Numbchux

In the ever-present chase for fuel mileage, the rings were left too loose, and they burn oil. The replacement engines will get worse fuel mileage. We had many complaints at the dealership where I worked, as the advisors didn't make this clear enough up front. The lawsuit brought the warranty up to 100k miles, I don't know if there was a time limit on that. Early warranty repair was to replace rings, but then they changed to using brand-new shortblocks, either to reduce labor cost, or problems, or both. Even still, it's no small job, and we saw more than a few comebacks due to oil leaking from the timing cover or cam carriers. Running 5w30 (synthetic, of course) helps. You can use a used engine from newer model with a few small changes. A friend of mine bought a 2011 Forester with a blown engine, not knowing it was an FB. And he ended up getting an engine from a 2015 or so and swapped it in. Sorry, I don't remember all the details, but it wasn't anything major. There must be some documentation on it.

I got into rally when my friend's STi got hail damaged. The insurance check paid for the cage....

Yes, have to be AWD to use 4.111 or 4.444 gears.

Yep, no frame. Unibody means the entire sheet metal body of the car provides the structure. Which is exactly my concern, the commercially-available hitches only attach in a couple spots, and I bet those bolts would just tear through the sheet metal with that kind of weight on it. Which is why I said I would build my own hitch with more pickup points. Some brackets that tie into the bumper mounts, maybe something forward to catch some rear suspension points. Etc.

The diagram makes sense, and actually, I just finished setting up something similar on my Tacoma, which I intend only to use around the yard. As such, I wanted to use a small plastic marine fuel tank, which does not have a return fitting. When the system is disconnected for some reason (or the tank is run low enough to suck air), it gets air into it, which can only escape through the injectors/engine. So it runs very poorly for several minutes, and requires many restarts before it clears up. Your symptoms sound a bit like that. It's not correct, but it should work. It's fantastic news that your return line reads no pressure. But the supply should get a bit more than 30 psi (you did say "about" 30, so maybe it's getting to 36ish), and it should hold pressure for quite awhile once the pump is off. This is held by the pressure regulator and a check valve in the fuel pump. It doesn't explain your fuel in the oil issue, but it might explain the running issue if you're having trouble with the fuel pump. I also installed a low pressure fuel filter between the tank and pump to protect the pump from debris. I skimmed through here and didn't see it. Was it ever determined if there are any trouble codes? It's possible it's been trying to tell you what's wrong the whole time.

The major dimensions of the diff (i.e. ring gear size, side bearing size, and the relative location of them) is the same as the EJ 5speed diffs. So anything listed for, say, a WRX will fit in the box. BUT. most are designed for 25 spline axle stubs. This part is relatively easy, "just" have to purchase EA82t axles. The bigger challenge comes with clearance with the low range gears. The low range gears protrude down into the front diff area, so a diff engineered to fit in a WRX case would not have to worry about this. You can kind of see in this picture, on the left, an OEM 5MT front diff, on the right a Carbonetic LSD. Arrow pointing at the shoulder that sticks out just a bit further than the stock casting. + @el_freddo was able to remove some material in that area to get the OBX unit to work. I took some measurements, and believe that in order to clear the 1.59 low range gearset, I would have had to remove too much material from this diff, and would have compromised it. I think it might have been doable with the 1.19 gearset, but never tried it. If you start looking at various different brands and styles of front LSD, you'll see some have more of a curve there, and some are more squared off. So I suspect some would be possible, but I wasn't willing to start buying them just to see.... In the end, this stumble put enough of a delay on my 4.444/1.59/front LSD transmission build that I finished my 4Runner, and realized what real gearing was. And so, the Subaru project sits. Likely never to be finished.

IIRC, there aren't very good mounts back there for the hitch. I think I would fabricate one with more pick up points for carrying that weight.

Nope. AFAIK, Class 2s weren't available until at least 2005 (I know you could get 2" receivers for those, but I'm not sure if they were actually rated any higher). I agree, though. Class 2 is good for 3500 lbs. Shouldn't be towing any more than that.

@Scott in Bellingham with SJR had started a similar project, I think to use a Nissan case behind the 4EAT. He's always got many irons in the fire, so I'm sure he'll come back to it at some point.

I'll check live data again to see what I can read of that sensor. I don't remember if it's an AF or O2 sensor. Either way it is a new Bosch one. The 2.0 injectors appear to be physically interchangeable (although I haven't disassembled them). This engine was clearly much newer, and had many differences above the block. So no guarantee that the injectors will be 20% smaller.... But, when I get some time, I think I will try to swap them. This car had no engine when I got it. The engine that was in it was pulled to use in a nicer car, so all my components are cobbled from my collection or new. That said, I was very careful to check part numbers on things, and used all new gaskets, plugs, wires, timing components, and more. I have no running issues, and no other codes. If the battery has been disconnected, it usually stalls on the first startup attempt. But once it learns itself for a trip or 2, it starts perfectly.

Prices are crazy this year. Shop around, that's a premium price, but might not be completely out of line. Inspect it, thoroughly. Low miles on an old car means it's been sitting a lot. If it was in a garage and only driven on nice days, it's probably in fantastic shape, if it was in a field in the summer and driven hard in the winter, it'll be nothing but problems. I have an '01 Forester with 97k on it that I'm rehabilitating, and the rear suspension was rusty like a 200k mile car. I had to replace all the brake lines in the rear, etc. As mentioned, make sure the timing belt has been done, and done correctly. Take a look at the tag on the LH strut tower in the engine bay, it will have the complete engine code. California emissions cars in 2004 had a unique version of the 2.5 that is a bit more trouble to find parts for (especially if you need a complete engine). The California code will start with EJ259, where the others will be EJ251.

