porcupine73

Yes I believe it is a piezo type element; I believe it is possibly an accelerometer but am not sure. I don't know that using a voltmeter would really tell you much since it is an ac type waveform, and there is still a waveform present with the engine running. The ECU I would imagine is employing some sort of DSP on the waveform to determine whether or not knock is present. Then if there is knock present it starts retarding timing until it sees it go away. Then it gets into this cycle of advancing and retarding.

Well if you can pick up an EJ22T to drop in there that will give you a nice 30HP or so boost. Yes I don't think intakes do a whole lot; the stock intake isn't very restrictive for the motor already, and for many years now manuf's have been tuning the intakes to take advantage of helmholtz resonance, etc so it's quite possible many aftermarket intakes actually hurt performance. Similar for the exhaust. The stock exhaust flows ok for what air that engine can take in. We'd be talking minimal gains there. You could look into delta cams, those are supposed to be quite nice. Or build yourself up one of the 'frankenmotors' that some people are doing. It uses a 2.5L block I think with 1.8L heads and delta cams or something like that which is supposed to be quite nice.

Good write up. Yes a cutoff tool is the easiest way to get the old bolts out of there. I tried bolt cutters but it's tough to get the jaws open far enough even with the vehicle lifted, and those bolts are actually pretty dang strong. Yes I use the genuine Subaru donuts, they're only like $7 anyway so it's not breaking the bank. The spring kit and bolts could probably be aftermarket. If the original flanges are still intact, I try to coat them with rust converter to try to preserve them so it doesn't fail again in the future from the flanges rotting.

On mine it was on the gasket between the muffler pipe and the next pipe up. I saw the 500F statement, but way back there I doubt the exhaust is 500F. Even if it gets above 500F I'm not sure what happens to it; even if it fails it's just going to leak again. Mine has held up very well for about a year and a half now. I took the pipes apart and replaced the gasket with a new genuine, but the pipe flanges were too rusty so it still leaked. JB weld to the rescue!

I had a leak back in that general area. If it's not too large a hole, and you want to fix it as cheaply as possible, I have had good luck with making sure the area is clean and wire brushed, then slathering it with JB weld. You can get the JB weld cheaper in the larger packages such as the IndustroWeld. If it's a big hole, just let the JB weld start to set up a little first so it is thicker, or cover the hole with some hardware cloth or wire mesh.

That's all cool. Just wanted to add to the thread that brake fluid replacement is listed on the Subaru maintenance schedules, so if it's never been done on the vehicle, it could be something to look into after the pad replacement.

Sure if a person isn't comfortable in a particular step of vehicle service then they probably shouldn't attempt it. However if no one were ever willing to do a part of vehicle service for the first time none of us would be doing any of our own service.

Yes, you don't have to open the bleed valve when compressing the pistons, but if you don't, you are shoving the old nasty brake fluid back through the system, especially through the ABS hydraulic unit. By opening the bleed you can let that nasty fluid out instead of pushing it back up through. I believe Subaru mentions this somewhere......

Often the genuine pads have a shim with holes in it and then a solid shim over that. Yes you might get air in the system if you open the bleed valve. But the brake fluid should be replaced every couple years anyway to prevent it from corroding from the fluid soaking up moisture. The lock pin is usually the bottom pin, then yes it lets the caliper swivel up on the guide pin. That way you don't necessarily have to remove the caliper bracket if just replacing the pads. This is from a '96; the details are going to be different but if yours uses the lock pin/guide pin concept that should be similar:

If the filter is still the spin on type on the side of the trans it wouldn't matter to the hoses if it were clogged since it is upstream of the hoses. The check valve is intended to prevent the possibility of the torque converter from draining down. It doesn't really hurt anything if it does, but if it drains down and you start the vehicle and put it right into gear it might not move or will move sluggishly until the torque converter refills. Fuel injection hose would be more than strong enough in this application if that's what got used. There shouldn't be much pressure on these lines, since the return is just going to the transmission pan which is at atmospheric pressure.

Hm.....just throwing this out there on a whim, did you happen to have either front axle replaced lately?

Interesting, that is what the ECU will do if it thinks it is detecting knock. Have you tried a different knock sensor and/or looked at it for any cracks? Here's a knock sensor with a nice crack in it. They are known to go bad on that era.

Hello and just wanted to give a quick welcome to the board. It looks like you've tried a lot of things. The first thing I woudl've been thinking is IACV cleaning but looks like you had that covered. Does she have EGR (I think she does; my '96 2.2L Legacy is an AT and it does). I think I've heard people describe this happening sometimes if the EGR port is all carboned up. Not sure if you mentioned it, are there any codes/is the CEL/MIL on?

If they are anything like the previous years, a pad swap is fairly straightfoward. After removing the lock pin, the caliper would slide up out of the way. Then the pads can be pulled out of the clips in the caliper bracket. The old pads usually come out without too much trouble but sometimes they need a little bit of prying. All contact points should have brake lube on them (except of course where the pad friction material contacts the rotor of course haha). The caliper pistons might have to be compressed to make room for the new thicker pads. It may overflow the master cyl if the master is full so watch that. I like to open the bleeder when compressing the pistons so not to flush that nasty old fluid back up through the ABS hydraulic unit.

