idosubaru

If it’s green like that pic do no throw it away. It’s gold - 100x more reliable than any brand you can buy from stores new. Regrease and reboot and they’ll last the life of the vehicle usually. Aftermarkets fail in multiple ways and are true garbage. They’re made so poorly because laziness and shop time wins over replacing the boot.

There was a lot of confusion over EJ25 head gasket torque, I'm not sure why it was changed. But presumably it was for a reason, you may have stumbled on that reason. Do you know the vehicles history prior to the last 35,000 miles (before the first time you replaced the headgasket)? Did the block surface seem reasonable? If you don't suspect the block to be problematic then redoing the heads with the new torque values would be a reasonable choice. But I can understand the interest in other options too.

I think I use these on that screw. they also work for holding the unique xt6 only drivers side timing tensioners. https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-3-Piece-Steel-Handle-Multi-Bit-Screwdriver-Set/1000596621?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-tol-_-ggl-_-LIA_TOL_218_Mechanic-Automotive-Tools-_-1000596621-_-local-_-0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&gbraid=0AAAAAD2B2W8VmsOQLvD1S3AoW7QlM1MdO&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2IWxrdS5_AIVlb7ICh21gAgQEAQYASABEgIDHfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yes. You need a new boot or axle. If by luck the inner joint is green that’s OEM, replace the boot and keep that quality axle. All aftermarket Subaru axle brands are terrible.

Are you absolutely positive all the windows were all the way up and fully seated/sealed shut? The most common issue is you got unlucky and a window wasn't fully shut during a torrential downpour. Door locks and speakers (which are inside the door). can get glitchy from water. They can also return to nominal functions once dried out, more on that later. That's wild guessing based on very little information so let's get serious: Describe exactly where and how much? Both front seat foot wells, rear seats too? Which one of those is most wet? How deep was it? Like there was water standing above the carpet? Ideally you don't ever turn the car on with that much water and humidity in the vehicle. You pull up all the carpets as much as possible without removing them - fronts can "roll back" so to speak from the front of the car and thenn just flop them over on the seat cushion. Sop up any water with water proof vaccuum and/or towels and air dry with fans/dehumidifier. Get the moisture our immediately and dont' turn the car on as much as you can avoid it. The humidity and dampness can cause erratic electrical behavior. If you get it dried it they can go back to functioning normally with a thorough dry out. Or of course it could be damaged, you never know. If it's that saturated it's probably the sunroof. Could be a windshield leak through the gasket. Check very closely around the sunroof and windshield perimeter, search every inch looking for dampness. There's no wetness on the center console, around the shifter, on the seat, on the front dash below the windshield? Go to a spray car wash and sit inside while someone blasts the sprayer around the sunroof and windshield - where's it coming in?

That's awesome, sounds like a fun machine to drive at least for a bit!

I'm not talking about the starter, I meant to say "igition cylinder" not ignition solenoid. I'm talking about inside the vehicle. Look up under the steering wheel. Find where the wires are soldered onto the back of the ignition cylinder. There's a tiny phillips head screw there. Tighten it. It comes loose and causes the board the wires are soldered on to walk back away and reduce contact with the switch. I can't recall if the bottom steering column cover needs to come off and I'm at work right now so I can't go look at mine, but if it does be very careful. They have long threaded rods you can see that readily break and the covers themselves break. They aren't available from Subaru and are hard to find because everyone needs them.

Actually forget all of this for a moment - it just popped into my head, XT6's have a little tiny phillips head screw on the back of the ignition that gets loose over time. Find the 4 wire (i think) black electrical connector for the ignition solenoid. Follow the wires all the way back to where they're soldered onto the back of the ignition. A few millimeters away from the wires you'll see a tiny phillips head screw - tighten it. It's been awhile since i've done one, you might need a right angle screw driver. There's a very high chance it's loose and limiting contact. Once you check this screw then go back to the relay.

All the pictures are gone but some of the text may be helpful.

That's awesome. Is that the actual one you drove or is it a similar photo grab you found?