01 Forester. Originally a 2.5, replaced with a JDM SOHC 2.0. Install went smoothly (reused many of the 2.5 parts, as per usual), engine runs great, car drives very nicely. Throws a P0170 (fuel mixture rich). Live data reads LTFT -20% or so, which makes sense as I've reduced engine capacity by 20%. I've seen dozens of posts about doing this swap. The dealership I worked at did it many times. I don't recall hearing about a code like this. However, quick google search does turn up a few mentions. I see some using smaller injectors, I might try the ones from the 2.0. Any experiences/insight/recommendations?

Yea, I don't think you can access any dealer settings with anything that cheap. Any ELM bluetooth dongle (I've bought a couple for ~$15) and an android app can do a lot of diagnostics. ActiveOBD is a subaru-specific app that can read transmission temperature, AWD %, and more on the newer models (was invaluable when diagnosing a torque converter solenoid on my mom's 2012 CVT Impreza).

Yes. I can't agree with these 2 sentences enough.

Your profile says you live in Wisconsin, but then you mention lifting by the rocker panel. I'm guessing your cars are less than....8 years old? Even on our '04, which I removed the rocker molding at 130k miles, the rockers are not safe to support the weight of the car. My 350k mile 2000 doesn't have rockers at all.... Yea, those are nice on a solid car, but if you live in the rust belt, be very careful!

AFAIK it varies depending on model and emissions equipment (California cars got it first). It was about 2002, or so. Looks like some models switched over as early as 1999, but I know my 01 Forester has the older 6-tooth sprocket. https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_2008_Legacy-25L-TURBO-5AT-4WD-GT-Limited-Sedan/Engine-Timing-Crankshaft-Sprocket-U1/49224693/13021AA141.html vs the 6 tooth: https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_2001_Forester-25L-AT-L/Engine-Timing-Crankshaft-Sprocket-1X--C0-U0-UT-EGM-G-EGM-P-U0-C0/49224691/13021AA091.html FYI, EJ25D was '96-'99 and all had the 6 tooth. That LGT has an EJ255, SOHC 2.5s were EJ251s and 253s (and, occasionally, 259s).

If there's any metal there. The rear jacking points are the first place to get soft, especially if the car has rocker mouldings.

No surprise. But it doesn't need a complete valve body at $800. It just needs one solenoid. I know, I'm a cheapass..... The A and B shift, and torque converter solenoids are all identical should all read between 10-13 ohms. The OEM one that failed read 3 ohms. This aftermarket one..... 0.2 Ohms.... From my research. The torque converter solenoid is by far the most common to fail, despite the fact that the 2 main shift solenoids are identical. So I got a used valve body with less than 100k miles on it that had a failed AWD solenoid. I grabbed one of the shift solenoids, and swapped it for the converter solenoid in my mom's car last night. Code cleared, test drove great. The car has about 190k on it, now. If it lasts another 50k, I'll be happy. If not, I have 2 more used OEM solenoids on that valve body that test good....

I picked up a used valve body just in case the cheap solenoid failed. Well....it threw a P2764 again yesterday. Barely more than 2 months. I wasn't expecting to get another 185k miles like the stock one....but, that was disappointing. I plan to swap in a used solenoid from the other valve body tonight.

Take some advice, man. In the 30 years that these EA82s have existed, you're not the first one to want 30-75% more power out of it. Do you know how many times we've seen people on here spending huge amounts of time and money on EA82ts, trying to do it right? Do you know how many of those got replaced with an EJ? I just spent a minute with a boost pressure calculator. If 5psi nets 115hp, 200hp would require ~22 psi! Yes, everything is fixable. With the proper application of time, money and knowledge, anything is theoretically possible. We're telling you that better results are attainable with far less of all 3 by swapping to an EJ. I don't think anyone has used a Power Commander, but similar builds have been done DOZENS of times, I can't think of anyone that's had much success. There were a couple in Australia ~20 years ago that spent huge money on the engine hard parts to get power out of them, but I don't recall even those being terribly successful. And, how do you think it executes those features? By manipulating sensor signals to fool the ECU into doing something it wasn't supposed to do? Yea...almost certainly.

Generally, those have external oil leaks. I have seen internal failures, usually aftermarket gaskets, insufficient cleaning, and/or improper torque sequence on a previous repair is blamed.

I can't tell where you've got it in the front, but that's pretty easy, big ol' frame rail behind the rear control arm mount. That works in the rear, although might bend that stamped steel arm, and the jack stand is kind of in the way. On my rusty 2000, I usually put them on the trailing arm right up against the bushing where it meets the body. On the later ones (I'm not sure the exact cutoff, but our '04 Outbacks definitely have them), there's a brace on the bottom of that going forward to the diff mount bracket (?) that's fabulous for jack stands.

Very cool!! Not compatible with '04-'05 transmissions?

Wow. The ECU monitors so many different sensors, it should throw a code if one of them doesn't make sense. Use your scan tool to monitor live data while cranking. If you have rpms, your crank/cam sensors are likely fine. I would definitely be trying starting fluid, next.

Check the codes again. I just don't believe that it cranks without firing and doesn't throw any codes. But yea, a shot of starting fluid will tell you if it's got spark, compression and correct timing, and you can start tracing a fuel issue.