porcupine73

I haven't really heard of the piston sleeves cracking before, not that it's not possible. I'm pretty sure that engine would be one of the head gasket HG issue vehicles so it seems anyway much more likely to be the head gaskets plus your description of the oily bubbly in the overflow tank. Maybe they just don't like doing HG jobs and would rather pop in a new engine. The price of HG replacement at a dealer isn't going to be cheap as they will pull the engine to do it, probably at least $1k.

The manual specifies you press the plunger on the tensioner vertically I would guess it might have something do with air bubbles or something but doing it horizontally might not necessarily cause an issue. You could maybe use an arbor press those aren't always too expensive, I think you only need like 66lbs force or something anyway. Since you have the engine out an impact wrench should work terrifically. The special tool to hold the crank pulley is like $100+ from SPX. And yes you want that crank pulley bolt back in correctly because if it loosens up later bad things will happen. Here's a pic of how I got mine off with a big chain wrench ($20 at Harbor Freight) and a socket and breaker bar, not shown is the 3' piece of pipe I used to extend the breaker bar .

Hi, interesting issues, a few questions: Do you mean the lighter socket or the plug of whatever you're plugging into the socket? What device are you plugging in? It sounds like there is a short somewhere along the line, I had this happen one time I think and it turned out there was a piece of metal that fell into the socket and was shorting out when I tried to plug something into it. I'm assuming you mean the bulb and not some other fuse. the only way I can think of wiring causing a headlight to blow would be maybe an intermittent connection that is turning the bulb on and off repeatedly or a voltage spike with enough current to overpower the bulb, but neither of those seem very likely.

Are you planning to rebuild any of the calipers? Is breakaway a penetrating oil, or does it maybe eject a freezing stream? I saw on CRC's web site they have some kind of 'freeze' compound available now for breaking things loose, but I was thinking a CO2 cylinder like for refilling paintball guns might be cheaper in the long run.

That sounds kind of weird, since the condensor is in front of the radiator and if the fans are on I wouldn't think it would make a difference in the A/C temp. Are you sure the fans are on at that time?

Hi '00OBW 2.5sohc here, and if it has a MAF sensor it's definitely not on the plastic intake air stuff anywhere like it is on earlier ones. I know it does have a MAP sensor. I cleaned MAF on '96 2.2L with electrical cleaner spray 'cause I thought I got air filter oil on it but didn't notice any difference.

Yep, you can just pop those blanks out with small flathead screwdriver and some careful work. Some might have a wiring harness behind the blank but you can just move it out of the way. I put a couple switches in my blanks on '96 legacy; pretty easy. I can't remember for sure but I think I might have pushed the blanks out from behind.

I second the motion that the 2.2 belt would almost certainly not be long enough to even fit the 2.5 dohc, so maybe it's just a misprint. I doubt the price difference is all that much so who knows. My co-worker says if you have the time, ability, space, equipment, and motiviation to work on your own car it's a lot of fun but any given time he is lucky to have 2 of those.

One way to check for obstructed radiator is to use one of those non-contact laser/infrared thermometers, can get them on the cheap from Harbor Freight. If you see areas that differ greatly in temperature that could indicate radiator obstructions.

Based on those symptoms sounds like thermostat would be a good thing to look at. If it's not that, maybe radiator or something is plugged up, or for some reason water pump isn't working too good. Don't overheat the thing too many times or bad things will happen, hopefully they haven't already. If you crank the heater do you get nice hot air? Not sure if '94 is anything like '96 but if it is thermostat is probably one of the easiest jobs you could ask for. Just (when cool of course) drain coolant (or not if you don't care about it dumping out like crazy), and remove the two bolts securing that plastic thing hooked to the end of the lower radiator hose and pull it down and the thermostat will either come out or be visible to be pulled out (it just goes into the bottom of the water pump).

If you aren't sure what type/brand antifreeze is in the system, before you add, you might want to drain it all and flush with water and then refill. Subaru specifies a phosphate, non-amine product, which is common of Japanese make coolants; I think a close match is G-05 (BASF licensed to Zerex I believe) and that's common in late model fords and some other vehicles. At the minimum if you mix coolant types I would change and flush it all out within a couple months. Color does not necessarily indicate coolant type.

Yes, are those for the same vehicle? Just kidding. Yes the OE looks like the Binford and the other looks, well, not so big. Anywho, make sure to get a new gasket with the thermostat (that rubber thing around it), my new OE didn't come with one but the parts dealer reminded me.

I saw some concept stuff here about a B5-TPH which is supposed to be a hybrid.

