johnceggleston

my guess would be the drums on the transfer clutch has wear spots in it/them which keep it from engaging and forward wear is greater then reverse wear. try unplugging the wire harness to the trans and test driving it that way. you'll be in limp mode, 3rd gear only, and should have torque bind in tight turns since the awd should be 'locked' in 4wd. you can try new fluid that is usually the first fix .... but may be looking at repair, smoothing / grinding out the wear spots on the hub/s or replacement of the parts. there is a very good thread w/ pics on how to do it, if that is your need .

are you familiar with the correct timing marks on these engines? check the links in below to see if you got it right. was the key way boogered? how did you hold the the crank when tightening the pulley bolt? what did you torque it to? in a nut shell, have you ever done a 2.2L belt before?

it depends on if the 3.5 is a correct number and what the hourly rate is, 3.5 hrs X 80$= $280. plus they will charge you for anything else they do, drain and refill, fluid, adjust whatever, exhaust pipe gasket, swap over parts. and they may try to tell you it is a 5 hour job, but if you tell them bob's auto repair quoted the book as 3.5 hours then may be you get that rate.

i think the book time to R & R a trans is 3.5 hours, so if you have 300$ it might be worth it to have a shop do it. but if not, i would think the hard part is lifting and lining up. is a manual trans lighter then an auto trans?? good luck.

the wheel hubs are the same so the bottom of the strut will fit. the mounts may have to be rotated or swapped or something but a search will fill that in. i'm pretty sure it will work.

outback, 96 - 99. do a search, lots of folks have dome it.

they are out there. if the thing is really leaking by all means replace it, but usually folks assume it is leaking when it is the separator plate. and maybe, by the time they find that out, they already have the rear seal in hand so ..... "may as well". and then it isn't done to spec. i don't know how hard it is to do but there is enough talk about it here to scare me off. it is beyond me why fully seating the seal causes it to leak or why it was designed that way, but i only know what i read here. i hope i never have to do one. "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

what's wrong with your trans?

the small wire is in effect activating a relay which activates the starter. the big wire is moving 12 volts and lots of amps, enough to push a car, the small wire is delivering 12 volts and minimal amps. there is no need for all those amps to be routed thru the ignition system and the dash and running the big wire straight from the battery to the starter reduces the chances of losing any volts / amps in route. but no juice is flowing thru the large wire until the small one is energized and activates the solenoid. if you have a circuit tester /test light, you can use it to see if the small wire is in fact receiving electricity when you turn the key to start. pull the small wire off of the starter terminal, clip the ground of the test light to a good ground and attach the probe to the small wire connector. turn the key and see if it lights up.

there are 2 wires that go to the starter plus the ground that goes to one of the mounting bolts. the smaller of the two wires comes from the ignition switch and other mysterious parts. it is the one that activates the solenoid which completes the circuit for the larger wire pulling major juice directly from the battery. with the key in the run position, jump a wire from the battery to the starter small wire terminal. that should kick in the solenoid and get the starter to turn. it may be sparky. probably best to fit the starter end with a spade fitting and attach it to the starter and do the sparky thing at the battery, lots easier to reach. or better yet attach 2 wires one to each device and do the sparky thing at a distance. please be careful not to have any important body parts near the belts, pulleys or other hurtful stuff. i actually installed a relay which does this very thing since i had a problem almost every time i tried to start my 97 obw. easy, cheap (12$) fix if it starts the car. good luck.

run 40 wt, 5w or 10w 40. the engine is burning oil, but that is only because it is "leaking" into the combustion chamber. either past the rings or thru the valve stem seals. i think thicker oil will reduce that. on the other hand, are you sure it isn't leaking externally? just when running so it coats the under side of the car instead of dripping on the floor.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=108885

look for dark gunk in the coolant over flow before you drop it off or ask them to do it. it may not be as noticeable after the coolant has been replaced.

