Manarius

Yes, try what the person above me said. If you put the car in 3rd, the torque converter won't lock up. If it does it still, then I guess it's a TPS or ailing fuel pump or something electronic. If it doesn't do it in 3rd, might be the torque converter.... 65 mph in 3rd is like....5000-5500? I haven't really got on the car lately to check. I do know though that on 4.11 gear, the very top of 2nd is like 60 mph.

Yeah, make sure the fans are coming on without the A/C coming on. Second, check to see if there are any "cold spots" in the system. Feel around - is the coolant tube at the top of the engine cold? Might have a minor blockage somewhere. Third, and finally, your water pump may just be tired...unfortunately that's a pretty big deal to replace that so leave it for absolute last.

That aggressive stance says it all; it's an Outback sedan.

Silly vacuum tubes....I don't think they're easy to knock off, but it happens.

All right - another hour still puts you at 310 and with increased part costs: 370-380. Still a buck twenty lower than the dealer, and with better craftsmenship (I've seen dealer work - not spectacular by any level). I'm sure someone is going to come here and try to defend a dealer. I'm sure that not all dealers suck, but out my experiences with the quality of service with the ones around here (and there are quite a few), I've determined that I'd rather shoot myself in the left foot with a bazooka than take my car to a dealer for work.

4 hours!? My mechanic did my brother's transverse I4 in 3hours @ 60 an hour - cost my dad 250 to have the Tbelt and accessory belts replaced. And that was on a transverse car, much more a pita than a horizontally opposed car.

Classic case of Broken Coolant Temp. Sensor. Replace the sensor (~$26), reset the ECU, and have a good day

I'd drive 50 miles to a shop if they could offer me a price lightyears lower than the dealer. The increased gas cost and time cost factored in still make the repair extremely less than the dealer's cost. I avoid dealers like the plague. They often screw up jobs and charge outrageous prices. I speak from experience on this - every dealer experience I've ever had has been a sucky one, and I've had over 5.

They are removable. Take a slim knife to the bottom of the slot and just work at digging the cover piece out. Should come out quite easily.

Smells like MAF failure to me. Man, there've been a lot of these lately.

The intermittent powerloss problem - just what my car did when the MAF was fried. I speak from experience: when my MAF was fried my car was just weird overall. I'd highly suggest looking into that.

I'm not saying do everything yourself. There's a lot of things I can't or won't attempt. That being said, I refuse to go to the dealer to let them destroy my wallet. I'll find a reputable mechanic before I ever go to the dealer for anything.

9000? It's probably worth close to 2k. If that. 1993 + lots of miles = low price.

I repeat the same sentiment: Why in the hell would you go to a dealer? Do you dislike your money that much? I avoid a dealer like the plague; they screw 99 out of every 100 that walk in.

110km/h is like 65-70 MPH. So, I wonder if it's your torque converter jumping in and out of being locked.

And people wonder why I refuse to go to the "stealership."

I wouldn't mess with the MAF unless you absolutely had to. I highly doubt it's the source of your occasional ping, Besides, cleaning them is a real pain because they're so darn sensitive that if you make one wrong move, you just fried the sensor.

Does the car run? If it does, I bet that they just mislabelled the part number on your bill. The car won't run with the wrong timing belt, it's that simple. BTW, I think 500 is rather high for that service, especially on a Subaru where you don't have to remove the entire side of the engine just to get at the belt.

I'd say they're pretty trapped/fixed to me.

EJ20TT's are a real pita to use. Unless you feel like converting to RHD, I wouldn't even bother getting that engine. The entire turbo system is setup for RHD, so putting them in a LHD car is a real hassle. EJ22T is a hell of a lot easier to put in than a EJ20TT. More people have done EJ22 to EJ22T swaps than EJ22 to EJ20TT swaps, I can tell you right now.

Mmph, my car has duralast plug wires and Bosch Plat 4's and it drives like a bat out of hell. All that stuff is over a year old and my car still runs top notch for 153k miles.

Really, if anything, the pre 1997 EJ22's, the pre 1995? EJ20's and the EJ18's are the best Subaru engines. No HG issues and non-interference makes for a long lasting engine.

I wonder if the transfer clutches are shot. This would cause that binding you describe. The 4EAT shifts into 3rd when it detects that the person is using brake to slow down as a method of helping to stop the car with the engine. I would guess that the transmission is having some major issues trying to shift into third and then shifting into 2nd instead.

Mine was cracked even more than what yours was before I replaced it. Funny how it never affected the performance of the car and it only threw a code if I power washed the engine. Big difference between the OBDII cars and the OBDI cars and how certain sensors affect their performance.

Why not tune and boost a EJ22T? They have those nice little oil squirter things everyone loves, plus it's the strongest block to ever come out of Subaru.