MilesFox

I am doing head gaskets on an 89 xt6. One of the intake bolts is broken, the frontmost on the driver side head. I have the rest of the intake off, just the bottom part is still attached to the head. I figures worst comes to worst, i;ll just bolt ut back up less the one bolt so long as the gasket holds up. There are LOTS of bubbles in the radiator when the car ran, and the oil was very milkshakey(car was low on coolant, it only seemd to milkshake after i added coolant, when i first got the car, oil looked just black before then) Right now the lower intake piece is still on the head, because it is stuck onto the broken bolt. I could make an attempt to drill out the bolt, but i am worried if i go too far, i wont be able to reassemble. I have run other engines with a missing/broken intake bolt and new gaskets, with no problems. For the sake of going back together, i think i will be best to leave it be. I have pics, but i need to use another computer that will detect my camera so i can post them. Also while i am at it, how often do ER27 heads crack in the water jacket. So far from what i can tell, the middle cylinders failed on both heads, and the passenger head came off like the bolts did not have much torque. The engine was overheated judging by melted timing belt covers. the head gasket itself looked ok. the gasket looked different than the normal ea82, its not the graphite faced one. I have done countless ea82's, but this is the first time i touched an er27 opinions?

soak the idle air control valve in Sea Foam. Just pour some in the breather tube and let it soak for about 15 minutes. usually the IAC gets carboned up and sticks open, when it should close once the car has warmed up.

your model of car will be generally referred to as an EA81(by engine) or a Gen 2 (2nd generation of the platform, 2nd bodystyle revision, 80-84 wagons, coupe, sedan, 79-87 brat and 89 hatchback(although continued overseas thru 1994)

maybe the carb is running on the choke circuit. make sure the anti-diesel solenoid is working. it shuts off fuel to the bowl when the car is not running. if you had no electrical going to the carb, it will run off the choke circuit and idle like crap, run very rich I had an 86 3door with carb issues. no amount of cleaning the carb helped, until i replaced the INTAKE GASKETS. now the car runs 99% correctly on old varnished gas

make sure the timing belts are not out of phase. the cams should be opposing eachother

what kind of car(year, model) and what kind of trailer/load are you towing? Consider tongue weight, you should not be exceeding 200-250 lbs tongue for the class of hitch available for subaru

the 3.0 MAY be more reliable, as far as the potential for bad head gaskets, but the 2.5 would be less expensive to maintain, more common of an engine. i have no experience with a 3.0 motor myself. others will chime in...

Lets let Steve get some other opinions. He has been banging his head and getting shut down with the same non-detailed answers everywhere else. Hence i suggested to come to USMB to talk to folks that have torn apart and assembled enough stuff to know what fits, vs other forums

clutch may be dragging? do you have a hard time going into 1st or reverse when stopped and engine running? if so, the clutch may not be disengaging entirely, and dragging enough to cause some friction at stops

I was making some suggestions to Steve (op)about shock travel vs overall lenght of strut. I mentioned when i put frester struts in my legacy, the shock part of the strut had more travel than the height of the spring, and i would get the car jouncing up and slamming onto the spring. what i was saying is to find a spring that will fill out the strut travel, be a little tighter and have a little hight from the springs alone, as to not max out the axle angles by having also a longer strut. this is where steve is coming from, spring height and TRAVEL instead of just a taller strut(unless the strut has more travel than oem 2.5i impreza)

Bosal is a good brand as far as i am concerned, they are the only supplier at NAPA that can get me the metal exhaust gaskets for ea82's I would think that a lot of the newer exhaust parts witt fit together the same. I was able to replace a single piece y pipe on a 92 legacy with a 2 cat unit from a 95, and the midpipe/muffler. i think you have a good shot of everything fitting together, you have done your homework. the only differences across years should be single or dual port exhaust manifold

i second the loos of coolant. cold heat is definately a sighn of LOW coolant, since it is being lost somehwere. i guesss the only way to be confident in diagnosing a head gasket is to have several of them go bad and therefore know what to compare to. if you cannot source a leak, you could try a can of K&W block sealer. if that does not work, then schedule for a head gasket. the K&W just might be a permanent fix. i have had good luck with the stuff. it worked in my toyota sealing up the bubbles in the radiator

