jj421

I'm no expert, but you'll need the power steering rack, P/S pump, P/S pulley, all the P/S lines, and a longer belt. Not sure if there's anything else.

Haha, you can always drive around, although that's a longer trip. Classes started today, so I'm not gonna have really any time or money to work on the car. Gotta pay for books and stuff. Tomorrow afternoon I'm gonna be doing the brakes on the Explorer. Probably can't get around to my car until the weekend, or at least late this week. Haven't even started taking anything apart. Like I said, got as far as removing the battery and the A/C condenser, but that's it.

Alright, well I PMed you, since this thread isn't necessarily the spot to discuss prices. But that'd be insanely cool if you could ship a set over here!

Ahh, okay, I see. Thanks for the info on the lighting setup. I had a feeling it was a rear fog light. So the reverse light is on the side opposite of the driver? I guess it wouldn't matter over here, since I don't think I've ever seen asymmetrical taillights in person. But yeah, I think they're very cool! I guess they may not be rare to find on cars over there, but it's rare to get a pair from the junkyard? That's an insanely low amount being registered.... Well, if you ever want to sell a pair, I'll take them. Or if anyone else in Europe (or elsewhere where they are common) has a spare pair, I want 'em. Not sure about other states, but here in Washington, they seem to be legal. RCW 46.37.210 (3) states "Any motor vehicle may be equipped with one or more back-up lamps...," so I should have no legal issues with those taillights.

Nick, I love those taillights! I would love to own those taillights, with only one side having a reverse light. Ya never see them here in the states, and I guess they're still pretty rare in other countries. It looks to me like you have the taillight on top, brake light below it, turn signal below that, and then the reverse light? Is the other side a red reverse light, a rear fog light, or something else? Anyways, if you come across a pair of those taillights (along with the wiring and bulbs, if possible) from a junkyard or something, then contact me. I'd love to buy them!

Bremerton is still about an hour away, if you take the ferry. But if you can come over, that'd be great. I don't think I can really get started on fixing this for two weeks, when my next paycheck comes in. Haha, I don't own a razor blade, so I still gotta go out and buy something.

I guess I'll look up timing, but that's another thing that I'd like to have someone with to help, even though it doesn't seem terribly difficult. I didn't have to scrape the exhaust gaskets when I did my tranny swap. Haha, but I know. Guess I should invest in a gasket scraper, since a flathead screwdriver isn't the best tool to scrape gaskets. Sammamish is up north, just east of Seattle. It's a good 3 hours or so from you. If you're heading up here and wanna stop by, then come over. But otherwise, it's probably too far.

I know that that picture wasn't on a head gasket or an intake gasket, but just what is being done in the picture. I don't put sealant on the engine and gasket, then apply the gasket? I just put the gasket on dry? If I'm dealing with the cam tower and cam sprockets, will that mean I will have to deal with adjusting my timing when I put everything back together? The timing belt covers are still on, so I'd have to take them off, which I hear is easiest with the engine out. And I have no idea how to do anything with the timing, and I'm probably missing some tools required for it. The engine has ~262K miles.

Welcome! Is it full-time 4WD? If so, that combined with the turbo, along with the 3-speed is probably the worst combo you'll get. Part time 4WD will definitely help, if you don't already have it. A 5-speed manual transmission will also boost your MPGs. I've never owned a turbo, nor an automatic wagon, so I can't say about that. But if I drive conservatively, I can get upwards of 35 MPG in my wagon. However, driving like that takes all the fun out of the car, since I'm driving so slowly. Under my normal driving, I'm probably getting around 25 MPG, and that's usually a bit of full-throttle acceleration and a redline or two every day. One of the big things I'll say is weight reduction. Take everything out of the car you aren't using. This could mean stuff in the back, or stuff in the engine..., or people. I generally keep my car clean of random crap, although I carry my tools with me everywhere, which doesn't help. But I've also taken out some A/C parts from my engine, as I never use the A/C. I always roll the window down if it gets hot. I've heard that that coasting problem is common on these autos, but most of the reading I do are with manuals. You can always put it in neutral when coasting, although that is considered to be dangerous in the event that you might need to accelerate to avoid an accident. Also, putting it in neutral at red lights might save some fuel, but that might be a myth, and it might be negligible. But yeah, I'd say the 3-speed is the biggest problem. Third gear at 60 MPH for me is like at 4500 RPM, which is not good for MPGs when going long distances. My car has ~262K and, once I get a new cylinder head, it'll be going strong. This car will last you a long time, if you put care into it!

