Rooster2

I wouldn't write this motor off as being 'bad," requiring a rebuild or replacement. Yea, I am familiar with the dollar bill test, but I bet any car with a cylinder miss-fire will act the same way in the dollar bill test, but that doesn't mean the valves are bad. Cylinder miss-fire in 1 & 3 could come from a number of sources, such as bad coil pack, spark plug wires, or spark plugs.There are prolly other sources as well. Subarus don't burn valves, or at least I have never heard of one. You wrote that you replaced the plug wires 2 years ago. Did you replace with expensive high quality wires, or with parts store cheapest price?? If you replace with cheapies, that could well be your problem. Subies run terrible on cheapie wires. I learned the hard way years back. My cheapie wires lasted only about 18 months before they started shorting out and miss-firing. Swap your plug wires from 1 & 3 to 2 & 4. If swapping out the wires moves the miss-fire to 2 & 4, from 1 & 3, then you will know that your plug wires are causing the trouble. Keep us posted on your progress. At some point, your will need to replace the timing belt. If you drive until it breaks, then you will have bent valves, requiring new valves, and maybe new heads. That gets expensive. Far less expensive to replace the timing belt, then replace the belt and damaged valves. You can prolly still drive, but not for long distance. You need to get this issue fixed.

Bubbles in the over flow is a dead give away that a head gasket is blown. When my 99 Outback over heated, that is the first thing I looked at. Yep, bubbles were blowing in my over flow, like their was a home fish aquarium aerator. The bubbles are actually exhaust gas that enters the cooling system from the exhaust system, through the bad head gasket. It is the hot exhaust gas that causes the over heating problem. Please don't continue to drive with the motor over heating, or you will "cook," and destroy the motor for sure. I am not familiar with Blue Devil. However, like all additives it is a band-aid. I am surprised you got the band-aid to last for 6 months. I agree with your thinking.......adding any more additive will plug up the radiator, and heater unit. Replacing the head gasket, or replacing the motor with a 2.2 wrecking yard are really the only viable fixes. Lots in the archives on this forum on this subject. If your mechanic says he will replace the head gaskets for $1300, then that is not a bad price. It is important to use Subaru OEM replacement head gaskets. They are the only ones that hold up well.

I wouldn't worry about head gasket trouble on an 09. Yea, head gasket trouble existed much earlier, but was fixed by Subaru on newer models. Overall, Subies are great cars, very reliable, safe, and all wheel drive is outstanding. I hope you buy the Forester.

Sorry to hear about you running out of oil. With no lube, that is a death sentence for any motor. Any idea how you lost all the oil?? IMO, your best bet is to replace with another 2.5 SOHC motor. They have a good reputation for reliability. I am surprised you don't want to stick with another 2.5. You, could always swap in a 2.2 from around 2002-02, but I see no advantage to that, unless you find one on the cheap.

I had a conversation with a friend last night. He had a similar problem with his Audi. He said no amount of PB Blaster, hammering, or cussing would remove his lateral link bolt. He couldn't use heat for fear of ruining rubber bushings. He finally got it out using an air powered impact driver. If you don't have one, I have had great success with an electrical impact driver that I bought at Harbor Freight for not much money.

I don't think it was a good idea to let the baby crawl under the back of the car............doesn't look safe for the kid. He needs to be a lot older, before he starts wrenching on a Subie.

What is a Carnot cycle??

I bet the bearing on the water pump froze up, however, you prolly deduced the same thought.

Sorry to hear about your burns, but hope the air bag minimized potential internal injuries. I have never encountered a blown air bag, but was involved in an accident, where driver of a Honda, had her air bag go off in her face from the driver's seat. She had facial bruises, but nothing more. Not surprised to hear about your burns, an explosive charge deploys the air bag, the heat from that explosion has to go somewhere. I am surprised the vent design would spray gas in the direction of your hands.

Yes, you are correct, the CEL code for knock sensor would be different from misfire code.

It has been my experience, that when the compressor cycles on and off every 5 seconds or so, that the system is low on refrigerant .At least you know your compressor is working. As others have said, the gauge on a can is a rather crude instrument, still it does give you an idea where you are at. You really need to have the outside temp in the 70's, when recharging. Don't be surprised, if your refrigerant leaks out rather quickly. You may have a bad O ring seal in your system, that needs to be corrected. Use leak detector to find the problem.

