mdjdc

I saw where you posted that you put RTV behind the crank pulley. That is a big no no. You need to pull the oil pump off the block, check the backing plate bolts and replace the O ring that is back there. Use anerobic sealant andput the pump back on and you should be good to go. If it is leaking elsewhere, you will have to address those leaks with new seals. Take a couple of pics under the car and from different angles and send them to me mdjdc1@gmail.com maybe I can help you narrow down the point of failure. Mike

I just went over that with another board member this morning. The legacy starter does not have the nose cover that the forester/impreza starter does. I am assuming that they are not interchangable, but I don't see why. The engine tranny combo is the same, why should the starter not fit. Personally, I don't see what it would harm to put a legacy starter on there and see if the fozzie starts. First look at the throw of the bendix and see that they go out the same distance or you might wear at the torque converter if it is too short. That wouldn't be worth the try in my book. This is one part that is confusing as to why they are different in number and design.

Been where you are and I can tell you for certain that you are looking at a starter that is going bad. Don't wait as it will leave you stranded without notice. I have seen several of them lately. Take yours off and have it rebuilt. You will have an OEM starter and it will be built correctly. If you get an aftermarket it will only be a cheap one made in Mexice and it will not last and longer than until just after the warranty is up on it. Good Luck

That mid pipe does not have the CAT on it. The exhaustsystem has the Y pipe bolted to the CAT's and they bolt to the mid pipe that has the resonator. That bolts to the muffler. If you want to fix it permenantly, I have a mid pipe and I can check on shipping to you.

Take the engine out. You will have a better perspective on all the work you are going to do. Add to that the fact that you are already having trouble and I can see some of the lifters hitting the floor and getting mixed up. Then you will be in a real pickle. I agree that someone treadlocked the bolts. There is really no reason for the bolts to lock up and if they were really toqued down, they should break while you arre trying to take them out. If, in the end, you need to swap heads, let me know. I ahve a couple of sets and can get them to you quickly. I can send them stripped or complete. Good luck

When you say that he worked for the subaru garage do you mean the dealership or an independant shop that works on subs. If he is an independant, I will bet he used aftermarket. Ask if he ordered them from subaru or napa. If he ordered them from napa, I can guarantee that they are not the right ones. many mechanics are unaware of the different gaskets that these cars require. They will swear up and down that they are all the same, but I assure you, they are not. Look at the area of the head where the gasket is. If you see shiny metal sticking out at the mating surface, you probably have the right gaskets, If you see a dull gray material, you have graphite gaskets and they will not stand up under the punishment of this engine. Hope you really got the right ones and that all you need is the thermostat.

If you ever looked at the difference between a Subaru thermostat and an aftermarket, you would realize why only Subaru. They are one of the parts that you do not want to scrimp on. They last forever and very rarely fail. They will not leave you on the side of the road like what happened to you the other day. As for head gaskets, they just aren't made the same. I decided to try a few sets of OEM certified gaskets because they were a bit cheaper. Well, after having to pull and reseal three engines, I will go with the experts on the board and say that the only head gaskets for the EJ25D are the genuine Subaru gaskets. If it were me and the only place available sucked, I would go to www.subarupartsforyou.com and order the thermostat and headgaskets and fix the car properly. You don't want to get stuck. It sucks. Good luck.

I've done the duty C solenoid and it only took me around 2.5 hours on a lift. This truned out to be a poorly tuned throttle position sensor. He had taken it off and put it back on in the incorrect position. Once he fixed that all of the trans problems went away. Thanks for all of the advice and now I know how to retreive the codes.

Your problem may have been due to a faulty thermostat. I would not run without a thermostat for very long. Replace it with a subaru one and go on from there. Were the Headgaskets replaced with genuine Subaru gaskets. I have used "certified" gaskets only to have them fail in short order.

Thanks Gary, That really helps alot. I will se if I can find the procedure.

Did you use a Subaru Thermostat?

I am not that well versed in auto trannies, but I thought the Duty C solenoid was a 13 flash. Maybe I am wrong.

A friend of mine has a 98 outback wagon that is haveing a troque bind issue. The AT TEMP light flashes 16 times at startup and I wasn't sure what that meant. Can anyone give me an idea as to the code it is giving him. The torque bind problem I can fix, but I want to fix whatever else is going on at the same time. Thanks Mike

The oil pump seal is the front mail seal. Don't go and buy two. The oil pump itself has an O ring inside, but that is easy to source. Make sure you tighten the oil pump screws on the backing plate. As far as the overheating, you may have had a bubble in the system. Refresh my memory, were the head gaskets done. If not, you are probably looking at them now.

I'm thinking that perhaps the cams are in the incorrect positions, but the sprockets are in the correct position

Another thought is that the cams are not in the right position. By that I mean they got swapped when being reinstalled.

I agree that his cam timing is off. Not really an unusual problem. Just hope that he didn't damage the valves.

If you don't want to go the valve job route, I have two sets of heads and I can get you just the head you need. You don't have to get both heads from me if only one is damaged. I will get you the head complete with the cams and lifters ready to go. If you are interested, let me know and I can get you a shipping quote.

The motor honey thickens the oil and I think you are going to have to use it with every oil change. If you are good with that, then go for it. If I was going to reseal the motor, I would put in a new rear main(if leaking) fix the oil seperator plate and do the valve cover seals too. That should take car of the biggest part of the problem.

When you get down to the timing belt, it is behind the main crank pulley for the timing belt. It is external and held on by a few small bolts. Not a bad job really.

I have a friend that had a very similar situation with his 99 forester. We pulled the oil pum and resealed it and the problem has been gone. Easy fix. No need to buy a new pump.

I understand the 14 code, but all we got was a constant airbag light and the book had an entire laundry list of things to look at. WE aere going to take the dash out to inspect for other problems when i decided to look at each of the connectors. Maybe because it was three connectors the module couldn't read out a code. Not sure, but glad that it is now fixed. I really didn't like my friend driving around with inoperable airbags. Thanks for your help too.

Something I found out this weekend. My friend had a 95 legacy withthe aribag light on and we could pull no codes from the control unit. After much searching we found that the green safety latches on oa few of the airbag connectors were not locked. It seems that these connector locks finalize the connection and if they aren't locked the airbag light will stay on. We found the ones that were unlocked and locked them. Immediately, the airbag light went out. I don't kinw if this will help you out, but I just wanted to put it out there.

Thank You. Ididn't know that. I had never seen a reference to clearing the codes, just fixing them. I guess I learned something new. I love this board for that reason.

You can only clear the code by fixing the problem that is coming up. Once the problem is fixed the airbag light will go out. This is not a system that stores codes.