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i hate to beat a dead horse, so sorry for raising an oldie:

 

i've decided not to order oem brake pads, instead go with a 'reputable brand' what should that be? i'm not much of a mechanic, but on the previous car, i changed many-a-pads and know how to do it, i was just curious what your recommendations are for pads. i don't drive the car too rough, and i always slow down as opposed to jamming the brakes at the last few feet like some suburbia soccer moms. i'd like to change the pads as they're squeaking now, and i'm driving from omaha to KC this weekend. thanks :headbang:

 

bendex, wagner,

 

nipper (not nipper pads) why not go OE

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I actually replaced the plugs by getting at them from under the car. It wasn't necessarily easier, but I didn't have to remove any components like you do from the top. Not too bad overall.

 

You have the DOHC 2.5. Your plugs point straight out from the heads. on a SOHC engine, they are angled upwards, making the underside aproach problematic at best. I actuall would like to jack slap the "engineer" that did such a poor job of test fitting where things would end up with the DOHC engine actually installed in the car. The plugs on the DOHC engines are almost right on top of the frame rail! Talk about a tight fit. . .

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If I may jump in here. I have a '96 outback with 174k on her and just noticed that my value cover gaskets have an ever soooo slow leak. now i've watched this thing and put a cloth under the car and there is no droping at all. i've checked the dip-stick and i'm not losing any oil either. should i replace the gaskets or not? and If I need to, is this something that I can do myself or something that i want to leave to the pros. I have rebuilt engines before, so I feel comfortable doing the work.

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If I may jump in here. I have a '96 outback with 174k on her and just noticed that my value cover gaskets have an ever soooo slow leak. now i've watched this thing and put a cloth under the car and there is no droping at all. i've checked the dip-stick and i'm not losing any oil either. should i replace the gaskets or not? and If I need to, is this something that I can do myself or something that i want to leave to the pros. I have rebuilt engines before, so I feel comfortable doing the work.

 

Do you have the equipment to pull the engine? Have you ever had the Head Gaskets replaced? Has the engine or tranny ever been out of the car?

 

If you have the equipment to pull the engine, and have never had the head gaskets replaced, or never had the engine or tranny out of the car, then I highly recomend it. In the case I set up above, you will be replacing all the seals, all the valve cover gaskets, and the oil seperator in the back (your car came with a plastic one, and you need the metal one) as well as refurbishing the oil pump and replacing the timing belt. Ther parts for all of this comes to about $260 at 1stsubaruparts.com, and the job takes about two full days (perhaps over a long weekend?). The job is not all that hard, considering that you have already done rebuilds. You should have the heads checked for flatness, and replace all the seals (4 cam seals, front crank seal, oil pump o-ring, valve cover gaskets, 4 spark plug gaskets, and 12 gromets for the bolts that hold the valve covers on) the gaskets are leaking because the engine gets hot and the rubber gaskets have been baked hard over time, and are no longer sealing properly. I have personally started recomending that the valve cover gaskets and seals be replaced with each timing belt change (that is a 100K interval for the gaskets). There is lots of information on this board on how to do the head gasket and timing belt change, and stopping the leakage now will make it a lot easier to keep your engine clean (so you can see if something goes wrong). the reason I recomend changine the head gaskets is that they have been redesigned to correct the high incidence of failure experienced with the original design. Replacing them greatly reduces worries about head gasket failure, making your engine just that more robust.

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If I may jump in here. I have a '96 outback with 174k on her and just noticed that my value cover gaskets have an ever soooo slow leak. now i've watched this thing and put a cloth under the car and there is no droping at all. i've checked the dip-stick and i'm not losing any oil either. should i replace the gaskets or not? and If I need to, is this something that I can do myself or something that i want to leave to the pros. I have rebuilt engines before, so I feel comfortable doing the work.

I'm certainly not the resident expert (or even one of the really smart guys here) but from what you describe I would definately not bother replacing the gaskets. You'd determined that it's not losing enough oil to show on the dipstick so unless it's a show car or you park on white carpet somewhere I don't think it's worth the trouble. If you were pulling the covers for some other reason or pulling the motor I'd go ahead at that point but not now.:grin:

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On the topic of oil changes, has anyone found the "best" oil for our engines? I've had friends have all the seals changed in theirs engines and started to use a heavier weight oil as a result. just thought I'd ask some of the pros.

 

NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo

*hides*

its so much safer to talk politics, religon and the middle east then oil

 

nipper

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