Fairtax4me

It's not clear coated, it's tasteful. There's a jacked up Toyota truck running around here that looks like it has never even seen dirt or the woods, has camo paint with clear coat, giant mud tires with tire shine sprayed all over them, and the shiniest mirror polished aluminum wheels I've ever seen.

Dual range AND Awd?!? What's the reduction ratio on that trans? I seem to recall seeing something like 1.19 for the EJ d/r transmissions, didn't know they came AWD though. Figured they were just 4wd.

I think the last thermostat o ring I got from the dealer was orange rubber. Perhaps you saw orange and assumed it was copper?

Well we just can't have that type of behavior now can we. :-p Double check your connection on the ECU, and make sure the ground for the switch is somewhere on the transmission case, or that it goes to the main harness ground point on the intake manifold.

Not the NSS, the NPS. The ECU does not use the Nuetral Safety Switch, which is for starting only. Also those pin numbers are wrong for the 95 ECU. I already posted the correct ones from the 95 FSM.

How about cut the end off of a light cord, plug it into the wall and stick the other end into the plug on the alternator. Oh wait... something that WON'T burn the garage down...

$52 isnt too bad. People sell them for more than that on eBay. There were some differences in wiring through the years. The 5 wire harnesses make use of a built in air temp sensor in the MAF. The 3 wire harness doesn't use the temp sensor. The MAF still plugs in the same way, still works with either harness.

Just reinforcing the point.

Read these links for timing belt info: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=952890&postcount=7 http://www.lovehorsepower.com/SubaruDocs/TimingWaterPump.htm Try timing it right before accusing the valves of being bent. You got it close enough to run the first time, so it couldn't have been too far off. You may have bigger problems though if the engine was overheated. Head gaskets are the least thing to worry about at this point. The DOHC 2.5 likes to chew up rod bearings when it overheats. Even if you get it timed right, it has a good chance of putting a rod through the block in the next few thousand miles.

Easy test of the fuel pump is to remove the fuel line that comes from the filter and stick it in a plastic bottle. Turn key on, if fuel spits into the bottle the pump works. Fuel pump fuse is number 16 in the dash fuse panel.

Dirt and grit gets into the steering rack and inner tie rod ends and causes them to wear. These aren't all that difficult to replace, there are even boots that can be put on without even removing the outer tie rod end. Ive heard of people wrapping various types of tape around the boots to keep some of the dirt out while a replacement part is ordered. I would guess duct tape might work fairly well, but will not last long term because of the proximity to the exhaust header.

Take it to the dealer. The car is too new to have worn bushings or suspension parts. If somethings loose it's a defect or a loose bolt.

The coil pack is made up of two coils, each hump in the pack is a separate coil, with a terminal at each end. Both terminals are fired at the same time, so both plugs attached to that coil spark at the same time. Weak or no spark will affect both plugs that are fired by that coil. With one cylinder misfiring, it's spark plug, wire , fuel injector, or something internal in that cylinder. How many miles? Have you ever had the valve lash adjusted? An all too common problem with these is the exhaust valve face wears and the lash clearance becomes too tight, eventually leading to the valve burning. With the 2.5 DOHC engine, cylinder number 4 seems to be the lucky cylinder for burned valves. Assuming you have quality spark plugs and wires, meaning NGK spark plugs and NGK or Subaru OE plug wires, a consistent misfire on cylinder 4 could be due to no compression. A compression test or leakdown test will confirm a burned valve.

Fuel pressure is pretty much the same for any EJ engine except for the turbos. Yeah I don't want it to sound like I recommend cutting open the MAF just to see what's inside. I was just saying that's how I ultimately figured out what was wrong with it. A used MAFs cheap from a junkyard, and only takes a few minutes to swap out. If you can't see anything visibly wrong with the harness connector or wires, just replace the MAF first and save yourself the trouble of cutting/ slicing.

Tie rod ends. Good chance the boots on the steering rack could have split long ago and the inner tie rod ends got full of dirt and wore out. The outers can cause similar symptoms, but the inners seem more prone to transfer motion/noise to the chassis. Check all, and check the ball joints as well. They're easy to check even with just a jack.

The U-pull-It I go to charges $28 for a MAF. And these hardly go bad. I've bought three or four of them and they all worked fine. Just match up the part number on the green sticker. Wire loom is the black plastic stuff that's wrapped around the wires. Just pull the tape off and pull back the plastic and you should be able to see anything that's wrong. I actually cut the top off the MAF to find the break. Just cut through the silicone with a razor knife and pried the top off. One of the solder joints had broken where the pin sticks through the connector housing. I think I had to pry something else off the top of the MAF though to see where the pins were. I had already replaced it at that point so I didn't see any point in trying to fix it.

The pilot shaft may not be engaging the pilot bearing properly. When you put the clutch on did you center the disc or just let it hang by the pilot tool? The disc needs to be lifted a bit so it lines up straight. Otherwise the splines engage but the pilot shaft is too low to fit into the bearing.

Yeah and while you're at it go ahead and toss a SBC 350 under the hood too. :-p Who cares about gas mileage anyway? It's all relative! I like the stock airbox mod idea, quite a bit of work, but that looks much better than the cheapo Chinese chrome air filter housing. My buddy has one of those on his beetle and the clips that hold the top down keep falling off.

Glad you found something to point you in the right direction. I had a MAF with an internal break that would cause the engine to cut off if the wires were wiggled just right. But it would set a code every time. It was like the key had been turned off, no stumble or anything, just off. If the car was rolling in gear, a few seconds later it would kick back on and carry on like nothing ever happened. Check the wiring under the loom and make sure none of the sockets are loose in the plug before cutting and splicing a new connector in. You might even just grab a used MAF from a junkyard and put it on to try it.

Coolant sensor affects fuel mixture. When the engine is cold the ECU pours in a little more fuel to get the engine started. Once the engine warms up it doesn't need the extra fuel, and having too much will make it run rough. The problem with the ECT comes in when it tells the ECU the engine is cold, when it's really warm, or vice versa.

The MT ID pin has to be grounded.

And you have NO thermostat in right now correct? Halfway on the guage is pretty much normal. One of my cars it sits at halfway all the time, the other just a hair below, but they never move once the engine is warm, even when it's 100 degrees out. Losing the heat after only a few minutes could be a plugged core, but that shouldn't cause it to overheat or run hot when there is no thermostat. The only affect that running the blower fan will have is cooling the liquid that is in the heater core. Regardless if the heat is on or off, coolant moves through the core at all times. You can try flushing the hearer core and radiator, also wouldn't hurt to put a new radiator cap on if that hasn't been done. If none of that helps it's time for a block test.

PB blaster. Vice grips. Clamp the vice grips on and twist after the PB has soaked in for a while. Once it breaks loose you should be able to twist it off, smack the side of the vice grips with a hammer if it needs persuasion.

OAW even sounds like a cheesy name. :-p TRW sounds like a cheesy name too but they make OE parts for so many cars it'll make your head spin. Thanks for the tip GD!

Which part? I used one to knock the roll pin loose.