Yeah, I still want someone to come by and help me. Although the more information I get about this, the easier it seems to be to do. I've never done anything with the engine mounts, so which ones are you talking about? I think the only ones I know about are aft of the cylinder heads, on either side of the transmission. Not sure though, as I've never looked in that area. Hopefully I'll be able to jack it up fine on this hill, but I don't own a floor jack. Borrowed one from a friend when I did my tranny swap, but I've only got the scissor jack. All those gaskets are dry installation? I knew about the exhaust not needing sealant, but the valve cover, head, and intake manifold gaskets? So basically, it's like take everything apart/off, take off old gasket, position new gasket, bolt everything back on? There's no need to get a sealant and do what's in the picture below? If I really don't need to use any sealant, that'll make this job much easier. There are two things I hate dealing with when working on cars: cotter pins and gaskets. Dry gaskets that easily come off are okay, but when I have to scrap the old gasket off and seal the new one on, it gets pretty annoying. Hopefully I'll be able to see the problem and see the crack. I'll be posting pictures when I open her up, since usually you guys can see stuff I can't. I don't think my valve cover gasket is leaking, but I do have an oil leak and it seems to be around that general area. Maybe that'll get fixed during this process? Doubt it, haha. Out of curiosity, what would cause a cylinder head to crack? What would cause a head gasket to fail? What would cause an intake manifold to crack, or the manifold gasket to fail? Are these failures usually instantaneous and random, like in my case? Or are they more of a slowly developing problem, over a long(ish) period of time? Are there any signs at the moment of failure, like noises, smells, sights? Like, in this case, everything was normal up until I pulled into my driveway. Smoke started pouring out of the hood, but that's it. No noises, car was still running fine, etc. Just smoke and smell of coolant. No symptoms before this moment of failure. I always put oil in the car when the engine is cool. I just find it weird how random this was, with nothing more than smoke coming out of the engine (along with the smell of coolant). EDIT: Went out to the car today, and noticed the coolant is gone from the spark plug well. Guess it drained out over time. But anyways, kinda made a bit of progress. I started to get things out of the way, but then got distracted. Removed the battery, which gives a lot more room. Then I noticed an A/C line was in the way, that once connected to the compressor that I removed months ago. Needless to say, I ended up removing the entire A/C condenser, since I was planning on doing that for a while now. It started raining, so I'll have to get back to it later. But it looks like the four valve cover bolts will be pretty easy to get to now, so we'll have to see.

Okay, so I guess I will go get stuff for an oil change, even though I changed the oil ~1500 miles ago. But nice to know ahead of time. I'll probably do it all with the engine in the car. I have a habit of doing things the hard way, mainly because I don't have the proper tools. Wish it was the passenger side though, as there is more room there. The driver side has got a bunch of vacuum lines and whatnot. What am I looking at for the intake manifold gaskets? This is what O'Reilly shows as those gaskets, so these are what I'm looking for? I'm gonna go to the dealership for the gaskets, but just on O'Reilly's site for the pictures. How easy will it be to see cracks in the intake manifold or the head? Will it be kinda hard to see, or a rather obvious crack? And then same deal with the gaskets: will it be obvious if the gasket failed in a certain spot? The only real gaskets I've dealt with were the valve cover gaskets on my old EA81, and those were dirty and hard to tell. Is there a gasket sealer that you recommend for the intake manifold, heads, and valve covers (and whatever else that my need it)? Oh, and I do have a torque wrench. A click-stop type from Harbor Freight, that goes up to 150 ft-lbs. Don't you need a really accurate torque wrench for head bolts? Will this suffice?

