johnceggleston

often whjen the axel boot tears it slings grease onto the exhaust, causing the burning oil smell. check the right front axel boot. tjhe 2.2 is a great engine, with any luck it is a 95 or 96. that would make it a non-interferrence engine and one of the best, if not the best, subaru ever made. nice pics, keep up the good play!!! who's your helper in the back seat?

sounds like a nice car. as you stated earlier, if it has DOHC then it's a 2.5L. your biggest concern for 2.5, 97 - 98, would be the 'head gasket'. use the search feature and you'll have enough to read till the superbowl starts. if the coolant over flow bottle is clean oyu should be ok, that's the first place to look. someone recently suggested that any overheat maybe the precursor to the head gasket problem. a new radiator cap couldn't hurt. the only other concern is 'torque bind'. this is when the AWD locks in 4WD and in binds up when making tight turns. again search and read. i fixed the torque bind in my 97 OBW. so far (110k miles), i haven't had the HG problem. can you hear me knocking on wood? 2.5s in general are hard to 'burp' the cooling system. so if you ever drain and refill do some reading first. i'm sorry to be bringing you this potential trouble spots, but in spite of these issues, i love my outback. john

welcome !!! glad to have you on board. i didn't know they put the 2.5 in a legacy in 97, i didn't even know they made an LSI in 97. i thought the 2.5 went into the outbacks and the GT. oh well live and learn.

the id tag on the driver's strut tower will have the engine model number. if it's a 2.5, the valves may be bent. how many miles on it? was the frame bent? it sounds like a lot of work to me. parts car maybe. 96 had fewer HG problems so that might be a good thing. oh. yeah, i have some 96 air bags, if you need them. john

tell her to never drive anywhere without a couple of football players in the backseat. reverse went out on my 95 legacy, i drove it for a few months and it was challengeing. i swapped the trans. it's a bummer that this will be your second used trans.

not to mention 96 was the last year for 2.2 non-interferrence engines. 95 - 98 will work. 96 is single port exhaust, you'll need the y-pipe. i don't know about 97 or 98 2.2, but subaru would be smart if both 2.2 and 2.5 used the same y-pipe for those years.

i have removed a 'valley' trailer hitch off a donor 97 OBW to install on my 97 OBW. it's easy to remove, but........ 2 of the mounting bolts insert horizintally thourgh the hicht frame and through the 2 tie down brackets on the rear of the car frame. there is a spacer and a flange for each bolt. pretty easy to attach and tighten. the other 2 bolts hang down vertically from the frame member, apparently there is a collar or something around the head (inside the frame member) so it won't spin when you tighten it. here's the problem, i can't find the opening in the frame membver or the area inside the car thast allows me to insert the bolt. (i haven't figured out to remove them from the donor car yet.) any body done this and can lend some advice. the location of the bolts appears to be underr the permanmently mounted floor panels on either side of the spare tire compartment. any suggestions?? i'm sure there is a way to remove these panels, but i can't sem to figure it out. edit: where do i look for the trailer lights pigtail? thanks, john

what do you recommend as a replacement? O)EM or is there another brand known to be top quality that would be better than oem (which can fail)? ie: not cheap, maybe racing quality, i don't like wasting money but a 15$ rad cap is more cost effective than a new HG. i found my 97 obw, 108k, leaking coolant from the cap and replaced it with a cheap generic brand ($7). i wouldn't have found it except i was running the car at idle in the drive way to charge the battery. once it reached operating temperature, (not when cold) the cap started to leak. it was a little difficult to determine the source of the leak. apparently, i was lucky!! thanks

come on, you never had a used trans. in the back of your subaru?

i'd be interested to know if there is a 'mileage widow' associated with the 30+ heads gaskets you've done? i have a 97 obw with 110k miles (and piston slap) and i'm wondering if i have dodged this bullet or still waiting.

i asked the same question a while back. and got a good answer, but i'm not very familiar with internal trans terms so this is what i learned. when you bolt it up the TC crushes the/a oil pump something. you'll be very lucky if the trans even engages. the fix is trans replacement or repair, the repair involves removing the front diff and a shaft(?). apparently it can be done but not by me. my sloution would be trans swap. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=548229&postcount=14 has it happened or are you trying to prevent it from happening.? john

don't suppose his clutch is cable instead of hydraulic?

unless you buy a 2.5L one that has bad head gaskets and swap in a 95 or 96 2.2L. or even buy one already swapped. there are 1 or 2 on ebay now, i think. oof course they may not be local.

i don't know any thing about turbo engines. but apparently the ej22t turbo in 92 - 94 was a closed deck and a hellava engine. would there be any advantage to removing the turbo to eliminate that maintenance. would you gain anything?. the ej22 is so good in general, would closed deck improve it?.

