Hondasucks

The factory cam/crank seal tool is great, but I don't know the exact price... They are nice because with them you can't drive the seal in too far, but unless you fix up cars, they aren't really worth buying just to do the job once. Makes me wish that Autozone had OEM rental tools, since not everyone works at a Subaru dealership!

You don't want to use the belt to hold the cam sprocket. I don't know how much the factory tool is, but all you need is something with two pins that would fit in the gaps in the center part of the pulley to keep it from turning, as that is pretty much what the factory tool is.

IIRC there are two. EJ25s and the "new style" EJ22s have the single piece tensioner/pulley combo. (New style EJ22s look just like a single cam EJ25, but they will have "EJ22" cast into the block, usually came in 98ish Imprezas) A tip when doing the belt on these, the service manual says to remove the tensioner and use a press to slowly push the rod back into the tensioner, and then put the pin in (We refer to is as the "Grenade Pin"), what works better is to use a prybar or long screwdriver, pry between it and the water pump pulley, apply steady pressure until you can put the grenade pin in. Don't do this if you are not replacing the timing belt as you run the risk of damaging the belt. The second type is the horizontal bar type found on the EJ22s and EJ18s, these you can use a vise to squeeze the bar back in (you don't want to squeeze too hard though, just apply pressure until it startsa moving and then steadily crank it until it is in far enough to put a pin in, make sure you get it all the way through. If you apply too much force it will blow the side of the tensioner out, basically.

Man that sucks, but I'm glad your daughter and her friend are okay, cars are a whole lot easier to repair than people, and unlike people, they can be replaced. (looks like a lot of parts are still good too, so your next rally project might be cheaper!

I'm guessing you might have just had an air pocket in there that worked it's way out, fill the radiator back up with coolant (Get one of those funnels that attaches to the filler neck on the radiator, they are great!) and idle it and watch it, see what it does. If you don't have any coolant blowing out anywhere, you are probably okay, just keep an eye on it.

Go to the dealer, have them diagnose it, there is a specific procedure that you need a Select Monitor III in order to do, to make sure the problem is not the Air/Fuel Ratio sensor or the oxygen sensor, would really suck to spend a grand having your cat replaced, only to find out it was a $100 AFR sensor. Have you ever had it in for maintenance? Misfires (usually a result of not changing spark plugs, or using junk plugs) are one thing that will kill the cat, among other things. I've seen cars with 120k and bad cats, and I've seen cars with 250k with the original cats that work just fine... Also it MIGHT still be covered, certain cars have a pretty long emission warranty, but I'm not sure of the specifics, but a Subaru dealer will be able to tell you. (The new PZEV models are warranted 15 years/150,000 miles!) Also, with 60k miles, you are also still covered under the head gasket warranty if your head gaskets are leaking

Yeah you do, lift the Baja

Sweet, I dunno where you are, but I'm in Corvallis, couple other members here too as well.

I'd take it to the Subie dealer, diagnosis will run ya ~60 bucks... That code can also be set if the key is turned to the "start" position without the clutch fully depressed, the last one I saw that was like that, the customer had their floor mats stacked and it wasn't letting the clutch go all the way to the floor.

Have you tried posting this over on the SVX forum? http://www.subaru-svx.net

If you are going to repair the AC (Which probably just needs to be recharged) I would recommend keeping the engine driven fan as it will do a better job of keeping the car cool with the AC running under load, climbing hills, etc... Try and find a Haynes repair manual for your car, they are a big help when it comes to home repair and maintenance, but if it baffles you, I'd recommend taking it to a Subaru dealer or independent shop that specializes in Subarus.

Don't bother with a cone filter, take the silencer out of the fender and call it good. I cut the very end of the pipe (you'll see what I mean when you take it out) that goes through the inner fender off of the snorkus and left it in place so that it's drawing in cool air from the fender well. As for the brakes, sounds like your adjuster is rusted, get one from a junkyard or from Subaru and replace it. To adjust the brakes, with the rear of the car off the ground, turn the adjuster until the wheel locks, then back it off 1/2 turn. Your problem sounds like you might have a caliper hanging up, take the front calipers off and clean and lubricate the caliper slides with some synthetic brake grease. (Don't use regular grease, make sure it's disc brake caliper grease) You can use an electric fan in place of the engine driven fan, there should be one electric fan already there, and you should be able to find an AC fan off of an older car (80-84 body style) that will fit. In your hot climate I would definitely use two fans. Power steering leak - Replace the O-ring that is between the power steering reservoir and the pump Cherry bomb - very doable however it will pop and crackle, which you may or may not like, if you don't, I'd go with a decent 2" muffler such as a Flowmaster or equivalent. Guy on here used to have an 87 wagon with a Flowmaster on it, sounded great. Since you mention it has an engine driven fan, is it turbo? If I remember correctly, only the turbo AC cars had an engine driven fan...

