DerFahrer

Ranger, I do believe you are the first person on this board to discredit the EJ22.

Well, if it's been sitting without being started since November of 05, then I would expect it to do that, just from the fact that there would be practically zero fuel in the entire system, and the fuel that's in the tank would be old.

Before doing anything else, check to be sure the drains aren't clogged. The sunroof has 4 drains in the frame of the roof panel, one at each corner of the sunroof to let water drain out the bottom of the car. Without these drains, the sunroof will leak, even if all the seals are brand-new. That water has to go somewhere. Anyway, my wagon's sunroof was leaking when I first got it. I stuck some weedwhacker line and shoved it down in the front drains. Glass shards came out the bottom :eek: Turns out the sunroof had been replaced for some reason. Car's never been wrecked, so maybe a baseball landed on top of it or something. But the sunroof was shattered and the glass shards were clogging the drains up. Hasn't leaked a drop since.

I'm fairly sure the passenger side cam does not have any valve springs compressed, and the driver's side cam has valve springs compressed, but it's right at the top of the lobe, so you've got a little room to move it either way before the spring will try to start moving the cam. This is when all the timing marks line up. In other words, if you have all the timing marks lined up, the cams shouldn't move anywhere when you take the timing belt off. Just for extra safety though, remove the spark plugs. Then you won't have to worry about engine compression.

OMG, what a find. That needs to happen to me!

It should do 300k. Keep up the maintenance and it should make it. I hope my red Legacy makes it to 300k, but having a 4S in the VIN, I'm not getting my hopes up too much

For the hell of it, next time you drive it, pull the O2 sensor wire and see what happens. Check your ignition system well, as was stated. Not only your plugs and wires, but the coilpack and even the igniter. Arcing is bad mmmkay? Other than that, possibility of an injector stuck open? Vacuum leak?

Yeah, my sources say that all changes to the Phase I EJ22 were in 97. The change to solid lifters and the bump in compression to 9.7:1 (hence the interference). In 99, the Phase II EJ22 came out with the biggest change being the thrust bearing moved from the center to the rear.

This is actually true. I was under the impression that ALL 2.5's switched to SOHC in 99, but Jack is right, only the Forester and 2.5RS Impreza got the Phase II EJ25 in 99.

Picked up 2 new axles from Napa for $68 apiece. They're new, so no core charge. They come with the nuts on the end of them, but I'll probably use SOA ones since they're easily available to me. That's no more money than cvaxles' remans with them shipped to me, and then shipping the cores back (although I realize I got a discount )...

Ehh, dentist picks don't work as well as they ought to. I used one to get my Legacy's oil seals out a couple weeks ago, and I ended up bending the tip of the pick before I got the seal to budge.

That's minor stuff. I've had way more issues than that with my Legacy, and I still have it. Don't fall into the "new-car-is-a-financially-wise-decision" trap. Don't spend $20,000 to get rid of $1500-$2000 worth of problems. Occasional hard-starting? Could be a coolant temp sensor. Those are $30 new from the dealer and take 30 mins to replace. Vibrations? Could just need motor/trans mounts. 250k km's is 155k miles. That's nothing, seriously. My Legacy has a good chance of hitting that by summer, and I fully expect it to hit 200k within the next 5 years (as long as I don't have an accident, knocking on wood desk ) If you love the car, as I do mine, stick with it. You'll be glad you did.

I feel that the Subaru 4EAT AWD is actually superior to the 5MT AWD, as far as overall traction goes.

Curbs are now your worst enemy

If it's all highway driving, you would have to be doing some really fancy driving when you were in town to get a clutch to last less than 100k. Both manual Soobs of mine had at least 110k miles on their original clutches, and my Legacy's clutch would have lasted longer had I not picked up the downshifting habit. The autos are good too, just make sure you stay on top of ATF changes, and consider an auxiliary transmission cooler. A cool auto tranny is a happy auto tranny

NAPA online says brand-new axles are $100 to the public, my price is $68. Someone suggested to me also to tighten my straps, or reboot them, but I'd rather not mess with it. With the possibility of the joint already low on grease and maybe already being damaged, it's not worth my time.

I'm not going to bother. I don't care how many free axles I get with the lifetime warranty, I don't want to replace anymore You're exactly right. With my discount, one reman OEM axle would cost about $160 Very cool, thanks for the info!

I knew I smelled horse************... Seriously, CV grease smells like horse************ to me... Anyway, I'll let pictures give a clue as to my issue: And why is this happening? The straps on THREE different boots have come loose. I have axle grease leaking from THREE different places on BOTH front axles, the inner boot on the driver's and BOTH boots on the passenger's. Both front axles are from www.cvaxles.com and the driver's side one isn't even 8k miles old yet. And the driver's side one was replaced about 2 years ago because it also was leaking grease, although much more quickly. I'm gonna price out Subaru OEM reman axles with my discount tomorrow. I'm actually thinking they'll be close to the $55 price for these. Yes I have lifetime warranty on these axles, but if I have to keep going through this, it's just not worth it. Sorry guys, you lost a customer, one who has talked you up on online discussion boards for years.

Had my EA82 XT for 2.5 years... and I've only driven it 9k miles in that time period

The rule is that 99-up are Phase II SOHC's, but Subaru always makes redheaded stepchildren... Like Josh's (Legacy777's) wagon that he used to build his Legacy: it had ABS and it was a 5-spd. 90 Legacies didn't have ABS if they were 5-spd. Stuff like that...

That could be a possibility. If your throttle plate has a lot of black goo on it, I suggest you not wash it off. Your throttle body shouldn't be getting THAT dirty anyway. Little, if any, carbon deposits should be on it, because it's doing nothing but inducting clean air from your air filter. The gas fumes entering the throttle body from the EVAP system are negligible.

Yes, the 99-up cars have the Phase II SOHC EJ25.

I haven't gotten mine yet either. If push comes to shove, I'll just buy a newsstand edition...

I hope you guys aren't talking about the black goo around the throttle plate... That's SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!! That helps seal the throttle plate shut when you're off the gas, so that the IAC valve can properly regulate idle. If you clean that goo off, you will have idle problems. In my opinion, don't ever clean the throttle body or IAC valves on these cars. They're non-serviceable, non-cleanable parts. Messing with them will only screw them up.

Haha, okay, my reading skills dropped a few grades today I guess. Sorry guys.