Fairtax4me

Any plans for dual port EJ headers? (I still need to order my SPH! Hell I was the one who suggested that whole idea! My check from da gumment aint showed up yet... :-p Damn Student loan disbursements take FOREVER!!!) Custom cat-backs maybe? (or cat to muffler at least) Lots of tube bumpers! That's all I can think of.

As long as the engine turns by hand, then I vote poor contact at/in the starter or poor connection between starter and battery. Starter needs lots o' current to engage and turn the engine. It might just not be able to pull enough current through the battery cable to engage the drive motor.

I've never had one that didn't pop loose from a good swift boot, but I don't exactly live in rust town, though we do get our fair share. But the worst I've ever had was a wheel that the center bore was too small and was forced over the hub center with the lug nuts. That one took some persuasion but eventually wiggled loose. Driving on a loose wheel should work as well, but I've been able to avoid doing that one. Did you get it loose?

To "pull the engine", usually entails using an engine lift ( aka cherry picker)to pick the engine up completely out of the car. Put it on a stand, bench, whatever, so it can be worked on without the car being in the way. Leaned over the fender, back aches, can't reach that damn bolt in the back corner. The method described in the previous post is basically to build a cradle to lift the engine up from below and move it while still technically in the car, without damaging the oil pan by putting a jack head through it. The pans on these are kinda flimsy, and if they get dented the pickup tube can get blocked very easily, then you get no oil pressure. Radiator doesn't HAVE to come out but it gives you more room if you remove it, plus the hoses might stress the plastic end tanks and crack them when they get smooshed forward. The idea is that basically, if you had an engine lift, you would remove everything necessary to pull the engine out of the car, except that this method allows you room to work on the clutch if you don't have access to an engine lift and can't physically get the engine out. The nice thing about these (aluminum block, aluminum heads) is that they don't weight THAT much. If you have a couple strong friends, you can grab the engine on each side and actually pick it up and remove it by hand. Build a platform or cradle to put the jack under, use the jack to raise the engine off the mounts, hold the transmission up with a ratchet strap or another jack. Roll the engine jack towards the front of the car once the engine and trans are separated. (this is the only really tricky part since it can take some persuasion in the form of a large prybar and BFH to get them apart sometimes) Then once the engine is moved forward , tie it to the front radiator support/header panel (remove the radiator or cover it with a piece of plywood) with a ratchet strap or something to keep it from tipping back and cutting your fingers off or something horrible of that nature.

Subaru is more likely to recommend a reflash of the ECU tan to use an anti-fouler. Anti-foulers are NOT intended for use on oxygen sensors, and ARE illegal in areas that require emissions testing because they alter the way the ECU reads exhaust gas content.

Kick it. It's just rust/corrosion. You should wire brush the hub and wheel after you get them apart, and spray or brush on a rust inhibitive grease around the center bore to prevent this issue.

If YOU picked that tire size they aren't gonna change them for free. Best bet is just get some outback struts to put on it and get the clearance you need for the outback tire size.

Will the engine turn if you turn it by hand with a wrench/breaker bar?

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Assume you tested the diode with a multimeter? Diodes are usually labeled similarly to resistors, with several colored bands. I guess the one in the harness is probably covered up. If you can pry the covers off you may be able to match it up with a new one for RadioShack. Probably just easy to get one from a junkyard though.

There's a snap ring that holds the pivot bushing in. Don't know a part number offhand but it's a basic internal snap ring. Should be able to pick one up at Lowes in the hardware section.

Our consultation fee is to see pics of them in the car.

Were the pads worn evenly on each side? (outer vs inner pad, and left side of the car vs right side) How old is the brake fluid? What condition are the rubber brake hoses in? Any evidence of cracking, blistering, or swelling?

Should be fine, But it's worth it to replace the TOB and pilot bearing as well while you're in there. Since all those and the Pressure plate come in a kit, is it really worth leaving the pressure plate out? I vote to just do the whole thing, or don't bother at all.

Check the inner tie rod ends. For some reason they like to wear out on these cars and can be hard to identify. If the steering rack boots have ever been split and replaced there's a good chance the inner rod joint got dirt/sand in it and is now worn just enough to clunk every now and then. Strut mounts on these seem to go bad as well, but it's worth checking the inner rod ends.

Seems like it should have still started. Sorry to hear of the repeat failure. Time-sett is definitely the most reliable repair, but I'm not sure who in this area has the kits. If anywhere (on that side of the mountain at least) would have it, I would guess Foreign Affairs, but I'm not sure if they work on Subaru. Which shop did you take it to? (if you don't mind me asking)

Probably not vacuum related. What brand of oil filter did you use? I hope it wasn't a Fram. Since this started immediately after an oil change, it stands to reason something that was changed could be at fault.

