davebugs

Start with ALL connections to starter. To the battery, to the ignition, the ground, etc. If starter is original it may be due.

Absolutely check this first. They have a tendency to rust out at the bottom. The black plastic shield on it holds roks, sand, and moisture. Check with a full tank or immediately after putting fuel in the car.

Sounds like classic torque bind.

Usually a 2.2 with new timing components and new seals (cam, crank, 2 thin Orings, reseal baffle plate) I do pluga and accessory belts and anything else that looks like needs done while it's on a stand, costs about the same as a good HG job. Good meaning heads checked and resurfaced and rad flushed. Search here about the swap. The golden engine is a 95 auto (with EGR). Any newer and you'll need the matching Ypipe because they are single port exhaust. And if an auto search here about torque converter seating. Other than these 2 items you need to pay attention to it'll be the easiest engine pull you've ever done. I recomment a 14mm swivwl socket(and long extension) for the lower drivers side eng/trans bolt/nut. Only other thing that may require a tool you may not have is flexplate bolts. I take them out the top and use a snap-on (or gearwrench) 1/4 rotohead ratchet, some use an offset box end, some lift the engine a bit and take them off the bottom. car-part is your friend to find an engine, and from a place likely to ship. You may want to post here for references(or lack thereof).

Some of us are rather dense you know... A rubber mallett has always worked for me.

I'm confused about what you guys are calling a cam cap I guess. Sounds like you mean the cam sprocket thing on the front outside of the engine? Further back where it's aluminum to aluminum with the skinny Oring on a 95. Or what I usually call a cam cap - what 3 of them holding the cam onto the head.

All true. If you wanna burp it pull the lower hose at WP to drain first, then refill through top hose until full, then rad. After you're done take for an hour drive, and take reading material and coolant. I recommend a drive a half hour away, turn around and head back. Usually happens at about 30-45 minutes for me in the summer. If it's head gaskets (odds are great!) you'll need something to read while it cools down. If it is HG's I'd do a 2.2, then if you wanna keep the 2.5 do rod bearings as pointed out. I 2.2 them. Don't think about a JY engine because they have the same HG issues. It's been overheated several times by now. The original owner was in denial before mechanic threw a water pump at it. The the PO caused several more overheat cycles before he decided to just sell it. Don't be one of the folks who does a HG job only to have rod bearings start to make bad noise withing the next 5k or so and need to do rod bearings.

The Green ones are still on the parts car. A 97 Outback. One of them was repainted - and I forget which. The folks had hit a deer and it had new windshield, Grille(sold), headlights (still in car) and fog lights(only L remains) and painted one fender I believe. You can tell because they taped to the pinstripe IIR. I believe I have silver and blue(1 outback, one L) sets here now. I'll look and see if I have any Green left already pulled over the next day or so. And a complete outback front bumper assy, and another one on parts car. Shipping is killer on fenders and a pain to pack. I have sent them to members before. They "almost" fit in a VW fender box that I can get. Then there is the discussion of what is cheap. I do send a lot of good parts to the crusher. For some reason those that don't sell parts think folks like me have unlimited space and don't value our time. Or take the gamble on buying a parts car to begin with. Do I expect what Ebay or car-part sells them for - no. Will I pull a fender for 25.00 - no. Will I piss around and package it and run it to UPS for 50.00 - no. Will I crush it - that doesn't really take any of my time - yes! Do I make excellent deals to locals for parts already off or they remove - yes. I also have a 95 Impreza L and 95 Legacy L hood that will likely get crushed. Now that I can't work in the garage a lot of these parts I need to clean up as I'm able. I haven't been able to "redo" a car for almost 2 years now, and the future ain't looking so good either. So I ebay stuff and I'll be getting a lot of scrap together for end of Jan - including the hoods, fenders, rad assy's, etc. Scrappers have a tendency to take everything in to get money for Cmas. Then when it's cold in Jan and Feb get lazy about taking it in and the price typically goes up.

Generally I put some lucas in diff's. A super product (and reflects that in it's price) is MT-10 from Muscle Products. It's an additive. It seems the viscosity doesn't change with temperature. A friend and I got a gallon some years back - I wanna say lit was like 150/gal then or more. I know if I'm in the garage when it's cold the already thick Lucas is incredibly thick. So much so that I have an old crock pot to warm it up. But the MT-10 seems to have the same thickness as it does when it's 90 degrees. They probably have a website. They used to have a location close to me but after it being there many years they closed it a few years back. They so still have it at the dealer car auctions, and my local transmission shop has it too. Nothing will overcome damage/wear though.

Some places buy cores. I've got about 30 laying around here. Put some on Ebay cheap and didn't sell (Subaru, Saturn, VW) for cars I don't own, and unlikely to in the future. So I may go the core route - instead of just putting them in the next general scrap run. Also in a few weeks scrap usually goes up. It seems a lot of scrappers need Cmas money so it always seems to decline about Tgiving through Cmas. Then in Jan/Feb it's cold and folks get lazy. And usually scrap price goes up. I've also got like 6 mostly Outback fenders 95-99, an entire front bumper assy or two, some rad assy's, etc. Haven't decided if it's worth Ebay for the fenders.

Best/most thorought solution is to do a complete timing belt/idler/seals job. Most of us get Emay kits. I use allimport(it's been so long I forget) and some use mizuauto? Someone will come along with the names. Anyways oil won't hurt the cam pulleys, but will harm the timing belt. If you plan on keeping the car at all and HG's have been done already then crank seal, cam seals(which is what is leaking on yours), ibleds, timing belt, water pump, and I do accessory belts and you'll be good until the HG's go(or go again). A 99 Forester is different (A SOHC 2.5) but 95-99 DOHC 2.5's like in outbacks will work.