Like Tirod responded.........add a can of Marvel Mystery Oil to the crank case. The product is a high detergent, and will hep clean, and lube the engine passageways. I would change the oil and filter after 3 tank fulls of gas. Good chance MMO will improve performance. I would also add 1 gallon of E-85 gasahol, then fill tank rest of tank with unleaded regular. The E-85 will help absorb any water in the gas tank, and clean the fuel system.

I don't think any body parts will fit. The bodies are different.

I agree on the advise of going with 2.5 SOHC, vs 2.5 DOHC. Just not worth the gamble of buying with the DOHC, then blowing a head gasket. As far as woman seller telling you they had a full price offer of $5100, but leaving the door open for you to bid up the offer...........well I think that stinks. Selling a car is "selling," not treating a buyer as an auction bidder. Her approach is abusive to both you, and to the alleged "full price offer" buyer. I would have told the woman exactly that, and ended the conversation.

Good response, as I generally don't bother to read, or respond to a topic that doesn't inform the nature of the post. The better a topic is titled, and the better the topic is written, the better the responses.

Bosch wires should work okay. I am thinking that is what I am running on one of my Subies. If doesn't fix the problem, you can always return the wires. Autozone is really good about accepting returns, providing you have a recent receipt, and product is clean, and can be resold in it's original box. Since the misfire moves around, when you move the plug wires around, I still think it is your wire set. I don't think your coil pack is the problem. My experience with Autozone, is that their house brand products, and all other lowest priced auto parts they sell should be avoided. Quality is generally poor, with short life span. Quality is much better with name brands, and higher priced, high end priced parts. I learned my lesson when I bought their Kelly-Springfield fan belts. They wouldn't break, but would stretch. Every 6 months it seemed, I was tightening the belts. I finally wised up, and bought their best belts, either Gates, or Good Year Gator Backs, and got out of the belt tightening routine.

I would bet the farm that the problem is the "Duralast Wires." Years back, I bought Duralast wires from Autozone. They started misfiring shortly after installation, and I concluded that the wires were of poor quality. Recommend you return the Duralast wires for a refund, then apply the refund to the most expensive set of wires that Autozone sells. I bet your problem will be solved.

For what it is worth, I have used Walmart Super tech ATF with good results, over many years in my Subies. So, I don't think the Super Tech is causing you problems. I think it is a bad idea to reuse fluid. Just too easy to contaminate with dirt, when draining.

If stick shift, push to 5 mph, then pop the clutch to start, without using the stater. If automatic tranny, then can only start with a starter.

Suggest you also check the condition of the front tires. All Subarus drive like normal cars, when everything mechanical is correct.

Sounds like a flood damaged Subie could be a good deal if priced cheaply.

Is the latch problem, the result of an accident, where things got bent?? If so, and not to be Mr. Obvious, I would think that the body work would need to be straightened out as part of the process to fix the latch problem. Best source for latch components would be a wrecking yard, IMO.

As reported 2.2 engines from 1990-96, are non interference. Depending on what year Subie you want to drop a motor in, you will want to qualify, so you match up ECMs, and OBD1 or OBD2 engine management systems with a donor motor. That way the replacement motor will be plug and play to your car.

From what I have heard, it is easier to replace head gaskets with the engine removed, but it is quite a bit of work pulling out the engine. I had a Subie tech, who moon lights on his own, replace the HGs on my 99 OBW. I wasn't around to see him do the job, but know for sure, he did not pull the motor out. I think he may have loosened up the engine mounts one side at a time, then jacked up the side he wanted to work on. This, I feel gave him extra work room to replace the HGs. I can email him for details, if you like, and report back. Suggest you start a new topic on this forum, asking the question of "should the motor be pulled" to replace the HGs. You should be able to get a good answer.

Last Fall, I put 4 each Ohtsu tires on my daughter's jeep. I bought the tires from a local Tire Barn store, here in Indy. I had never heard of Ohtsu tires, but I trusted the old experienced tire sales guy, that they are good tires. He was right. They have rigid side walls, and run well on a Jeep Wrangler. Seems to be wearing very well. Since then, I have learned that Ohtsu is the Japanese company that also sells their tires under the Falken name. Falkens have a good reputation from friends who have run them. So, I would recommend Ohtsu or Falkens. Ohtsu seems to be cost a little less then the Falkens. Anyone interested, do a Google search on Ohtsu to read up on them.