man on the moon

I could have sworn the chart in my Chilton's lists it as 27-42 or so (off the top of my head). I'll pull it out of the back of the car tomorrow and double check--my memory could be way off if it doesn't top 30!

Even if you get rid of the EGR (which I would keep, personally), you will need the PCV valve! Don't get rid of that one. Things I've dumped over time are the a/c lines (left the compressor in, just dumped it about half-full of motor oil and sealed the oil ports), the electric fan (died and I haven't replaced it, just trashed it), and...hmm. Timing belt covers. I think that's about it for the motor.

Should be 14s. The driveshaft can stay together, unbolt the said pair of 14s, and four bolts holding it to the rear diff. It should stay in one piece for you. The front end where it mates to the tranny has no bolts--it just slides on like an axle does, with splines.

I keep forgetting they changed the engine but not the model name. But yes, you are correct. Should still be more than 0.5 gal

Pictures would help a lot! And welcome

This sounds bad. Did you also include the radiator in the flush? EA82 is about 6 liters iirc/gallon and half as stated. Overflow after half a gallon is...wow. Something is very wrong! Maybe the engine is cleaned out ok but something near the fill neck of the rad is still plugged? I remember pulling some of this nasty crap out of an overflow tank (bathroom sink, 30 minutes) and a radiator (garden hose, an hour and lots of tipping and spinning). Did a similar flush and detergent (you can buy some at autozone/etc) to the motor as what you described, seemed ok until the ECU got fried a week or two later! I no longer have that Loyale. That was a $300 Loyale I got because the radiator burst a small leak (probably due to the crap in the system, not unlike what you have). JB Weld and lots of cleaning later it was a great car while it lasted.

Any progress yet?

Turbo transmissions (D/R anyway) have 25 splines, non-turbo 23.

Ah, good call. We shall find out soon, hopefully!

That is the dual range transmission. It is fun . Why are you swapping the gas tank? Does it leak?

Nothing! Which is a miracle! Ok, not entirely true. I had steam come out from under the hood last week, discovered I needed to tighten down the clamp for the hose/thermostat housing. Added some oil. ...other than that, though, nothing! Oh, and I need to swap out my snow tires this weekend.

Well, going on two days now and still no more response. I'd consider a scrap-yard offer if she were communicative. I could make a spot to park it and find a place to reseal a motor, but it's not worth the trouble to me of long back and forths in communication--especially if the tranny is going to need some love in the near future, too. Thanks for the ideas, if nothing else they will help me untangle the next ad I try responding to .

Bad ground. If the motor is seized the starter will whine and get hot, but not kill the entire electrical system. It could melt stuff but it won't just go 'click-dead'. That is probably a ground problem as stated. If the battery cables look good, there are a couple other wires to check. The starter has a ground that comes off the loom just shy of the starter, and grounds toward the rear of the engine. It is a big fat gauge wire with black/red insulation. It has a rubber nipple to cover the bolt. I have it grounded to a tapped hole at the rear of the head, but there are a couple spots it could be grounded (not too many--it's a short wire). It is probably this wire--clean the ground and connector, bolt snug and try starting her again. An easy way to test if this is the problem--jumper cables. Run a ground from your negative battery post to a spot on the motor--alternator mount works well so long as you clear the fan area--and try cranking the motor. It should start and continue to run after you remove the cable, but it won't re-start if you kill the motor unless you ground it again. There is no need to jump the positive/hot terminal at all for this experiment, as the cables just complete the ground portion of the circuit for the starter motor. I haven't separated the loom, but I believe the "black/red" wire grounding by the starter, and the "black" wire that serves as the ground terminal cable on the battery are spliced together somewhere inside the loom wrapping. They are a similar or same gauge, and grounding the one serves as a ground for the other, which makes me think they are part of the same circuit. There is a second ground up near the front, on the same side, though afaik it's not for the starter (I think it is a motor:body ground, generic). I have it grounded with the small bolt that holds the radiator pipe (connecting the rad hose and water pump) in place. This one is a medium/smaller gauge wire with black/yellow insulation. It does not have a nipple (at least on mine). Check and clean both ends of this wire, as well. If this doesn't make sense, or is confusing, I'll take some pictures, just let me know.

Welcome! You are not the only person from outside the US, though to my memory there are not too many from eastern Europe at the moment. About time to change that . Your english is good, by the way--are you a native speaker, or did you learn in school? Just being curious, sorry if it's too much. Good looking van, btw! Hope to hear many stories about it as time goes on.

She doesn't have a sister or best friend, does she??? We're all jealous, well done on both the girl and the car!

