SeanC

Thanks for all the advice. Here's an update: I went with the OEM gasket. Part # 31397AA041. It's definitely not rubber, feels more like cardboard but it did seem thicker than the aftermarket one I had bought. To remove the dried RTV I used a pneumatic die grinder with a "fine" wire brush rotary attachment. It worked really well. Scraped off some of the black paint but the surface was still smooth enough. I also spent time hammering out the pushed in bolt holes (91Loyale was right) to make it nice and flat. I used a thin layer of that Permatex "super high tack gasket" stuff on the new gasket, pan-side only. You can let it dry and it just gives is tacky surface. Didn't use any RTV. What was surprising - since the car was up on a lift for 6 days the slow drip from the tranny basically emptied the whole thing! I ended up refilling it with about 7.5 qts of ATF .. or was it 8.5? Anyway, might be an interesting alternative to the "flush" method if you want to change most/all of the fluid ... and you have a week to wait around! I was reaaally gentle on the torque. After a few days of driving I snugged them all up just a touch and no leaks yet. One other tidbit - I was searching this forum for ideas on how to get a good reading from the ATF dipstick. As you probably know, it is difficult. Someone suggested making a cross-hatch pattern on the dipstick using coarse sand paper. This made reading it a lot easier. It's still a challenge to read the hot/thin ATF on there but much better than before. Now on to my leaky oil separator plate! uhh, when I get around to it!

Thanks guys, I think i'll just go get the OEM gasket. Just called the dealer and they described it as "rubber-y". Any advice on how to get a bunch of RTV off of the pan (it finally did cure)!??? Sigh, what a pain. Guess I better get the ole scraper + wire brush + elbow grease out.

Hi All- I dropped my AT pan a few years ago and reassembled with the paper/cardboard gasket. I got a little too heavy handed on the bolt torque (apparently) and over the years it developed a slow leak. Nothing too major but I could see the gasket splitting by the bolts. Anyway, fast forward to yesterday. I wanted to drain the ATF and decided to fix the leak by dropping the pan and reassembling. Numerous searches on this board plus advice from a former Subie tech friend led me to forget the OEM gasket and just go with Permatex red (hi temp) RTV. This friend also advised that ATF will basically always be dripping off the rear edge of the pan sealing surface (from the nether-regions of the AT i imagine) but you can just wipe it and then quickly stick the pan up and it will be fine. So I gooped the pan pretty good, wiped and stuck. Waited a full 24 hrs to make sure the RTV was cured. I come back today and ATF is leaking off the back edge through the RTV!! Well, that sucks. But wait, there's more - I pull the pan off only to find the RTV still gooey and wet (not cured) pretty much all around! My tube of RTV was pretty old (couple years) but if it was bad, wouldn't it just harden up? Let me sum up my questions: - I know everyone has an opinion, but ... OEM paper gasket or RTV (or anaerobic?) or both?? - Luckily I have a lift to work on but should I be blocking up the back end of the car to lower the angle that the transmission sits at to try to centralize where the dripping comes off of the transmission? (so it doesn't run down the back edge). i guess this is irrelevant if I'm just going with the gasket ... - I bought a new gasket from Auto Parts Warehouse a while ago. It's about a mil thick and cardboard like. If I go with gasket, is this good enough? Someone said it's worth it to go with OEM - What is the bolt torque for those pan bolts. I read 42 in-lbs somewhere. I'm leaning towards doing this again with the paper gasket and maybe using some copper gasket spray sticky stuff just for good measure. That way at least it is easy to remove/clean if it leaks again in the future (as opposed to the RTV disaster i currently have). Sorry this was so long. Advice appreciated ...

... close, but it's dark blue. Nipper - I see the frame ground right in front of the battery, but I couldn't find another one. Haynes says it's near the coil pack kind of on the top of the engine somewhere? Never could see it. Can you describe where it is? thanks for the advice. Yeah i agree, the radio thing is a question mark. -Sean

Hello all- Got a strange problem that I'm hoping to get some ideas on. Last week my wife was driving the Subie (i was out of town, of course) and here's what happened according to her account: - radio begins to cut out, and I mean the power is cutting in & out. - AT temp dash light begins to flickr, and turn on & off - she comes to a stop and the engine dies - Dash lights are still on, but engine has died - Restart engine - everything is OK. ... A few blocks later, a similar thing happens: - radio cutting on & off - dash lights coming on - engine dies Soooo when I get home I dig in: After some checks which i'll describe below I decide to crank it up. Engine starts fine. I decide to go for a drive. I turn the headlights on and instantly the engine dies. Dash lights are still on, and turning the headlight knob creates clicking sound behind dash (relays?). I believe (it all happened so fast!!) that the engine wouldn't start again until i took the key out and tried again, then it started fine. I was unable to reproduce the problem after that. I just tried again this evening, went for a drive, everything is fine, can't get it to happen. I've tried toggling every thing i could think of that puts load: lights, defrost, A/C, radio ... nothing. Ahh i love intermittent problems. Here's what I've checked out based on reading a bunch of posts on this forum: - Battery producing normal voltages: 12 at rest, 10 or so on startup current, 13.5 with engine running, cables look OK - Checked grounds, don't look rusty or loose or anything - Checked coil pack resistances according to Haynes manual. They seem OK althought the "primary resistance" (on the connector wires) of 0.6 Ohms is hard to read with my analog meter ... looked like 0. - Tried jiggling the keys a lot in the ignition while engine is running, no effect - While the engine was running i tapped on a lot of things under the hood with my hands/screwdriver: fuses, ground wires, ignitor, coil pack wires, alternator, any other wires i could see, the engine in general, my head ... the engine continued to purr happily through it all. Any advice is welcome. In lieu of a specific plan I guess my next move is to just replace the coil pack and maybe the battery, and maybe plug wires? all of which could probably use replacing. She just turned 200,000 miles in October! thanks for your time -Sean

