porcupine73

That sounds good! At 92k she is coming due for a timing belt if it hasn't been done yet. In fact it's due just by time (105 months) anyway. You don't want the timing belt to break on you because it will likely end up with bent valves.

Yes I'm sure it is pretty toasty in there when the engine is running. I was just thinking more in terms of storage it was the worst spot to store it, up in the hot garage attic. The bonus this timing belt has is that it had no tension on it the whole time like it would have if it were installed. And it's not oil soaked.

It's a bit of a job but not impossible. You have to remove the crank pulley, timing covers, then slide the crank sprocket off. Then there is about six bolts holding the oil pump on. Then you have to clean the surface on the block. Then install the crank seal on the new pump, put some permatex grey RTV on it, and a new o-ring, and put it on. Might as well use a new timing belt while you're in there since the old one has to come off. Other things are easily accessible at the time too such as the timing idlers, water pump, etc., if any of those need attention.

If you're taking it apart, I would definitely snake the oil passages you can access. There was a note on endwrench about ticking on some engine that was attributed to a plugged passage there. I snaked mine with a piece of 14 ga bare copper wire (not sure if that was a good idea to use that or not).

Have you considered getting genuine Subaru mats? The set of 4 is available in gray for $59. http://subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partlistbymod.php?model=Legacy&subcat=Floor+Mats+Carpets&year=1995 Subaru parts from Subaru dealers selling parts online can often be very competitive with aftermarket parts pricewise. (Quality wise there is often no comparison).

Thanks for the help. I found the belt. It was still in the box. It looks like new. I've noticed some Subaru parts have a date on them but I didn't see any date on this item. The belt looks perfect. I know Subaru says heat is a big enemy of timing belts. This belt happened to be in the upstairs of the garage which was probably the worst spot for it. In the summer it is probably 110+ degrees up there. I think I will use it, especially if the PCI timing components are available without the timing belt (ie just the pulleys and tensioner). The '94 needs a lot of work to get it back on the road for winter.

Hello and :welcome: And welcome to the 2000 Outback owner's club. I too have a 2000 Outback. If you want a couple tips for it, the first would be (if it's an automatic trans) make sure to keep the ATF clean and fresh with a top quality ATF. These trans's can develop a slow to engage into drive issue due to a ring on one of the drums. The second would be to keep the coolant changed every year and use the Subaru coolant conditioner each time. And don't use a dexcool type coolant. The engine can get the external head gasket peeping leak. (It's possible the head gaskets were replaced already).

Ah yes $67, I was trying to think of the place that had it at that price. I think that particular one is less expensive because there was a recall on those alts around '96, something about the brushes and losing power. So Subaru probably needed a boat load of those alts for that campaign.

If you can rough up the surface with some sandpaper and maybe wash the vehicle with TSP trisodium phosphate before painting it might help it stick better. Latex house paint, that would be an interesting look. I saw an old wood side station wagon last week that somebody put vinyl siding over. Ok just kidding I didn't actually see that.

Great thanks for the suggestions. First I have to find the belt to inspect it haha, I know I saw it in the garage a couple years ago. I think it's been on a top shelf so it has probably been exposed to some heat but not sunlight. I don't do much ozone generating activities in the garage. What I'm thinking of getting is the PCI timing kit for the '94 so I can do all the pulleys, etc. I think that kit usually includes a belt, hopefully of reasonably good quality.

Hello, I've got a genuine Subaru 2.2L timing belt for my '96 that I never used. I've had the belt in the garage for about five years. My '94 now needs a timing belt and it uses the same belt. Should I just go ahead and use this belt, or would it be best to just purchase a new belt? Thanks.

How about the cam seals, were those in good shape? There's also an o-ring behind the cam cap on the LH side, but not sure even if that were bad that it would cause a major gush of oil.

Make sure you check the Subaru dealer sites such as subarupartsforyou. Sometimes the genuine Subaru reman'd is less than the parts store junk alts. Those voltages you listed sound just fine to me. I woudn't say it moving +/- .1V is unstable at all. It might just be your meter doing that. What do you mean the drain test was 4.5A? (Can you say how you measured that). Let's see looking at it, if it's just the plug that's different, using the '95-99 Legacy alt might be a way to go, those look to be about $125 for genuine Subaru reman'd. The 94 and earlier are twice that much.

