idosubaru

No. It should have a mark on the crank sprocket itself right? Can you post a picture of your crank sprockets ?

Install belts with crank shaft sprocket mark at 12 oclock. Passengers side cam marking at 6 oclock, drivers side at 12 oclock. Install belt and make sure the marks are still *exactly* at 6 and 12. They may move a tooth off during the belt install process - if so, try again.

1. Try greasing the latch. And copiously moving the mechanisms around to help the grease migrate. There are spray greases that you spray into hard to reach areas and congeal into grease. Alternately you could try a lubricant or penetrant like liquid nails or WD40 as a temporary test or solution. But follow that up with proper grease. I can’t tell if the striker is damaged or not. I see some discoloration but can’t tell if it’s rough or shows wear. If you have it replaced again a Subaru part, even a used one over after market, may be wise. I have a 2014 Forester parts car but doubt it’s worth pulling that part off of it. They are readily available.

It failed 14 miles after they worked on it and found bearing material - well thats certainly a story. That sounds most likely as if they are culpable as long as some significant, ominous symptoms didn’t prompt the work to begin with. In other words sometimes people experience a smell or hesitation and take a car to a shop, sometimes for work they were already planning on doing snd they almost don’t notice or forget the symptoms that prompted them to take it in. So I hesitate to blame the shop when reading online commentary about a car I’ll never see written by someone who’s not mechanically inclined. I’ve even done it to myself. Have symptoms and that prompts me to do plugs/wires and go on my way. Symptoms pop up and I’m liek oh yeah I was chasing these symptoms with that already scheduled tune up i did. And having that experience I’ve seen other local people/acquaintenances ive helped who aren’t mechanically inclined do the same thing with their shop. No offense to you - I just don’t want to assume too much, the medium of text like this is limited and I can’t ask good follow up questions and see the car. All that being said - the “shop messed up the oil change” scenarios ive seen usually result in catastrophic failure in a matter of miles like you experienced. your description sounds like the engine failing not the trans. If it’s got fluid it’s fine, or as fine as we can assume that shop is capable of doing. yes the separator plates leak all the time and should be replaced snd resealed every time there’s access. You said “rear main seal”. Those don’t leak. Rear separator yes. Rear main no.

Hard to say. 1. did this mountain incident happen before or after the work done? 2. You “coasted down the mountain”…..then what? Did it ever drive again, even a mile? How long. What was repaired and did that fix it? Yes trans fluid leak will make the car no move. there’s no fluid to move the trans. It’s like a water wheel in a river - if the river dries up it can’t move. ATF leak won’t damage engine. A sealed pan can leak again after being resealed. The pan lip holes get concave or pan gets bent pulling it off as it sticks to the 20 year old baked on gasket/sealant. Sometimes it’s wise to just replace the pan carefully inspect and tweak the pan or apply an appropriate sealant to address pan lip inconsistencies If they pulled the engine or trans the ATF lines were likely disconnected and could leak if they weren’t reconnected properly The rear main seals never leak. It was the separator plate or valve or oil pan gasket. But that’s just another reason to avoid places like Midas for anything that extensive. Belts, tires battery and an alternator - that’s fine at Midas…I guess. But the stuff we are talking about should be done ideally an experienced Subaru person, particularly a car that old.

Well that’s wild! Had no idea!

Ah nasioc is great and also like trying to get good advice from a bar on Friday night at 11pm. It is tough because it’s great, there’s some very experienced and wise Subaru people there but good grief it is rampant with bad anecdotal suggestions and feedback. Too many members for the fewer more knowledgeable folks to counter, correct, or reply to all of it.

buy a PCV valve. That releases crank case pressures. You should not be springing that many leaks back to back. It sounds like the high pressure just keeps finding the easiest path out. buy a new Subaru PCV valve and install. You can do that it’s easy. Part number posted above in one of my previous replies. good luck let me know how it goes.

*** did you replace it with aftermarket or Subaru parts? There won't be any better aftermarket solutions. The subaru one should work great for the life of the vehicle. Great description and history. The most likely cause is the latch and the body-side strike that it latches onto are mis-aligned, or bent, and over time this mis-alignment is damaging the new latches. Check the striker down by the bumper/rear cargo floor and see if it has any non-symmetrical or excessive wear, or to see if it's compromised in anyway. Look very closely. Post a clear focused picture here if you can. I would buy a used Subaru latch (maybe two!), and the body side striker as well to replace just in case, and check the alignment with the strike pin on the body side of the vehicle. There should be an adjustment on the latch or strike side, one of them should be able to be loosened and slightly shifted. If you replaced with aftermarket parts I'd get Subaru. You may have had a very unlucky, or previously damaged, original latch that failed and then replaced with aftermarkets of lower quality. This seems unlikely if it's happened 3 times but it happenns often enough with copious amounts of other parts it's smart to at least mention it. Has this car ever been in an accident before you owned it? It sounds like maybe it was and the hatch and strike are a little off? Since I can't physically look at it myself, let's try to be thorough: 1. How positive are you that this is a mechanical issue? 2. Typically I'd suggest checking the wiring as something is shorted and causing it to activate but it sounds like you're fairly certain replacements fixed this and you can tell it's mechanical failure while working on it?

