60% of what we agreed it was worth. They don't like having totalled cars kept by the insured, I've heard a few reasons why, but I'm not really sure. They'll never get 10% at auction.

You can look up Timken specs on their online catalog, as I did in this thread http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42518. Lots of threads on this subject if you use the "Search" function at the top of each thread. I agree on the 30% fill, although it's hard to judge when filling by hand. Plenty of info on this on the web.

Someone pulled out in front of my daughter, she's unharmed, but the Brighton wagon is totalled. She's been to the chiropractor, lots of soreness she didn't realize, but fine. The wagon was minimally damaged: hood, fender, radiator, headlight, some internal framing is pushed in. It's not worth much, so they're thinking totalled (~$6000). I just did the timing belt, it was a great car. USAA makes it very expensive to keep a total, so I'll have to let it go. I'm looking at cars, not excited about another Subie because I don't trust the 2.5l. Maybe I can find another 2.2l or 3.0l at a reasonable price. This car will be her college car initially, then for my son who turns 16 next fall. The Brighton was perfect for them, oh well:-\ I might put a note in the glovebox to whoever buys the wreckage to contact me, I'd fix it up and drive it for about $1000. I know my brother will want the engine for his Vanagon, I'll see what USAA will do.

Look for a vacuum leak, that could cause several of the problems you're having. Probably not a head gasket, but look in the coolant for bubbles/oil. At that mileage a bad O2 sensor is unlikely. Cleaning the plugs, plugwires, and plugwells should temporarily fix any symptoms from oil on the plugs. You asked somewhere about an OBDII scanner, I'm using a Proscan http://myscantool.com/, some screenshots are here http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=75975&page=3. Now, what's wrong with the cruiser?

I ordered my stuff from 1stSubaruparts/Auburn Subaru. They specified the correct belt, part #809218400 (Gates 5PK877), the same I'm taking off. I received part #809218340 (Gates 5PK874), and they're not sure why. Apparently '340 is listed as superceding '400, and that's why I got '340. The Gates website shows I need an 880mm belt, the 877mm seems to fit well, but the 874mm is too short. Why would Subaru change the belt to something shorter? 1stSubaru is sending a longer belt, so they're making the effort and I appreciate that. I expect to be doing many more belt changes on this car, hopefully I won't have to go through this each time.

The keeper above my crank sprocket is spec'd at .020"-.040", it seems like that'd help keep the belt from jumping. I made the belt jump there when I torqued the cam pulley bolt, but finger-tip pressure kept it from jumping next try.

Perhaps their theory is that a bad radiator could cause the headgasket to blow?

I put the Triple-treads on this Fall, nice tire. Excellent on ice! I read they use lava pumice in the rubber, that makes a lot of sense. I've always sought all-weather tires with the best possible snow/ice performance, these are the best I've seen. They rate highest in snow of all the all-wx tires at tirerack.com.

Wow, I started reading this not realizing how old it is. My neighbor had the same problem with his '03 LLBean. He found something about a problem Subaru had with the alloy in those rotors, replaced the rotors and had no further trouble. No acknowledgement of the problem from SOA.

Oh, great, I just ordered genuine Subaru bulbs with my timing belt parts, even one for my BMW. I'll order some spares now.

Sounds like you turned the bolt in further than it was with both pulleys in place. It's possible the threads don't go that deep, and you've damaged the threads at the end of the bolt. Heat should help, preferrably on the crankshaft. You may need to replace the oil seals if you get it hot enough. Did you put fresh threadlocker on when you put it in? If it's old locktite it shouldn't be that significant. You need a really big wrench and a six-point socket, put the car in 5th and set the brakes, the crank shouldn't turn. Good luck!

'99 Legacy Brighton wagon, no ABS. Goodyear Assurance Tripletreads. I bought them last Fall when I couldn't get the Hakkas I wanted. They're the best all-weather tires I've experienced in snow and ice. There's apparently lava pumice in the rubber, so the grip and wear are excellent.

So you installed the front seal on the oil pump then installed the pump? Would you install the pump first next time?

I paid $400 more for my '99 with 70k last year on eBay. I have an Audi 200 turbo quattro with 250k, great condition, everything works, super dependable, I doubt I'd get much over $1000 for it. Your area may be different, but I'd keep looking.

