Fairtax4me

If your hand is on the bottom of the wheel when the airbag goes off, you're gonna get burned and skinned. Manufacturers don't really make a point to inform people of where they should place their hands in order to minimize injury from airbags. My aunt used to be an EMT and she said she constantly saw hand face and arm injuries from airbags. Broken knuckles, broken fingers, sprained or broken wrists. Black eyes, broken noses, you get the idea. Pretty much all of them were because of incorrect hand placement on the wheel, or sitting too close to the airbag. When a collision occurs the airbag inflation process only takes about 100 milliseconds. The sensors that ignite the charge are tripped within 10-15 ms, and the igniter module burns and ignites the main charge in the airbag which takes another 10-15 ms. 30-40 ms after impact the bag begins to inflate, and is fully inflated in about 60ms. The bag remains fully inflated for about 150ms as the rest of the inflator gasses burn and are exhausted through the vents in the back of the bag. Then the bag begins to deflate. The further away from the airbag you sit, the better off you are. Ideally you don't want to hit the airbag while its still inflating, because thats when its going to punch you the hardest. Sitting further away from the bag lengthens the amount of time between the initial deployment and when you hit the bag. Just a few inches can make the difference between hitting the bag when it has just reached full inlation, or hitting it in the time period between full inflation and when it begins to deflate. A deflating airbag doesn't do much good for absorbing impact, but if you haven't hit the bag by the time it begins to deflate you're probably not going to. Airbags have been refined quite a bit in newer cars. They have multiple stages now, that allow the bag to have three different inflation speeds depending on the severity of the impact. They've also reshaped the bags to help avoid burns and hand injuries from the bag. You're probably going to end up with friction burns on your arms or hands either way, and if you wear glasses they'll probably leave some marks, but still better than hitting the steering wheel.

Front seats should swap. You may have to swap the seat belt buckle on the seats though. The rear seats may also swap if its wagon > wagon, or sedan > sedan.

Those cheapo gauges get you ballpark at best. Manifold guage set: http://www.zorotools.com/g/00091605/k-G4292136?utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google_Shopping_Feed&kpid=G4292136&kw=%7Bkeyword%7D&gclid=CJmql9TQ170CFSwdOgodt0kA_w That one is on the pricey side, but will be much more accurate than a Harbor Freight and will last longer. The switch is just an On/off based on the pressure in the system. Same thing as an oil pressure switch, just set for higher pressure. It works, since it makes the compressor switch on and off. Theoretically the pressure spring could be weak but usually the diaphragm ruptures before the spring wears out. The rapid cycling generally indicates the system pressure is incorrect.

Did you use an actual manifold guage set? The cheapo gauges on the parts store refill kits are hardly accurate. Proper amount is relative to outside temp. Unless you drained the system entirely and refilled with the amount specified on the AC service label, its hard to know if it really has the correct amount of refrigerant without a good manifold guage. It could also be an issue of moisture or air in the system. There is a switch. It's on top of the drier on the inner side of the passenger strut tower. They're not known for failing.

The cross member bolts do not go into any areas where water from the sunroof could reach. Unless the rest of the car is very rusty, I don't think it will be an issue.

None of them will work. Totally different body style.

I have never heard of that on the phase 1 heads. Regardless, a dropped exhaust valve guide will not produce a moving misfire. It will only affect the cylinder with the dropped guide. Misfires produce power loss because the cylinder that misfires is not producing power when the misfire happens. It takes several successive misfires in order to set a code, so the engine can misfire for some time before the light comes on if the misfires are spaced out enough. To illuminate the CEL there must be approximately 10 misfires within 1,000 revolutions of the engine. 10 misfires within 200 revolutions of the engine will cause the CEL to blink rapidly, indicating the misfire has the potential to damage the catalytic converters by pumping unburned fuel through them in the exhaust.

Unless there is some running condition, power loss, or misfire problem, I wouldn't even worry about it. An engine sitting for a long period will have rust in the cylinders which needs to be cleared out by running it. Also you probably don't have any idea of the maintenance habits (oil changes, etc) of the previous owner. The low numbers could just be because the rings are stuck in the pistons. Fresh oil and regular driving can help to free them up. Put a couple hundred miles on it, change the oil and re-check compression after 1,000 miles if you're still worried about it, but its really not worth worrying about.

Yes it could. The ECU needs input from both to determine spark and injection timing. Signal from only one or the other and it won't know what to do. Also, if you unhooked the battery before checking for codes, any stored codes would be erased. Electronic components like the igniter usually fail due to heat cycling causing a break in one of the solder joints or traces on the PCB. Then when the part heats up, the broken trace/ solder joint opens up and breaks a connection to power, ground, signal, etc.

Is that reverse clutch also used to engage any other gear?

Perhaps something is heating up and stops working. Could be the ignition control module. This is also a typical symptom of a failing crank/camshaft position sensor. Double check all of the wire harness connectors and sensor connectors to make sure they're plugged in all the way.

Oh! That's a different style than I was thinking. I was thinking Legacy Outback, didnt realize the Impreza had that style radiator. With that radiator, there shouldn't really be much air stuck in the system. With the cap just by the upper hose air is more easily able to vent out, which allows coolant into the block without filling through the upper hose. There could still be a large amount of air trapped in the block depending on how fast you tried to fill the radiator. Make sure the radiator is topped off, and idle the engine to operating temp with the radiator cap off to help burp out any air pockets.