I switch plug wires and check them put well when off the car. Then see if the code stays with the same cylinder. Usually I'll throw some plugs in to rule that out. Sometimes the plug will learn you something. Plug wires seem more problematic than coil packs. And coil packs almost always throw codes for the opposing cylinder.

Gary - I'm not sure this is toally accurate. My current understanding of the blinking CEL is anything that will hurt the emissions system. Remember the gov't could care less about the engine. It's all the expensive emissions stuff they care about that they force on us. Now it may flash due to more than I cylinder having missfires thus it thinks you may do emissions harm. Which means what you think may be true, but I'm not sure it's true in the purest sense. But I don't claim to be an expert. Just like - it's usually o.k. to keep driving unless the CEL is flashing until you get somewhere convenient.

I've seen this on other vehicles. But they were mechanical injectors and you could POP test them. Never seen this with electrical injectors myself. But the symptoms sure sound like it. The injectors leak and until it runs out of enough fuel pressure it keeps putting fuel into that cylinder. It fouls the plug until the engine warms up. It will be curious if this is the cause because I haven't witnessed it in an electrical injector.

I had been getting "Blue Gorilla" or something kits at local parts store for like 250.00 that came with Valeo clutch disc and pressure plate. The Valeo kits I'd get off Ebay and pay ythe extra 20 to get all American/Japanese parts were like 150.00. No experience with Exedy. Lots of Sachs but that is in VW's.

I used to get the Valeo kits and paid like another 20 bucks to get all parts Japanese or American. Off of Ebay.

The little white connector I believe on some 95's were for lets say 1 wire and later for 2 wire. But you can probably change connectors as you suggest. I've seen and replaced a few knock sensors - like a dozen or so and none of them caused a CEL. The car was just gutless compared to other Subaru's (be it a 2.2 or 2.5) and often the owner that sold to me didn't know why because there was no code. It got to the point that if they were driveable I'd take the tools and a used kock sensor and stop for lunch, let the car cool, and install the used knock sensor to just get the car homw with power.

Just for kicks have the alternator checked. And the wires that go to it. Any warning lights (not just CEL) like brake light and maybe ABS. Often these lights come on and the battery light doesn't. And you start to loose power at higher RPM as you drive since you're really running off of the battery. So it could have mpower when cold, fade after you've driven some distance, and battery recovers when you let it set a bit. So it's worth a check of the alt. Weird as it sounds with no Battery light on. All the other obvious thongs too from fuel filter to cat to flaky MAF. A bad knock sensor usually makes it sluggish especially when damp. And won't cause a CEL or a "pending".

IMO Subaru's atleast 95-99 are best with the plain old NGK 2 dollar V groove plucs (they have green writing on the plug) rather than fancier plugs - even if MGK's. And I've witnessed Bosch Platinums cause problems in many brands/models of cars. Sometimes sticking with stock plugs, and in the case of Subaru 2.5 DOHC OEM wires just makes sense.

You'll have room to install it. IMO NOT enough room to fix the actual crankshaft. I pull the engine to fix the keyway.

Typically look for stains btween cyl 2 & 4 just infront of 4 (drivers side head). Usually you gotta get the whole way under there and look up and you'll see residue. A UV kit would make it easier to spot. But it's such a common problem I don't know what benefit that would be. You can run these SOHC 2.5's a long time adding coolant occasionally to the overflow bottle. They won't let you stranded and overheating like the DOHC's did.

Noid lights IIR. Rarely seems to be the injectors though, especially 2 on same side. I also find it easier and more reliable to change the whole fuel rail with the injectors in it and on the one side with pressure regulator.

While correct, it's unworkable. I live int he rust belt. Stuff will break and it'll be a general pain in the a$$. If it's coming out it's gonna be replaced. Also the desigh of this has the exhaust manifold in it and I wouldn'e be able to see straight through. Both ends are bent I believe so its not like I can even shine in a flashlight and look into one end's bend and look for light.

I see the top ones have nuts, and a garage already replaced an O2 sensor so I'm thinking it's one of them. I did find a diagram and it looks like they are all threaded. I'm mostly wondering about access. http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3D2001%2Btoyota%2Brav4%2Boxygen%2Bsensor%2Blocation&w=298&h=300&imgurl=cdn.2carpros.com%2Fautomotive_pictures%2F261618_Noname_324.jpg&size=22KB&name=261618_Noname_324.jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.2carpros.com%2Fquestions%2Ftoyota-rav4-2003-toyota-rav4-p1155&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.2carpros.com%2Fquestions%2Ftoyota-rav4-2003-toyota-rav4-p1155&p=2001+toyota+rav4+oxygen+sensor+location&type=&no=3&tt=114&oid=481fba0110189a6151ffaf7ee17723b7&tit=2003+Toyota+Rav4+Problem+P1155+Engine+Performance+4+Cyl+Two+Wheel+...&sigr=1246hr2ve&sigi=11qc0ksbd&sigb=12hsciiur&fr=yfp-t-701-s After I post I'll see if this huge link even works. I don't use rockauto but I will go look for the 01 Toyota 4 cylinder's cat and sensors. Thanks.

Thanks. I've seen you post about these before. I didn't have the car when I picked up the non-foulers that are in stock local. I'll read the code(s) tomorrow and see if I can get to the downstream O2's. 2 up top (one each side), 2 on bottom(one each side). Catalyst bekow effeciency means it's the second one in the stream. Looking like a project for tomorrow. Can't wait to see how disasterous getting the heat shield off will be. Then I can see if access form the top or bottom will be easier.