Awesome! So you think the cables were bad? In case it comes back keep these things in mind: 1. replace the starter contacts. Starter is 2 12mm bolts and easy to remove. Disassemble it and the contacts are like $10. Much cheaper and more reliable than aftermarket new starters which can fail in less than a year. The old contacts will be burnt, pitted, warn. 2. Older gen Subaru's very commonly have a starter signal issue from the signal wire/ignition/reference voltage. Here's a thread that I think somewhat describes it.

Ha we own that movie, great flick. For some reason I don't recall those parts and must of missed them!?! Land Rovers were assembled and parts manufactured in south africa starting back in the 50's or 60's and have well over a half a century of developing a strong network of assembly plants, parts manufacturing, supplies, and distribution. So I think their excellent utility is supported by dependable networks more than strict individual reliability. Which, as an XT6 and H6 driver I might favor ubiquitous parts availability over reliability. lol

Oh yeah, I can see it appearing that way if you've heard of the old school 3 speeds. XT6's all have 4 speeds, but they only have 1-2-D on the selector. They just don't have a selectable 3rd and 4th. XT6 auto's have a fantastic beastly transmissions, it's the same transmission found in all legacy/forester/impreza's from 1990-2009 though they seem far less prone to torque bind. Excellent transmission.

If it’s an engine starter with 100amps available, it was set right, connections to clean metal was sufficient, and the starter cables aren’t thin cheap garbage then yes the cable or starter is bad. But some huge clarifiers: clamps and cables are way harder to get right than most people think particularly in this day and age of cheap Chinese garbage clamps and cables. “Charger” - what kind? Lithium Ion like a NEECO or corded 120V power pack pushing 100 amps? The lithium packs do poorly on batteries as bad as you’re saying unless it’s a huge beefy one If it’s a plugged in variety and if equipped with settings, was it set to “engine start”? Charging is like 40 amps, starting is like 100. “directly from a charger to the starter mean” - where was it clamped? Directly from charger to starter suggests it was fed power to the starter bypassing the cables so those can’t be the issue. And this isn’t a bad test to do but it’s a little tricky to get clamps down there or run wire. But you’re suggesting the cable is bad so maybe you mean the charger was clamped to the cables or battery terminals? Thats hard to say - often times the clamps don’t provide enough surface area of clean contact to pull all the amps necessary. I’ve got huge heavy duty heavy gauge cables that work most of the time and light duty cables that often won’t start a car, can’t get good contact and the cables get very warm after trying to start a car. Those cheap cables and poor connections cause lots of misdiagnosis. And the 10V battery is useless so we need great connections Many chargers and clamps and connections aren’t solid enough for pulling 100 amp engine charger/starter. I don’t think this matters here but XT6s never came with a 3 speed auto. So you either have an XT6 with 4EAT, XT with 3AT, or it was converted which is highly unlikely.

Unlike newer autos which can be excellent, those autos are horrible. Highly not recommended to do that swap. You’ve got a couple options some are very simple: 1. remove rear half of driveshaft and locked 4WD will now be FWD. 2. Unbolt the 4WD cable from the bracket on the side of the trans, so you can manually move the lever on the side of the trans. Manually push it forward abs back for fwd and 4WD. Be advised it doesn’t move easily. 3. Remove the cable from the 4WD and bolt a long rod to it so you can just grab it under the hood and pull it back and forth for 4WD or FWD. Ive run a rod like that and routed it inside the cabin passengers side, but I don’t recommend it . I used some of that long straight steel they have at Lowe’s. 3. Fix it. Check vacuum lines and the big bellows looking actuator. That’s probably the issue

P0171 Bank one system lean. A vacuum hose issue might cause brake issue and system lean? I'll check brake booster? Right on, didn't cross my mind. It is full. Today he said the parking brake didn't work. I found a TSB for 2010-2014 unlimited mileage 15 year extended warranty on the automatic parking break module. TSB 06-71-19R https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10166898-0001.pdf

Why is the brake light flashing with check engine light, but nothing else is on? 2014 H4 OB If it’s brake related the traction, ABS and cruise lights would light up. But this isn’t doing that. There's a TSB for the parking brake actuator failure. Though it doesn't mention if the check engine light comes on: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10162997-9999.pdf Gas cap and oring is fine. I’m going to operate the parking brake a few times, check the coolant level. I’m traveling for holiday and not my car so I’ll drive it later to read codes at store.