Hmm, maybe, but I don't really need that product right now. I would like to get my car running, but if I'm going to be properly fixing it, I don't want to spend the extra money for it. Too bad I can't do a leak down test. I don't have the proper tools, and I don't have compressed air. Don't have the money to get that stuff either.

Okay, so far, it seems like the head is probably cracked. Or maybe the head gasket, but either way, I'm taking the head(s) off. Let me get this straight though, the cylinder heads are right behind the valve covers, right? So take off the valve cover, disconnect the exhaust, take off whatever else is attached to the head (I don't know myself), then the cylinder head bolts and take the head off. Pretty straight forward if that's what you have to do. Of course, gotta replace all the gaskets, but generally, that's it, right? Am I gonna have to drain the oil too, along with the coolant? If so, could I do it with the engine in the car? I've done the valve cover gaskets on my old EA81, and although there's less room in the EA82 engine compartment, it still seems feasible. I can probably take off the head tomorrow if I don't have to pull the engine. And I'd be rebuilding the cylinder(s)? Or could I get away with just replacing the head? I think it'd be easier to get a head from the junkyard than rebuilding mine, especially if they're not too difficult to get to. I could order a brand new one from O'Reilly, but I don't have $300 to spend right now. Oh, and which head and head gasket am I replacing? The driver side, since that's where the coolant was? Or do both sides? As much as I would try that product, I'm kinda against temporary fixes. I believe that they just make a mess inside the engine, and make it more difficult to deal with when you properly fix it. Of course, this depends on the product and brand, but it's still more of a "get me home safely without a tow" kind of fix.

Hmm, that does make sense. It almost seems like it'd be easier to just drop in another engine in, versus rebuilding it. This would definitely be the opportunity to drop in an EJ22 in there, since I'm gonna have to pull the engine anyways. Too bad I don't feel like dealing with the ECU, wiring, adapter for the transmission, etc. I really don't want to do this by myself. I want someone with experience to take a look at the car and help. It would take a lot longer for me to do this, and like I said, I have no clue what I'm doing. Never done any internal engine work before. Never pulled an engine before either. If it's feasible, I would do an EJ22 swap. Again, would want someone with experience to help. Want some more opinions on what the problem is, and what I should do. Should I rebuild, or replace the engine? If replacing, put another EA82 in there, or do an EJ22 swap? Obviously the EJ is the way to go, but putting another EA82 in there is a lot easier with little-to-no modification. But the EJ is more reliable, and has noticeably more power. Ugh, haha. Man, this evolved from a little 8"-long hose replacement to a potential engine swap. Wow. That escalated quickly.

I've not had any other issue with the head or head gaskets though. No overheating, white smoke, etc., like I wrote in the edit of my previous post. The thing I need help with is, especially if I am pulling the engine, is someone with me to help me do it, and maybe knock it out in a day or a weekend. It'd take me at least a week to do it by myself, as I won't know what I'm doing. And I need an engine hoist too. I'd definitely like at least 3-4 opinions on this. I definitely do see how it could be a head gasket/head problem, but I also see it being an intake manifold problem. I want some more opinions and at least one person with experience to help me with the repairs. I like doing things by myself, but I want someone to help, if that someone is in the Seattle area and is willing. I'm just happy I at least found the problem. Not terribly happy with the labor and costs that are needed to fix it, but nonetheless, I can sleep at least a little bit better knowing what the problem is. But hey, from what I've heard, pulling the engine is easier than the method I used to swap my transmission. Heck, almost anything is easier than the way I changed my transmission.

