Fairtax4me

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope Santa was good to your soobs, and there's enough beer to last all day to get you through dealing with the inlaws outlaws and the broken laws!

The pump uses a rotary vane style compressor to create pressure. If the fluid is old or incorrect the vane plates can get jammed in the rotor housing and not extend to meet the outter edge of the housing. When that happens you get low or sometimes no pressure when you need it. A slipping belt will also cause similar problems.

The tab is for the centering spring. It just brings the shifter back to the center position (between 3 and 4) when you take your hand off of it. The springs can rust and break, and often people lose them when taking apart the linkage. Or they can't figure out how to get the spring back in place so they just leave it off. But it helps a ton with the feel of the shifter and makes it much easier to find 3rd gear.

Resetting the codes to see what comes back is always my first step when multiple codes are present. P0141 Subaru O2 Heater Circuit (Bank 1, Sensor 2) This code is for the rear O2 sensor. It's mounted on top of the rear cat sticking out towards the drivers side of the car. It can be difficult to see from below unless you are right under the cat. The Knock Sensor code will probably come back unless someone replaced the knock sensor and never had the code erased. There's a member here selling brand new replacement knock sensors for under $25, look in the classified section. Any vacuum related problem can cause the EGR code to set. Definitely get some smaller diameter vacuum hose to fit on those metal lines. That code can also be set because the EGR valve is clogged, it's not difficult to remove and clean, a new gasket from a dealer is only a few dollars. It can be cleaned with just about any type of cleaner. I find Intake and Throttle Body Cleaner cuts through the carbon and sludge buildup in the intake system very quickly. There are a few hoses by the IAC for the PCV system. The PCV valve is threaded into the manifold and the hose goes from there down into the crankcase. One other goes to the intake hose/ box behind the throttle body. There are also two breathers hoses that come from the valve covers (one hose each) that attach to the bottom of the intake tube/ intake box. Either of those can cause problems since a missing or cracked hose will allow un-metered air into the intake behind the MAF sensor.

How much is a tank? Gallons not needles. If you're going by what the gauge says, they are notoriously inaccurate, and a car sitting for a long period of time will have extra varnish build up on the sender unit, which will make it that much less accurate. Mechanically, the timing could be off, the front oxygen sensor could have got fouled up, fuel injectors could be varnished and need to be cleaned. Check the timing and try a good fuel system cleaner first, lots of people here recommend Techron because it also helps clean the fuel senders.

Their synthetic fluid is basically the same stuff you can buy on a shelf in any auto parts store for 1/3 the cost. The 44K fuel system cleaner works great though.

Ahh you're in western Virginia not West Virginia. A used transmission is probably the best route. It sounds like the shop is quoting you to replace the transmission with a used one. Going in just to fix reverse is kinda pointless because chances are the trans will just quit soon after anyway.

Possibly the most painful words that can be uttered in the AWD Subaru world. Tires on these must match perfectly in size AND wear level at ALL times or damage to the transmission center transfer unit WILL occur. Get 4 new tires for it asap. The wheel size will not cause the speed sensor code. Vehicle speed is measured at the transmission, chances are the wiring is damaged or unplugged. Worst case the drive gears for the sensor inside the transmission are stripped. That's a lot of work and something you just live with unless you feel like taking apart the transmission. The sensor isn't hard to change though and they don't usually go bad so a junkyard part could be swapped in cheap if it needs to be replaced.

It's already bad. It was bad when it started misfirIng. I would very strongly recommend you rent a car for your trip. With raw fuel being poured into the exhaust system the catalytic converters will get extremely hot and possibly catch on fire. Best case they will just plug up and cause the engine to bog down so much you can't drive the car anywhere.

Assuming the car is in decent shape, I'd say go for it. John is on the right path, it sounds like someone did an engine swap and the codes are there because something isn't kosher with the swap. He might have used an engine with no EGR in a car that had it from the factory. There's no way around that, you just have to deal with the code, or get an engine that has the EGR. But it could just be the Test mode connector under the dash. In that case it's fixed in 3 seconds, and free!

Multiple cylinder misfires... could be jumped timing belt. The P0420 is probably just showing because there is raw fuel in the exhaust. If allowed to run like that for an extended period of time damage can be done to the catalytic converters so it would be wise to not drive the car until you get the problem resolved. Are you in Charlottesville, VA? I could probably look at it for you this week if you want.

I use Retailmenot.com coupon codes at Advance auto all the time. Most recently I got $60 off of a $300 carburetor, then got it shipped free.

If you don't want to deal with it yourself, the best option is probably just to sell it to someone who has the time and desire to repair it. Lots of people out there looking for winter beaters or spring project cars. Craigslist is usually the easiest place to list it. Kinda rough shape, lots of miles, it's probably only worth ~$700 to the right buyer. I see dead engine Subarus of that age on my local CL listed for usually around 750 - 900 on a regular basis. Ocassionally I see them higher and they usually end up dropping the price after a couple weeks.

