Fairtax4me

Hopefully you have no bent valves because of the slip. I think the interference on the 25D is valve to valve, so there shouldn't be any chance that the pistons and valves made contact, but I've never seen a conclusive write-up saying where the interference is on that engine. I'm not even sure of the correct way to compress those newer style tensioners, but I know that using a vice is a big no-no because its way too easy to overload the tensioner and damage it.

Not really. 97 still had a MAF sensor I think, so its a redundant sensor.

Plugs and wires. Put a fuel filter in it if that hasn't been done recently.

Possible the MAP sensor was damaged in the accident, or wiring to the sensor is damaged. It sits on the passenger strut tower, small black cube with a vacuum hose sticking out of the bottom. Check the wire connector and check the vacuum hose. It's short and leads to a small solenoid right next to the sensor. Then a hose from there leads to the engine. There is a small filter inline to the sensor. If the filter is clogged it can cause problems. Pull the hose off and try to blow air through it. Only a small amount will pass, but if nothing moves through the filter replace it. Next would be checking wiring, but hoses are easy to check.

Pull it out and see if you can pop the rear cover off the solenoid. Pushing the plunger in by hand will kick out the pinion gear. Pull the plunger out and you can clean and re-grease the plunger and the bore it rides in.

Beergarage.com has pics of the oil pump o-ring. The o-ring is a dealer only part as far as I know. I think he has pics of the separator plate too. While at the dealer get an o-ring for the wrist pin access cover. It's the diamond shape cover opposite the separator plate.

A 3x drain + fill is in order. I did some digging and didnt come up with much. It seems to me the down shifting is not normal, but she said its been doing that for some time, several months apparently, but not on a consistent basis. Sometimes it will do it, sometimes it won't. I asked her if there was any place that it seemed to do it most often, she said it will sometimes do it coming down Afton mountain, which is about a 30 minute drive out. Neither of us had an hour to devote to that drive at the time.

I wouldn't mess with the IACV adjustment. If the idle is low clean the IACV, clean the throttle plate and bore, and make sure there are no loose vacuum hoses, then Seafoam. If nothing else its fun to watch the smoke.

A MAP sensor code would not keep it from starting. These fuel pumps are VERY quiet and can be hard to hear. Verify fuel pressure with a gauge, or stick the supply hose from the filter in a bottle and turn the key on to see if you have flow. If you get fuel that way and can confirm you have spark, pull the timing covers and check the timing marks.

Or that.

I didnt see this thread before leaving a reply in your other thread. Double check the timing marks. If anything jumped it would likely be the crank. The cams snap out of place all the time. If all of the timing marks are lined up properly before removing the belt there is no chance of bending valves if the cams slip. If they were not at the proper marks, then only one cylinder could be affected by that one cam snapping out of place. One cylinder with bent valves will not prevent the other three from firing and the engine from starting. But if the crank sprocket slipped after-the-fact (while it was running) that will affect timing on all 4 cylinders and could lead to the current problem.

Timing is not intermittent. It's either in time or its not. If it acted strange a week ago that could just be a coincidence, it could have been a sensor giving a warning that it was about to go south for the winter, or just a fluke. The noise that happened before the engine stalled is ominous, and since the engine now doesn't start its hard not to assume it was related to a timing component failure. The problem with the 97 engines is they made a few changes that year that made the 2.2 an interference design. So if the timing has jumped, valve damage is a big possibility. And that means a much bigger repair bill. Get the covers off ASAP and check the timing marks so you know what you're dealing with.

It could have jumped time because the tensioner was damaged during compression of the pushrod. The arm style tensioners do not hold up well in the first place, but they must be handled with extra care when compressing the piston to avoid damage. It's an oil filled cylinder with a check ball style valve to dampen the movement of the tensioner. The seals inside can be easily damaged during compression and the result is the tensioner can flop around and lose tension on the belt.