So hey, I have a question. What would it mean if, ya know, hypothetically, a spark plug hole is full of coolant? I got to thinking that this is most likely an internal problem, so I decided to take out the plugs just to check. Before anything is said, I am gonna be changing out my plugs and wires. First, took out the plug from cylinder #1 (passenger; front). Noticed a little bit of what looked to be oil, but nothing terrible. Then moved to cylinder #3 (passenger; rear). Looked like a normal worn plug. Moving to the driver side, took out the plug from cylinder #2 (driver; front). Same story as cylinder #3. Finally, got to the most difficult of the four to get to: cylinder #4 (driver; rear). Once I finally got the plug out, I could smell coolant and the plug was wet. Stuck a small screwdriver in, and found a nice puddle of coolant. The camera shows it better than what I could see. Needless to say, I think I've found the problem. Maybe not the problem, but a problem nonetheless. So anyways, what should I be looking at repairing here? I'm gonna do some research, but still would like advice. Oh, and before it's asked, I did try turning the crank pulley with the plugs out. The crank turned nice and easy. I could probably just turn it with my hand, although I didn't try. So the crank is definitely not seized, which means the engine should not be hydro-locked. But how does coolant get to the spark plug hole? I'm definitely no expert on engine insides.... I do find it interesting how this was the plug full of coolant. It's the plug furthest away from where coolant got sprayed all over the engine (furthest from the thermostat, solenoids, IACV, etc.). I guess once I know what part/gasket failed to cause this, it'll make more sense, maybe. EDIT: Just did a quick Google search, and it looks to me like it's either an intake manifold problem or a head gasket/cracked head issue. However, I've not noticed any other symptoms of a blown head gasket or cracked head. Like I've said, it has never overheated. I've not experienced anything else (like oil in coolant or coolant in oil, white smoke, etc.), so I think the intake manifold is the problem. When the leak happened, the car didn't change in its performance. Was running like it always was--not misfiring or anything. Maybe the coolant hadn't gotten to the spark plug well yet though. I think it's official: Subarus hate me in the spring. My old EA81 got a cracked head last spring. Had to junk it since I didn't have the time, knowledge, tools, or money to fix it. This spring I get a cracked intake manifold. What's in store for me next year? I am definitely not junking the car this time though. Gonna have to look up how to replace an EA82 intake manifold, and go from there. If I'm not mistaken, the intake manifold is a dealership/junkyard part only, right? I think I searched on O'Reilly for it a couple days ago, and found nothing but the gasket.

I did just replace the transmission, but that was ~300 miles ago, maybe more. I'm not quite sure how to do the test you described. But I did go out and run a jumper lead from the negative post on the battery to various parts on the frame and body. No luck. I did, however, notice some coolant on the backside of the engine. Not sure if it was there before, but it looks relatively clean and new. You can see the coolant on the bottom of the picture, but everywhere else looks relatively dry. The only thing with coolant on it is the throttle cable assembly, but that got soaked when the leak happened. Maybe you guys can see something I can't? I'd also like to point out that my old coolant does not look great. Haven't had any overheating problems or anything though. Now that it's daytime, I can see a new leak on the driveway from what seems to be coolant. I've got the normal oil leak stains on my driveway, but this one is new. Looks like it's coming from around the power steering rack. The second picture is directly above where the fluid on my driveway is. It looks like coolant mixed in with grease in the lower left-hand corner in the second picture.