There are loads of them all the time, this girl actually responded and still had it! Most of the running ones either don't respond or I find too late. Eventually I'll find one! Whether it's this one or another one, I don't know. I'm not in a hurry to have one, so if she makes a good deal I might take it, and if not, I won't.

The tech center is referring to a neighborhood, in this case one located around a University campus. They aren't the seller. That said, you must have googled the ad... The little ************ doesn't bother me, and even swapping a motor is no problem. I just DON'T WANT TO WORK ON A TRANSMISSION. If she brings the price down? Who knows, I'm still waiting on a reply to my last inquiry.

Yes! MINE! Some potheads took my car for a joyride when I was in California. I replaced almost $200 worth of tools they grabbed out of the back. Now my tools are still in the car, but buried under crap where even I can't find them half the time. Usually the half of the time when I really need them and spend ten minutes looking!

Sorry, I thought I'd included the price. The listed price is $1200 but I'm pretty sure there's no way she's going to get that unless all I have to do is replace a rotor (gold thing?) and a fuse! I'm waiting for her response to my further inquiries. If a rod is thrown, are the 2.2s much harder to swap out than a 1.8? I've swapped Ea82s a couple times, and had heads off. Not interested in splitting a case, though--if one rod went, I would want to do all four while I was in there and...I have street parking. I could conceivably do a swap but will NOT take the motor apart in my 3rd floor walk up studio--just not practical (though it would make for a good story!)

I am emailing with someone selling a 97 Legacy on Craigslist. The car does not seem to be running, and is quoted as having a transmission problem, but I'm not so sure the problem is as big as she says. Could someone with a newer gen/2.2 car (I have a Loyale) take a look at what she's told me and share an opinion? The ad says: (I edited out some non-relevant parts) I have a 1997 Subaru Legacy Wagon for sale. It recently has blown its engine (EJ22) & has some tranny work that will be need to be done. Those are the 2 major issues w/the vehicle. It is an A/T & it just turned over to 280K on the engine. I have been the 2nd owner of the vehicle & bought it 7yrs ago w/123K on the engine. It has been a very good car just the obvious age of the vehicle is the reasoning behind the recent major issues. It will need to be towed as the engine is blown & its not in operable condition. And the email response I got (sic): The subaru is still available & the issues that I am aware of is the engine as stated you can see the gold rod but the silver piece popped through a bit. As for the tranny I ahve been the 2nd owner & have had it since '05 upon start up it flashes about 15x the A/T oil temp light. I recently have had the check engine light which has popped up the PO740 code which I think has to deal with the solenoid. Other than that once a new engine was put in the car would be operable. I would suggest the timing belt being done when a new or rebuilt engine was put in as its been quite some time since that was done. I never really had any major problems w/the vehicle the 7yrs I have owned it. Its mostly been normal wear & tear w/tires & brakes. The biggest thing I did was a few yrs ago & I believe it was the transfer case. Please let me know if I can be of any other assistance or if you would like to see the vehicle. The PO740 code is related to the clutch system in the automatic transmission, might be a wiring coupler, might be a solenoid, might be a bad solder/bolt connection... I asked what, specifically, is wrong with the motor (the picture did NOT show the gold/silver bit she mentioned, not clearly anyway) and am awaiting the response. In the meanwhile, any guesses or ideas? I'll post more info when I get it, or if I go look at the car.

I don't remember precisely, but much of the southern half of the state is in the Mojave desert. I don't think I had yet penetrated into the Sonoran desert as the first pic is close to Vegas. I took highway 395 to 95 from Reno to Vegas, but this was not on that highway; 95 had just enough traffic that I didn't like it, so I drove out toward the mountains, somewhere out toward Mt Charleston. If memory serves, it was somewhere in this loop off the main highway: http://maps.google.com/?ll=36.367116,-115.448456&spn=0.62147,0.924225&t=m&z=10

No problem. And do be careful--the EA82 is non-interference, so you can do this with no problem. Do it on an interference motor, though, and you'll end up replacing more than just timing belts!

This is pretty normal if you are trying to use the 4wd on pavement. It is working correctly, you just need snow or gravel. Don't drive on dry asphalt too often or it will stop working, though . Find a big dirt parking lot with loose surface covering, or some snow or ice and give her a spin! Just make sure no people or cars or other things flying rocks can damage are in range should you really hit the gas.

I have a lot of pictures in the album I just shared from, one had no car, but did have lots of snow drifts and marshmallow trees. I saw fit at the time to include the comment "Snow at Donner Pass, CA. I was waved through a chain check station (with no chains) here. Thank you Subaru -" That was the first, but not the last time that has happened. Too bad it's always been night or I would have a picture of the cop waving me through.