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Broken Front CV axle

Numbchux was correct. I had the shaft done by a "reputable shop", but took it out and back to them. Turns out the shaft was out of balance. After rebalancing, I reinstalled the shaft. Smooth as can be again. Amazing that it was the first thing fixed and had to be redone as the last thing! Thanks everyone for your help!

The WIX filters are the only one's I'm aware of that have the 23.5 psi bypass valve and have the valve up-front before the filter element. They are a significantly better design as when they go into bypass (one every cold start for example, when Subaru oil pressure is 90+ psi) the oil does not first pass over the dirty element and wash contaminants back into the engine. GD

I jack it as high as my floor jack will go. Yes pull the upper radiator hose and slowly fill the block. Once the block is full, put the hose back on and fill the overflow bottle and radiator about 1/2 way. Start it up with the heat on full. Once coolant starts to circulate squeeze the upper radiator hose to burp it. Keep on doing that until you have no more air bubbles in the overflow. I've had one or two that were very hard to bleed. I finally got them. Good Luck.

If you have no coms with the OBD-II port then that's where you start the diag. You check the 5v and the serial data connection back to the ECU - also ignition switched power and ground to the port. If that checks out and no shorts to ground, etc then you start checking powers and grounds to the ECU. GD

um, Texan - i believe he is talking about these... there should not be power steering fluid anywhere near these... to the OP - if you can rock them easily, they are worn out and should be replaced. you should not be getting grease, or anything else out of them, either. the bottom (wide part) usually does have a retaining ring, sometimes the top does, sometimes not, but either way, the rubber should be pretty snug against the the rod coming out of it.

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Jack the front end up, spin the tire, and watch the different parts of the CV axle (Inner and outer joints, shaft, boots) and see if they all spin together. Could be a front diff, but FAR more likely that it's one of the axles. Also, do not drive it like this. The engine revving up is a result of the transfer clutch slipping, it is not designed to take 100% of the load 100% of the time.

US market never received dual range EJ or any 6 cylinder MTs, except 1988-1991 XT6s.

Thanks Benny. I think getting something like that made out of one piece might be a good idea. I'll talk to my welding mates... She's being retired from daily driving tomorrow and is going up on the jack stands for a while, getting a bit of a suspension overhaul Ash

No tool necessary for the crank. I’ve done hundreds without a tool. A socket, long pipe over the handle for clearance and a solid whack with a heavy hammer is a great make shift impact socket. Lock the flex plate or clutch/flywheel. Yes you can probably get away with just a belt change next time. Personally I’d just replace the lower idler every time - it’s $30 and by far the most failure prone and the belt can’t slide over it if it seizes like it can all the other pulleys. I’ve seen seized smooth idlers with the belt sliding over it and the pulley not turning. One was driven well over a thousand miles until parts/costs were doable and it was fine. In retrospect that’s hard to believe! The toothed idler would fail immediately. install the lower passenger side idler after the belt is hung. It’s outside the belt and under light tension, easily installed afterwards. Alignment is easy, no need to make marks or count teeth. The engine doesn’t use paint marks or tooth counts which have no benefit. Too many cooks in the kitchen and learned helplessness IMO. The engine uses data on the cams so I use those too and cover notches/cam seam if applicable. If the car is a hacked up or wrecked POS demolition derby queen with belt covers hanging crooked then maybe belt installation needs some tweaking. Align the cam and crank sprocket. Install belt. Check. Done. Thats it. No need to add steps or complicate.

It’s benign. They do that, I ignore them and have seen zero correlation to issues. Of course you can just check them real quick with every oil change rather than believe some unknown possible whack job on the internet (me). It won’t take long and you’ll realize it’s not progressing and there’s no symptoms. That’s a normal Subaru tie rod end, circlip at the base and not at the top. All Subaru tie rod ends are like this for 40 years. You can probably inject grease with a needle fitting if you want but I’ve never bothered. OEM outer joint failure is almost unheard of, Ive never seen one with play or replaced one for any reasons except torn boots or damaged threads. They all “rock”, they’re suppose to articulate. I almost guarantee you don’t have any wear, failure or actual play in the joint itself beyond what you’ll find that one does the moment you remove it from a new box and install it. Go to a new car dealer and pry low mileage ones - they’ll rock too. That you’re suggesting both sides have identical characteristics and mention no drivability symptoms, points to this being the case, and they’re functioning like millions of other outbacks of the past 20 years on the road today with original tie rod ends.

You're not likely to break anything with 200 wheel. Pretty much all the Impreza 5 speed transmissions prior to 2008 will lose all the teeth off third gear even if you roll into the power carefully at about 340 to 360 wheel torque Abuse will kill them with less, but much past 320 ft/lbs and it's goodbye to third gear. The teeth come off like a zipper. I've seen a ton of 5 speed failures. The center diffs are weak on all the phase-II units. Just plan on replacing it if you go with a used trans. GD

did you fill the block first from the upper radiator hose? you have been here long enough that you should know about this.

I’d recommend anything that’s an 8 bolt/phase 2 gearbox. They have wider gearsets and a beefed up set of front cases. NA/turbo there’s really no difference other than clutch setup and ratios. Strength remains the same. Wrx boxes are known as glass boxes because ppl put all their money into engine mods for max power but do nothing to the stock box to help with power. A mate of mine has a SF forester running a STi EJ207 in front of a stock phase 2 dual range gearbox - it’s holding up just fine and it’s insanely quick! Driving style has a lot to do with gearbox health too. Have you thought about considering the six speed box from a H6? That’ll hold up to whatever you could throw at it with the EJ22t. Cheers Bennie

I can only speak to the transmission I have: TY752VB3AA Looking at the chart below it looks like the '93 WRX RA has even shorter ratios. Be aware that many of the 4.44 gearboxes will have longer gears and the combined ratio may not be as numerically high as the '93 boxes. http://www.rallispec.com/downloads/Transmission ID Chart_Public.pdf

Spiders or mud wasps nest in the charcoal canister vent line/fitting into the frame rail. Or an exploded charcoal canister. Or a failed vent valve. GD

You’ve missed the point of the HG blowing @Checkerboard Comet - it’s the next chapter, not the end! Time to EJ it! You will fall in love with it again!! Cheers Bennie

Some pictures of my L wagon in various configurations... Fenders are a bit ugly at the moment but I've had bigger problems to deal with Eventually they'll get flares and a paint job. Upset someone cut the bottom rung off the 3 tube bullbar I found, but it's still pretty good. Hope you all like those camber angles. I'm sure something ain't right there...

White Lithium Spray grease is far better for door/hood/trunk latches and hinges. There should be a plastic sleeve on the striker. If it's missing or badly worn, the door won't latch shut properly. Same striker is used on all doors, just flip it over for PS-DS. You can work the door latch itself with a Phillips screw driver. Place it were the striker would hit and move it towards the outside of door. Should feel 2 distinct clicks for full latch. If you don't feel both clicks, spray grease into latch working the straw around inside of latch. Keep working the latch after you sprayed it by holding the outside handle in the open position and working latch with the screwdriver. Should free it up after a few cycles. If not, latch is likely toast.

My loyal 340,000+ miles 1986 Subaru GL has finally gave out. I was on the freeway when the head gasket blew and ended my cars long career. I have had this car for over 25+ years, and got it from an auction for $200 at the time. It wasn't pretty, but it was my baby........ I'll be stripping some of the parts for moms 1985 Subaru GL, and then sell the rest of the car for parts afterwards. It will be the whole car (whats left anyway) or it goes to the boneyard. Sad day for me, I loved this car...