mdjdc

If you decide to replace the rack, I have one in excellent condition that I can send you. Let me know if you need it. Mike

Welcome to the subaru family. I am in Richmond, so not too far from you. When it gets a bit warmer come on over one weekend and we can tackle your problems. There is a self serve yard near here and I have many parts in my stash you can go thru. Just an offer. Mike

Cometic is among one of the best head gasket makers, however, with all of the non-subaru head gasket failures I would be very hard pressed to use anything but a Subaru head gasket on a 2.5 DOHC. It just isn't worth the time of haveing to pull the engine again if it fails. As I said earlier, I did that in the past and I won't do it again.

Okay, here's the deal. i recently bought a 97 outback with blown headgaskets. That problem is fixed and the car runs like a champ. I found out that the car had keyless entry and I had two remotes that I programmed to the car. The proble is that the car has stranded my wife twice with a keyless entry ignition lockout. She has had to use the little reset button in order to get the car to start. Until she did that the car wouldn't even click. Once she cycled the doors it started just fine. It hasn't done it today, but I am sure it will. I'm thinking that one of the remotes is causing a glitch in the box and stutting it down, or is it something else? I can remove the keyless entry, but if I can keep it, it is a nice convience. The car is going to my sister to replace a POS mercury Sable that is ready to die. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you aren't pulling the engine too soon. Many of the board members have made the same suggestion and others have not used the subie gaskets. Maybe you eill dodge the bullett, but the engine is out of the car and it will only take a few minutes to replace the gaskets. If it were me I'd wait and get the subie gaskets, but that is because I had to redo three engines when I used a different gasket manufacturer and the seller claimed that he had never had any trouble before. These were the only gaskets that failed. Never had a subie gasket fail. I just hate haveing to redo the same work. For me it is another day wasted. I hope the felpro works out for you.

clean the head and block surfaces well and use NO sealant of any kind. I have done at least a dozen of these and have had none fail. Subaru cautions against any of those sprays and be sure to use only a subaru OEM gasket. Do not be fooled by other manufacturers telling you that they are equivalent, I have tried one other manufacturer and had to redo the heads within 500 miles. If you cannot source the subaru gaskets let me know and I can get them for you for about 35.00 each. Mike

Okay, I hust did a head job yesterday. here is the torque sequence. First the bolt sequence is: 5 1 3 4 2 6 That is the number of the bolts and the sequence for tightening them down. 1. tighten all to 21 ft-lbs 2. tighten all to 51 ft-lbs 3. back all bolts off 180 degrees in reverse order 4. back off another 180 degrees in reverse order 5. tighten bolts 1 and 2 to 25 ft-lbs and bolts 3-6 to 11 ft'lbs 6 Tighten all bolts 90 degrees 7. tighten all bolts 90 degrees You are now done. be sure to maintain the same sequence each time you tighten the bolts. The bolts are not torque to yield so you do not need to replace them. If you have any other questions, you can email me and we can discuss tis further. mdjdc1@gmail.com Mike

And my guy uses heavy duty components. His shop is a stitch, with parts laying everywhere, but he knows exactly where to look for everything he needs and is working on. He even did one alternator for me while I waited and then helped me install it. He's a biker, but a really nice guy and loyale to his customers.

It is much easier to replace from underneath than to have to pull the engine. That is twice the work. You will just have to get the car up high enough to get the tranny out from underneath it, but four jack stands should work just fine.

I had an 87 GL10 that would eat alternators every six months. I was going thru those replacements like crazy. Then I found a rebuilder here in Richmond and I had him take a look at the car and the alternators. He had me bring him one of the stock ones and he took it apart and showed me the innards. Then he showed me the heavy duty stuff he put in for replacements. They were better than factory. After he rebuilt my stock alternator I no longer had any troubles and he did it all for less than 40.00. If you want me to, I can get one rebuilt for you and ship it to you for whatever the cost is plus shipping. Not looking to make anything here, just help a fellow subie nut out. Let me know if I can help and I will get you a rundown of the cost.