Hmm, well my alternator did die a couple months later, but hadn't had any problems with it. Once I installed my second set of auxiliary lights, the alternator crapped out, haha. Now I got a nice, new, shiny one in my engine. I think the fusible links came loose when that happened. I didn't have them properly attached to the positive terminal. Went out and played with my multimeter a bit. Most stuff didn't seem too out of the ordinary, but three things. Let's start from the top: My battery was at 12.35 volts when sitting; this is a bit low. The spare battery was at 12.32v when sitting; this is also low. I can tell here that both of these should be charged up. Again, don't have a charger at home, so I'll take both to O'Reilly to get charged tomorrow, since I'm free. I "plugged in" the spare battery I had, and I had the same exact results when I tried to start it. I do have continuity between the negative terminal on the battery, and both the engine and the transmission.This, to me, says I have a good ground connection. With the key on, engine off, and with every electronic turned off, the battery sits at 12.00v. With the key in the start position, the battery reads 8.00v. To me, the 12.00v seems a bit low, especially to engage the starter. But I've never tested when the battery and connections are good. The 8.00v seems normal to me, though. Again, maybe a bit low though. The old negative wire had 0.5 ohms of resistance. The new negative wire had 0.5 ohms of resistance. The old positive wire had 0.5 ohms of resistance (should point out that it was hard to find a good reading, since there was lots of corrosion). The new positive wire had 0.55 ohms of resistance. So it looks like I've not really changed much by swapping out the battery wires. However, the old positive wire had a lot of corrosion on the terminal, so I definitely have a better contact with the battery with the new wires. With the key in the start position, there is 0.55v loss in the positive wire. With the key in the start position, there is 0.5v loss in the negative wire. The positive wire may or may not be normal. I posted it earlier, but didn't get a clear answer. The negative wire, however, seems like too much voltage loss. If I'm not mistaken, I should get no more than 0.2v loss. I may not have done this test correctly though. I did the same as what I did on the positive wire: One lead of the multimeter on the negative battery terminal, and the other lead on the starter where the negative wire connects. One thing to note here is the longer I held the key in the start position, the less voltage loss there was (in the negative wire). In other words, when I turn the key to the start position, it starts at 0.53v, then a couple seconds later, it's down to 0.4v. If I am doing this test correctly, what could be causing such a large loss in voltage? There is fluid in the battery cells Almost all of the fuses read full voltage, with the key on, engine off. The only fuse that didn't read 12+v was the 15 amp "Charge" fuse. This fuse read 2.06v. The fuse looked fine. I don't know about this fuse, and if it should be receiving more voltage. It definitely stood out, as all the other fuses were reading full voltage from the battery. The name on the back of the fuse cover, "Charge," leads me to believe this fuse is something that would be more "active" when the car is running, than just with the key in the on position. Anybody know about this fuse? It was not blown or melted, so it looks okay. That's all the notes I took on the electrical side of things. So the three big things that stood out for me were the low battery voltage, large voltage drop in the negative wire, and the 2.06v "Charge" fuse. So maybe we can go somewhere from these tests, and maybe there are more tests I can do that I don't know about. I will get the battery charged, since it's a tad low. Also, another problem. The coolant is not fixed. Coolant level is not visible with the radiator cap off. No signs where it's leaking. The new hose I installed: dry of any coolant. TBI: dry. Thermostat: dry. Solenoid(s): dry. Coolant still on engine block in that general area (hasn't evaporated off). It's definitely still leaking; no doubt about it. I'm thinking it's still in that area, since there's still coolant on the engine block. But there's not visible leaks, and it all seems relatively dry around there. Or perhaps it's leaking internally, and hydro-locked the engine? I'm definitely not an expert on coolant, and where it goes. I've only dealt with the thermostat and CTS before.

I've had a loose negative terminal before. It does what you say: loses all power until you unhook it and reattach it. I was actually driving to O'Reilly to pick up a new terminal, when the negative wire came loose and shut off the car. Kinda sucky because you can't even turn on the hazard lights as you pull over.... Or maybe at that time, the fusible links wire came loose. Not sure, but I swapped out the terminal and it never happened again. I could go out on that road at 3 AM when there's nobody else, but once (and if) the car fires up, the exhaust will awake all my neighbors. Got home from work, but I'm gonna take a break before I try out the battery. My feet are killing me, so I wanna relax for an hour or two before I head out there. Hopefully the battery is the issue. That's what it seems like to me. Initially, it seemed like a connection issue, but with brand new wires and terminals, kinda ruling that out. The only other thing would be the starter contacts. I cleaned and tightened them, but they weren't in bad shape before. O'Reilly tested the starter, and they said it worked fine, so I should be getting at least a half-decent connection. Their machine can't put a load on the starter though.

The Explorer should be able to pull me out, but I don't have a tow strap, chain, or anything. I hate being ill equipped. Also, I don't even know for sure if I fixed the coolant leak, so I gotta check on that when I get the car running. When I get home from work, I'll try a known good battery and check the grounds. I'm thinking maybe the ground wire that connects to the transmission came loose or something. Not sure if that wire could cause this problem though.