Probably the easiest way yes would be with just rattle cans. I had a friend who did that in high school. It took him a good 20-30 rattle cans but he was able to do it. It didn't look too bad, and it definitely wasn't shiny. His probably would have come out better if he did it all at once. But instead he'd use like one or two cans at a time and he just kept the extra cans in the car. So if we'd go somewhere, every time we'd stop we'd have to pull out the cans and help him paint for a couple minutes. It was weird but it was also very funny thinking back on it.

Was the crank seal firmly in place? Sometimes if the screws loosen on the back cover, the oil will travel along the crank and push the crank seal out and leak from there.

Sounds good. I know there are a lot of experienced smart people on this board who would know; maybe they'll see this thread and respond.

I'm not real clear on setting the backlashes, I thought it involved the use of plastigauge or that red lead dust stuff.

I think I had the spring come out of one too but I don't remember. Usually when I'm doing the front crank seal I'm taking the oil pump off to reseal it anyway, so I install the new seal while the oil pump is off since it's easier. Then I coat the crank with grease while reinstalling the pump and am just real careful with the seal lip around the key.

I'm not real familiar with the old gen, but if you were doing this on a new gen (and it is probably the same idea), you would want to mark that retainer over the o-ring and count the number of turns as you unscrew it. Then putting it back exactly the same number of turns to the exact same spot it was. If you don't do this it changes the backlash/engagement of the gears which could cause problems/abnormal wear over time.

I might have to do this on the hood too. Ok maybe that's a little too big an area. The hood on the '96 is having like a total paint system failure. It has major spiderwebs that appeared in the last year or two. Then I took it through this attended car wash last winter and they used a pressure washer on the front and it took out several good size pieces of the paint. The primer is still visible and it isn't rusting (yet).

Hi. I'm sure there are threads on here about R&R'ing the HLA's. I've never had to remove one myself, but I think some people were using needle nose pliers to do it. From what I've seen you hold the HLA in a container of oil and cycle it to remove the air bubbles. Sites such as subarupartsforyou.com would have prices for new ones from Subaru. Or if you post in the 'parts wanted' section on here I'm sure people have good ones from used engines available too. For '96 it probably has the smaller style HLA's. The earlier engines had these much larger HLA's but they went to a smaller size (and then after '96 stopped using them altogether) to reduce the amount of moving mass in there and increase efficiency. 20w50 conventional oil could be a little thick for the winter, depending on how cold you're getting down to. I was using a good synthetic 20w50 racing oil and didn't have any trouble with starting even down to around 15F but that was with a good battery, and the '94 has always been easy to start.

Great thanks for the tips. Aluminum it is. I think my dad might still have some of those plates from the newspaper printing presses but I'll have to look around. I know HF has that riveter on sale all the time, plus in lots of magazines they are running 20% off any item coupons, I know I've seen the coupon in Guns&Ammo and Motorcyclist in the last couple months. I don't mind the rust holes too much but I was getting some flack at work for parking this 'rust bucket'. And wasps have been crawling up in the doors in the summer too.

I missed it, you had it right in the post title that it has the 1.8L. Engine noises can be a lot of things. At 250k miles the parts are probably getting nice and lose in there. Some people switch to a heavier weight oil such as 15w40 or even 20w50 to quiet things down a bit if they really dislike the noise. I was running 20w50 in the '94 and it purred like a kitten.

Hey do you just use a hand operated riveter to do that? I haven't used a riveter before. Or would it make it faster/easier to get one of the cheap pnuematic riveters from harbor freight? If this works out I'm going to do it on the '94 too.

Excellent, thanks for the pics and info. That's kind of what I am going for. It actually gives is good look just leaving the aluminum unpainted too. I'm just thinking it will be faster and easier to do that than trying to bondo anything. I've done some bondo in the past but I am always in too much of a hurry to get a good result, mine comes out wavy and uneven. Plus I know it's going to get wet behind that door panel more and the bondo I think will soak up that water. Now that I think about it, my dad did something like that with the aluminum on an old Cadillac when I was a kid. He got old printing plates from the newspaper for free and used those for material. I think it was aluminum or some thin steel. I really like your tip about wrapping the aluminum around the door panel and then riveting all the way through. That is going to be cleaner than trying to trim it to fit the outside. I just wasn't sure if there would be enough clearance for the door to still close right, but the aluminum is pretty thin so it shouldn't be a problem I would guess. I'll have to see what materials I can find since I see the aluminum roof flashing has gone up in price quite a bit from what I remember from years back.