Have a 1997 Legacy 2.5 DOHC I am replacing the engine in. Pulled the engine and the torque converter slid out of the tranny a bit and now I can not get it to slide back in all the way. Did not realize it at first untill I put the new engine in and as I attempted to tighten the bell housing bolts, it became apparent there was an issue. I pulled the engine back out, and now the converter will not slide in the last inch or so. I can just barely get it to make contact with the starter gear when engaged, but I can see where it used to make contact, and can not get it to this point. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, or if something is damaged, if anyone has any clue please help me!

This all will depend on how much "pressure" you exhibited on the TC when it was out too far. Were you really squishing them together tightly with the engine to tranny bolts when trying to mate them?

 

If you put a lot of pressure force on it, you probably DESTROYED the transmission pump. not good..

 

 

but if you didnt go to far, then it might be okay.

 

you need to wiggle, rotate wiggle rotate, the torque converter into place there are threads on how to do it.

 

Its a learning experience, hope you did not ruin your transmission. You maybe should consider not doing this kind of work if its your only transportation, unless you just want to learn how things work the hard way.

if you attempted to "force" the converter in by tightening bolts you may have damaged the transmission.

 

otherwise, you just need to get it lined up properly. there are numerous descriptions here of linining it up, might want to search and read through those.

 

basically just keep pulling it out 1/2" and rotating it, press in, repeat until it engages the last little bit.

 

good catch - had you tried to bolt the engine in place you would have ruined hte tranmsission (that's no unheard of).

Pull it out all the way and be sure the converter is still hooked to the shaft with the wire clip. Then push it back in with light pressure while turning. It will clunk and drop in 3 times and it's in.

You might be better off to remove the converter completely, and look into the transmission around the input shaft to get an idea of what it is that you need to line up.

 

You're looking for something similar to this.

 

There will be notches cut in the end of the shaft of the torque converter that have to slip into the teeth in the pump before it will slide on completely. Similar to this:

if you use the search function here and search "torqueconverter" you will find a great write up w/ pics on how to.

ok, pulled the converter back out, and there is a wire clip over the larger shaft going into the tranny that got bent. I pulled the clip out, as its ruined now, and the converter slides right into place, no problem. what does this clip do? can i reassemble without the clip?

If it's there, it's probably there for a reason. Get a new one from Subaru, can't cost more than a few bucks. Search the boards as suggested earlier for more detailed instructions.