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Doing anything on those cars suck. The balljoints pressed into the aluminum control arms? The inner tie rod ends that always fail? Whenever I saw one of those things roll in I wanted to just quit on the spot. Also LOL heater cores....

What? Really? I can't think of anything on the subaru that's very hard to work on. Sure it's not a SBC, but go work on any american car with a sideways engine. I'd rather work on a subaru any day. When I worked in the shop, I was always glad to have a subaru in my bay over pretty much anything else.

I thought the FB was a chain.

Almost every car with a timing belt has about a 100,000 mile interval on the belt. I'm not sure why you find that at all unusual. And you're surprised a car with over 100k miles needs things like brakes and a wheel bearing? What planet are you from where cars over 100k miles don't need brakes and bearings?

By the time it's slipping in 2nd gear, it's hosed. Replace it soon.

Oh it's not nearly that complicated! You don't have to unbolt any suspension. Often times you can remove one axle without unbolting anything. But even so, once the diff is loose you can just lower it down, move it all the way to one side, and the opposite axle will pop out. This is how you have to do EJ ones. I always lie under the diff and just press it in or out. They probably weigh like 60lbs? maybe. Really depends if you feel comfortable hefting the weight and maneuvering it without dropping it on yourself.

Sorry, I really don't care how turbo ea cars work. I'm probably never gonna own one, and it's really not relevant to the issue I have with my n/a. They likely changed it because there was no way to fit the other valve on the intake or something, I dunno. It's different, yay.

Is it a rheostat type TPS on these, or is it the kind that only registers at idle, mid throttle, and WOT? When I go near WOT I hear a relay under the dash click. And if the IACV is unplugged, the motor dies at the exact same time. If it's a rheostat type tps it probably needs to be cleaned... Seeing as unplugging the IACV drops the idle down to 500 warm, I can only imagine the throttle plate is closing. But I'll give it a double check. I cleaned all that spoob out over the summer.

What? No. Go look at how a MPFI ej engine works. The injectors are right at the bottom of the intake manifold by the heads. And the iacv is either mounted to the side of the intake manifold just after the throttle body (phase 1), or part of the throttle body on phase 2. But that's all completely irrelevant because I don't own a newgen car that works anymore. So back to the old school. And actually some of the early ej18s have a wonky setup like what you're describing about the turbo ea82.

Anything above 200 while driving usually raises alarm to me. like 230 or 240 is when you probably want to shut it down before harm is done. The coolant temp is less important than the oil temp, really. Because when the oil overheats it gets less viscus causing low pressure means bearings get screwed. If the temp spikes and you shut it down fast, chances are you didn't have a chance to overheat the oil and do any serious damage. Though I'll usually change the oil after such an event. An oil temp gauge is an important metric to engine health. Because if you see coolant temp spike, but oil temp doesn't move much, you're OK. If you see the oil temp spike and coolant kinda meanders up, yea, it's done for.

You didn't really overheat it, so I doubt it. Unless they used bad quality gaskets or did poor work. But you caught the thermostat thing before any harm was done.

It's probably an automatic, then. I don't think the manual has one.

Because it's an entirely different setup. One has a turbo and all sorts of different things, and one doesn't. Look at turbo vs n/a EJ cars, everything is different. Now back to the situation at hand.... Since when I unplug the iacv the idle drops way down, I can assume it's not sticking and that the computer is telling it to idle high. What gives.

Drive out the roll pins for the axles. Unbolt the drive shaft flange. Take out the two nuts that hold the diff cover to the mustache bar, and remove the bolt on the top that goes to the cross member. Then just drop it out... No tricks, it's really easy.

Go under the car and clean the engine until it shines. Then when you start it up you can see exactly where it's leaking. If it's still hard to locate, put some UV dye in the oil to find the leak. It'll glow green under a blacklight. If it's from the front of the engine, it's probably a cam or crank seal. Really not that bad a job. Basically a timing belt replacement.

I'm being a poser, I'm not actually in northen maine. I'm in Orono...

Cool, thanks. I can find that easier in a junkyard than GL/loyale parts. Those have all long since rusted out and been crushed.

It works fine when the iacv is plugged in, though. The cutting out thing is directly related to unplugging it. It runs mostly fine when I'm driving, so I doubt it's the MAF. Although I do have some MAF cleaner at my parents' house. I have to go see them for christmas, so I'll grab a spare maf and that out of storage...

well it must check if there's a load there, because it completely dies from any RPM, in neutral or in gear going down the road over 3/4 throttle. It's like hitting an off switch. What kind of vw did you get it from?

It's funny you mention the CTS, I was thinking about that sitting in traffic stuck with a 1500rpm idle. Has anyone listed resistances for the CTS under normal conditions? Warmed up, cold, etc so I can put a meter on there and see if I get expected readings? The wiring on this car does have gremlins, so it could very well be corrosion. Do you know how the IACV works? I assume it's just a PWM signal, but I don't feel like dragging my oscilloscope out into the apartment parking lot in the snow. Seeing as the idle dropped down immediately unplugging the thing, I can pretty much conclude it's not sticking open, so the computer is telling it to idle high for whatever reason. I figure cutting gas has something to do with the fact it's missing a part of the control system, computer is probably unhappy. I bet if I made a dummy load it wouldn't care. It's supposed to be 10 below tonight and windy. Since I live on the river it's unlikely I'm gonna want to go outside and mess with it tomorrow... but weirder things have happened.

If it was a cracked sleeve you'd have terrible noises, metal in the oil, coolant in the oil, bad leak down, blow by, and it probably would run like junk. HGs on these won't come up on a leakdown. But it's not a cracked something or other. That's BS.

Of course a dealer is trying to get you to buy a new car, that's how they make their money. They don't make money on old cars, nor do they really want to work on them. I've only ever seen one 2.5 with a cracked sleeve. I beat the spoob out of it to the point it overheated and snapped a conrod, it kept driving for a few miles before total destruction.... This motor had a long history of violence...

If I unplug the harness connector, the idle drops fairly low. If I also crimp the vacuum hose closed the idle drops slightly lower. With the iacv unplugged the engine will immediately die over about 3/4 throttle. It's like unplugging the ignition. This doesn't really make any sense to me.

In mine they don't lock up when pulled, either. Looking at them, there's a ball in the mechanism that I think moves forward in a crash causing the mechanism to lock. If I'm parked on a really steep hill, or sideways, the seatbelts won't pull out until I'm on flatter ground.

If you want your car to be safer in the snow, maybe you should get snow tires for it...