porcupine73

So what are you getting, it sounds like no cranking at all? Or does the starter crank now but it won't actually start?

Sometimes if the contacts are starting to go bad they say if you tap it with a hammer or similar object then it might kick over. I had that 'weak signal' issue in my '96, for some reason it resulted in a slow cranking speed. I thought the timing was off or the starter was bad, and it turned out it was the neutral switch. I put a fused lead from batt + through a pushbutton then right to the starter solenoid and it worked fine after that.

Were you going downhill at the time? If yes that sounds like the 'hill descent assist' "feature" or whatever they called it. If you dare to touch the brake going down a hill it will "help you out" by shifting down into 3rd, then it won't shift back up until it gets a bit of throttle.

They'll probably bolt up if you take the rotors and brackets also. But if the rotors are smaller than what you have currently that's not ideal.

From what you describe I'm wondering if maybe one of the hoses that goes into the intake came off accidentally while you were doing the work. What year and model soob is it? There's hoses that go from the valve covers to the intake and depending on year for the iacv. Just wondering because of how you say "It will then over and put like a kitten but it stalls after about 2 seconds. If I try to keep it alive it races but stalls after I stop pushing."

Short trips especially in the winter will really kill it. My '94 2.2L AT to drive 35 miles in 12 short trips during the work week takes about 2.6 gallons so that's about 13.5 mpg. On longer trips it gets around 24 mpg. Remember too winter blend fuel doesn't have as much energy density as normal blend so that can cut it a bit too. And of course all the tune up and other factors already mentioned above.

I would guess the center bolts may have a higher torque to keep even pressure across the gasket? I.e. the bolts in the center put force effectively over more surface area of the head gasket than the bolts at the edges? >> Why aren't the outer-bolts torqued slightly higher? Maybe increased torque does not necessarily mean increased leak resistance.

Ouch. The only vehicle that seems to win with a deer is a train locomotive. At least it wasn't a moose or something >> Subarus the tires on each axle have to be exactly the same size or it creates all manner of problems On AWD soobs of that era all four tires have to match model and treadwear (circumference of all tires not differiing more than 1/4")

Oh ok got it :-) I use a silver sharpie on the old belt to mark it before removing just in case I want it for reference after. The new genuine belts have the marks so those are easy to line up. The factory marks on the belt line up with the sprockets only once every so many revolutions (not every revolution obviously). The LH cam position makes sense if the belt is ready to be changed is somewhat stretched.

Right you should hear it whir for a second each time the key goes from acc to run and when cranking. If it's not some of the possible issues would be the pump itself, wiring issue, fuse, fuel pump relay, or rarely the ECU transistor that drives the relay.

I sort of think the LH looks a tooth off especially if the tensioner was not released yet. From the couple I've done the LH cam seems to roll back slightly toward the tensioner when it's released. It'll start and run a tooth off I think you're most likely to notice it lacks power if it is off a tooth. Did you slide the tensioner all the way toward the idler all the way <---- before tightening the bolts?

Hi sounds like you've got it figured out. Right, not the arrows for timing. The hash marks are for timing. It's happened to many others. The arrows just look so appealing, like wow this huge arrow (esp on the cam sprockets) is just begging for attention while the proper hash mark sits quietly in the background.

Not sure about having the green hooked up, but on my '94 I noticed with the black ones hooked up and no codes the CEL flashes continuously.

That's the air conditioning compressor, the timing belt is behind the black plastic cover behind that thin belt driving the a/c compressor. The easiest piece of the timing belt cover to get off is right behind the coolant overflow tank. The tank is easy to remove too for better access. That timing belt cover piece is only three bolts, then you can see if the timing belt is broken at least. If the receipt from the water pump replacement says they replaced the belts, they may be talking about the accessory drive belts and not the timing belt.

If you tried an ECU, the fuel pump relay, a fuel pump, and a harness plug, and it's still not working right, it seems like there must be a wiring issue of some sort? Are you expecting to see the fuel pump running continuously with the key in run but engine not running?

