blitz

Jeez, I just looked at the photos and was gonna ask if the hailstones were about the size of golf balls, but I just noticed the "Forester Titleist Edition"! I'm assuming you recieved a "totalled" settlement from the underwriter then? The noise may be the exhaust heat shields. A couple more trips over the twoo-twoo-twaxx should probably take care of it.

Not sure whether you're using regular oil or penetrating oil. I've always had good luck with liquid wrench, but I've heard good thing about PB-Blaster, don't know if one is better than the other. Penetrating oil in conjunction with vertical blows to the philips head (interspersed with some soak-time to allow penetration) is a proven method for freeing stuck philips fasteners. When you go to remove it, use a hardened philips bit in a 1/4" socket, turned with a ratchet. This'll give you the leverage you'll need and also allows you to experiment with different "philips" bits (e.g. #0, #1, #2, #3, clutch, etc.) to get the best fit. Once the bit it slips and cuts the square edges off the fastener, you've scrood the pooch. You really only get once chance to get a stuck philips out, so take your time, think your strategy through, flex you're muscles, and go in swinging. Unfortunately torch-heat isn't an option for a fuel regulator.

Complete Mobil 1 VOA compilation: http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000305 MO = Moly

Addendum: don't rush and mess something up. Just take your time, and post questions to USMB as they arise. Stop and go buy the correct tool to continue the job if you find the need to. There are people here that helped me through my front-end teardown, because I asked questions.

I've driven around with it for a day now, and the decrease of lift / increase of dive are both minimal. The biggest benefit as you allude to is the reduction of slop. Previously under power the front would raise up and pull to the left, then during gear changes would drop down and drift to the right ....aggravating, but it doesn't do that anymore. This mod appears to be a good fit for the first-gen Impreza chassis, I recommend it. Next I'm thinking of uerethane end-links for the front bar to reduce the front "rock" associated with minor left-right steering transitions, also aggravating.

The simple answer is that if you're not able to get them off without a puller, then you'll need a puller. Try it without first and keep your fingers crossed. On my vehicle, they just slipped right off. There are 3 idlers, 1 toothed & 2 smooth. Also this would be a good oportunity to replace the water pump & oil pump O-ring. Only if they're damaged in any way (which shouldn't be likely). Sounds like you're doing pretty good as you are. I did mine using a factory manual (essentially useless). Use blue Loctite & 130 ft./lbs. to re-assemble the crank pulley (damper). Use anti-sieze to re-assemble all other fasteners. Draw yourself a diagram of how the cam belt snakes through. Detail the idler locations & identity. Also remove the old cam belt with the engine rotated so that the marks on each of the three sprockets are at high noon (freshen the marks if necessary).

More correctly, it's an increase in negative CASTER, but the active "component" resulting from the change is more dynamic camber into a turn. With the steering wheel straight ahead nothing effectively changes.

frag, it's basically an aftermaket set of lower control arm (transverse link) rear bushing assemblies that replace the stock parts. It combines a firmer urethane bushings with a slight increase in camber. The "comfort" model is a less brutal urethane. It gets rid of the wallowy feel in the steering as you dig some energy into a turn. It also reduces the tendency for the front-end to lift under acceleration, but only by a small amount.

I meant to say the turbo 2.5 has semi-closed deck. the N/A 2.5 does not.

Thanks Josh, actually I just finished it up ...took me three hours. It was a snap. I think the trick to bulling through some of these jobs is to go in fearing the worst, then by default it could only go better. The trick was to get it up high enough on the stands to allow longish (hi-torque) wrenches to swing freely in any direction. Second issue was dealing with the rust on a 6-year old MICHIGAN SALT car (that's about 12 in dog years). I just soaked everything in liquid wrench, then applied elbow grease. Also, I had to remove the tranny cross-mount and the front tires in order to clear enough room for working. I assembled all the bushing related stuff with marine (water resistant) grease, and used anti-sieze on all the fastener re-assembly. Off to get an alignment done.

Semi-closed deck (supported bores) among other things. The bores don't walk around and ultimately chew through the top of the head gasket.

My recommendation would be to throw in a fresh thermostat, refill and COMPLETELY purge the system of any trapped air. After that, make any further assesments about possible "big" problems. During testing, avoid pushing the engine temp past a mild overheat event unless you want to damage it. e.g. If you see that the temp is still tending to rise above normal, that's enough. :-\

I'm gonna install the "comfort" model anti-lift kit on my '00 OBS (GG). It looks pretty straight forward to me ...but being a cynic I'm expecting a built-in snag at some juncture. I'd greatly appreciate advice (or cautions) from anyone who's installed a set using hand tools and jack-stands.

IMO, the fact that Subaru often elects to replace only the two noisiest of four in a given motor is what makes me think it's the same part. Somehow I can't envision pistons that were substantially different being mixed together. I dunno, maybe I'm daffed. The twist here lies in the fact that the, gasket isn't really the problem ...the thin (overbored), unsupported (open-deck), "walking" bores are. Another ploy ...the "straw man" fix. I just accept it too, I don't like it tho. I think that choosing oil on the basis of slap may not be the best route to choosing oil. You'd be buying into more straw-man logic (the oil's not cause of the slap, therefore it isn't the fix).

