Me and a friend just scored a 89 XT6 for 50 bucks. It has a major oil leak on the drivers side of the engine. I took a quick look at it, and I'm thinking its the cam case o-ring (like the EA82's have) it leaks fairly fast constant stream coming off the cam case. These engines seem a bit wider (might just be because of the extra two cylinders) So I guess my questions are:

 

1. Are these parts the same as a EA82? And how is the availability of these parts now a days?

 

2. Previous owner had a dog that chewed the hell out of the passenger side dash pad above the glove box. I've never pulled a dash out of one of these. is that dash pad servicable? or do I have to pull the entire dash out?

 

3. It has an automatic in it. Are these ones in the Xt6 a 3 or a 4 speed auto? and is it worth a crap? I'm kinda thinking about keeping it to give to my girlfriend to drive since she cant drive a manual. If its a 3 speed, I'm just going to sell the car. What about the bell housings? Are they the same as a EA82 housing? I might pop my spare dual range in there if it is.

 

Thanks for whoever responds

All the front seals except the oil pump gasket are the same.

 

Entire dash will have to be pulled to replace the dash pad. Not all that difficult. If the plastic dash trim pieces are still good, don't break them. Almost impossible to find anymore.

 

Transmission is the 4EAT. Pretty much bullet proof IMO.

 

Check out http://www.subaruxt.com.

1. yes seals are all readily available. be sure to replace the seal and the oring on the cam cap. same as EA82. an extremely frontal valve cover leak might look like a cam leak too - inspect closely.

 

if the t belt has oil on it - replace it. i installed a new belt on a friends EA82, the Fel Pro seal puked oil all over the brand new timing belt. i figured it was new so reinstalled the original belt after wiping the oil off. it broke a couple months later.

 

XT6 bellhousing is identical to EA82 - any transmissions are interchangeable between them as far as fitment and bolting goes.

 

your dual range will bolt right up.

 

if it hasn't been abused and you don't overheat it/run it out of ATF, mismatched tires, etc the 4EAT's are indeed bulllet proof. they're actually more reliable than EJ 4EAT's. XT6 4EAT's never have torque bind and front differential failures are less likely too in my opinion though that's hard to quantify. just change the fluid and 20 year old hoses and you're golden.

yep, pretty much.

 

my XT6 is an Auto. I have no plans to change that, it's a great trans for daily driving, and even for more than a little screwing around. in the next month or so it'll be getting a rear LSD and center diff lock mod.