johnceggleston

as i see it these are your options. buy a used engine from a salvage yard. www.car-part.com buy a JDM engine . rebuild what you have. buy a short block. long term rebuilding may be the least risk, but maybe not the cheapest. a used engine may be the cheapest, just depends on the engine you buy, but maybe higher risk. JDM is probably a pretty safe bet but you MAY need to add EGR to the engine. 00 - 01 legacys ej25 do not have EGR, but i'm not sure about 99 foresters. and i also do not know if there are any other differences that need to be corrected. price not withstanding, i might buy a 96 - 98 JDM and use the short block and your heads and intake. (i hear the 99 outback is the 253 block, with the 96 - 98 heads and intake.) in effect you would be buying a used low mileage short block. and i would get the ej25d because except for the head gaskets it is a more reliable engine, in my opinion. the ej253 has had some unexplained bad rod bearings and i blame the bearing company. and it is possible that the ej25d would be a little cheaper. of course if the jdm ej253 is plug and play then maybe that. but i would rather know the gaskets are good and the rod bearing risk is lower. so if you are doing the head gaskets any way, why not use the block that does not have a bearing problem. the other option i would consider is a used ej25d with a busted timing belt. usually i don't think jdm is a good deal, but maybe, depending on price. a quick search turned up this one, $750 plus shipping, $250 - $550. http://www.ebay.com/itm/96-99-SUBARU-IMPREZA-FORESTER-LEGACY-DOHC-EJ25D-ENGINE-JDM-EJ25-2-5L-ENGINE-ONLY-/261096465943?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cca8fe617&vxp=mtr

either the bolt has loosened or the rubber bushing in the pulley has let go. in either case you need to remove the pulley. if the bolt loosened the timing could have jumped causing misfires. remove the pulley and examine it for wear on the rubber and the keyway.

thanks for the link. i may try this instead of the soak method for my second attempt.

well, my first try was not too successful. i only used 3 bottles of dye, when i got to the store i had forgotten how many to buy. but that does not seem to be the issue, i don't know. but it came out spotted in places. like a tie dying sort of. mostly dark but with brown spots scattered around. i assume this was due to the folding, rolling of the carpet and dye not circulating. but maybe caused by only using only 3 bottles of dye. and it has a dark dark midnight blue tone. not the black that i wanted but i could live with it. and maybe the best i can hope for since i'm going from brown to black. so i'm going to try again with more dye. any suggestions? maybe i'll fold it up a different way this time.

i usually tie off the steering wheel so it will not move too much and use ramps. if you drive in with the wheels straight they are not going to move when sitting on the ramps. but the steering wheel can spin with no load on it. tying it off will keep it from moving too much. it may not be perfect but it will help get you close. then if you want perfect, pop off the steering wheel and re-center it. or adjust the tie rod ends. a helper sitting in the driver's seat is also good.

one final note: when doing this on your front wheels you probably want to start with the straight edge ''behind'' the front wheels and then move it to the front. this will make checking you marks easier when adjusting the toe in. i don't know what the measurement is for the ''tire center line to tire center line'', but that would be handy info when you start this. it will get you in the ''ball park'' when you start.

90 degrees sounds like a lot. i would try and get the rack to steering wheel/ column as close as possible, within a few degrees. and i would likely make the final adjustment by pulling and re-installing the steering wheel. it is way easier than the steering column to rack adjustment, or the tie rod ends adjustment. PS: i have edited my above post so please reread it. good luck.