The battery from the Explorer is almost worse, haha. It's seen better days, for sure. Might try the fully charged one from my sister's Mustang. Because nobody is driving it, the battery is just sitting in my garage. It holds good voltage, but it's an older battery. We'll see. You know how wide a sidewalk is? Yeah, I've got just a little bit more room than that. Definitely can't do it in reverse, as I've got no room either. This picture was taken a while back, but basically here is my situation. I've got very little room in front, very little room behind, and a pretty steep hill (if pushing). The camera was at a tilt, so it doesn't look too bad, but trust me, it's pretty steep. Compare it to the horizontal lines of my house, and you can better see the angle. Not to mention that the driveway gets steeper you get closer to the sidewalk.

Again, I can't push start it. I would need probably about ten people to prevent my car rolling down my driveway and ramming into our trailer and house. Probably another five guys to push it up out of my driveway and onto a busy road. Unfortunately, I don't have 15 people. My driveway is pretty steep. If I have a passenger in my car, I'm practically burning the clutch to get out of my driveway. Every time I turn off the car, I turn everything off except for the parking lights. I turn off the headlights, heater, radio, etc. I find that when I try and start the car with these things on, it struggles a bit. So everything is off right now. I don't have a battery charger, which sucks. I might just have to take it down to O'Reilly and have them charge it up for me for free. They did it with my sister's battery in her Mustang. They should also be able to load test it and see if it's good.

Okay, got a socket that fits on the crank. And I am officially recognized by everyone at O'Reilly as a regular customer. With the spark plugs in, rotating the crank clockwise is very stiff, but it will rotate with a bit of force. The crank rotates with relative ease going counterclockwise. So the crank pulley does move. This is leading me to believe that the engine is not seized, so what now? I'm thinking I need to charge up the battery and then try again. I just tried to start it again, and it cranked for about a second, then just clicked. After a couple more attempts, it went back to the split second of cranking, followed by clicks. I tried jump starting it the other day, but it made no difference. Here is a short clip of me trying to start it. You can hear it start to turn over, then just clicks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS3tBrzQ8j8

What socket do you need? A 7/8"? I don't have a socket big enough for the crank pulley, and the clutch fan is in the way. That's what I was thinking. I would probably notice if I didn't have oil. Sure the exhaust is pretty loud, but it would be making noises a lot louder most likely. A knock too, I'd imagine. I'll stop by O'Reilly and pick up a socket and see. It is in neutral, I am on a hill, in FWD, handbrake engaged. Oh, just to double check, turning the crankshaft pulley, I should rotate it clockwise, correct? I think that's the direction I've noticed the engine turning. Also, I've kinda noticed the coolant level has decreased slightly. No visible leaks though. As far as I know, I do not have a clutch switch. And if I do, it should be working fine. A faulty clutch switch would make it so it wouldn't even click. Turning the key would just do nothing. But the clicking tells me that there is voltage going to the starter. EDIT: Did what the guy at O'Reilly recommended. Hooked one lead of my multimeter to the positive battery terminal, and the other lead to where the positive wire connects to the starter. Looks like I'm losing ~0.5 volts when I turn the key. Not sure what it should be, but that almost seems too much. Any other easy tests I can do with my multimeter?

Starter tested out fine. Gonna clean up those starter contacts with a wire brush, and see if that helps. I think one of the contacts were loose, so that might've been the problem. But the contacts look in good shape: not overly corroded or anything. Also gonna make sure I can turn the flywheel. EDIT: I cannot seem to move the flywheel. I can't really get good leverage on it, but I remember it being able to turn somewhat easy when I did my clutch a couple weeks ago. EDIT 2: Checked the oil: bone dry. Doesn't make too much sense though, as I checked the oil not too long ago and it was good. Haven't heard any ticking or any other noises. Oil pressure gauge and temperature gauge on the dash haven't read any differently last time I drove the car.