GeneralDisorder

The baffle plate bolts are the same as the pan bolts - just usually cleaner or at least less rusty and caked with RTV. The two pickup bolts have no screwdriver slots and are slightly longer. GD

Sure. I'll put it down on the schedule. No problem. GD

Put the D heads on a 1999 to 2004 EJ251 block with 770 gaskets and a 10mm oil pump. Don't bother with the 2.2. Won't make any more power with D heads, and they have serious oil burning problems. Rings are dealer only... etc. Waste of time. GD

Without codes, we can't help you in any way. The codes range from P0001 to P9999. There's 10,000 of them and it could be anything. Sounds like the safe bet is to not buy it. Honestly the H6's are very expensive to work on, and the Tribeca was a huge flop with limited resale value. GD

If the pickup doesn't hit the baffles in the pan it will work. They are all the same depth. But you need to match dipstick length to pan. Some pans run the oil level higher. GD

Aluminium engine block has 2x the coefficient of thermal expansion compared to the forged iron crankshaft. This changes bearing clearances with respect to temperature on the mains, which feed the rods. Subaru rod bearings are unusually narrow. Focusing the loads on a smaller bearing surface. This is because 5 main bearings, and 4 rod bearings are squished into the depth of less than 3 cylinders. Compared to an inline 4 cylinder design, the rod bearings are about 1/4" narrower. Just have a look at a conventional inline 4 crank next to the Subaru crank. The space for proper bearings of decent size doesn't exist. The horizontal nature of the cylinders makes oil consumption a larger problem than with conventional inline or V engines which mostly have upright, naturally draining cylinders. This leads to engineering difficulties for thin oils, leading to consumption, and a higher incidence of running dry or running low enough to cause thermal damage to the oil by running it's volume through the engine at higher rate and not having sufficient surface contact with the pan, etc for cooling. It's a troublesome design, and in many ways it's a terrible choice for performance. The Mitsubishi 4G63 put any Subaru 4 cylinder to shame by a very wide margin. Good thing Mitsubishi couldn't build a complete package with drivetrain, and electrics that weren't complete garbage or Subaru would have been in big, big trouble. We work around it's shortcomings. But that does necessitate a very considered approach to lubrication. Its definitely one of the weak points on the Subaru engine and so requires special attention to oil film strength, bearing clearances, and oil pump volume. GD

It may need starter solenoid contacts, or it may need a relay to bypass the solenoid circuit. Very typical with these cars. GD

No. Pan, pickup, and dipstick must all match. GD

All the turbo models of the FB engine (15+ WRX) use 5w30. So yes there is certainly experience with it. Also the H6 engines like the 3.6R which are of similar design with respect to timing chains, clearances, dual AVCS, etc also come with the 5w30 recommendation. It protects better and is needed for the heavier loading of the higher performance engines. If you want to protect your engine and insure against damage from high temperatures, bad gas, and hard driving - 0w20 just doesn't do that. And it's part of the reason for high oil consumption, and bearing failures being seen on the FB. GD

Yes that's what we do. Once the 3/36 is up (assuming they don't have an extended) we switch to 5w30 XL. On the older stuff that tends to burn oil, or higher mileage stock turbo engines we run 5w40, and for all performance applications we run either 10w40 premium protection (high zinc) or 15w50 Dominator. GD

Exactly. 0w20 is for economy, emissions, and CAFE requirements. So far they haven't been able to mass produce a reliable engine to use the 0w16 spec or they would. That's how close to the edge they are running with 0w20. They can't yet build one for 0w16 and get it to hold together. It WILL result in increased wear. It also decreases resistance to detonation due to bad gas, carbon build up, etc. You would be surprised how easy it is to pound the bearings out of a Subaru rod. GD

Get them from Subaru. The dealer gaskets are made by Nippon Reinz. There is no benefit to any aftermarket gasket on that engine. Composite graphite gaskets were used from the factory and typically last 250k with properly prepared head and block surfaces. I would not move to an MLS gasket as the block and cylinder head surfaces on those engines tend to be pretty rough and sealing it up is probably best done with the graphite composite. GD

Funny thing - the stuff the Subaru engineers designed wont make 500 HP. So we have had to go elsewhere for quite a few parts. Do 25 pulls on a dyno running a high performance Blouch turbo on Mobile 1 and you start to see that all oils aren't created equally. Mobile 1 will cause thrust bearing failure in short order. Not enough zinc and film strength is far too weak. Have a read though this: http://store.forcedperformance.net/merchant2/graphics/news/Forced%20Performance%20Recommendations%20for%20Motor%20Oil.pdf GD