Thanks for the info. It didn't eat through the pan completely (yet). I tapped the pan all over and it still feels thick enough to hold. i.e. I didn't punch any holes in it while tapping it. I've had good results with the eastwood rust converter and encapsulator, they do seem very durable. I will, however, have to give the 'thumbs down' to the Ace Hardware black barbeque paint, that stuff didn't make it even a couple months before the engine oil pan was like I didn't do anything to it at all. The other thing is that this is a Subaru reman'd transmission I believe. Maybe there was something different about the pan on it that let the rust eat it up real nice. Maybe they blasted the original finish off it and just painted it during the process.

It sounds like there is an obstruction in the line somewhere. If the radiator in tank cooler is clean and flowing properly, maybe the issue is in the return line to the trans. Maybe you can try blowing through there with some compressed air at around 25 psig and see if it gets good flow. Or if not that might flush out whatever is blocking the line. The AT pump can put out some nice pressures like 180psig or more so if that cooler line gets plugged up or restricted yes it might start blowing the hose off like that. Also if that line is plugged or restricted you may end up overheating the ATF. Pre 06 were a fairly simple plumbing setup; maybe the plumbing has gotten more convoluted on the newer soobs.

13069AA037 looks to be for the 2.2L up through around 1997. 13069AA063 looks to be for the 2.5L dohc Outback 96-98 and Forester '98. Not sure off hand what the differences are. It's possible theimportexperts has a version that works in either application. They sell a lot of timing parts for Subaru's and many people on this board have used them so I am thinking they know it will work in that application.

I've gotten good service over the years from http://www.Subarupartsforyou.com, a Subaru dealer in CT who sells parts online. They seem to have the most common parts in stock and often then ship them the same or next business day. If they have to order the part from the Subaru RDC then it adds a couple days. I highly recommend them as an option for East coast Subaru owners. I like their site because it is easy to navigate and lists the actual Subaru part #'s. Many of the other dealer sites using trademotion do not list this information. They will accept Subaru bucks. Their prices seem to be very good. Orders over a certain $ amount they ship UPS signature required so if you don't have someone home to receive the package make sure you find out in advance if signature is required. I did have an order where I was shorted a timing tensioner and didn't realize it for several weeks. When I told them about it on my next order they sent me the tensioner no questions asked. I really appreciated that. I am not affiliated with them in any way; just a multi vehicle Subaru owner who places a few maintenance and repair parts orders per year.

Wow yah that would stink losing all the gear oil. Did she blue up the gears real nice? I'm trying to pay attention to this ATF thing because losing all the ATF leaves me stranded. She rusted through one of the trans cooler lines last winter and dumped it out until she wouldn't move. So those got replaced with hose. I put eastwood rust encapsulator over top the treatment tonight. That stuff seals things up pretty good.

The one I use is the original Scangauge. There is also an upgraded 'scangauge II' out there. There might even be later models. You'd need on that supports ODBII (can't be one that is CANBUS only). There are many other types of these gauges and tools out there. I like the scangauge because it can be hooked up while driving, and it will read codes, reset them, and let you view lots of other parameters such as ignition timing, rpm's, etc.

I'm not sure, I've never actually done this job. Those are just pics I have accumulated of it. There are threads on engine pulling on here I am sure. It is relatively straightforward. The hardest part seems to be making sure you got all the bolts out holding the engine to the trans, and then sometimes the engine to trans dowels stick. And for reassembly if you pulled the torque converter, making sure it is seated correctly so that you don't crack the ATF pump. If you are going to do the RMS, you must make sure it is bang on or it will leak is what I have seen others saying. Often it is suggested that unless the RMS is actually leaking, to just leave it alone, since there is more risk of it leaking after replacement if it isn't perfect.

imho the easiest way to 'check' it is going to be with a scantool such as a Scanguage that connects to the ODBII port that will indicate what the ECU is reading for the coolant temp. Then if you notice it is way outside what is expected, like it sat outside all night at 50F and it's reading 110F when you start up, etc., you would know there is an issue.

Hope you are able to get her working! Looks like some good troublshooting advice in the above posts. Wow gear driven cams, I need to learn more about the 'old gen'. Gear driven cams on the older Honda VFR motorcycles make a really cool supercharger type whine, not sure if that happens with these engines.

I double nutted it to lock it. Probably didn't have to use stainless but I wanted to stand a chance of taking it apart in teh future if needed. But those kind of bolts are so cheap you could just use a bolt cutter and replace them instead of buying stainless if desired. The 1/4" stainess at first I was worried about the strength of them, they seemed kind of small compared to the stock bolts. But they have held up ok so far. You should have at least the weld lip from the original flange to catch on. That doesn't really rust away. Unless the pipe itself starts rusting through but that is not as common.