At that mileage you'll want to replace the tensioner as well since they tend to wear out with age. I would recommend pulling off the timing covers and finding out which type of tensioner you have first. There are two different styles, and they switched the design in mid 97. You can also verify the timing marks, and determine if it did in fact jump time.

First thing to check is the adjustment of the shift cable and make sure the selector lever on the side of the trans is actually going into park. If that checks out OK you'll have to pull the tail housing to get at the park pawl mechanism.

99 Forester, 162,xxx miles. Belongs to a friend of mine, has the usual delayed forward engagement, which inplan to address with some fresh fluid, a new spin-on, and some fresh Trans-X. But she's told me about another issue she's had with it recently. Apparently when going downhill at speeds over 55mph it will sometimes downshift into 3rd on its own. It doesn't seem to be slipping when it does this. It Just downshifts. Then when she hits the gas to accelerate or maintain speed at the bottom of the hill it will shift back into 4th and keep going just fine. When it happens, if she shifts to 3rd with the selector, then puts it back to drive, it goes back into 4th and stays there. I took it for a test drive and it didnt do it. I told her to drive and it didnt do it. Fluid level appears slightly high and has some bubbles, but is otherwise clear and smells fine. I'm trying to determine if this is normal behavior to downshift to 3rd on its own. I know a lot of European cars will do that, but never heard of a Subaru acting that way. Any ideas from the auto trans gurus here?

What do you mean by "dragging"? If you mean it's turning slow that's probably not an issue with the contacts. Cold weather is hell on a battery and this is when a weak battery will bite the dust. Even if its a fairly new battery you should get it tested. It's best if you can have it tested while the battery is cold.

Voltage isn't the issue at the knock sensor, its the resistance of the sensor element, and the signals that get sent back to the ECU, which can really only be recorded with an O-scope. If you get a code and the wiring isn't chewed up, replace the sensor. Heat shields are easy, get a couple 2-1/4" pipe clamps from the auto parts store and bolt them onto the pipes over top of the heat shields. You may have to remove the bolts on the ends and bend the little "wings" in, but they're a permanent fix for heat shield rattles.

The bigger concern with the dohc ej25 is the bearings. They don't take well to overheating. None of these engines do well if they're overheated, but this particular 2.5 has smaller rod bearings than the others, which is a weak point. It doesn't sound like yours was extremely overheated, so it has a good chance of being just fine with new head gaskets. Unfortunately the worst effects don't show up for another 5-10,000 miles or more.

Whole center diff has to be replaced in 99 and later transmissions. The VC is part of the center diff carrier. Quote function works the same now as it did before. Put quote tags around whatever you want

The covers is at the bottom of the bellhousing. It's bolted to the engine block and and extends downward then back until it meets the transmission case. Its very hard to see or get to with the engine in the car.

Id get a used subaru alternator before paying for an aftermarket replacement. You can swap to the 95-99 years alternator by swapping the green plug to the older two wire style. Those are available remanufactured from Subaru for $78.

The teeth are on the torque converter, which should not be touching anything. But you can remove the starter to check the starter housing and look in through the starter hole at the TC to see the teeth. It is possible the lower bellhousing cover is loose and is rattling or bent and touching the TC.

As long as the meter is working correctly that should be an accurate number. Plug the meter leads into a wall socket in your house and compare the meter reading to what your home ACV should be, 110-120 / 220-240. If this shows an accurate reading the meter should be working correctly and you should start looking for an alternator. If you would like a second opinion, find a parts store that will do alternator and battery testing and have it tested.

We're assuming your car has the 2.5 based on what US model vehicles had. I know the Aussie market got some different engines than we did and those may not be as prone to head gasket failure as our version of the 2.5. Look on top of the block behind/under the alternator and there is a casting with "EJ XX". The XX being numbers that will correspond to engine displacement. If is really is a DOHC 2.5, chances are that even if it doesn't need head gaskets right now it will soon, and the best time to so head gaskets is when you have the engine torn down for timing replacement.