I have a PS pump, should work since AFAIK the turbo and non turbo use the same pump. You'll need lines though (My pump does have what's left of the lines that the junkyard hacked off when they pulled the motor, might be enough to flare and mate up with the stock PS lines). PM me your addy and I'll send it to you, you can buy me some beers next time you are down and we'll call it even.

This thing is going to be friggin amazing when you get it done! I wish I had gotten that ff-1 back in the day now...:banghead:

They are prone to overheating, there is an aftermarket "cooler" available that is little more than a finned tranny pan with a scoop to direct air over it. Try http://www.vanagon.com/ Four speed manual transaxles aren't all that hard to come by, might be interesting to convert though...

be VERY CAREFUL you can easily fry the ECM, or cause engine damage if you don't know what you are doing. I'd recommend only reflashing it with firmware that has been dyno tested by a reputable tuning shop. On a side note, I noticed the other day that the Subaru laptop at work, in the FlashWrite program, it suports JDM/EDM firmware in addition to USDM firmware, but unfortunately Subaru doesn't send us the JDM or EDM firmware files

Yeah, I've seen it rolling around a few times. Wish I had the cash when it was up for sale!

I'd take it to a dealership. Will run ~$1400 to replace the head gaskets, and if they are done RIGHT with OEM parts, they won't leak again, at least the Senior Master Tech I work with says he has never had one come back that he has done. The motor is probably fine, since I'm guessing that it has never had the snot overheated out of it. Be prepared though, they will probably try and sell you a timing belt at the same time, but since you have to take the belt off to get the heads off anyway, it's just cost of parts.

Subaru has announced a reflash on the 08 STI, you can get it done at your local Subaru dealer. Details are in the attached bulletin.

Hmm, maybe it was just take your Subaru to Napa day! Seriously looked like some sort of mini-meet! I woulda stopped but we had to get to the airport lol... (Almost didn't get out as it was, dagum thunderstorm came in just as we got to the airport, luckily it blew over before our plane landed, so we only ended up being like, 15 minutes late getting out of there)

the SVX uses coil-on-plug DIS, no ignition wires. might post this up at http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/ From what I understand, it totally falls on it's face at 2000 RPM, it doesn't just develop a miss? I'd start with the fuel filter, and if that doesn't do it, check your fuel pressure, and make sure you don't have a plugged air filter and all your hoses are tight. Also, the SVX has a twin runner intake, there is a valve in the center (It's under the black plastic strip in the center of the upper plenum) make sure that is connected and working, I don't know if it would make it fall on it's face if it didn't open at the proper RPM, but it would definitely affect it. You might also check the air flow meter, although usually those will cause the car to randomly stall out when they start to fail. There is a write-up on the SVX World Network about re-soldering the joints in the air flow meter, which is usually what causes them to fail (cracked solder joints). You could also have a flakey ignitor, not 100% positive as I have not hunted for mine, but I think it is mounted to the firewall inline with the throttle body.

While driving back from South Fork on our way to the airport, we drove past a Napa Auto Parts near Morrison, CO (I think it was in Conifer; it was right off US-285) and there were at least 10 Subarus in the parking lot... Couldn't get the camera out in time to snag a picture though

I work with a guy who used to own a shop in Newberg called Passport Automotive, specialized in Subarus and Jaguars, anyone on here ever take their cars to him, or at least heard of it? I think he lost his lease in 2000 or 2001, somewhere around there.

I have a good digidash I had a GL-10 with a digidash, had to buy like 5 of the damn things before I got a working one... Then the idiot that bought my car from my friend took the digidash out and threw it away cuz he didn't like it (Keep in mind this was a 100% perfectly good working digidash!) And the f%*#er never gave me back my wheels either! This was the lifted one that popped up on ebay a few years ago, not sure what ever happened to it. Also, water temp sender and fuel sender for the digital dash are different than for the analog dash.

We use both at work, We have cases of Subaru ATF/PSF, along with cases of the "new" fluid for the 5 speed automatic, and we have Dexron III in bulk, we usually use the bulk Dexron III since it's pretty mucht the same stuff. Toyota on the other hand, older ones are also Dexron III, newer ones will take T-IV, and some of the brand new ones use ATF WS (World Standard) which is a PITA, most of the cars don't even have a dipstick that use ATF WS, you have to warm the fluid to a specific temperature range and then take a plug out of the bottom of the tranny, and note how the fluid drains out (fast dump = overfilled, steady trickle = good, slow dribble, or no dribble = underrfilled) I prefer the subies, less fluids to keep track of (Although only a handful of the Toyotas use WS fluid)