Hey all- I'm replacing my valve cover gaskets today including the bolt 'grommets'. One question - should I use RTV on the new gaskets? if so how much? thanks! -Sean

Thank you all for the great advice. btw - any reason i shouldn't buy the pan from Auto Parts Warehouse for $37 (at most other places it's $100 or more!). And just to confirm - the pan does not require traditional gasket, only RTV? -Sean

Thanks for the advice Dave, I'll check out that post, and those bolts. It's mostly the bottom of the pan that is rusty so I'm hoping they'll be ok (optimist). -Sean

Hello all- Hmm, for some reason my search for "Oil pan" is currently coming up blank in this forum ... strange. Anyway, I need to replace the oil pan on my '95 Legacy ... it's a rusted P.O.S.! Haynes manual says to lift the engine with a hoist 2", I assume to get access at the rear-most oil pan bolts. Just wanted to ask if anyone who has done this can confirm whether this is really necessary? If so, any ideas on how to do this without an engine hoist, i.e. strap a come-along to an overhead beam (problem is i don't have an overhead beam!). Any other tips or advice? Should I replace the engine mounts while i'm in there? Do i need to "enhance" the new gasket with Permatex or anything? Thanks! -Sean

Sorry wrong forum!

Hello all- Hmm, for some reason my search for "Oil pan" is currently coming up blank in this forum ... strange. Anyway, I need to replace the oil pan on my '95 Legacy ... it's a rusted P.O.S.! Haynes manual says to lift the engine with a hoist 2", I assume to get access at the rear-most oil pan bolts. Just wanted to ask if anyone who has done this can confirm whether this is really necessary? If so, any ideas on how to do this without an engine hoist, i.e. strap a come-along to an overhead beam (problem is i don't have an overhead beam!). Any other tips or advice? Should I replace the engine mounts while i'm in there? Do i need to "enhance" the new gasket with Permatex or anything? Thanks! -Sean

Just thought I'd post a follow-up message: I've completed replacing the Y-Pipe but not without a freakin battle. I was surprised when the 6 bolts at the head all came off on the first try - no heat required! I did soak them in PB Blaster over 2 or 3 days before I tried. The studs were in pretty good shape too ... Silly me started to get optimistic. That feeling passed quickly as I confronted the two flange bolts just before the first cat. The flange is on an angle, so one bolt hangs down toward the ground and is easily accessible - no problem. The other bolt, however, is nestled snugly between the catalytic converter heat shield and the y-pipe heat shield, and the engine. It is virtually impossible to get any wrench or socket on there! After a few futile attempts, I finally decide I had to remove the cat heat shield to get access. Of course, I had to cut off all 5 of those rusted-to-hell bolts, just to remove it, which was not trivial. Once I got that off, this flange bolt was only marginally more accessible. And, of course, it was frozen solid to the nut, so I ended up just cutting IT off too! Needless to say, I replaced with stainless... Has anyone been down this road before?? As of now, that bolt wins as the most inconveniently placed bolt that I've encountered on my car! Even getting the new one back ON was a giant P.I.T.A! Well, nevertheless, all is well again, except the skin on my knuckles.

I've glanced at the manifold studs and they don't look great, but I'll have to see if they'll be a real problem. Thanks for the advice. I wasn't referring to the heat shield, the actual exhaust pipe is corroded through and come loose at the fastener. It doesn't make an audible rattle (yet) but it certainly constitutes a hole in the exhaust. Some of the other connections look and feel sketchy, so I'm OK with replacing the whole y-pipe assembly at this point. Just wondering if anyone has done this, and if so, has any noteworthy advice. I'm sure I'm going to run into some surprises! thanks for the help

Hello All- I couldn't find a post specifically on this, so i thought i'd create one. I have a '95 legacy, EJ22 engine with a break in my exhaust y-pipe. Here's where it is (I used a picture from Haynes manual): http://seanconta.googlepages.com/y-pipebreak at that connection, the outer pipe has corroded leaving it loosely "rattling" on the inner pipe. Nothing too tragic, but I'd like to fix this. Two questions: 1 - Although the y-pipe assembly looks like separate pieces, I've been told that the only available part is the entire y-pipe, or "front pipe" assembly. Anyone heard otherwise? 2 - Exhaust work is no fun, but I think i'm gonna go after this. I'll probably do the front pipe, and the exhaust manifold gaskets. Has anyone tackled this before? any advice/problems? thanks! -Sean

Very late follow-up, but I just wanted to close this out - indeed they were brackets for a vented/turbo rotor, great call Legacy777!! No idea how they got on there as I never changed them and it doesn't seem like a part that would fail or require replacing. Perhaps it was wrong from the factory? Now everything looks right with the OEM brackets on there. Anyway, maybe someone else will benefit from this info some day! thanks all -Sean