All:

 

I am the proud new owner of a 1995 Subaru Legacy Wagon L.   EJ22.   Getting ready to pull the motor to replace the clutch and fix the wobble in the shifter. Any advice?

 

While the motor is out does anyone have a list of things to change?  

 

I do have some oil leaks so I know the oil separator is on my list.

 

In addition I see full gasket sets on eBay.    Are those any good or do folks have a recommendation of which gaskets to use.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Tom

Yes, I have bought and used a full gasket set, if you are referring to t-belt, water pump, oil seals, and tensioners. All turned out to be high quality. I still have all installed on my 99 OBW, and after 4 years, no issues. Price for a kit is much less when compared to buying from a Subie dealer.

The only thing not to use on those full gasket sets is the head gaskets.  I have a set here and there are obvious differences in the head gasket when compared to Fel-Pro or OEM (lower quality).  But the rest of the gaskets are just as good as Fel-Pro IMO and will hold up fine.

 

I also use the Evergreen (mitzumo I believe sells them on ebay) timing belt kits on my cars and I've been  happy with it.  Amazon direct from evergreen seems to be cheaper than eBay at times.

Been digging in the forum for a list of things to check/change with engine out.   Anyone have good list.

 

1995 EJ22 has oil leaks...but seems like to head gasket issues...can't tell till it is out.

 

With 186K should I swap the head gasket before it needs it?   Just trying to plan my attack.

The EJ22 weren't known to leak oil from the heads like the EJ25.  Oil leaks on the EJ22 tend to be the separator plate in the rear, valve cover gaskets, and the front oil seals.

 

Doing a head gasket while it's out won't hurt anything and will probably prevent a possible future pull, but I wouldn't think it's necessary unless you have good valid reason to suspect they are blown.

 

Here would be my list:

 

Timing Belt, Water Pump, Idlers, possibly tensioner, front cam seals and crank seal, reseal and tighten backing screws on oil pump, separator plate, inspect rear main seal, valve cover gaskets.

 

All that's left at that point is the head gasket, intake, and fuel rail/injector o-rings.

EJ22's don't blow headgaskets so they aren't typically replaced without reason.  They're readily run 300,000 miles without issues if the engine has never been severely overheated.

If you do replace them - they are super duper easy on that engine, so not a big deal if it's already out.  The headbolts are external and crazy simple to remove.

 

Use Subaru or high quality head gaskets - the cheap ebay head gaskets are no good.  Failures immediately or under a year are seen - you can google and find it.

Resurface the heads - easily done yourself, find the thread on here how to do it.

 

This:

 

T 

Here would be my list:

 

Timing Belt, Water Pump, Idlers, possibly tensioner, front cam seals and crank seal, reseal and tighten backing screws on oil pump, separator plate, inspect rear main seal, valve cover gaskets.

.

 

And cam cap orings - there's two of them.

 

If the separator is plastic, replace with a metal one.  Otherwise just reseal it if it's metal like the early 90's stuff is. 

I often just replace the knock sensors too - they're like $10 on ebay and the most common sensor to fail, makes sense to me.

 

Gates
timing belt kits on Amazon have the belt and pulleys for cheap.   Yours
has the old style tensioner so it won't come with the timing belt kits -
just the tensioner pulley will.  You have to buy the tensioner separate
to replace - the old style tensioners rarely fail where as the new
style fail frequently.  I'd replace it simply based on age and unknown
history at this point.

Edited August 20, 201510 yr by grossgary

Ok have to disagree on the tensioner:

 

This kit includes the Aisin pump and a tensioner.

 

Evergreen TBK172AMHWPA 90-97 Subaru 1.8L 2.2L SOHC EJ18 EJ22 Timing Belt Kit AISIN Water Pump https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NLLH74C/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_GCw1vbRRWS482