chaz345

I had a 91 Leg sedan until recently and it was still running fairly strong at 325k. Only sold it because it needed struts and brakes and several other moderate things and I needed the hauling capacity of a wagon. There really are no real weak spots. Electrical things like sensors can start to get wierd as any car pases 22 years old though. The automatic transmissions are pretty bulletproof unless it's been abused by running old or too little fluid.

The sway bar end links also make a clunk as they age.

The noise, if it's piston slap, is definitely completely harmelss. My mechanic's shop loaner does it to the point that at idle it sounds like a Volkswagen diesel. Get's some very strage looks from other Subie people at stoplights.

I realize the issue has been resolved but in terms of an idle speed of only 400, look closely at the tachometer. The first mark is actually 500 rpms.

Backing up here a bit, I do realize that I missed that the alternator was included in the $650 price. I also have realized that we're talking about an EJ25 not an EJ22 so timing parts are a bit more. I have an infortunate tendency to read quickly and somehow got it in my head that we were talking about an EJ22. $500 ish for the timing on an EJ25 is not out of line. And like I said I missed the alternator. I appoligize for my oversight. I do still question why the whole timing job including idlers, wasn't done when the engine was apart for the HG job though. It seems foolish to me to penny pinch on parts when a lot of the same labor is going to need to be redone. Especially considering the consequenses of one of those idlers seizing.

I appologize if I came across as chastizing you. I said I was confised by the use of the term, and that's all I meant.

My price comes from my subaru mechanic and includes parts and labor, and he's definitely making plenty of money. I did miss that he was talking about replacing the alternator though. But are you really trying to say that just the idlers alone are $225 in parts? If so I'll repeat my claim of highway robbery. I get that it's going to be more expensive than Rock Auto, but more than twice what they charge for an entire timing belt kit? That's not reasonable. The other clue that the price he's been given isn't reasonable is they they said $190 to change the transmission fluid? Really? That's what, 1/2 hour of labor and if we're really generous 3 gallons of fluid @ $25 per gallon.

Timimg belt bearings? I'm confused as to what exactly that is. Maybe he means idler pullies? In any case $650 to do that and oil pump and alternator is absolute robbery. Whole timing belt job, done right with all new pullies and tensioner, and water pump should be $400 or maybe a bit more. I personally am very suspicious of the use of the term bearings when talking about anything timing belt related. Either he doesn't know what he's talking about, in which case I'd be very afraid of the quality of the head gasket job, or he thinks you don't know anything. In either case, to do a head gasket job and not do the WHOLE timing belt job including idler pullies is just non-sensical, unless they had already recently been done.

Bad alternator or bad/intermittant grounding would be my thoughts. The flakey negative cable connection would be the first thing I fixed. Do that and recheck the voltage while running. If it's still that far below 14 then it's the alternator.

The way you describe it, worse when the engine is cold, sounds like piston slap but I'm not an experienced expert on the matter. Everything I've heard though suggests that if it were rod knock, your engine would have blowed up by now. They don't tend to last thousands of miles with knocking rod.

If your leak is at or before the cat, then that exhaust from CL won't solve your problem as it is everything behind the cat. You could look into what the parts cost at www.rockauto.com if you have someone who will install your parts for you. Growing up in Vermont I remember the joys of exhaust in the rust/salt belt well. Don't miss it a bit.

This is exactly the way I approach things. Driving a high mileage Legacy 160 miles a day means I'm going to need a "major" $500 or so repair once or twice a year for a monthly cost of, we'll go high and say $100. Or driving a new car, where I've got no guarantees that it won't need anything major and I'm definitely spending $300 a month on a payment. To me it's a no brainer.

My thought is that your mechanic is either communicating to you unclearly or doesn't know what he's talking about. The AWD system on these beasts is such that the more current that there is going to the duty c solenoid, the less power there is transmitted to the rear wheels. So if the Duty C solenoid is bad, the FWD fuse isn't going to change anything. Installing a FWD fuse doesn't disable the Duty C, it energizes it fully. It disables(or renders irrelevant) the rest of the system that decides how much power to send to the rear wheels. So putting in the fuse with no change essentially just told you that it is most likely the Duty C solenoid that is the problem. Changing the Duty C really isn't all that involved. Drop the driveshaft, drain the tranny, pull the tail section off the tranny, replace solenoid and reverse the process. Haynes Manual will tell you exactly step by step all you need to know. I'd say that a lift is almost essential though.That or some good ramps that are at least a foot tall and a dry area to work. Doing that job with the car on the ground is a major pain.

