dave833

Funny you should say that-- because it ended up taking me about 4 hours. I dropped the exhaust, but the exhaust nuts weren't the problem, one of the motor mount nuts was. I ended up rounding it off (with a 6-point impact socket even!) and had to cut it with a dremel and a cutoff wheel. Oh, and then when I went to put everything back together, the motor mount studs were about 1/4" out of alignment with the crossmember holes. It took a lot of jacking, jockeying and prying to get them lined up again. Oh by the way-- did I mention the cover plate WASN'T EVEN ATTACHED TO ANYTHING. It had completely broken off its mounts. I pulled it out and threw it away since that area of the transmission is protected by the crossmember. Obviously if I'd known it wasn't attached I'd have just pulled it out... I guess all's well that ends well! I really hope I don't have to do that again. Ever.

OK well that was easy to diagnose-- the bottom cover over the flexplate/torque converter has come loose and is rattling. As I recall that cover was bent/damaged when the engine was changed and the bolts probably weren't tightened sufficiently. Fixing it is another matter since the bolts are inaccessible behind the crossmember. At least it's nothing serious, just bothersome.

've run out of ideas trying to diagnose an internal engine rattling and scraping noise on my 07 OBW 3.0 EZ30 H6. It sounds like a chain dragging across metal or gravel shaking in a tin can. It's worse when the car is cold, then it mostly goes away as the car warms up and only happens if I'm making a right turn. If the car is cold, stopped, and idling, I can make it go away by lifting/pushing the left side of the engine up a little. Engine has about 150k miles on it-- not exactly sure because it's one of those Japanese replacement engines. I was fairly certain it was timing chain related so I removed the front cover and inspected the chain. I could see no rubbing or excessive wear or play in the chain anywhere or on the guides. I had purchased two new authentic Subaru chain tensioners so I installed those and buttoned everything back up. There was NO change in the noise-- the new tensioners had no effect. I ran the engine without the accessory belt and the noise was still there so I know it's not an external accessory. It's not motion-related, I turned off the engine when it was making the noise with the car in motion and the noise stopped immediately. I drained and replaced the oil with 5w30 synthetic and that had no effect on the noise either. I'm stumped!

Gone to the junkyard today-- never did find out what was wrong with it.

I wouldn't use anything but Subaru OE head gaskets on an EJ25, but does anyone have any experience with aftermarket HGs on an Ez30 3.0? Yeah, I know they "never blow" but sometimes they do.

I checked my timing cover bolts last night-- all 57 of them-- and they appear to be rust-free, thankfully! Not that it means there isn't hidden rust, but the superficial inspection looks promising.

Yes I got it cheap-- $850-- and it's in very nice condition otherwise. Obviously well cared for. I picked it up at an auction where cars are sold that have been donated to charity, among others, which this one was. The mechanical condition wasn't disclosed, just that it was "running and driving." Well, what seemed to be a spectacular deal is turning out to be maybe just a good deal if I do all the work. Should I change the water pump while I'm in there?

Yeah... not looking forward to keeping track of 56 bolts of different sizes! I replaced the head gaskets on Subaru's other "bulletproof" H6-- the EG33-- in an SVX, in an unheated garage, in January in Utah with the engine still in the car. This couldn't be any harder than that, could it?

Yeah... I know they're not supposed to fail on the EZ30, but apparently this one I just bought did. It overheated twice in the past two days, Bouncy temp gauge needle (never pegged in the red) some bubbles in the overflow tank but the tank never flooded over, and the coolant was drawn back into the radiator when it cooled down. I got a block tester and the magic blue fluid turned yellow when I revved the engine with the tester connected to the line from the radiator to the overflow tank. So before I approach the exciting prospect of yanking the engine and doing the HGs (I've done EJ25 and EG33 HG's before, but never EZ30s because they don't fail, right?) are there any of these "head gasket fix" additives that might work for an HC into coolant leak like I have? What about the Subaru coolant conditioner? BTW: The car has 170k miles.

Yeah... I know they're not supposed to fail on the EZ30, but apparently this one I just bought did. It overheated twice in the past two days, Bouncy temp gauge needle (never pegged in the red) some bubbles in the overflow tank but the tank never flooded over, and the coolant was drawn back into the radiator when it cooled down. I got a block tester and the magic blue fluid turned yellow when I revved the engine with the tester connected to the line from the radiator to the overflow tank. So before I approach the exciting prospect of yanking the engine and doing the HGs (I've done EJ25 and EG33 HG's before, but never EZ30s because they don't fail, right?) are there any of these "head gasket fix" additives that might work for an HC into coolant leak like I have? What about the Subaru coolant conditioner? BTW: The car has 170k miles.

I've done head gaskets on these before, but to be honest this car's a beater on its last legs and isn't worth investing much more time and money in. It hasn't been taken care of, and replacing the head gaskets won't change the poor condition it's in otherwise.

I pulled 4 CEL codes and there was one for cylinder 4 misfire, one for something to do with the evap system, one that was "manufacturer control" or something, and one other generic code of some kind. Nothing that related to the crank sensor, but I'll probably replace it anyway just to see what happens. New ones are pretty cheap.