I too had this problem and went to my local subaru dealer. The lead tech told me that the problem would just come back if I replaced the front cat and he was right. I replaced the front cat and both O2 sensors and the problem was back within three months. here in VA it doesn't matter if the CEL is on at inspection, so I just let it go. I did use an aftermarket cat and he had warned me not to do that. I, personally, would not spend the money on new cats unless the car was showing definite signs of being clogged. The code you are getting is for a catalytic cnoverter inefficiency not failure. That means it just isn't scrubbing as well as it should. I would go the route of changing the O2 sensors and see what happens. After that I would do the anti fouler job.

You need to make sure the torque converter is properly seated before you try to put the engine in the bay. Get inside the bay and grab the torque converter by the little nub in the middle. wiggle that up and down while spinning the converter. it should be seated almost so that the starter is touching it. Maybe a quarter of an inch away. If it is already there, then you are golden and try to install the motor. If you have any questions, you can call me Mike 804-393-0516

The only real difference will be if you have your charcoal canister up in the engine compartment. In 96 they were in the engine compartment and then later they moved it to near the gas tank. If your 97 has it in the engine compartment, you will not have to switch the intake, if it is not there, you will have to. Hope that mekes sense to you. In reality, I don't think the moved the canister until 98 or 99 so you are problably gooden. Good Luck

You more than likely have a u joint going bad in the rear drive shaft. The other possibility is that the input shaft bearing for the tranny is bad, but I would look for a newer driveshaft and replace that first. If you cannot find one, let me know and I will go to the local JY and get you one.

Thanks guys: Turned out to be a stuck piston. Rebuilt the caliper today and now I am driving the cazr again:banana:. couldn't be happier. I really appreciate all of the input. The rebuild was really easy and only took about one half hour. glad I was able to use a lift in a nice warm garage. It was in the 20's all day today.

Welcome to the board. first, I hope you used suvaru head gaskets, if you didn't, you will be redoing them in short order. These are picky motors when it comes to the head gaskets. Now on to your overheating. There is a bleeder screw on the radiator on the passengers side tank. You must pull that and make sure you get all of the air out of the rad. It sounds to me like you have an air bubble in the system. As far as the tranny leaking fluid, I'm not sure what you have going on there. I hope you reseated the torque converter properly and didn't camage the pump for the tranny. there shouldn't be any fluid pissing out of that dipstick. That is the differential.

Thanks so much. I will go over the entire thread. I think I am going to try to rebuild the caliper.

I tried the search and I couldn't find the name you are referring to. Any help would be much appreciated,

yes I meant 99 not 09, OOps. I haven't tried cross referencing. I not sure I know how. Is that the same as a search? I'll try that.

Will the front claipers off a 2002 outback work on my 09 forester. Mine has the dual pistons and one of the calipers locked up on me today. There is an 02 outback at the JY so I was curious if they are the same.

If you want to drive it to Richmond, I have a shed with a wood stove and we can do the job together. That is, if the car is currently driveable. Mike

There is an outback limited in a yard here is Richmond. Is yours the front or the rear roof that is leaking> If you want me to I can go and pull the roof for you and see if it is in good shape. I'm sure it will be way less expensive than the repair you are looking at.

IRWIN makes a set of sockets for removing rounded off bolts. They only work in the off direction. You have to pound the socket on with a hammer and then keep pressure into the bolt to break it loose. I have used these several times and they work very well. now that you have the intake off you have enough access to use one of these sockets. They are sold at most autoparts stores and NAPA.

Call me before you do that

When I bought them I was doing several ej25 jobs and they were worth the money. Really a time saver and saved some of the bolts that were difficult to get at. Overall I'm glad I got them. You can also get an open end wrench that has a socket on the other end. The socket flops to the side so that you can get great access in tight spaces like the access hole for the flex plate. Another option would be to unbolt the motor mounts and jack up the motor. You might be able to access the bolt from underneath. I can't remember if I had done it this way, but I do remember getting access to the bottom so that I could tighten up the crank bolt and hold the flex plate with a pry bar. Check and see if that is a possibility for your car.