You can get a 72 hour subscription to the Subaru tech info site for $35. And for 72 hours you can download as many PDF's as you like and keep them. The differential pressure of the filter only comes into play when the filter cannot flow enough and the internal bypass valve opens. Such as when the oil is extremely cold, very high RPM, or extremely dirty/inefficient element , etc. The oil pressure to the bearings is the same as it's always been - regulated to a max of about 90-95 psi by the bypass valve inside the oil pump. Higher quality filters that have better filtration and better flow (the Subaru Of America [blue] OE filter is abysmal as are Toyota OE filters) do not need a high DP to force oil through a crappy element. Additionally, the design of the bypass valve has the oil first washing over the filter element. For this reason we recommend WIX filters as they have an "up front" bypass design that does not have unfiltered oil washing over a dirty element before being bypassed. We also use the Amsoil filters - they do not develop high DP (synthetic element, 15,000 mile filter) so do not need the high DP bypass valve. They have 15 psi valves. The WIX are stock psi but a much better design and a better filtration element. GD

Compression test will show nothing. That's not how these gaskets fail. Waste of time. Replace the head gaskets. You don't need any further testing. GD

Definitely head gaskets. 1000%. GD

You'll top out at about 28 on the freeway from my experience with 96 5 speed Outback. GD

The crank sprockets are less than $40 retail from the dealer. That's less than a half hour shop labor. Isn't worth even attempting to repair one. You really should check replacement part pricing before you sink buttloads of man hours into repairing cheap parts. No real excuse for not exploring the obvious option of just buying a new one. GD

The relays are cycling in response to the test mode connectors being plugged in. There will be a set of green connectors (two pin but with only one pin used) under the steering column. Unplug them. They should remain unplugged for normal operation. This is not related to your no-start. GD

If you heat them with a torch you can get those bolts out 90% of the time. The threads don't seize it's the open shaft above the threads. That said, I've drilled many of them out. But it's a skill and if you haven't done it many times you should probably avoid it on a critical vehicle you need back on the road. Learn on something else. GD

Yes there is something to be said for that. But you can easily just buy the 0w20 and filter so you have the reciept, return it, and get the 5w30. GD

The 0w means the stuff is good down to about NEGATIVE 65 degrees. Important for snow mobiles maybe. The clearance in the engine is EXACTLY THE SAME. I'm really getting sick of people not actually verifying their claims. Here's specs from the EJ FSM (2005), Followed by the same specs from the FB (2013): Connecting rod side clearance: EJ: 0.0028" - 0.0130" FB: 0.0028" - 0.0130" Connecting rod oil clearance: EJ: 0.0007" - 0.0018" FB: 0.0007" - 0.0018" Crankshaft thrust clearance: EJ: 0.0012" - 0.0045" FB: 0.0012" - 0.0045" Crankshaft oil clearance: EJ: 0.0004" - 0.0012" FB: 0.0004" - 0.0012" If anyone would like to verify my claims, download the manual and look for your own self. https://sl-i.net/FORUM/showthread.php?18087-Subaru-Factory-Service-Manuals-(FSM)-Every-Model-USDM-EU Now can all the morons please shut up about using 30 weight in the FA/FB? It's completely fine. All my engine builds leave with 0.001" mains, and .00125" rods. We line hone and resize rods to hit this within tenths. We run Amsoil 15w50 Dominator race oil. With a 15 minute warm up stipulation before loading the engine. Aluminium block/forged crank means the main bearing clearance will grow to about 0.002" due to thermal expansion. And the forged pistons slap when cold for the same reason. Let me repeat that for you. STOCK bearing clearances and 15w50. And we load these engines to 500+ HP. We had one detonate so badly at 25 psi boost (clogged injector) that it split the cylinder liner open like a banana. Upon tear down there was ZERO damage to the bottom end. Lubrication is not a problem and even under detonation so severe it DESTROYED the cylinder liner and engine block, the Dominator oil film saved the mains and rods from damage. GD

The Subaru oil is crap. I've seen what kind of deposits all the different oils leave after 100k. If you are getting it for 5.83, Subaru is buying it for $2. Their parts markup is EXTREMELY high. GD

Mobile 1 is watered down from what it was 20 years ago. The price is off zero concern. If you are worried about $30 extra in oil cost per 10,000 miles then why even ask the question? If you do analysis you will find that the Amsoil will last far longer than the Mobile 1 and protect better. Use Amsoil's XL 5w30, and their filter, and change it every 10,000. GD

Amsoil. And personally we prefer to run 5w30. The 0w20 spec is for CAFE standards, not engine longevity. GD