My dad's '99 Outback overheats occasionally-- I suspect the head gaskets are on the way out- anyway, it was being driven on the freeway a few nights ago and began to overheat so the driver pulled over, let it cool down, added coolant and then attempted to start it, but it wouldn't start. He towed it to my house and I attempted to get it to start. There appears to be no spark coming from the coil pack- I've pulled a plug wire, stuck in a nail, and touched it to metal on the engine-- no spark. I substituted another coil pack which I'm fairly sure was good, and still no spark. I substituted a couple different ignition modules and that made no difference either. I looked at all of the fuses and fusible links I could think of and they were all good. When I crank it over it at least sounds like it has some compression. The timing belt is still on the pulleys-- I replaced it myself for him about 15k miles ago. So I'm scratching my head here-- is there a sensor or sensors involved that triggers the coil to spark that could have gone out? I can't see why the engine overheating would prevent the coil from generating a spark. Anyone have any other ideas? It does appear to be getting fuel-- I even sprayed some starter fluid into the throttle body.

If it's only jumped timing or the timing belt is off, you might first try just putting on a new timing belt before you yank the heads off. There's a slight possibility it will run ok. That happened with my dad's '99 Outback, he let the timing belt go and it broke. We put a new one on and it actually runs OK.

The clutch is locked up and the pulley is turning-- as for what's going on inside the compressor I can't say. I'm experienced enough to say it looks to me like the compressor is turning correctly.

It's just making kind of a light metallic scraping noise as the compressor turns. Kind of like dry/bad bearings.

The pressures on both sides are about 100. Pretty much pegged at 100 on the high side and vary between about 95 and 110 on the low side depending on engine RPM. The compressor is not cycling- it's running with the clutch engaged continuously. It's a little noisy too. There's no sight glass that I could see on the drier. Scratching my head on this one!

I recently purchased a 2001 Outback LL Bean H6 wagon with the automatic climate control. The A/C is not blowing cold. The heater and everything else is working-- I ran the self-diagnosis on the control system and got an error code for the sun load sensor because I was working in my dim garage, but no other error codes. The compressor is running when the system is on, but there is no cold air. I figured it was probably low on r134a so I got a can, connected it to the low side port, and turned on the system, but it's not taking any r134a in. The can does not get cold or show any evidence of emptying, nor does the air get colder. Now granted, I'm cutting corners because I haven't connected up my manifold gauge and looked at the pressures yet, which I will tonight, but my question is this: Will a faulty sun load sensor or one that's not in sunlight cause the system to not recharge for some reason? Also, what kind of pressures should I be seeing on my manifold gauges? I'm sure there is some pressure in the system or the compressor wouldn't be kicking on at all.

I got underneath tonight and checked the axles-- I didn't find any play-- they both look old enough to be original to the car but the boots are OK. Just on a hunch I grabbed the inner tie rod end near the boot on the right side and shook it hard-- it does make a slight clunking sound and feel. Grabbing the tires and moving them to check for play is difficult on this car because the steering doesn't lock for some reason!

I've had the car about a year and a half and it's got about 93,000 miles. I don't have any record of the axles being replaced or rebuilt. I've got a couple of spare axles (and struts too) so maybe I'll swap them out and see what happens.

Not getting much action on this over on the SVX world network so I'm posting it here, too... The front end of my '94 SVX front wheel drive (not AWD) has begun shaking intermittently at about 60 mph on the freeway- more on curves. It shakes hard for about a second and a half and then stops for half a second, then repeats. It's perfectly smooth up to 60 and smooths out again somewhat around 70. The other night I removed the front wheels and checked the ball joints (with a pry bar), checked the tie rod ends, struts, etc., and found no wear or play anywhere. Then I rotated the tires front to back to see if that would change anything. I got the same oscillation even after doing that. So, I took it to a nearby tire, brake & muffler shop this morning. They spent about 90 minutes trying to diagnose it and couldn't find anything deficient in the front suspension either. They did show me that my right front tire had a little wobble when spinning that indicated a tire with separating belts and/or a bent rim. Tonight I swapped that one out with a spare wheel & tire I had and it made no difference. Vibration seems to be worse under acceleration than it is when coasting. I'm stumped-- any suggestions?

Thanks Presslab! That sure looks like what it is. I traced around the arc and measured it at a bit under 3" and it is plastic- not flexible enough to have been a gasket but not hard enough to have been friction material either.

t's half price weekend at the you-pull yard near me. I scouted out a '92 Legacy SS with a used auto tranny I needed. Car was bashed in on the side which is probably why it was there. Fluid was nice & red. Inside the car I found a receipt for labor to replace a transmission, and the tranny itself had a rebuilder's tag on it. Woot! I thought- rebuilt transmission for $50! I dropped the pan just to double check before I pulled the tranny and this piece of something was inside-- does anybody recognize it? It looks to have been about 3" in diameter at one time and is not metallic. Hard to replace? Tranny project is on 'hold' 'til I figure it out.

The auto trans on my '92 Legacy SS turbo seems to be going out. I'm not in a position to do a 5-speed conversion right now, but I have a chance to pick up a low-mileage auto trans from a non-turbo '92 for cheap. Does anyone know how the gearing compares, or how it might change the driving experience? I believe the final drive ratio is the same at 3.90. Thanks.

'92 Legacy SS EJ22t Auto. About 138k miles. Seems to shift through the lower gears OK, but never goes into 4th. I *think* I can feel the TC lock up in 3rd as the RPMS drop slightly sometimes, but not enough to indicate it's going into 4th gear. I recently replaced the filter and fluid... I've only had the car 2 months and had never driven it on the freeway before changing the fluid. It's not throwing any codes and a stall test was within normal range... about 3000 rpms. Any suggestions?