WAWalker

The schedule is basicly every 3 years. 30 months (2.5 years) or 30k, which ever comes first. So I would say the schedule is realistic. Yes, brake fluid absorbes water. Water can cause corossion, and water in the brake fluid will also lower it's boiling temp. You will get a lot of different opinions. Some like pay for scheduled maintanence, some perfer to react to failures (pay for repairs).

The front cam caps torque spec. is 82-95 INCH Lbs. The center and rear cam cap torque spec. is 13-16 Ft. Lbs. You will pull the threads on the cylinder head if you torque them to tight. The seized journal could be an oil delivery problem. Possibly to much sealant on oil pump if it was removed and resealed. Excess sealant could have blocked an oil passage. Maybe oil pump o-ring out of place causeing an internal leak. Was the engine badly over heated prior to head gasket reapair? What was the condition of the cam caps when removed the first time? As far as adjusting the valves on the bench before assembly. I do not recommend it. Yes, you can do it, but the cleaerances will change once the heads are torqued.

That wouldn't be more prone to HG failure, as compaired to what? If you want a Subaru that is LESS prone to head gasket failure then you buy a Subaru with a 2.2L engine. Why do you think people replace 2.5L Subaru engines with 2.2L Subaru engines. Why do you think people replace water cooled VW Vanagon engines with Subaru 2.2L engines. They have proven to be of better design and LESS prone to head gasket failure EVEN AT HIGHER MILEAGE. If a 2.5L Subaru engine makes it to 100k on the original head gasket, it is more prone to head gasket failure than the same 2.2L Subaru engine. Look at the history. I have no worries about my 186k mile '98 2.2L Legacy sedan head gaskets. I could not say the same if it was a 186k mile '98 2.5L Legacy GT, (which is what I really wanted but know the truth first hand about the head gaskets). Don't hate nipper, just think he is makeing some VERY misleading statements concerning 2.2L vs. 2.5L engines. And he refusess to back up his statements. So I keep.

As with your spark plugs..............If you took the car to the dealer and asked for a 30k service, the transmission fluid should have been changed. If you did not ask for a 30k service and told them specificly what work you wanted performed, then it is a different story. What did you take the car in for a 30k service or something different?

Open up the coolant recovery bottle and the radiator. Take a good sniff. Does it smell like an exhaust pipe? That much pressure without boiling coolant is more serious than a bad radiator cap, or non OEM t-stat. Dirty coolant recovery bottle will not cause the engine to overheat or spew coolant.

You and nipper are absolutly 100% correct. The higher the mileage the higher the risk. That is some profound insight for sure. That is what he said her. Not what was said here. This statement is asinine, to be blunt. No:grin: I'm just a little slow. If you want to say, that high mileage cars are more likely to break down, than low mileage cars, that I can understand. If you throw mileage numbers and compairison to other cars in the mix, I get a little confused.

When you are on the "New Generation of Subarus" main page, there is a "New Thread" icon above the list of current threads. We know it is a 2.5, list the milage, the most detailed discription of the symptoms and when they occur as you can, and anything you have checked or replaced already.

Radiator caps are radiator caps IMO, you can use aftermarket. Did you decide for sure that your engine is a 2.5L?

mlpdickerson, Please start a new thread with any questions you may have. Really we do want to try and help.

Anyhoo.............................................The point is......................When someone has a question about a '96 Outback over heating. Type of engine 2.2 or 2.5 and milage on the car IS pertinent information. I think the person who started the thread made a decission as to what to do with the car in question. I hope we haven't scared off the other person who asked about their car in this same thread.

None that I have done. They have all been within the last 5 years. Ask me again in another 5 years. Then you will have some usable information. I have replaced 2 or 3 sets that have been done buy someone besides me. For now we can chaulk those up to the work not being done properly. I have talked to another shop that did a set, the owner put another ~100k on in a matter of a couple years. I know them, and trust that they would have done the job right.

How long has it been since you (on a regular basis) started reading about people having to replace head gaskets on 2.5 DOHC's. Think about it. Also, I base my information on the large number of head gasket jobs I have done on 2.5's vs. the very small number that I have done on 2.2's over a span of 10+ years. It ain't looking good for the 2.5's. They made the 2.2 for FIVE years before they started making the 2.5, and continued to make them for THREE more years. The 2.2 was produced for TWICE as many years as the 2.5. If the 2.2 was as suseptible to head gasket failure after 100k as the 2.5, then I should be doing more 2.2 head gasket work than 2.5. The numbers are very much in favor of the 2.2 in the real world.

NO. When it takes ~5-6 years and/or ~80-180k for the problem to be prevalent enough to be consider a patteren failure. Then it will take ~ the same amount of time and/or milage, after replacement, to determine if the new gaskets are truely a fix. Just because the engineer said this gasket will fix the problem, does not mean it will. I'm sure they thought the first one would work. I'm sure they thought the head gaskets they used in the Phase II 2.5 engines would work. They don't. NO. But if this was truely what you believe, how could you say that they are just a reliable as the 2.2's that the MAJORITY go over this mileage without ever needing the gaskets replaced. NO. See above. I think you misunderstand the gasket issue. As many do.

