GeneralDisorder

Depends entirely on the year, model, and transmission type that it came from. GD

You really think the water pump and idlers will go another 100k? I've seen factory water pumps fail before 100k. You could put this back together, go 20k and have the water pump start weeping..... No joke. Just did an '06 Forester a few months back with a weeper at 98k and I just pulled an engine from an '03 Baja with a weeper at 117k. Both OEM. Remember that the dealer service departement has a vested intrest in your repeat business. I don't. GD

Yeah you can do them that way - SOA says they have to. I care about my back a lot more than SOA cares about their technician's backs. It's a lot easier with the engine out. And doesn't take that long to pull them. GD

Every brand has it's problems. Where Subaru's stand apart is that they are far easier to work on. If you compare the right models, Subaru looks good. If you compare the wrong one's they look bad. Making judgement calls about a brand as a whole is meaningless and silly. So is brand loyalty. I wouldn't own a Justy just because I like Subaru's..... they were crap. I also tilt my head to the side when people ask about the 25D. Used 25D cars are to be treated with much skepticism. All Subaru's are not the same - just as all Toyota's, Honda's, and every other brand are not the same. Blanket statements just make people look foolish to me. Make is a LOT less important than model and year. Us engineers and mechanics don't really care about perfect reliability because we know that all machines will eventually break. What we DO care about is how simple the problem is to solve. Subaru's are a LOT easier to work on than almost all other brands and they have the added benefit that most run-of-the-mill mechanics don't beleive this to be true because of their "strange" boxer engine design and symetrical layout. This is adventagous because when they break they are cheap and those of us in the know pick up that "wierd, broken Subaru" and we laugh at their ignorance behind their backs when we fix it for the cost of a duty-c solenoid and some tranny fluid or a $300 replacement transmission. :-p GD

If it were me I would just wait till 105k and do it when the timing belt is due. The external weepage usually isn't enough to be more than an annoyance. I would pull the engine, do the clutch if it needs it, complete timing belt kit with water pump, all idlers, tensioner, etc - front main and cam seals, valve cover gaskets, plugs and well seals, and the oil pump o-ring. Don't forget an OEM thermostat for your new water pump. And of course check your valve clearances. But they will almost certainly be fine. GD

You have to make sure it *has* a correct crush washer though. I've seen lots of cheap one's that were squished out and one's that leak, etc. Or just plain missing. I typically replace them with OEM one's when I change the filter. I don't always replace one's that I know I've replaced in the past and that still look good but I do swap them out. It's worth it to me to not have any drips for the $1 they cost. Also having a good soft crush washer means you don't have to crank the plug down so tight to stop them from weeping. Then I don't have to take them loose with a pipe wrench and a cheater. :-\ GD

Sure - but who really wants to look at a check engine light? Theres ways to eliminate it and that is the professional way to handle it. I would never let a customer drive off with a car that's going to pop a CEL due to my work. GD

Get those last few threads for extra strength. Aluminium should have 2x the diameter for thread engagment. It's just added insurance and it's the *right* way to do it. You don't *have* to - but if it fails won't you feel silly? GD

Beware of stainless on stainless - if you use stainless studs then don't use stainless nuts. Use zinc coated. Stainless paired with stainless will easily gall the threads and they will never come apart. 7/16 x 14 or 7/16 x 20 will both work fine. The 20 is a finer thread and typically with aluminium a coarser thread works better. Existing holes are 3/4" deep or so. The general rule with aluminium is 2x the diameter of the thread for proper engagement. Well - the problem I see with those inserts is they use much larger taps than a heli-coil. The M14 x 1.5 tap is still about $15 with shipping from Amazon. I see no appreciable difference in price nor any compelling reason to use them over a standard heli-coil. You are still going to buy their inserts and installation tool as well as a tap from another supplier.... you might save $10 in the process. I would rather have the whole kit in one box from one supplier. Being aluminium the tap is not really a wear item if you are careful with it. I have used a lot of heli-coils in my career. I've never had one fail or back out on me. Nice! It all worked out well I see. GD

The front and center slip yokes can probably take up some of that - at least 1" between the two of them. You could bolt/weld a spacer to the rear diff flange for the rest and then move the carrier bearing mounts forward. GD

Doesn't look like the duty-c solenoid to me. Their price is close (but higher than my local dealer with my discount) but the picture is way off and the part number is meaningless. I wouldn't order from them. GD

I believe it's a 31942AA090. That is the complete solenoid and the valve body. Just bought one last week. My local dealer price is $110.20 You also need the gaskets(2) which are #31954AA071 for $1.34 each. GD

You can't use a regular tap to install a heli-coil. You have to use a special heli-coil tap that's correctly oversized for the insert. I've looked into this in the past and they do not correspond to any commonly availible sizes. The stock exhaust stud size is M10 x 1.25. The "Screw Thread Insert" (STI) Tap for this size heli-coil is called an "M10 x 1.25 STI Tap". They run about $25 on their own. Here's the complete kit with inserts: http://www.threadtoolsupply.com/M10x125-professional-helical-insert-repair-kit.html You don't have to heli-coil them if you don't want to buy a kit though. Just oversize them to 7/16" x 14 with a plug tap and bottoming tap. Then use 7/16" x 14 all-thread to make new studs. Loctite really won't help with exhaust studs much since the temps can easily exceed what even the red (271) thread locker will withstand. GD