Did you check the fluid level after running it? Did you try to drive it? The front diff is open so any differences in drag on one axle or another can cause one hub or wheel to sit still, while the wheel on the other side may spin fine. That's not something I would worry about too much. Noises could just be a dry fluid pump, and subsequent cavitation or foaming going on as the pump tries to move fluid with air in it. The whole system holds something like 8-9 quarts of fluid, and if the TC was drained it takes a little running and constantly checking the fluid level to get it to the proper point. If you already have it out might as well get the exchange. Be sure to get the trans AND torque converter together so you don't have to fidget with lining up the splines and pump shaft.

That's it's job. That's how it works. It needs to be SLOWLY compressed in a vice or large C-clamp. It should take somewhere in the range of 3 - 5 minutes. Use a small nail or Allen driver stuck through the holes in the tensioner housing and plunger to hold it back while you install it.

I'm inclined to say the illumination is separate. There are 4 illumination wires it seems on most subaru radios. Two wires in the main radio harness, and two more wires in a small separate harness. Both sets have the same function, and the same two different color wires, but each one is for certain backlighting in the radio.

The majority of the time yes, the failure of another component causes the belt to break. Occasionally a belt will fray and will eventually split/tear. Old belts generally lose the drive teeth before breaking.

If the belt actually broke, the water pump problem started quite some time before that. For the temperature to spike the engine has to be running, if the belt broke first the engine stops and then no more heat is created. Sounds like the water pump disintegrated and seized, the engine can continue to run for several minutes after this until either the timing belt breaks or the engine overheats and seizes. Three scenarios: 1. The belt didn't actually break, and you have a chance to replace the belt, water pump and ALL idlers (which should have been done the first time around to avoid his exact situation) and the engine might be fine. 2. Water pump seized and the belt broke, now bent valves need to be replaced, lots of money gets spent and you can hope that the overheat didn't chew up your rod bearings. 3. Water pump didn't seize. The clogged idler below it did and hung up on the belt. The bearings flew out, the idler dug into the water pump housing and chewed through the side, coolant spilled out everywhere causing the overheat. IF the belt actually broke, bent valves. If it didn't you might get lucky enough to hang a new belt on (wih new idlers and WP) and have it run without any other problems. Except for that chance that the rod bearings were damaged. Worst case scenario: You broke a valve and got this:

Just read over your previous thread. Curious if you ever tried driving in D3 to see if it would still stall? I still can't imagine the torque converter lockup is the problem. Since the example was set by GM, I'll go that topic a bit. The converter lockup on the GM cars was just a solenoid to control line pressure, very similar still on newer cars but the systems are much more advanced now, and the solenoids are designed differently to prevent lockup at all if the solenoid goes bad. In the days of the famed TCC solenoid failure, putting the trans into neutral would allow you to stop without the engine stalling. However, the lockup was still engaged so when you put the trans back into gear to drive away the engine would stall immediately. Turn off the engine and restart, go into gear and it would stall again, and again, and again, until the transmission cooled and THEN the lockup solenoid would finally disengage. You could then drive until the transmission got warm again, and if you exceeded 45mph in 3rd gear the lockup would engage and you start the stall fest all over again. It wasn't a stall every once in a while kind of thing, once the solenoid failed the engine would stall any time you stopped after going over 45 mph. More often than not stalling issues are due to engine problems. A lack of power just drives home this point. There are quite a few sensors that can affect engine power, MAF, ECT, knock sensor, all without setting codes.

AC off , warm idle speed for manual trans is only 650-700 rpm. AC on should come up to maybe 750. No adjustment for idle speed. If you make adjustments to the throttle stop the ECU will just bring the speed back down to the proper setting. The best thing you can do is clean the IACV with throttle body cleaner or seafoam.

Transmission is not the problem. Stalling when braking is an engine problem. Vacuum leaks, possible incorrect timing, maybe just needs a tune-up. All vacuum and breather/ PCV hoses are the first things I would check. The ECU can mask vacuum leaks at idle by adjusting the IAC but it can't always make enough adjustment when driving to keep the engine from stalling under hard braking. Sluggish acceleration is also a key indicator of a vacuum leak. Fuel mileage may not suffer, but you will notice hard /strange shifting from an auto trans because of the increased throttle input when accelerating. A higher throttle sensor angle tells the TCU to shift quicker.