I got a call from the brother-in-law today..a friend of his believes to have "blown" the motor in his 2000 Lego..Wife drove it for a long time with little to know oil and now it is knocking ( probably threw a bearing ..I havent seen or heard it to know for sure) Is there any difference in the 2.5s over the years? Trying to locate a new/used motor for the car and I dont want to direct this person wrong.

There's the phase one DOHC's that go from 96-99 and there's the phase 2 SOHC's That I know came in late 90's foresters, but I think the outbacks started using the SOHC in 2000? The only real difference in the shortblock is that the thrust bearing got moved from the middle to the end by the flywheel... So you can put whatever heads match the car on whatever 2.5l shortblock you get, but the shortblock and crank must match.

Connie - all 2.5's are interchangeable from 96-02, with varying intricacies. the bellhousing change was in/around 98/99, but even those are interchangeable with a minor amount of coping. if you want the exact same engine the answer is different, if you're just wanting to swap motors, your options are far greater.

If you are after a straight drop in you will be able to use any 00-02 lego long block. the 96-99s were dohc and the 03 and later engines started EGR again. I have used Impreza/Forester motors as direct drop in but they call for a diff timing belt.

If you are building your own you can really use any EJ25 shortblock. If you go to a 96-99 shortblock you will loose a little compression and in 96-98 a couple of bell bolts.