Take a picture of the source of the leak so we can see it. No need to replace the timing chains on these. They're robust and breakage is not statistically relevant enough to bother with it. To repair you'd remove the timing cover and clean it up and run a 25 foot bead of sealant around the perimeter and bolt it back in place. It's a huge annoying job. It can be done without pulling the engine...barely. But let's slow down, answer my other questions in the previous reply and see a picture.

1. Replace your PCV valve with one from Subaru immediately. Easy, an hour and not hard, no special tools: Subaru part # 11810AA100 2. Check the oil cooler gasket - they leak ALL THE TIME. Take a picture of this area annd post it here or a link to it and we'll help diagnose the leak source. Subaru part #: 21370KA001 Easy to replace, just annoying that some of the coolant drains out. If you did all that other stuff you can definitely do this: 1. remove oil filter 2. remove coolant hoses attached to cooler 3. You need a 24mm socket to unbolt the oil cooler bolt 4. Remove cooler, clean up all the oil on the cooler and engine, make sure the old gasket isn't stuck to the engine, throw it away 5. install new gasket and put it back together. It would be wise to buy the coolant hoses from Subaru and just replace them while you're under there. You can look them over before you do the job and see how pliable they look and maybe get away with reusing them. Do to the tight bends and catastrophic nature of a hose that low to leak, I'd buy them from Subaru. They may not have them in stock - another reason to have them on hand so you're not stuck waiting for them if they are in poor condition. The two cooler hoses that attach to the oil cooler, I think should be: 21338AA060 99078AA570 Now - those are just guesses, so let's start from the beginning: A: did any of those prior valve cover gasket, "drive shaft seal" (is that the crank seal?) - actually reduce the engine leaks? I can't tell if it: i. had multiple leaks ii. wasn't diagnosed correctly (replacing parts that did't need replaced) iii. new leaks keep popping up Do not use stop leak. That stuff is terrible. Whatever aid it might render for 2 month won't be good for long term. There are very rare cases where additives are helpful, this isn't one of them.

They didn’t change “to” HLAs but “from” HLAs in 1997. 95 and 96 HLA 97 and up is not This is all well known by folks mechanically familiar with EJ22s. There’s a couple of imprecise 97 transitions or caveats but they haven’t even come up in this thread yet It’s mostly confusing like any other car info because people who owned three Subarus with very little EJ22 experience comment anecdotally and make incorrect assumptions. after all these decades the cars may not have their original engines or the year engine the current driver was “told” or “remembered” in it. people search and regurgitate inaccurate info. Wash rinse repeat, internet convinces thousands. I hear so much bad info when people call or ask me in person and tell me what they read online. it’s not worth my time to listen to what they read online, it’s more confusing and wasteful trying to explain or counter or include that in an actual diagnosis…easier for me to ask lots of questions and diagnose myself. Most of the other Subaru forums are filled with inaccurate info and ensuing messiness. It’s a nightmare trying to participate in them for accurate high level information unless you can recognize the few users who are good. And most people can’t because they don’t know enough to know the difference. They’re nice for “community” whatever that means “online” but otherwise I find them annoying, though I’m admittedly practical and have an engineering background to a fault when it comes to Subarus.

Ah, that's unfortunate. Those external head bolts would make it the easiest Subaru head job to do insitu if you wanted to try to crank it out quick in the engine bay without pulling the engine. Remove lower 2 14mm engine mount nuts and pitch stopped and jack the engine up on the side you're working on to "tilt" that head up for easier access.

Size. The safest car to be in during a wreck is the biggest one. It's the heaviest Subaru ever made.

No, this is a confusing moving target of guesses - 1996 is single port. Also single port does not signify interference engine: 96 single port non interference. 97 single port interference

EJ22s: 95 dual port heads non interference, HLAs, old style tensioner 96 same as 95 but single port heads 97 single port heads, interference, new style tensioner (some old style rarely seen), Solid lifters. 99+ Phase II

98 is always new style unless it was swapped. Pull the drivers side timing cover tk check - 3 10mm bolts really easy You can order the bracket for like $25 and use whatever tensioner you want. Get the bracket new or used to match the tensioner. It attached to the engine with 2 12mm bolts. so if you ordered new style and it turned out to be old style because it was engine swapped previously or something then just buy the cheap bracket to go with it.