V-powers are copper and work fine. The old 2.2s are not dreadfully dependent on having the highest quality plug wires like some of the newer engines. I've found these work just fine with a decent quality set of wires from the parts store. I've run Carquest house brand, Napa house brand, and Federated Auto house brand plug wires on these (the cheapest from each of those, all around $35-40 at the time) and had no problems with misfires. Granted, the cheapest wires from those stores are, in general, still better quality than the mid-range wires at the big chain stores like advance or autozone.

Did you get standard copper plugs? Have you made sure the wires are firmly clicked onto the plugs? How about into the coil pack?

If you didnt fill the engine block through the upper hose before filling the radiator you still have air in the system. Fill the block through the upper hose and crack the bleeder screw on top of the radiator open while filling the radiator to ensure no air gets trapped.

Hard to actually see the break if they do, but if you wiggle the pins around some you'll see them move. Hope the takes care of it.

Pull the plug off and check the pins. Make sure there isn't dirt stuck down in the connector around the outside of the rubber seal. Also make sure the rubber seal is positioned correctly. Have seen a couple of these fail. Actually replaced the one in my GFs car over the weekend because of these exact symptoms. I've found that the solder joints crack where the pins in the connector attach to the leads coming from the PCB inside the sensor. It interrupts the signal from the sensor to the computer, and when the computer loses the MAF signal it just kills the engine. A fairly easy fix if you can solder. Cut/ scrape the RTV from around the square cover on top of the sensor, then pry the cover off. Touch up the solder on each of the pins, then pop the cover back on and seal with new RTV. You can test the sensor after repairing the solder before putting the cap back.

Like Gloyale said, Key on/off doesn't affect the park pawl mechanism in the trans. That's 100% mechanically operated by the shift cable. Sounds like a broken axle to me. Only the front wheels are mechanically locked by the park mechanism. While the engine is running the AWD clutch pack has fluid pressure on it which will allow it to hold the rear wheels. Once the engine is off the fluid pressure bleeds off and only the front wheels will be locked by the park pawl. But it doesn't lock the wheels directly. The park pawl locks the output drum in the trans, which has a shaft leading to the front diff. This will lock the front ring gear, but does not lock the spider and output gears inside the differential. If one of the axle joints is broken there is no mechanical link from one wheel to the other through the differential. This will allow the both wheels to free-wheel. To test this block the rear wheels, put the car in neutral and lift one front wheel off the ground. Spin the wheel and watch each section of the axle for movement. The whole axle should spin with the wheel. Now put the trans in park and try to spin the wheel. If the axles are good, the wheel will NOT spin. If the wheel does spin, check each section of both front axles for movement. If the whole axle does not turn (outer joint, axle shaft, and inner joint) together, that axle is broken. If any section of the opposite axle turns backwards, that axle is broken.

Don't be afraid to get out a razor scraper to get the big stuff off. A wire brush works well for removing old RTV. Use 1000 grit sand paper as the final step to smooth out surface imperfections. Use compressed air or brake cleaner to blow out the bolt holes.

Air in the system. When the system is hot its pressurized and pushes some coolant out into the overflow. As it cools it draws a vacuum, and is supposed to pull IN coolant FROM the overflow bottle. But air just stretches and doesn't pull the coolant back in. Without coolant to support it the upper hose will suck flat. Have to fill the block first through the upper hose, then fill the radiator. System should take about 1.5 gallons or a bit more. If you don't fill the block first it'll only take about half that. Leaving the block almost completely empty. Remove the upper hose from the radiator and pour coolant into the engine through the hose. Put the hose back on the radiator, open the bleeder screw in the top of the radiator, and fill until coolant starts pouring out of it.

Of course you can flip it upside down. Won't hurt a thing. Just have a catch pan under it because there is always something liquid that will run out of it. The steel pan surface isn't flat enough to use anaerobic sealant. It will not set properly and will leak. Use RTV to get the best seal. Make sure both surfaces are clean and oil free. Apply RTV to whichever surface you find easier. I usually apply a thin layer to the pan, then smooth it down with a finger to get it into all of the creases between the bolt holes. You don't want to over-do it and have big gobs of RTV squeeze out when the bolts are tightened.

The sound might be loose heat shields on the Y-pipe or Cats. High idle could be stuck IACV or vacuum leak. Sometimes also caused by a bad Engine coolant temp sensor. You need a scanner to see what temp the sensor is reporting to the ECU.

Any idea which relay it was? Main? Fuel pump?

No power meaning: no Electrical power? Or was it whatever the relay feeds that was turning off and causing the engine to lose power?

Well, that says somethin ain't right. You should not be able to spin the wheel at all with the trans in gear. 1st reverse and 2nd gears are 1,2,3 at the front of the trans with the synchros in between. Possible the reverse idler gear bit the dust and has filled the 1 and 2 synchros with metal chunks. (Which could explain not going into any of those gears) Only a theory from across internetland though. Probably need to drain the trans fluid and see if there are chunks in it.