thinking back i had a very small bout of this once, but it cured itself so i didn't have to figure it out. occasionally my climate control gets stuck and doesn't want to change from windshield/floor to anything else. i avoid using that button as much as i can. so you have 2 problems, excessive moisture and you don't drive it long enough to eliminate the moisture. maybe the excess is due to a malfunctioning AC unit. specifically the vent doors under the dash that vent to the outside are not opening as they should. and so you never eliminate any moisture and it accumulates in the car. a cheap diagnosis may be to leave the car running at idle in the driveway for 3 or 4 hours (it probably won't take this long) with the AC and heat on full. if this does not eliminate the moisture then something is not working right. and it would only take 2 - 3 gallons of fuel to find out, less than 10$. any way, good luck with it and let us know what you learn.

http://car-part.com/

you might cook your bearings which makes it riskier to repair the HGs. bearing could fail soon there after.

there's lots to read on this, look here for a good intro badheadgaskets. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=104353&highlight=pressure+test i have a 97 outback with 132K miles., i have been driving it for 34k miles, and no problems. i bought for about what you paid and if i have to do the gaskets it will still be a good deal on a car. the purchase price plus HG repair (if/when i need it), drive it for 100k miles = ~ 4.9 cents per mile. a $25,000 new car would have to go 500,000 to get the same dollars per mile. there is not much chance that your car has had the gaskets done already, foresters last longer, some say due to the lighter weight of the car but who knows. it could already be going or it could drive until 200k before it goes. the good news is the problem usually develops slowly giving you time to schedule a repair. but if you drive 1000 miles a week 50 weeks a year, you need to take that into consideration. (if it does start to overheat do not drive it hot, let cool down and keep coolant in it. you do not want to cook the bearings.) it seems your choices are sell it now, drive it till it breaks and fix it or fix it now and drive it. of course you can always drive it till it breaks and then sell it for 500$. by the way your timing belt is due now. the schedule calls for 105k miles or 105 months. that will ~ 600$.

the ac is responsible for removing the moisture from the cabin. when you turn on the defrost it comes on automatically (it also opens the outside vents and cancels 'recirculation' if it was on). if it is not working correctly then you will not remove any moisture. turn on the AC with the heat? maybe that will help. there is also the chance that the moisture dripping from the ac is dripping inside the car, not the out side as it should.

i don't know the tech details, but all subaru head gaskets are now good ones. for a while, years ago, there was a chance of getting 'old stock' gaskets, but they are all gone now.

supposedly 02 was the last bad year, but some one has a thread with a 03 and bad head gaskets, so 04 would be my earliest risk free year. but you can pick up one with bad gaskets for less than 1000$ and the repair should run 1200 - 1800$ maybe 2000$ depending who and where. that leaves money for brakes, tune up and fluids all around. all the foresters (all 2.5s) are interference engines so if you have the gaskets done, do everything timing belt, idlers, tensioner, and water pump, new seals and you are good for 100k. even if you don't do the gaskets, you are going to want to be sure about the timing components and there is really only one way to be sure. just because it has a new belt, it does not mean it has new idlers.

try swapping the wheels before you do anything else to make sure they will clear everything on your car, like the struts.

for that kind of money you are probably goin to be stuck in the bad head gasket years. (but i don't really know what 04s sell for.) so your best bet if you are getting it from a stranger is to buy one with bad head gaskets and replace the engine or have it fixed. then you know what you have. forester gaskets fail less than outbacks, or maybe they last longer, fail later than outbacks. but still a risk. check the ''vehicles for sale".

grossgary put a 1.8L in a lego LSi and was able to make it work, so it can be done going the other direction. it just isn't plug and play. i think some of the ecu pins are different so the wiring has to be altered. i wonder if the turbo causes any headaches?

the knuckle assemblies are the same, so the brakes will swap. if the lego rotors are bigger then you would need to swap the calipers as well, (or the whole hub/knuckle assembly with the brakes already on it). if the wheels are the same no problem, but if the legos are larger then you would probably need them as well. but i think the wheels are the same. axle should be the same.

most of the folks who take this to the dealer are told they need new cats, lots of folks here replace the front o2. what i have read here before is that the front sensor is the working sensor and the rear is just a monitor. i don't know how accurate that statement is. but your best shot is a new subaru front sensor. where's nipper when i need him?