i would try google. i have read a link posted here about doingv it yourself. it was very straight forward. but i don't remember the link. i just did this last week for my rear wheel toe. rear is a little more challenging, in my opinion, because when you torque on the ''toe in '' adjustment, the rears do not turn as easily as rthe fronts, just my opinion. in a nut shell: 1/ set up a ''straight edge'' wider than the rear wheels on the ground on wooden blocks just in front of the rear tires. i used a 6 foot aluminum carpenters level on 4x4 blocks. (the taller the better but at some point it gets too tall in regards to the mud flaps.) a 2x4 will work. 2/ push a straight pin into each tire, (the kind they use to mark the hem on a skirt or a pair of pants). i used safety pins because that is what i had, they come on every shirt i send to the cleaners. 3/ mark the straight edge where the pin and the straight edge meet. 4/ now, move the straight edge and the blocks it sits on to the rear of the tires, SEVERAL feet back. i used duck tape to mark the side walls of the tires where the pins were. i set the straight edge off to the side. i then rolled the car back until the pins were close to where i wanted them. THEN i set the straight edge behind the tires. 5/ roll the car backwards until the pins that were in front rotate to the rear and they meet the straight edge. 6/ NOTICE the difference between the marks on the straight edge and the safety pins. (rear toe spec is 0 +/- 0.12. i don't know the front spec off hand.) so if both marks are with in 1/8 inch of the pins you are good. if either pin is more than 1/8 inch out, that wheel needs to be adjusted. notes: this is way easier if you KNOW one wheel is right. but not impossible other wise. you just need to keep in mind which wheel needs to go which way. it may take several tries. the taller the straight edge is the better, up to the axle height. lower will add a margin of error. not much but some. so the lower you are the closer you need to be to ''dead on''. the front is easier than the rear because when you adjust the tie rod end the front tire will pivot, as designed. (the rear will move, but there is a lot more friction in my opinion.) and when you do it a second (or third) time to double check your results you will probably need to erase your earlier marks on the straight edge so you don't get confused. maybe put blocks in front of the front tires when you first start so you know how far forward to go when you start your double check. you may need to drive around the block, in which case, a tire crayon or paint pen may come in handy to re-find your ''pin points''. or you can just start over, which is probably more accurate. i suggest you loosen ANY and ALL adjustments you may need to make BEFORE you start all this, if you have to jack up the car to loosen something, you will dramatically alter the pins and marks correlation and you will have to start all over by driving the car around the block to make sure it is sitting as it should. wheels move outside to inside when you jack up the car. and they don't move back just because you lower it. good luck. ask for clarification as needed. i will try and wipe away the mud. until i read the other guys ''how to'' i assumed this was rocket science. but it turns out is is only ''geometry''? or something close to it.

search for a replacement at http://www.car-part.com . the interchange software will only return years/ models that match. you don't have to buy from them if you don't want, but you can at least use them to see what years fit.

good point, i'm an auto trans guy, and that is what i assumed.so the info above is for auto trans. what year did they put the 4.44 ratio in the forester manual trans? i didn't know they had done that.

those who know, spec 125 - 137, or maybe 127 - 135 ft. lbs., i can't ever remember. i use 140 ft lbs. i have bought 2 good cars with ej22s that had issues with loosening crank bolts. and all the ej22 components are the same make up as the ej25. so why not.

i bought a 00 legacy L last year with 82k miles. i got it cheap beacuse it had a ''slow to engage'' trans issue. which is not uncommon in the 99 and 00 maybe 01 auto trans. but i knew a $10 of transX added to the trans fluid would correct it. so i got it added the trans-x and was a happy camper. it came wiht a good service history and paperwork to prove it. less than 1000 miles later it started knocking and spun a rod bearing. #4 i think. so i bought a used engine, put my heads on it with new subaru gaskets and now i'm a happy camper again. the point is, some of the early? 00 - 04 engines have suffered bad rod bearings for no apparent reason. the consensus is that it is the bearing manufacturing company that is at fault. but that is just a guess. and the frequency of these bad bearings may not be very high or significant. but it does happen and for no apparent reason. 1/ so possible slow to engage auto trans cured by trans-x. but this will not be an issue for your manual trans GT. 2/ seeping head gaskets which can usually be driven a long time by keeping the fluid topp off, and the coolant leak can often be stopped by adding the suabru ''coolant conditioner'' to the system. even after new gaskets fix the seeping the coolant conditioner should be used. 3/ and possible bad rod bearing for no reason. most everything else is going to be the same small stuff you already know from owning a 97.

found it. http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=32148&p=219156&hilit=rear+diff*+ratio*#p219156

the info i posted above is correct and it took me a long time studying and researching to finalize it. but it is really hard to come up with a ''blanket'' absolute rule for the final drive ratos. in the 90 - 94 years the auto trans ratios change at a mid point for no apparent reason. the 94 auto trans (ej22) ratio is NOT the same as the 95, 4.11, it is a 3.9. and there fore is not a candidate for a swap into the 95. and the 90 ej22 auto trans it is a 4.11 ratio, the same as the 95. go figure. the change was made around 92 or 93 but i'm not sure. (but josh's site (legacy777), www.legacycentral.org, has the details.) also in these years, the turbo did not follow what the non-turbos did. iirc they were all 3.9 but i'm not sure, i would have to check. i'm not as sure about the 90 - 94 years as i am about the late 90s because every time i think i have figured out i screw it up. so i try and always check josh's site before i make a statement. hth