Oh - yeah there's no issue with mixing regular and synthetic gear oil. Not any more of an issue than there will be with using that cheapo Coastal brand crap in there :-p There is at least one website I've run across that repackages it in quarts. I don't know of any dealers that sell it that way though. The Motul is also hard to get - but again it's availible online. GD

It's important to note the thread date on that link - it's from 2008. With the availibility of Extra-S these days - there's really no good reason not to have it (or the Motul which is highly regarded as being on-par with the Extra-S) in every turbo transmission. I agree that the LWSP is not *as bad* as the cocktail but I've run all of them at one point or another and I didn't notice any real benefits to the LWSP. In any event - I really just wanted to insure that the OP knows about the dangers of the cocktail and to stear clear of it. LWSP on it's own is not nearly as bad.... but there's no compelling reason to use it over Extra-S or Motul that I've run across. As for grinding syncro's - there's no substitute for replacement IMHO. Band-aids never work for long and tend to accelerate wear and cause other problems. It's not that hard to split the case and just install new ones. I recently did a '96 JDM STi tranny and with new syncro's it will go into first gear from a 35 MPH roll. GD

Definitely sounds like all the light rod knockers I've listened to. Pretty common on the 25D to hear that. I've torn several of them down just to verify. Wiped out bearing inserts is what I always find. The difference between that and piston slap is that piston slap is very rythmic sounding. It's a regular, timed slapping noise that doesn't sound like morse code. Same goes for valve adjustment. What you have sounds irregular. That is classic rod knock. That said - it could run that way for quite a while as long as you keep oil in it. GD

I would get that stuff out of there with quickness. That's the major component in the "scotty's cocktail" that gels and contributes to wear. It's for racing - not daily driving. Get the Extra-S in there sooner rather than later. GD

This stuff has fallen out of favor - it is REALLY bad for your transmission. It turns to a gel like substance in cold temps and increases wear to an astounding degree. Yes it will fix syncro crunching in the short term - but it will kill off the rest of your tranny in pretty short order. Complete failures have been seen within 10k. All the guys that rebuild transmissions have stated the worst units they have seen have been run with this crap. The ONLY transmission fluids that you should be using if you want to keep it around for a long time (and it's not already going out) are: Subaru Extra-S Motul with moly Redline 80w90 NS In that order of preference. GD

'05 has a metal seperator plate - as all '00 and later engines do. They don't leak. As stated there is no pan gasket and a leak there is just as unlikely as from a metal seperator. Your model year suffers from head gasket oil leaks. Primarily on the drivers side head. No easy fix for that. Either you spend the time and money to pull the engjne out and deal with them properly or just live with it. Valve covers are a common enough leak point. They are simple to replace. GD

Don't worry about it. Bowl vent solenoids are to appease the emissions gNazi's. It can be open all the time and it won't hurt anything. All carbs had open bowl vents till about 1970. GD

Just drop the y-pipe and get the correct special O2 socket. Sometimes you can indeed get at it with a 7/8" open end wrench - but often you can't because of the heat sheilds. Drop the y-pipe down, take it out with the socket, and be on your way. Really not a difficult job. You do need a quality socket. If it's really buggered up in there you can break/cut the end off the sensor and use an impact. GD

It is definitely at the correct level. I've filled a lot of transmissions and I do know how to fill them, how to check the level, and how much to add when approaching the full line :-p. GD

It should be fine. The spring just keeps the ball from getting stuck up in the spring somewhere. It's just the accelerator pump check valve so when the plunger pushes down it will force the ball into the hole and block the passage. It's not supposed to push on it hard - if it did the ball wouldn't come off it's seat to let fuel into the pump chamber. GD

Check the fuse for it. It's probably about 1/4 to 1/3 of the fuse rating. If it's a 30 amp fuse it may be quite a bit - like 8 to 10 amps maybe. Heating elements do pull a lot of amps. That's fairly normal. Most meters have a 10 amp inline capacity without using a shunt and clamp-meters that read DC are pretty spendy..... I have used one of these succesfully for measureing draws larger than the 10 amp my meter can handle directly: http://www.harborfreight.com/30-Amp-Automotive-Fuse-Circuit-Tester-67724.html GD

Hhhmmm - yeah I use this fluid all the time because I can get it in gallon jugs. Never had an issue. He just picked up the car and I talked with him - the hard shifting and such was already going on so actually this may have not had anything to do with my fluid change. On that note - will the trans-x help at all? It doesn't slip.... just shifts all wacky, delayed up-shifts, flagellating between gears, and hard shifts. I really don't want to have to replace the tranny on this thing. I bought it with a fubar 25D which I replaced with a 2.2 that runs great. I'm going to take a bath on it if I have to do the tranny also. You would think that a '98 with 147k and bad 25D for $800 would be a good deal.... but this one I'm not so sure about . GD