allwheeldad Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 Went to Ottawa yesterday and picked up a cherry 99 Forester S. It only has 200,000 km (120,000 miles) and the interior is spotless. A couple minor rust spots on the left quarter panel, but I'm just going to cut them out and weld in new steel. It's black, so color matching won't be any issue. The owner gave me every piece of service history on the car dating back to 2004, ALL of it from a Subaru dealership! Not bad for $900.00. It's pouring rain, I'll post pictures later. The problems:headgaskets, piston slap, oil leak around timing belt cover, and leaking trans cooler line. I have dealt with two other ej25 headgaskets myself, so I know what I'm getting into there. I have had piston slap in my 99 Legacy GT for about 200,000 km now and it is still running ok. It is due for a timing service so I will take care of that while the engine is out and eliminate the leak. The trans line I'm not sure of, it's just quoted on the Subaru work order that led to the owner selling the car. What kind of confuses me is that on the work order they are calling for the thermostat and rear separator plate at the same time. I did not replace these when I did the other two headgasket jobs and am wondering if they are just in there as a "while we are in there we should replace these things, just in case" kind of situation. Also, when I had the motor running today it quited down on the piston slap after a minute, but when I revved it a little there was this sound of gushing water running through the pipes. I have two options here. I have a prefectly working phase II in a 2000 legacy with the gaskets done 30,000 km ago with no piston slap. The rest of the car is falling to pieces, hence the forester. Do I through new parts at the motor in the forester and drop it back in, or do I go to all the effort to pull the motor out of the Legacy and use it instead. I could then take the forester motor, with all the new parts, and toss it back into the legacy and sell it. My wife and I are both students, so money is definitely a factor. Ultimately, I would like to sell the legacy for the cost of the forester and parts, but realistically I doubt that will happen. So I put it out to you fellows. What would you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lone500 Posted June 6, 2010 Share Posted June 6, 2010 see if you can fix it up first. always good to see someone with a subie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allwheeldad Posted July 3, 2010 Author Share Posted July 3, 2010 I know it's been a while, but here are some shots of the car. It still amazes me that I scored this thing for $900. The motor work is done and back in the car. I am going to finish installing the accessories today and hopefully road test it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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