Hi jonfit04, the general consensus is the OE is recommended for the front O2 sensor. Plus if you get OE you know the connector will fit. I bought a generic aftermarket and I had to cut the connector off the old O2 sensor and solder it onto the replacement, kind of a pain. If the sensor you get doesn't have any antisieze lube on it, you want to put a little on, being careful it's just on the threads. And don't overtighten the new O2 sensor. Otherwise it'll be real pain if you ever need to get it out again. Sometimes the O2 sensor can be a little stubborn, so spraying with Kroil or other good penetrating oil, even days or weeks before you do the job can help. I find that with engine cold, starting and running for a minute makes it pop out real easy when I can't get it to budge otherwise.

I've heard comments both ways about the FWD fuse in and fuel economy; it doesn't seem like it really would make much difference as you stated because all the parts are still rotating. However, the time I could see it making a difference would be in a torque bind issue or where the tires are not all the same circumference, then there might be power being wasted as heat in there. Therefore maybe the guy did put the fuse in to help mileage but it only helped because the thing had other issues anyway.

Just looked at my '96 legacy 2.2, and yep the spark plugs appear to go right into the heads above the valve covers, so I don't think there would be a spark plug hole seal. However on '00OBW 2.5 sohc the spark plug holes do penetrate the valve cover and have seals that look like the ones in pic below.

Yah if you look around in that area you might find something like an unused knock out. I've seen that hole mentioned in the service manual for running something through there for checking but I don't remember what. On my '96 legacy I didn't have any extra knock outs but I was easily and clearly able to drill some holes in that area (just single ply sheet metal). However on '00OBW there was a knock out and drilling would be more difficult as it seemed to have a double thickness firewall with insulation in between.

have you checked the atf level? maybe it's low? based on your descriptions, it sounds like the replacement AT's oil pump might not be all that hot. If it really is slipping it's not going to last long. As you already noted, you're just not going to get as much power at higher elevations because there engine can't get as much air (and consequently fuel) when romping on it as it can at low elevations.

Injectors can tend to clog over time, esp. if you never added any cleaners. I'd run a full bottle of redline SI-1 in a full tank of good gasoline; SI-1 is available at pepboys and autozone to see what happens as that is one sweet cleaner. and/or i'd yank the injectors, not all that hard to do, and send them to somewhere like witchhunterperformance for cleaning; places like that'll replace the little filters in them and stuff and send them back to you in a couple days. If you don't feel like doing it yourself, $90 at a dealer to run cleaner thru the injectors isn't super outrageous, tho i'd push for some sort of consideration if it doesn't fix the problem.

Yes if you change the diameter of the tires your speedo will be off, I would imagine by a factor of the ratio of the circumferences or diameters or radius, i.e. 20 inch diameter going to 21 inch diameter = 20/21=.9523 so at 55mph your speedo would read about 52.4.

If you have a bleeder screw on the top of the rad, take that out while filling. Some people like to be parked sort of uphill or jack the front of the car up a little while filling. Some people like to remove the upper rad hose and pour it in there. There's other posts on here about how to do it. Then I guess watch your temp gauge on the first few rides and if you see it spike or go up rapidly at all you've probably got an air pocket, though it's best to avoid the air pockets in the first place before damage gets done. I like to lift the front a bit, and pour until full, then squeeze the upper radiator hose many times while pouring in some more, that seems to help get the air out, not sure if it's sufficient but it's been working for me with no blown head gaskets yet.

Could have been a little bit of cold welding going in them clutch packs, which fresh fluid and driving might have fixed. Sometimes TB is because of crud building up on the packs, which good quality fresh ATF can sometimes melt away.

Hi dj3stripes, that's no fun when the crank pulley bolt loosens like that. Anyway, did you just have the timing belt or anything replaced recently? As avk mentioned that bolt loosens usually because it wasn't retightened properly after being removed. If so it's the shop's responsibility to make it right including buying you a new crank pulley (aka harmonic balancer) and key and installing it. There is a procedure for tightening that bolt, I couldn't find the same procedure for '96, but for '00 (not sure if it's the same for your '95?) it involves clean threads using air gun, apply engine oil to bolt seat and thread, tighten bolt first to 33 ft-lb(f), then tighten to 130.2 ft-lb(f) confirming it turned at least 65 degrees (by looking at the marks on the timing cover). Otherwise the process should be repeated with a new crank pulley bolt.

Ok great, thanks for all the input guys. I will stick with what I had originally planned doing and will pull the oil pump to replace the o-ring and check for the loose screws. I just figured since I'll have the rotors, calipers, and struts out, if I were going to do the bearings and boots it would be a good time to do it. I just did that on my '00OBW and a few of the screws were a little loose but two were so tight I had to use easyouts on them. But I bent the pump case getting it off anyway and the rotors were at the upper clearance limit so I just replaced the whole thing.

Yah if there's stains on the seats or anything you could always put one of those sweet wooden bead massaging seat covers on it.