yes, that would be great. i was hoping to save a little on parts and order them from jamie. john

the trans for early 99MY 2.5L is TZ102Z2DBA, this is the same type as 96 - 98 2.5L. (this ...Z2DBA was also used in 98 2.5L.) the trans for the late 99MY 2.5L is TZ1A2ZJEBA, this , i believe, is the beginning of the 4eat phase II trans. it has the spin-on external trans filter. i don't know if the number of bolts changed, the trans main housing certainly did because of the filter. they only used this model number for one year. the TZ1A4ZCABA is listed as 00MY 2.5L outback & sus trans with 8 bolt bell housing. the gt trans is ...4ZCAAA; the legacy is ...4ZCACA. these model numbers are close enought that the bell housings are probably all the same, transmissions too for that matter. some one posted a while back that the last 2 digits in the trans model number mean nothing. just a way to track which vehicle it was installed in. EDIT: 99 - 01 forester trans is TZ1A3ZC2AA this would appear to be the phase II trans, very silimar to the 2000 outback, legacy, and gt. hope this helps.

if you pull the torque converter be very careful when you put it back. apparently it's easy to not seat them fully, last 1/4", and then something gets crushed when you bolt it up. i'd take some measurements before you remove it so you'll know what you're looking for. as for the torque bind, there are several possible solutions, ranging from garranteed good for the next 100k miles at 850$ to maybe it will work at 100$. the duty c solenoid valve body assembly is less than 100$ from the dearler. this will fix the AT OIL TEMP light and make the torque bind go away, unless the clutch plates are gummed up. fluid change might help gumming. a mid range step would be to buy a really low mileage used trans and swap it or just the rear extention housing in to your car. you might consider a new duty c with it. ( a good used trans may be more than the new part price.) or you can just buy the new rear extention case, with all new parts, from the dealer and put it in, or have them install it, 850$. (if you go this route, please come back with the part number.) none of these is rocket science, except maybe the torque converter. the question for you is how much do you want to spend and how much work are you willing to do. and are you willing to some of it twice.? if i had a shop, i'd probably go for the new duty c, it's a gamble but worst case senario the clutch plates or other parts fail and you go back in. i don't know what a visual inspection will reveal when you pull the rear housing.

this maybe tha last time that bolt comes out. if you plan on keeping the car, i'd replace every thing behind it now, you may not a second chance.

sorry, 97 obw. i just ASSUMED that when 2 was selected, it would use 1st or 2nd. i didn't know 2 was 2nd only. i didn't try it but a couple of times and i didn't check the tach while doing it. so i'll have to try it in 1st and see what happens. i guess i better edit the title and my first post.

I came across this by accident the other day and thought some of you might like to try it. Find a hill, come to a stop, shift your A/T into 2 and start to slowly climb up the hill. Give it just enough gas to move forward. Then while moving forward, bump the gear selector from 2 to 3 and if your AWD is working, you should accelerate up the hill without changing the throtle. When the gear selector is in 2, the computer / trans drives both front and rear axles all the time. This puts a much greater load on the engine. When you shift up to 3 the computer/trans only drives the rear axles if needed. This frees up a bunch of engine power which is all on the front wheels, and off you go. EDIT: doubtful. looks like my knowledge and reasoning is off. i need to do more reasearch. John.

get a 2 liter bottle of real coke and pour it on. i'll bet it starts. i keep some in my trunck 'just in case'.

usually the pulley will wobble before it falls off.

try turning all the electrical stuff off and seee if it shifts better. especially headlights. check the alt. don't wait too long or you might need a battery also.

if it doesn't have a battery in it you can't shift it out of park. use jumper cables.

everything in that write up may be absolutely true, but there are several things, causes theat weren't mentioned. if the AT OIL TEMP light on the dash is blinking 16 times at start up and you have torque bind, then your duty c solenoid has quit working. that's a 94$ part from the dealer. it is also possible for the clutch plates to either gum up, or lose their grip. one causes binding and the other causes no power to thew rear wheels. the leaking around the seals from one chamber to the other i've not heard before. that would be on the 'causes binding' side just like the failed duty c. uncontrolled flow means binding. i would love to find a part number and price for the replacement rear extention housing. i paid 285$ at a local shop to have a good used unit installed. i provided the replacement part. (it came off my own bad transmission, recently replaced.) so if labor is 300$ then the dealer part is 450$. as with most dealer parts, i bet, with the right part number, you can get it for 250$ - 300$. i would love to get a part number and order it from jamie at subaru genuine parts. any body done this?