97 Legacy GT - oil and or tran fluid cooler?

[Guest pnfrank1234]

I have recently come to find out (after a year and 25K miles)that the 2.5 DOHC engine in my 97 legacy is about the worst Subaru ever made (bought it used with 52k). I blew the head gaskets a couple months ago, and it needed a new rad at the same time. While the heads were off, the mechanics told me that they looked as though they had been 'smoothed' with a belt sander, so obviously previous owner(s) had seen head gasket problems as well.

 

At this point, I just know that the next overheating will result in needing new heads or worse, and I'm determined to keep this thing trouble free. I am looking into an oil cooler system to help with reducing engine wear and get better cooling. In addition, as the (auto) tran is one of the only things NOT to give me trouble yet I want to take care of that as well. So I'm also thinking about an additional tran cooler system.

 

Anyone out there have any experience with installing either? there are many brands out there, any that should be avoided? Do I need one(s) specifically designed for subarus or will one of the generic import kits do? As I've got AC, I can barely think of a place to put such coolers where they'll get any airflow. Plus, I don't want to do anything that will just cause more problems. Sorry for the long post, thanks for any ideas or help.

[Guest meep424]

trans cooler first-- any properly-sized kit will do--- mount in front of the AC condenser. Air will get through.

 

oil cooler-- easiest way would be to use the oem forester cooler, which works off of the existing cooling system, it's a nice unit. Advantages are ease of install, and doesn't retard AT warm-up like a standard cooler. it's a liquid-to-liquid cooler.

 

your 2.5 sounds like it was abused. :-(

 

Meep

[Guest Subie Gal]

heya...

i had both installed on my 99 GT

- which suffered a similar fate that you're experiencing now.... - except i lost my short block - cylinder #4 went bye bye at 56k miles.... the DOHC 2.5 just was nowhere near bulletproof.... <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif ALT=":\">

 

anyway, i installed the OEM Forester oil cooler....

as well as a nice little tranny cooler from Summit Racing...

 

www.summitracing.com

 

i mounted it up front, as described previously...

and they both worked great!!

 

good luck to you

Jamie