If it's flashing 16 times and there's no other issues with the transmission slippin or shifting wierd, it's likley something with the AWD system usually the duty c solenoid. When driving slowly on dry pavement with the steering wheel turned sharply, is there any binding or "scrubbing"?

Don't most turbo's sort of feel that way?

Why would you be using a torque wrench to remove a large bolt though?

I think he said he no longer has the original tranny.

You can probably get a wrecked whole car for that much from a private party and have other useable replacement parts. That is, if you have somewhere to keep it. If you can find a car similar enough with a fried engine but good tranny, you'll have all the other drivetrain parts as well as a bunch of other useable stuff. Or you can sometimes find one that got smacked that the owner didn't have full coverage insurance on and doesn't want to bother fixing. Problem with wrecking yard is that you have absolutely zero idea as to the functionality of the tranny and while many have an "if it doesn't work, bring it back" warranty of sorts, you'd be out the labor.

This possibly sheds some light on a strange situation I had with my 91 AWD legacy. GD was doing some work for me and found that the front diff was full of ATF. Straight ATF, not a mix of ATF and gear oil as would be the case if a seal had gone. I had never put anything in the front diff and had been running the car for 50k or so that way. And the previous owner had for who knows how long. Never could figure out why someone would have put ATF in the front diff, but if that had previously owned an older beastie line yours, maybe they thought that's how all Subies were.

Since you have to do all the work that you would in simply replacing the axle, and you have no idea how long it's been ripped, you may be better served in simply repoacing the axle. Depends on how important long term bulletproof relibaility is to you. There are decent aftermarket axles out there for not all that much $$. One thing unique to Subie axles is that the inboard side is helt into the fron diff with a roll pin that you need a very long punch to remove.

This thought occured to me too as I was reading the original post.

The ratio is sometimes marked on the rear diff too. If you find a smokin deal on a tranny with a different ratio, getting the matching ratio rear diff may be worth it. You are definitely in Subie country though so it shouldn't be too hard to find something for a reasonable price. I know there's a few members here who are somewhat in your neck of the woods that may be able/willing to tackle the labor end of this project.

RPM @ 70 (legal limit for most of my drive) is a shade over 2500. And given that the tires are near the end of their life I'm definitely checking them more than average, probably every other fill up which for me means I check pressure once to twice a week.

Other than electrical/solenoid issues, there's not alot on these trannys that's worth fixing. A used replacement is likely your best bet. If you can find one that you know the history on, like getting one from someone you know, all the better. They are very reliable transmissions but nothing is impossible especailly if a previous owner neglected fluid changes or ran it low. And then there's the occasional crap happens failure where something that rarely fails, does anyway.

Ok guys, not a project that I'm actually in the planning stages of since I've got zero extra $$ but I was thinking that a pretty decent "poor man's BRZ" could be fashioned by putting some sort of Subie powerplant into an early generation RX-7 or Miata. I would think that it would be entirely possible to use the existing tranny and drivetrain with an appropriate adapter plate. Not sure about space in the engine bay though. I do recall reading something about some maniac that was putting a small block 350 into a Miata which seems to me to be great for power, but not so great for handling/weight balance. For an engine I'd be thinking something at or bit more than 200 hp would suffice, maybe an EJ22t or an EJ20t. I realize that exhaust piping to power the turbo would be a major design challenge. Anyone know if a Subie has ever been sucessfully supercharged? I know that would require a custom manifold. Like I said, I'm very much in the "mentally doodling" stage of this one, never done anyting like it at all so there's probalby lots that I'm not even considering. This one is definitely in the "sometime in the future" category. First project priority is Subarizing a VW bug for my son as his daily driver.