Ah. Subaru did its job, glad you’re okay. Used. Rebuild places are probably intended for the SRS single time use newer belts like found in 2001+ Subarus. Maybe they can do older ones too but I’d imagine it’s not economical since it’s intended to serve as an option for more expensive parts. Worth a call to see but I’d go with used. eBay or car-part.com

Any 95 auto from imp or legacy is ideal. if you call a yard tell them 1995 legacy or Impreza. Don’t tell them you’re swapping they’ll tell you it’s not possible bexuse that’s what they’re computer says. Don’t waste your time. Ask for a 95 legacy or Impreza automatic. 96 is great too but will require some hand holding to get the easiest one although neither is hard.

No one company has any lead on getting exceptional quality 25 year old wreck or rusted cars. They all source from auctions and buy whatever is cheap and fits their business model approach. Some yards tend to have lots of Subarus. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes less good. The yard with the most Subarus around me is unequivocally the worst. Locally is best in case you need the warranty. car-part.com is a database of all yards in the US. Id get one anywhere but many of us know our way around subarus. I’d try to find one known running lower miles from a wreck so you know why it was junked. you may have to expand search because they’re old and getting less common.

Yes they hold up better in H6s. the labor to replace is extensive and cumbersome to do inside the engine bay - so it’s much easier to do now. I do H6 water pumps only if I’m already taking the timing covers off. If the covers are dry and I’m not removing them I don’t replace the water pump. Disclaimer - That was my approach 10 years ago when I did a lot of H6 engine work and swaps. I haven’t done many recently so it’s getting more prudent to consider replacing based on age. I’d still do the same today outside of any significant additional info like if the engine was suspected of sitting for a very long period of time or other gaskets seem deteriorated more than normal. Their only, rare, failure mode is leaking at the weep hole slowly so it’s not typically a dangerous or a stranding event. While I’m not a shop or mechanic so I’ve only been around a couple dozen H6s, I’ve never seen a failed H6 water pump. But of course it does happen.

I've towed with 80's, 90's, 2000's Subaru's well over capacity. Most commonly towing another Subaru and very large (for a Subaru) boats with Subaru's in all those decades. Usually short, safe trips except taking the boat on vacation. The limit I hit with all of them has been running hot. Drive up a mountain grade in summer and they've all started to run above normal temps or overheat.

Oh wow, well that certainly paints an interesting picture of events. It sounds like they were over their head trying to diagnosis and repair something they really weren't capable of doing in the first place. Sorry you're in that mess. Yes, they usually will settle before going to court. It's just not always a fun process but good grief yeah you've already spent the entire value of the car on repairs they couldnt' do and now a dead engine. What a mess.

Good list. That is exactly what I would do to it. Maybe radiator hoses depending on visual check. A new radiator and hoses isn't a bad idea at some point particularly considering the lower availability of H6 parts.

1. You’re first strategy is already loosing a court battle by showing your bias - you are assuming “no metal showed up in the oil when they changed the gasket”. There very well could have been metal in the oil they just didn’t look or see it. 2. Less than year old vehicle, unknown history, 24 years old, copiously leaking oil, worst engine Subaru ever made - it’s not surprising for an EJ25 under those conditions to loose a bearing EJ25s frequently fail after purchase like this because the former owner had hints of issues. Those hints prompted them to sell. That’s why I asked “how long have you owned this car” - because it’s an EJ25 prone to MASSIVE headgasket issues and overheating which compromises the bearings. You’re not thr first person to buy an EJ25 and have it blow a bearing in less than a year. Lots of online threads of the same experience 3. The only way it could be “proven” to be their fault is if you find a bent sump. So the good news is you don’t have to be a sluth or engineer here to figure this out. The chief issue will be pulling that pan and inspecting the sump in a way that verifies legitimacy to all sides, including Midas and thr court who will have to weigh one professional business “Midas” against a second professional business “Whoever you pay to pull the engine apart” Best to let Midas pull the pan and see and let you be there when they do. They probably have insurance if they see an obvious flaw. Not that they want to abuse it and have rates go up They can’t be liable for unsavory people who pull the pan, bend the sump themselves in order to try to blame Midas and get a free engine. I know of a Subaru dealer in an economically blighted urban area that quit working on Subarus more than 15 or 20 years old due to issues like this. I’m not saying you will do this but you have to be prepared for this reality if you think you’re going to prove this to anyone other than yourself. All of that said - I guess you’re in good shape because the judge will be mechanically, and Subaru, illiterate and knows none of this. So they will just roll the dice and guess or force a settlement that’s not great for both parties probably. Id put the money and time into getting an EJ22 instead - they’re plug and play interchangeable for the EJ25 in that engine and incredibly reliable.