Battery/alt voltage good? Any recent work or prior accidents around air bag stuff: steering wheel, front bumper/sensors or passengers side heater core or dash? If it’s ever been in an accident or recent work check connectors in that area and front sensors. Horn and cruise work? I’d suspect clock spring, they fail often, unsure how consistent 90s SRS codes are. “Airbag module (passenger)” - does that mean the passenger air bag? Can you tell by looking at the whole list of codes?

You have a bad battery. I described that *exact* situation earlier:

XT6 Dash gauges for oil pressure and voltage aren’t very accurate. I wouldn’t even look at those. How old is the battery? It may have 13 volts for 2 milliseconds and bad cells brings it too low almost instantaneously. Charge the battery then try to start the car once or twice if it’s below 12 after that then it’s fried Use quality jumper cables or power pack - does it turn over then? Give power directly tk starter post - what happens? huge issue with jumper cables is cheap cables with anything short of exceptional connectivity won’t flow enough amps. people all the time misdiagnosis a car because jumper cables didn’t start the car but the issue was cheap cables or not good enoug connection

Yep, JDM isn't as attractive now as it used to be - they're pricey and old which does headgaskets no favor.

10V isn't usable, it should be ~12.7 volt, 10 isn't even close to good enough. This means one of the following: 1. The battery is bad. If it never gets above 10V with jumper cables or an external charger then it's bad. Sometimes they can test good and still be bad. That's rare but when it happens they'll show 12.5 volts and then *very quickly* drop to well below that the first time the battery is used for anything electrical, like the first time you bump that key to start the engine. 2. The alternator isn't charging the battery, which means one of the following: a. The harmonic balancer is separating and the alternator isn't spinning fast enough to charge. Post a photo of the face of it or paint/grease mark a line across the entire face and see if the line is separated after getting the engine to turn over with a jumper cable/jump starter. b. Test the alternator - jump start the vehicle and test output voltage at the alternator Okay, I didn't think so but I wanted to be comprehensive - that list is everything it could possibly be if what you have currently described it accurate.

Cut back the battery cable wiring 6” and see if it’s corroded. Tons of white stuff will be caked into abs between all the wires of the cable. Voltage drop or resistance testing will likely confirm without cutting if that scares you Measure voltage at battery. Measure voltage at starter. Tell us those numbers. It’s either: 1. battery (is it new?) 2. terminals (are they 100% clean and tight?) 3. corrosion inside the battery cables 4. starter 5. the engine is seized

Replacing them is nice just to avoid cleaning them up, that's annoying. Subaru headbolts aren't TTY so there's no need to replace them unless they're rusted/damaged. Another option is to chase them with a 11x1.25 die. That will clean them and confirm the threads. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325066150971 I've seen repeat failures of new Fel Pro headbolts on engines I didn't work on. I'd guess it's more of an issue with the type of person replacing the bolts than the bolts themselves. For instance someone who ignores well known Subaru approaches to HG and just does it like they're grand daddy did it, which happens to include replacing the bolts. Although it is a stretch to assume Fel pro uses the same quality grade raw materials, machining and quality cotrol as Subaru OEM. I'd install used Subaru bolts before any aftermarket. I doubt the bolts are an issue but just providing additional options in case it's helpful as you dig in.

Resurface heads, clean and lubricate the bolts and holes/threads and use Subaru head gaskets. I rarely get kits, I use Subaru MLS OEM or Fel Pro gaskets except when I need a custom thickness for a custom EJ then it’s cometic if necessary If you want to just get the parts needed: head gasket, intake and exhaust manifold, valve cover, spark plug tube, crank seal, cam seals, oil pump oring, thermostats gasket and water pump gasket. And engine coolant crossover orings I’ve never used anything but Subaru OEM and fel pro sometimes. I wouldn’t install anything else except cometic when I need a custom thickness for a custom EJ. Mahle, Beck Arnley, etc doesn’t have to always use the same supplier. Prior post says you’re good to go now. it just may not always be that way, I’ve seen suppliers change for the same brand and part number.