I am considering this for my 95 legacy. i got the $$$ in the bank, so long as its still there by march! I'll pm you if i decide to go with it

fuse panel on the driver side kick panel, just behind the hood release. if you yank the fuse the abs light will appear on the dash

the 2.5 has solid lifters with shims for lash adjustment, unlike the ea82 with hydrailic lash adjusters. the idea of Marvel's Mystery Oil is to cure the 'tick of death' associated with cam tower o-rings or dirty HLA's in ea82's. If you have lifter noise in the 2.5, shims will be in order next time the heads are serviced. You could run the MMO through to keep deposits and sjudge from forming. Ideally, apply the mmo just before oil changes.

the 96 will be just as mod-capable as the 99, since any swaps on either of these cars will involve the same amount of work and parts sourcing. My opinion, the 96 would be the better choice

the er27 is actually ea82 based, it fits in the gl's and loyale's bellhousings. a wrx motor will physically bolt in, you will need to swap a turbo crossmember or make a cutout for the up-pipe. the 2.2 were sohc, and according to the wikipedia artilcle on Ej motors, the 99 has the sohc 2.5 engine, for that year only, and then came back in 2005 as the non turbo option. an ej22 out of 90-94 will be a direct bolt on, and you use the ej1.8 intake on the 2.2 to match the wiring harnesses. a 95-96 legact or impreza 2.2 should be all plug and play. otherwise other stuff will fit but be different. but instead of modifications, its more the correct mix and match of stock subaru parts from different models, and such a mixed build will still take any unmodified oem subaru part as a replacement

you have to pull the engine to service the breather plate. although its annoying, its not anything that will lose oil pressure, you are not damaging the engine as long as you dont let it run out of oil. may want to schedule having the motor out and just do all the seals and timing belts

I second the interior installation, just keep it inside the rear storage compartment, keeps it from corroding. what kind did you get that was a plug-in model? i have never seen a plug and play unit for a subaru, even as a hitch installer at u-haul for 2 years. otherwise, i was gonna say with the splice in 3-wire unit, be sure to gorund it to the body, or you might get a taillight warning on the dash if a trailer light goes out. also, if the trailer lights are grounded through the frame, you wont have to worry about a ground lead to the pigtail because it will ground through the ball.

remove the vacuum line from the EGR valve and plug it see if that helps. maybe the egr is stuck open, when it should be closed at idle

subaru oem uses 12x1.25 thread and 19mm lugnuts with 60 deg seat. you can go with 21mm lugnuts with same thread and seat(on subaru wheels) i swapped chrysler wheels on my legacy. the chrysler had a coarse thread for the lugs, 21mm, did not screw on. i just used 21mm metric nuts and was good to go. the studs could ghave been longer for the chrysler wheels, though. they treaded on all the way but the last thread, but is secure enough for me to drive on it.

normal behavior for a stock oil gauge.

if the battery goes dead again, consider a new one. if a battery goes dead too much, it will no longer hold a charge. a weak battery will stress the alternator. a new battery is the best bet to prevent an alternator failure

bellhousing bolts up. you will need to use an ea82 flywheel, and the ea81 bolts. you will need to transfer the ignition timing marks from the ea81 flywheel to the ea82 flywheel for the odeg mark. the holes on the ea82 flywheel are larger, but the ea81 bolts will bolt it on. use the complete dual range trans with flywheel, clutch, and 2 pc driveshaft. you might have to transfer the trans mount from the 4spd onto the spd, i cant remember, you might just be able to use the ea82 mount as it is

i meant to write up an article for ea82 axles. i took a bunch of pics of rebuilding the axle itself(replacing boots, regrease) here is the link to the pics if it will help you, the same idea will apply to REBUILDING any subaru axle http://www.economysuperstar.com/milesfox/gallery/axle/