GeneralDisorder

Do the Nissan Maxima swap. Easier and cleaner. If you want one I sell them for $110 plus shipping ready to bolt in and tested, etc. GD

Driveshaft is two sections. Rear section is the same between manual/automatic but the front section is not. GD

He hasn't logged into the site since his last post. We may never know at this point. GD

Depending on how the VR's are set - 14.5 is not outside of what I would consider normal. 14.7 is a bit high. I like to see between 14 and 14.5 when I'm checking directly off the alternator. But if you normally see 13.8 and it's now climbed an entire volt then it's most likely shot. That probably means the reading directly off the alt is somewhere north of 15. GD

Looks like you are in my area. I do all kinds of custom stuff - from minor repairs to custom engine swaps, lifts, cosmetic repair, etc. I have MIG, TIG, and plasma at my disposal. I specialize in the older Subaru's and Subaru's in general. I have two of my own EA81's, etc. Send me a message or an email - cropperr(at)gmail(dot)com if you are still in need of repair help or guidance. GD

Probably - likey because of the poly-v belts used on the XT's MPFI layout. The v-belt pulleys went away from that design and just have studs that go through the pulley to the fan clutch hub and the nuts hold both on. 87+ I think are all like that. Cheaper to manufacture - less machine work and fewer parts. GD

Yeah but look where you live.... here in the larger cities the prices are a lot higher. Cost of living and running a business is higher. I would use a lot more used knuckles if they were $15. As it is the prices in the yards around here are so high that I can replace a bearing for the same price or less and not deal with the yards at all. Engines run about $400 to $600, Transmissions are around $200 to $400. GD

That's an old style (85/86) pulley system. GD

The knuckle is just a bearing pocket. What has gone bad on the knuckle that you can't install a new bearing? Hub's can be damaged if the bearing cone's race spins on the hub but you can just replace the hub with a used one. Personally I opt for bearing replacements since it's a $40 fix either way - bearing and seals or a used knuckle. But with the bearing option I get new bearings instead of unknown used ones. Sounds like something wasn't done right with the installation of the last bearing. The Harbor Frieght set works well but doesn't come with any real instructions - I printed out the Subaru instructions for the Hub Tamer or Hub Shark or whatever I found online in PDF format. Worked well enough as a general outline. I've done dozens of them and I've never had a repeat failure. GD

With a hydro lifter type setup there is very little or no gap. The "gap" would be for a solid lifter type system. The whole point of the hydro lifter system is that it always keeps a small amount of pressure on the lifter pivot - but not enough to overpower the valve spring. This eliminates the need for valve adjustments that were required every 15,000 miles or so on engines like the EA81 but has the drawback that it always robs a tiny amount of power through friction. Improvements in metalurgy, lubricants, and roller rockers have extended the time between valve adjustments to beyond 100,000 miles making the hydraulic lifter self-adjustment system obsolete. That tiny drag on the valve train means lost power and economy and these days that's no longer acceptable due to high fuel prices. Thus all Subaru engines from 97 on are solid lifter arrangements of one form or another. Often what causes them to "tick" is not necesarily a lack of oil flow (well in a sense) but rather "aeration" of the oil - wherein the oil contains tiny air bubbles that were introduced from leaking seals at the pump. These bubbles collect in the lifters and are difficult to expel. Air compresses while oil does not and that means the lifter is "mushy" and making clacking noises when it's pushed by the rocker. GD

Electric is the main fan. Leave it. Ditch the WP fan. It robs HP and is annoying - loud and hard to work around. GD

What's wrong with the ones on the car? GD

Put the clutches and duty-c from the now damaged transmission (broken oil pump if you didn't properly seat the TC) into the old one. You can order new clutches and solenoids from Subaru. Just take the old one's out to match them up, etc. You can still test the duty-c - just have to apply 12v to it. Find the wire at the transmission connector and apply 12v to the solenoid. Should put it in FWD mode. GD

Does the check engine light come on when you first turn on the ignition (bulb check)? Just beacuse you don't see the light doesn't mean there aren't stored codes. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a used car where the idiot light was bypassed or rewired to come on with one of the other idiot lights durring the bulb check and then go out when you start it.... GD

Problem with it being just the front O2 (which could be a possible source of the crappy mileage) is that the front O2 is ignored by the computer till it gets hot enough to start reporting - which occurs at approximately 600* F. If the problem gets better as the engine warms up then the sensor is probably ok because that's exactly the time that the ECU would begin using the sensor for it's fuel calculations. I would say that you need to test the coolant temp sensor. It's very possible that the sensor is telling the computer that the car is warmer or colder than it really is and thus the fuel mixture is incorrect. Have you plugged in a code scanner and checked for codes? A high quality code scanner can tell you what temp the CTS is reporting. That can be very helpful. GD

Check www.car-part.com for a used replacement transmission. It's very likely that it just needs a rear input shaft bearing - which is about $65 from the dealer. Pull the tranny and check it for input shaft play. It's not that hard to install the input bearing. If you can do HG's on a 25D then you can split the tranny and replace that bearing. GD

Personally I wasn't that impressed with the Drill Doctor. We got the big one at the shop I used to work for and it takes forever to use it on larger chipped up bits. I can sharpen a bit 10x faster on a bench grinder and a bench grinder has so many more uses that if I had to choose between the two it wouldn't be much of a contest. Get a small one from Harbor Frieght and put a wire wheel where the coarse stone was. Dual purpose - grinding and thread cleanup. GD

You really can't over torque them. The bearings are seperated by a spacer that sets the preload on them. More torque just means higher clamping force on the axle shaft by the cone washer. It won't hurt the bearings any. Inspect the edges of the cone washer. They should be smooth and without any lip on the large OD of the washer. The split in them needs to be free of burrs and clean so it can clamp down on the axle shaft. The mating surface in the hub also needs to be clean and smooth. If you can, post a close-up picture of the cone washer for us. GD

Find a new mechanic. GD

Cam and crank seals should be done every timing belt. No exceptions. One doesn't cause the other to fail. They get old, hard, and they leak. Simple as that. GD

I'm sure we could put another tranny in it. 4 speeds are cheap. When I have them I sell them for $50. GD

Are you SURE that it's not stripped hub splines? This is much more common than front diff failure and the symtoms are the same. Look under the car while it's in 2WD and doing it's "grinding" thing - if the inner axle cups are spinning then you have bad hub splines. 4 speed's don't usually experience front differential failure. None of the MT's do really. That would be an extremely rare failure. GD

I beleive it was, yes. I beleive the turbo 4EAT was also 3.7 and the non-turbo 3AT was 3.9. GD

No such animal actually. They went from the 3AT to the 4EAT. GD

Our Maxima's are also transverse FWD. And our Z32's are also RWD :-p. GD