Sounds easy, thanks! Scott

I'm halfway through my timing belt job, letting it sit while ordering parts. I ordered the oil pump O-ring, only a buck, but do I really need to do this? The pump is glued on, looks like a pain, and the O-ring is very unlikely to fail. The guy at 1stSubaru mentioned the oil pump bolt issue, which I'm familiar with as a BMW owner. I did a search and found little on this forum about oil pump bolts, one mention of checking them while replacing the O-ring. Is it perhaps a problem Subaru fixed before my engine was produced? Any hints on getting this pump loose if I need to? Haynes simply says "Remove the mounting bolts and the oil pump". I have plenty of tools and a dry garage, just not much time to get to it. Scott Holland, MI '99 Legacy Brighton 2.2l - manual everything - 87k

I'm halfway through a timing belt job on my '99 2.2l, very simple so far. I think I could do it in a day, but I'm working too many hours and haven't even ordered the parts yet. I've snapped off a couple screws, none critical, those were the only snags I've encountered. I only have to pull the cam seals to be ready for reassembly, so far I've only needed basic sockets. I pulled all the idlers off last night to get the numbers off the bearings, I might try pressing new bearings in them. How many miles on yours? Scott '99 Legacy 2.2l, manual everything, 87k.

The dealer double-gasketted my Landcruiser on it's first oil change, and ended up replacing the engine (I'm the second owner). Changing the oil filter should include a quick wipe of the sealing surface on the block, and wiping oil onto the filter seal. I like to pre-fill the filter with oil, so the engine doesn't run dry while it's filling. I'll be picking up a Napa Gold oil filter today, and some Mobil 1. I would throw the Fram in the trash.

That's my plan. The right cam sprocket looks like plastic, with no holes for the special tool. I have a couple good strap wrenches, I'll see what works.

5th gear? That makes sense. I'll try it tonight on the cams. I've got it on jackstands, so someone will have to stand on the brakes. I've printed out the Endwrench article, it looks like the same info in my Haynes. My biggest question is on the crank sprocket postition, there's a triangle embossed in it, and a red paint-dot on it. The left cam sprocket has red, white, and blue paint dots around the groove on the edge, so I suspect the paint dot on the crank sprocket must have significance. Is the timing mark on the crank pulley maybe? I didn't notice anything. The picture in Endwrench looks like the crank key is down, anyone know if that's the position I'm looking for?

Thanks for the responses, I'll try those sites. So far things are a snap: I've snapped off two screws holding the fans on, and one shoulder screw for the timing belt cover. I'm up to removing the timing belt, but want to make sure I've got things aligned. Both cam sprockets have large marks which are pointed up. The crank sprocket has a small triangle, pointed at 3-o'clock, and a red paint dot pointed up, the key is on the bottom. Sound right? I'm pretty sure this is an interference engine, despite some things I've read to the contrary. I'll figure out how to loosen the crank bolts before pulling the timing belt. It looks like the oil pump seal is my leak. I had a problem loosening the crank bolt, couldn't hold the engine still with the tranny in 1st and my daughter holding the brakes. The wheels didn't turn, but it felt like there was a lot of windup in the driveline. I could turn the crank about 90-degrees with my wrench, then it sprung back as I let off the wrench. I ended up using the starter technique, I'm surprised I couldn't use the driveline to hold the engine.

I've got a bad oil leak coming from the bottom of the timing belt cover. I can't stand the loss of Mobil 1 and the smoke coming off the exhaust any more. I'll replace the front seals and timing belt, it's almost due at 87k anyway. I'm fortunate to have a dry (but cold) garage, plenty of tools, and keys to a machine shop across town. A quick search has turned up a wealth of info for my project, but I have a few questions. 1stSubaruParts is a pain to navigate for the parts I'm after, any other recommended sites? I'll pay a little more for good parts, how's the dealer on this stuff? I paid only a little more at the dealer for the entire cooling system on my BMW 740iL, after buying and returning much of it at Autozone. Everything from Autozone was wrong, and online sites were not much better on price. I see a slight oil stain around one spark plug cover, so I'd like to replace the valve cover gaskets. There must be seals around the spark plug holes, but I don't see any in my Haynes or in diagrams online. Help? rweddy posted a nice list of parts last fall for his '96, will those parts be the same for my '99? I'll be adding a few things that are probably due, belts and hoses and such. I can already see differences that aren't shown in my Haynes or online, I guess they didn't perfect the 2.2 'till the end of it's production:D Thanks for any info!