IMO, the proof in the pudding is the coincidental appearance of moly-coating ON slappers. The GM slappers sport the moly-coating too, no?

The 2.5 piston is barrel-shaped, it's designed to rock in the bore a small amount. The only thing that happens after 20-30k miles is that the moly-coating wears away, unmasking the noise, the rocking motion itself hasn't increased appreciably. The noise is part of the design, either you successfully come to peace with it or you don't. "Countermeasure Piston" is code for: same piston, only with moly-coating intact, for another 20-30k relatively quiet miles. It quiets a noisy customer. I've noticed a tendency for manufacturers to buy time by issuing bogus "revisions", e.g. 4 revised headgasket specs for the 2.5 II - each one failing at the same rate the previous one did and for good reason: it is the same one. 4 "revised" versions of the Cobb header, each new version cracking like the previous version. Ad infinitum.

Remove the two vertical screws on top, then remove the assembly. They may be siezed into the aluminum TB, so you may have to keep them wet with PB blaster for a couple days prior to coaxing them out (DON'T MUCK-UP THE HEADS :-\ ). The other two screws on the side are some oddball-sized, 5-sided, torx-type headed things. That tells me that Subaru doesnt want that motor sub-assembly removed for just any reason. A small amount of coolant may spill when the valve is removed on account of the TB being heated by coolant running through a passage there, so before removing the valve, open the throttle fully and stuff a small rag between the top of the open butterfly and the TB bore. That'll catch spilled coolant from going down into the manifold. There's a rectangular o-ring between parts, don't lose it. After all this cleaning is done and everything is re-assembled, reset the ECU. None of this may cure the problem, but it's important to have this stuff clean and it remains step #1 before moving on.

Not necessarily... You'll need to consult the diagram for your vehicle in order to determine whether the ECU completes the circuit by switching the hot side or the ground side of the relay primary. I'll agree with your assesment that bad wiring would be the first thing to start tracing down. Check the diagram first, it'll save you a bunch of time.

Along with Blue Train's suggestion I'll add that you could also be having an intermittent connection developing at one of the underhood connectors. I'd tend to think something like that would throw a CEL, but generally a fault has to be present continuously for some specific time interval before a code is thrown. I'd be surprized if you haven't got a code logged at this point. Clean all the gunky stuff first (including the EGR), before moving further. Don't make things more difficult for yourself than they really are.

Remove the airbox. The opening where the air enters the engine is the throttle body. Open the throttle with one hand and spray little jets of cleaner into it, then scrub the dirty black areas with the toothbrush, repeat until the black areas are clean, bare metal again. Use a flashlight. To prevent flooding the intake with cleaner, start the engine briefly, then continue. The idle air control valve is mounted on the top of the TB with a couple of small screws. Take it out and clean the appropriate parts with a Q-tip soaked in cleaner, don't spray the whole thing. Also spray the orifices in the TB that the IAC plunger resides in. I do it every summer as part of normal maintenence. Any name brand throttle body cleaner. If it dosesn't dissolve the toothbrush, it's better. Subarus have quirks, so I use OEM parts on my Subaru. There is no basis in fact for that, just a gut feeling about it. Other vehicles I've owned (Ford, GM, Mitsubishi) I'd always used aftermarket parts. Neither hope nor magic tricks play any part. Either you're willing to systematically diagnose your way through a problem or you'll have to pay someone else to do it. Are you getting a check engine light?

Check for dry, cracked, or dislodged Vacuum hoses. Also, when is the last time you've (ALL three): 1. Cleaned the TB with TB cleaner and a toothbrush? 2. Cleaned the IAC valve? 3. Cleaned or replaced the PCV valve? These are the three calibrated air-orifices that the engine draws air through at idle. When (NOT IF) they get crudded up, the engine can't meet the computer target count (idle speed calculation), and it starts flipping out. Are you getting a CEL?

Did the engine break as a result? e.g., hole in piston etc.?

Thanks Cookie, I'll check into it further. I had no idea such a thing even exsisted.

Well, I let the loctite on the crank bolt and the permatex on the oil pump set up overnight, then fired it up this morning and chased all the air out. All seems well ...no gushing of oil out of the cam seal. All that remains to be seen is whether I develop any quantity of leakage over time. I hold myself to a high standard of work quality, it's really painful to do something as stupid as I did. Thanks to everyone for their help. Cookie, as a contingency, where could I look to find a 3-lip seal for this particular application?

Actually I just bought the car used about 2 months ago, but the coolant looks fresh, and upon draining the system and looking inside the radiator, I was blown away by the fact that there is ZERO scale at the top of the tubes. Spotless. I can't argue with success like that so I thought it prudent to put it back as it was. So I'm not doing it to be a cheap rump roast.