Right for the auto trans it doesn't matter as much. It does need to be GL-5. On that era even if you have a limited slip diff you don't need limited slip diff additive, because the Subaru limited slip (at least of that era) was a sealed viscous silicone type that the gear oil never even touches. All the 'talk' you mentioned is likely for manual transmissions, those can be a little picky because if the friction characteristics aren't just right then the syncros don't get up to speed right and ends up with grinding in shifts. When doing the rear - remove or at least loosen the fill plug first. There's been a few posts where people removed the drain plug first ... only to then find out they couldn't get the fill plug out.

What line section(s) did you replace? The rears from under the passenger rear seat to both rear wheels tend to be the ones that rust out. It could still be leaking above the fuel tank or somewhere back there if you didn't do the entire rear lines. Having the pedal go beyond its normal travel i.e. to the floor is bad esp on older vehicles. Someone mentioned there is often rust in the master cylinder bore beyond its normal travel and that can cut up the seal 'cups' in the master.

I don't have one, but if you look around near the brake pedal you might find a good size (probably 1-1/4" dia) unused hole with a plug that might be perfect for passing the cable through. This plug existed on my '00obw. In the service manual it said it was for something like temporary routing for a transmission pressure gauge or other piece of test equipment and being able to watch it while driving. I wonder if the case on that little buddy is grounded. I'm guessing it is since it has a grounded plug. That means wiring of the plug is critical to be correct because if the line hot is accidentally wired to the plug ground it may be possible to get electrocuted when touching the vehicle while standing on the ground.

They just vent to atmosphere. On autos one is for the front diff and the other for the transmission.

Why did you replace the radiator? Was it overheating/acting up before the used radiator was put in? Is the radiator cap good, is there any gunk or garbage underneath the rubber gasket? It is easy to trap air in the system and hopefully that's it ... but the overflow filling up and the losing heat does sound like a possible HG issue ... and that is the era known for the exhaust blowing into coolant HG failure mode.

Those years liked to have the screws on the oil pump backing plate loosen up. Supposedly if they got loose enough it could leak oil along the crank and push the crank seal right out. Otherwise it's possible one of your cam seals let go. Provided the leak is originating from inside the timing belt cover and not as mentioned from say the oil pressure switch.

I've had great results with those old Victor mouse traps but the ones with the extended yellow triggers. I smear PB on it but then also put one peanut in the shell onto the trigger with a twist tie, they always fall for that. Another one that works amazingly well but its definitely not 'live catch' is the peanut butter in a bucket. I.e. a 2 gallon or 5 gallon bucket with a few inches of water or antifreeze in the bottom. Then you put a piece of wood or something as a ramp. The mice come up the ramp and hop into the bucket to get the peanut butter. A friend caught 20+ in a bucket in a single night in his old farmhouse basement. Supposedly they really hate the smell of fabric sheets for the dryer. I used to get the stinkiest fabric softener sheets I could find (and wow do they make some nasty ones!) and put those all around under the hood for winter.

I think you could use any of the LTL carriers, Yellow Freight, Conway, etc. Generally I think you're paying for a 4'x4' space for the pallet and then an additional amount if it's over a certain weight. There might be some who would give a discount if it is stackable. I would guess the lowest cost would be if you had it on a pallet or in a crate and you took it to their terminal for shipping (rather than them picking it up from you). Same on the delivery end, i.e. if it's going to a residential address or someplace that does not have a loading dock and needs a liftgate to get it to the ground that's usually like an extra $100. But if the receiver picks it up at the freight company's terminal it's a lower cost.

It's great the TransX did the trick. It works in this case because the issue is caused by a shrinking seal, and additives like TransX tend to have extra seal swell agents, so it's kind of a 'match made in heaven'.

The LH sprocket will likely roll back just slightly to be right on the mark when the tensioner pin is pulled, at least that's how it's been on the ones I've done. An important thing is the belt marks are lining up.