No, Subaru started putting the EVAP canisters in the back in '98. All the older cars have it up front. Did you look at post #4, and check out the link. In the end the simple thing to do is make everthing on the intake you are installing same same as the intake that came out of the car.

Not that bad IMO. Some claim that it can't be done, but the first swap I did was a '95 2.2L into an Outback with EVAP canister in the rear. I swaped all the junk from the 2.5 intake to the 2.2 intake. No CEL, worked great.

Probably not. I tried a '97 Legacy 2.2 ECU in a '97 Outback that I had transplanted a 2.2 into. Didn't work at all, car would not run, no scanner comunication.

But we are not talking about "any other car on the road", we are talking Subaru EJ22 vs. EJ25 DOHC engines. EJ25 DOHC engines are much more suseptible to bad head gaskets than are EJ22's. I could count on my hands how many 2.2L head gasket repairs I have done. I lost count after doing 35-40 2.5L DOHC head gasket jobs, or engine replacments due to failed head gaskets, over a period of ~4 years. And I am still doing plenty of them. Now if you take in to account that the EJ22 was made from 1990-1998. Were as the EJ25 DOHC engine was only made from 1996-1999 (less in '96 since the EJ22 was still availible in MT Outbacks). Then the fact that there are many EJ22 with 200k+ miles still on original head gaskets, and I have never seen a EJ25 make it 200k on original head gaskets.................................................................You sir must be using "New Math".

OK, so you are doing a EJ25 to EJ22 conversion. The problem you will have with the EVAP emissions stuff is that you will have a CEL, and codes stored obviously. Shouldn't be any other concerns with drivability. As I recall the only intakes I have seen cast for EGR, with a block off plate over the port, were on Imprezas. Not real common, but OE. I think the casting is still the same. As I said before anything that is different should be bolted to the casting and can be changed. Do you have the intake that came off the EJ25? Set the two intakes side by side. Anything that is different on the 2.2 intake as compaired to the 2.5, take off the 2.5 and swap over to the 2.2. In order to get all the steel vacuum lines you need you will have to swap the fuel lines also. I would also swap over the wiring harness. I feel it is just a lot less trouble to swap all the parts now and have it work right when you put it together, rather than getting it together and chase gosts later.

Is it a manual transmission or automatic? If manual, it came with a 2.2L. If auto, it came with a 2.5L Not to be rude, but maybe start your own thread, so as not to confuse your problem with the original posters problem.

I'm guessing that you don't mean what this statement implies? You can't put an EJ22 manifold on an EJ25 engine. Without building adaptors or cutting and welding manifold peices together, that is. More details? Pitures if possible?

If the dealer knows how the BBB works, filing a complaint there will get you nowere. The BBB is a joke. It is a group of people who don't want to get a real job, so they are making their living takeing money from onest business people who get nothing back for the money they give. End BBB rant. On the other hand if they don't understand the workings of the BBB, it may put a little fear in them when they are contacted by the BBB concerning the complaint. Anything to keep the pressure on them will probably help.

Depends on what you are installing it on.

Not sure exactly what you are trying to do, but if you have a mainfold with all the proper lines, and electrical harness, they can be switched over. Basicly the differance in 2.2L intake castings is some have EGR some don't. All the other parts that are different are bolted on and can be changed. And when your talking about differences between Leacy and Impreza 2.2L intakes there can be a number of differences in the parts that are bolted to the intake casting. If the manifold you are using has no EGR and you are installing it in a car that needs EGR, then obviously you with have an illuminated CEL and EGR codes.

I've got a customer who is a lawyer. I've been working on her Toyota 4 Runner for probably 8 or 9 years. She takes notes of pretty much everything I say each time she talks to me about needed repairs or repairs performed, and has a thick file of all repair oders and the notes. This is in person while she is at the shop or while on the phone, she is wirting it all down. I've always thought it was kind of funny. Maybe she is just waiting for me to screw something up. Anyway, I would deffinetly be takeing notes every time you talk to these jokers.

OK, in Montana it is NOT legal to record a conversation without diclosing that you are recording it. I have no idea if your state has this kind of law. But I would not go off of what someone thinks to be the law. I would suggest speaking with a lawyer or looking it up yourself. If you get caught doing something illegal to get what you want, you will end up getting nothing. This is how the law reads her: 45-8-213. Privacy in communications. (1) Except as provided in 69-6-104, a person commits the offense of violating privacy in communications if the person knowingly or purposely: © records or causes to be recorded a conversation by use of a hidden electronic or mechanical device that reproduces a human conversation without the knowledge of all parties to the conversation. This subsection (1)© does not apply to: (i) elected or appointed public officials or to public employees when the transcription or recording is done in the performance of official duty; (ii) persons speaking at public meetings; (iii) persons given warning of the transcription or recording, and if one person provides the warning, either party may record; or (iv) a health care facility, as defined in 50-5-101, or a government agency that deals with health care if the recording is of a health care emergency telephone communication made to the facility or agency.