Fairtax4me

On newer vehicles the doors play a part in side impact structure. But, unless it's a convertible, they don't generally add any rigidity to the chassis. The roof is the important part. Cut that off and you might as well be driving a tarp.

I guess the easiest way to say it is that people don't often bother to rebuild Subaru transaxles. They aren't the most common things on the road, but they are hardly few and far between either. If one bites the dust, there is an eager replacement awaiting it's return to the open road in a junkyard near you. Not to mention the complexity of properly rebuilding a transaxle. It's not like the 4 speed granny low (wanna say the SM465) that Chevy sold for 25 years, and not a thing changed on it. You can buy complete rebuild kits for one of those for $150 shipped to your door.

Found one. It wasn't the one I was looking for but it pretty much covers it. http://www.autohausaz.com/html/car_noises.html Also found an audio aided list courtesy of the Tappet brothers. http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/Noises/

Well, where's the rest of this book? Never knew that. Good thing to remember if you lose the position of the cams and or crank during a belt change.

Never heard of Bentley. I prefer factory service manuals. But if you must use 3rd party manuals a mixture of Haynes and Chiltons will usually get you most of the info you need between the two. Didn't have any time for searching for the noise list today... I HAD to drive 3 hours (one way) to buy a lift kit.

My oil pressure light flickers for maybe a half second at startup then goes out. My engine is 179k miles young.

How many "normal" drivers would think do to that? Much less pay for it? And no there might not be a good place for it under the car. Heat is an issue whether it's under the engine or under the floor. Cars are designed with heat shields around the exhaust system, and rerouting the system means moving or adding new heat shields so you don't melt or catch other things on the car on fire. There may not be clearance under any other areas of the car for the stock cat to fit, which would mean buying a new one. Which come to think of it, Federal law (EPA) prohibits the installation of used catalytic converters on any vehicle. You might run into trouble finding a shop that is willing to remove and reinstall the same cat. You would also have to lengthen the harness for the two O2 sensors that are mounted to the cat. Not to mention warranty issues, potential problems passing emissions inspection... Probably more of a pita than it's worth.

I wouldn't think so. Valve lash clearance is between the cam/rocker and lifter on top of the valve. Normally there should be a small gap there, if that gap closes to 0 clearance the valve face doesn't make full contact with the valve seat, allowing burning combustion gases to escape and superheat that portion of the valve. What about if the engine is coming off throttle, might the sudden decrease in exhaust flow be able to pull clean air into the exhaust stream through the EGR valve?

Come to think of it, there could be a small amount of movement in that manner. As long as it's not more than a few mm it's probably fine. As for the noise... I'm still having trouble coming up with what might make a clank/clunk. I'm thinking something along the lines of a broken spring. Maybe a better description would help... Where was that list of car noise descriptions someone posted a while back... Let me see if I can find that. Just jack the car up and look for anything out of the ordinary. Please for the sake of all that is worth living for use jack stands and don't crawl under the car when it's only held up by a jack.

Well, you don't set it to TDC to set the timing. Two good links for setting proper timing for belt installation. Courtesy of johnceggleston's signature. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=952890&postcount=7 http://www.lovehorsepower.com/SubaruDocs/TimingWaterPump.htm

If any valves were bent you wouldn't feel it in the camshaft. Put it back together it's fine. The scraping sound is probably because it has no oil pressure.

We can't help until you post another picture. JK Axles can and do move a little. They can wiggle some on the drive studs that come out of the transmission. It shouldn't move any where it goes through the steering knuckle. If it moves there the wheel bearing is bad. It also should not move horizontally (slide towards or away from) to the transmission. Clank noise... Not real sure. Can you make a video or sound clip of it? Is it loud or can the radio cover it up at low volume?

Only time I've ever replaced any was for a swap. Manual and automagic flywheel bolts are usually different lengths (the manual being longer) Other than that I've never seen any that needed replacement. Even reused some that the heads were "smoothed out", after some brainiac installed a clutch disc backwards in a chevy truck. Clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel were all brand spanking new, truck was sitting in the junkyard. He probably shat a brick when he started that thing after putting it all back together.

The boots are stretchy. The one I just replaced on my car looked like it would never fit compared side by side to the old one. It was nearly 1/4" smaller in diameter, but it stretched and slid onto the joint housing just fine. Getting the axle shaft into the small end of the new boot was a tight fit as well.

Shouldn't be any cats near the front of the engine. Heat shielding on the manifold pipes maybe? (not sure how the turbo exhausts are routed) If it's left side (from inside the car) it's probably the cam spacer O ring or front cam seal. The cam seal would leak inside the timing belt cover, and would eventually start leaking out of the bottom of the cover. The O ring would drip down between the cover and head and straight onto the road if it weren't for the exhaust piping being in the way.

I put a floor jack in the bellhousing and pried it apart that way. The rear counter shaft roller bearing was the most expensive IIRC at around $135 when I priced it, and that might have been with my discount I don't remember. It's the one with the flange on it that bolts to the case halves.

So coolant deposits can be ruled out as a major factor, and head design doesn't appear to make one or the other more likely to experience failure. What about EGR vs non EGR? I'm not at all familiar with how the piping for the EGR is routed on these. Never bothered to look it up since it's a gremlin that I don't have to deal with on my car. Could there some attribute of the intake manifold that allows the #4 to lean out?

FSM for 95 says Crank/cam angle sensor resistance values should be between 1-4 KΩ. I can't imagine they're much different from 94 to 95. Not sure about the lights. Are those the brake lights? (not sure which are which on the Imp)

ABS tone ring. The ABS Wheel Speed Sensor "counts" those teeth as they pass by the sensor to determine... bet you'd never guess this... wheel speed. Was the box damaged when you received the axle? A cut boot seems a bit odd.

Ahhhh... you know what... seems I've read about this before. Something weird about using a scan tool. Some of them seem to read high by a several volts, even though the decimal reading is correct, the whole number (before the decimal) is significantly higher than what an O2 sensor is capable of producing. I bet if it was tested at the sensor, or with a Subaru select monitor, it would be within spec.

Did you use a zinc additive in the oil? You're supposed to do that for rebuilds or new builds, especially when you install a new cam.

The only major one is on the release lever pivot bolt inside the bell housing. The rest of the cable system doesn't move much except for the cable itself, and you can't lube that. I suppose you can hit the pedal pivot with some lithium grease.

Those are actuators for the VVT. I believe they control oil pressure to the advance mechanism. Timing chain is a plus. The cat just beneath the engine will be a sludge maker, just like the Saab 9-3. The cat is too close to the oil pan, the heat cooks the oil which deteriorates it faster and causes it to clog the pickup and other oil passages. I know the idea is that the cat warms up faster, decreasing emissions at startup, but it's a fatal flaw for the 9-3. We'll just have to see how that works out for Subaru.

Of the ones you have seen do they have the same head/cam design (sohc vs dohc) or is any type susceptible to this? I also wonder if there is any correlation between head gasket failure and if it may contribute to deposits forming/landing on the valve seat.

Oh yeah, I love a good strip show! Did the hood have one of those big cowl scoops?