johnceggleston

you left out the part about picking up the free suub!!

if i put 3500 in a car i'd want to drive it at least 35k miles to break even. if you can afford to wait for the rght car, you can buy a wreck with a 2.2l engine, do the swap and drive for lots less. there was a great discussion just this week about 2.2's into 2.5 cars. (search for it.) what fits, what's easy, etc.

let's hope that the victims just happened to own a subaru and that there are not gun toting criminals invading homes to steal subarus!!!!

if you use an awd trans in front to drive the front wheels and let the rear drive shaft drive all the rest as you first suggested, you could use the "fwd" fuse placement to disconnect the rear 4 wheels making it easier to travel from home the beach. youd be pulling more weight and therefore run slower, but you wouldn't be pushing all 6 wheels all the time. just when you wanted. any binding due to the gear ratios wouldn't mean much in the sand, and wouln't exist on the road.

or trade them the old one you pull!! you don't need it.

how do you solve the clunking problem? live with it or fix it? john

i thought codes would reset after the problem goes away? you mean they can be stored? are they hard to read? These cars are apperently not storing any codes when this happens? Truth is whom ever diagnoises it will have to be able to duplicate the problem. That is the first step.

do i remember a thread about water collecting / not draing out of rocker panels? i can't be sure and i would think the sound could be located well enough if it were coming from the door instead of the dash, but you never know.

whenever you have time, thanks, john

my son wants to swap out the dashboard in my 95 leg (mauve?) with the dash of a 96 (standard gray). we have already planned to swap the seats, door panels and center console, those are easy. how much work to move the whole dash? can it go as a unit or do all the pieces have to be removed?? and lastly, how about the floor carpet? thanks, john

just out of curiosity, what does a duty c solenoid cost?

beside, either they knew the head gaskets were bad and didn't say anything or they should have known and said.

i think i have a similar sound in my 97 obw... whats a drop link??? could this affect steering?? john

check the fluid level. it could be low. the did stick is hard to read. i had the exact same thing happen, no reverse after the shop replaced the rear trans seal for the drive shaft. the shop replaced the seal and then checked the fluid and said it was fine, did not need any. that was a huge mistake. the fluid level was low, way low, 3.5 qts low. that was a huge mistake. i drove for a couple of months, forward only, and now ready to replace it with used. john

my understanding was that the valve stems were angled away from each other, riding on 2 different cam shafts. as a result, the valve bodyies were overlaping if both were extended. i feel like ive seen a picture of a piston with cutouts (half moon shaped) for piston valve clearence. but i don't open engines and work on them. i does not surprise me that a failed timing belt would detsroy an engine.

on a side note..... i heard that the valves don't collide with the pistons in a subaru interference engine (atleast the dohc). but that the valves collide with the valves and some bend. therefore they can be repaired. any truth to this rumor. i guess we should schedule our timing belt failure to coinside with our head gasket failures. john

i do have the cluthc pack out of the 97obw with bad duty c and dirty valve seat. actually i don't know if the thing had torque bind caused by the clogged valve seat. i know the duty c was bad, never drove it when it was good. if you are interested let me know. you might check on when they made the change over. i seem to remember it happening mid-year 96 (97 model). john

careful, your low oil level experience is showing.

i need to pull the a/trans out of a wrecked 96 leg wagon to put in a 95, and i was thinking about pulling the engine as well for storage / future use. how long and how hard to do from above with lift? john

i bought a 97 obw with the duty c failed. i also had a bad 97 trans which did not have torque bind when it went bad. i used the clutch pack off of the bad trans in a straight swap. i examined the valve seat of the failed duty c unit. the clogged up valve seat is a small area, there appaers to be a pin hole in the bottom of the seat that is maybe 1/8" by 3/16 or 1/4, oblong. if i had a parts washer, a n air hose and confidence that i would not damage the clutch in the process, i mght try cleaning it and reusing it. the problem is that you don't know what you get when you buy used. but you can remove the duty c of the used clutch pack and examine the valve seat to increase your chances. mine had what looked like dark brown sediment in the bottom. by all means, install the new duty c. john

i have a 95 leg 2.2l sedan with 167k miles, new t-belt, pump, seals and a bad tramsmission. vin#6 - 6 i just bought a wrecked 96 leg wagon 2.2l with 125 k miles and a good tranmission. vin#6 - 4 i'm ok with the trans. tranplant, i can swap the tcu if needed and the rear end for that matter. but what is the difference between the engines? what i read on this site leads me to believe the 95 is "bullet proof" and the 96 is an interference engine. am i close? is there any real way to tell? thanks, john

my mechanic glued my 93 2.2l back together and i was able to get another 20k miles before i wrecked it. the pins sound like a good idea. my guy said the cause was from improper torque, i would think locktite would help. but he said the manual calls for "clamping flywheel tight" so it won't rotate, before torquing the crank bolt. most back yard mechanics don't take this step and therefore are just asking for trouble long term. apparently you can't torque it correctly if the crank rotates, on my next car, 95 legacy 2.2l, i noticed the "off center wobble" of the crank bolt before it fully failed. by setting the pulley correctly, with locktite, and letting it set over night before troquing the bolt, you decrease the likleyhood of it moving wile torquing. i'm still running the 95 and just changed the timing belt again @ 160k (bought it at 75k). john

what is the recommended oil for piston slap? will a thicker warm oil help...10/40? or a thicker cold oil 15/30 or 20/40? any one lost an engine after piston slap developed?

i went to look up my 97 obw on that site and they don't have the 2.5 listed under cam belt. jut the 1.8, 2.2, and 3.0. susbaru makes a good car but they also make mistakes, and bad head gaskets.

there is a gasket betwen the trans and the this cover. my guy at the trans shop suggested that a silicone gasket would do the job. he charged 3.5 hours to install my used clutch pack, new gasket and 2 qts. fluid, all for $280. this sound like more time than described by someone here previously, but what the hell, the dealer wanted $1000. some one has described the r&r in a thread earlier, can't remember who. he said you could lower the trans slghtly, let it angle down, and do the job with out pulling the trans. in hind sight i should have priced and used a new solenoid. i don't know what they cost, but for 280 in labor it would be a good investment. i have limited experience, but it seems to me that the clutch it self is pretty tufff. but the valve seat and sol are the weak points. i'll be pissed if the used one fails in the next 100k miles. the one in my 95 2.2L went 167K mi. before reverse failed. john