If you don't have a serious impact wrench it probably won't budge those even if they weren't rusty. Did you try a breaker bar? Those are 12mm bolts so they won't break unless you really lay into them or they're just rusted to nothing inside. It can also help to smack them with a large hammer a few times. The crossmember should be the same on the Legacy. Opposed forces lists differt part numbers, but the differences should be minor. But you can get on from basically any impreza from 93 to 99. http://opposedforces.com/parts/info/20151FA101/

I'd first double double check all of the flex plate bolts. Spin the engine around by hand and see if you can feel or hear any thing strange. Did you keep the dust shield at the bottom of the bell housing? Make sure it's not bent or jammed into the transmission bellhousing incorrectly. Was there a spacer between the flexplate and crankshaft when you removed the flex plate?

I've used a few and the large C clamp type works the best IMO. Of course that won't work if you have the head still on the engine (stem seal change) but anytime the head is on a bench, the C clamp type.

Probably just cruddy seats. Is it the exhaust valves that seep? Might be from a rich fuel mixture or coolant contamination fouling up the seats enough to leak just a little bit. It's probably something that happens all the time, but if you have the head apart might as well lap them while you're at it.

Well there's your problem! There's a dohickie wedged in your thingamajig!

To say they're exempt would be a mis-statement, but there are certain years that are more likely and certain years that are less likely to fail. Eventually the head gaskets will fail on any engine, the normal service life seems to be around 200 - 250k miles, which tends to be the life of the vehicle. Subaru EJ22 head gaskets tend to make it to 300k and sometimes beyond on original gaskets due to their design. Any early DOHC 2.5 known as the EJ25D, used most commonly in the Legacy Outback between 96 and 99, is almost guaranteed to have a head gasket failure by 150k miles.There are some rare cases of these where the head gaskets have lasted just as long as on any other engine. The typical failure mode on these is for coolant to leak into the combustion chamber and be burned away by the combustion of fuel and air. Generally these can be successfully repaired and the replacement gaskets will last the rest of the useable life of the car. Unfortunately, often the engine is damaged beyond repair because the head gaskets are not replaced at the first sign of failure, and the engines are driven to the point of overheating multiple times, or in some cases severe overheating, causing damage to the bearings in the engine. This results in catastrophic failure of the rod bearings, often causing rods to break and put a hole through the engine block. The second generation SOHC 2.5 used in almost everything from 1999 to 2004 is susceptible to head gasket failure, but in a different way. These typically leak externally, or towards the outside of the block. It will mean occasional drips or signs of seepage of coolant around he head gaskets on the block. This is a manageable condition through the help of a cooling system conditioner required by Subaru for use in these engines. As with the earlier design, severe overheating will cause internal damage, but the cases of severe overheating are less common because there are signs of coolant leakage that lead to the driver having the vehicle serviced before engine damage is done. Of the newer EJ25 varieties from 2005 to current it is hard to say. These have not shown signs of head gasket failure in a widespread manner, but most of them are still below the typical failure mileage. A dealer will be the best informed of how these are holding up, because that's the first place owners of newer vehicles will go when their car has a problem. But so far, they seem to be much less problematic than the earlier incarnations of the 2.5.

Vehicles susceptible to this problem are: Legacy: Wagon and Sedan versions of all Legacy models including Outback from 1990 all the way up to 2004 IIRC. Impreza: Wagon, Coupe and Sedan versions of all Impreza models including Outback Sport, WRX, and STI, from 1993 to current model year as far as I know. Forester: All Forester models from 1998 to Current model year. It's in the passenger rear wheel well. You're likely not see the rust without first removing the plastic cover, but if you can smell raw fuel there's a good chance the filler pipe is rusted out. This one I replaced earlier this week. It literally left a puddle on the shop floor under the car.

My thoughts as well. Magnets don't pick up aluminum, and there's no steel in these combustion chambers except for the valves and seats, and the end of the spark plug. I'd do a compression test.

Seems to me some of the higher end Dogbox units go in the $15-20k range. I would expect that one to be that much or more since it's designed basically from the ground up, not just a coversion kit.

2100 I could see for a clean car (no wreck, no rust) In Perfect shape with all maintenance recently done. Being wrecked and rusty that thing better have 50k original miles for $1800 bucks. I'm gonna guess it's up around 200k. A look underneath would probably reveal control arms and a cross member about to rust out. Anything suspension related that goes bad will be a Royal PITA to replace, typical in the rust belt states. Cruise doesn't work, that can be a can of worms, or just a vacuum hose. The shaking probably means the brake rotors are warped, those are usually simple to replace, but its one more thing on the list. Either way, it probably needs some tune-up parts, timing belt changed, Exhuast system soon. I personally wouldn't go over $1000 on it. If you can't get it for that just keep looking.

Id fill it up and keep an eye on the coolant level. Sounds like it just wasn't properly topped off.

This is the typical range of misfires for poor spark caused by old plugs or bad wires.