sorry torx but i think you are mistaken. you can look up the ring and pinion part numbers at http://opposedforces.com/parts for both the ej22 cars and the ej25 cars in the late 90s and it will list the ratio. the rear diff parts are found the drive ''TRAIN'' section. ALL the ej25s 96 - 99, forester, outback, GT, LSi, with the auto trans have the 4.44 ratio. (i don't know about the imprezas. i don't even know what high end models they produced.) all of these ej25 cars have a trans code number that starts with TZ102Z2xxx and they all have the 4.44 ratio. (they also have larger tires than the legos) all the ej22 tans code numbers start with TZ102Zxxxx where the red 'x' is a letter, not the number 2, and they all have the 4.11 ratio. this trend is continued in the 00s . outbacks and GTs have the 4.44 and legos have the 4.11 but of course they retired the ej22 after 00 and it was no longer a factor. but the different size tires continued to be associated with the diff ratio thru 04, i think. i don't know about 05+ cars. cars with manual trans follow the same trend but they use the 4.11 in the ej25s and 3.9 in the ej22s. (except maybe the 96 outback ej22 manual trans. i don't know about it. but i suspect it is the 4.11 like the other outbacks.) the simple fact of the matter is that the larger tires off set the ratio difference making them almost equal on the road. the difference is about 0.6%. this is one of the reasons the fuel economy is so close between the two and why the ej22 does so well in the 4.44 outback. the ratio difference is negated / offset by the tire size.

does any one have any experience with a good, decent, quality carpet dye kit.? i would like to change a tan carpet into dark gray or black. there seem to lots of ''vinyl'' dyes out there and some claim to be for carpet but i'm not sure a spray can of color is going to last on carpet. thought or suggestions? thanks, john

changing the trans and rear diff to the 4.44 FD will make the car more GT like, sportier. it will give you a little more power and a little less fuel economy. you can off set that with larger tires. the GT size, 205/55/16 or similar, will fit with out any other changes. probably not worth throwing away good tires for, but something to keep in mind for when you need tires. it may also throw off the speedo. so keep an eye out for that. it will probably show you are driving faster than you actually are and your odo will show a mile before you actually drive a mile. just a thought.

well, you can try the forester ECU , but there is no guarantee it will work. if they made a change in the 01 ECU it will have issues with the wiring harness that the car connects to. but unless they made major changes chances are that the engine willl run even if it has stray CELs. but it may not improve any over what you have now. the harness on the engine may / will be ok if the ECU works. but if the ECU does not fix things, your only solution is to do as GD said. this will get it running for sure. and the cam and crank sprockets can be had used for less than the forester ECU. and the work will not take that long. and you do not have to replace anything except the 2 sprockets. all the other parts will work just fine. note, if you are close to the timing belt change interval you might consider replacing those parts as well.

so let me get this right. you swapped the engine and it did not run you swapped the wiring harness that connects to the ECU, it did not run. and you swapped in the ECU from a different car altogether, and it runs but with issues and CELs. right so far? if this is true, and the forester ECU is an exact match for the engine and the harness, that should do the trick. if any of this is an error pleas make the correction. the ECU must match the wiring harness it is attached to. when they make a change in the ECU pin out, they have to change the harness to match. other was it does not communicate correctly. on a side note, it is the wiring harness that makes the ECU look for an auto trans TCU. the manual trans harness grounds out a pin on the ECU. this tells the ECU not to look for the TCU. your forester harness was in an auto trans car, right? if the above info is correct, your shortest quickest solution is the matching ECU. if you had contacted us when you started, we could have saved you a butt load of work.

the details i have read about doing this were fairly involved. especially with regards to shimming the pinion shaft so it meets the ring gear correctly, tooth to tooth. smear on some blue indicator stuff, align it, try it, more blue stuff, adjust it, try it, etc. all to make sure the teeth meet correctly. so i have avoided it all together. but others have apparently done it with no problems. idk. but, why not just swap the rear extension housing that got torn up. that is easy. was there more damage than just the tail shaft section? or do you just want to upgrade the trans in general?

GD is right. i mis-understood. i had just worked with someone who had swapped out the complete wiring harness for the engine bay and i thought this is what you had done. the engine will run with the original ECU, intake and sprockets. any stray CELs because of the trans swap you will have to live with or ground out the correct pin on the ECU to eliminate. the forester ECU may work, but only if the wiring harness in the car (not on the engine) matches. this is a crap shoot. swapping the sprockets is for sure.

you can get them cheaper online but you have to pay shipping. compare. do you have a part number? www.subarupartsforyou.com http://www.subarugenineparts.com

i guess i should ask, did you swap the whole harness intact? or did you splice it in? i think there is a higher chance of a mistake when splicing.

i don't think the ECU gets into any of the lesser wiring stuff. the likely reason it did not start with the ej22 ECU is that they changed the cam sprockets at some point, apparently in 01. so when you swap an engine across that line you have to swap the ''original'' cam and crank sprockets onto your ''new'' engine. that way the original cam sprocket is talking to the original ecu. but you are way past that now. do you have the forester ECU?? can you go back and get it? or borrow one just to see. EDIT: during an ej22 swap into a 98 obw i put a 96 L ECU into a 98 obw and the engine ran fine. but i had some, a couple of, false or ghost trouble codes. i spent several days tracking them down and finally got the correct ECU, no more CELs.

you probably could have swapped the forester engine with out swapping any thing else.