GeneralDisorder

Totally unreasonable. Take a short vacation up here to lovely Oregon and ill do them for $1500 for everything. If you gut the thermostat it will drive up here. GD

It won't help. That's a normal failure mode for the 4 speed's. 3rd goes and the only fix is to replace the syncros. Which is not viable. Toss it and go to the five speed. Don't waste $40 on gear oil - it will just you will just end up spending more later on a tranny and more oil. GD

Sounds like you just need new head gaskets. It's low mileage - hasn't yet been overheated a rediculous number of times - perfect candidate for the updated gaskets. They are $35 each at the dealer. Why would you throw the engine away with only 100k on it? Seriously - you are over-reacting. Fix it and drive another 200k. Selling it is stupid - you will get nothing for it. That car is EASILY worth $5,000 after the repair. The way it sits - maybe $1,000. An EJ22 swap will run you about $1200. A head gasket job will run about the same - maybe as much as $1500. But the engine you know vs. the engine you don't..... you are better off repairing it. The cheapest car is NEARLY ALWAYS the one you already own. GD

The problem is going to be inside the main case - probably something to do with the detent ball and spring that are under the funny-looking bolt-heads on the driver's side of the case. Those are the access bolts that allow you to install and remove the detent ball and spring..... but I've never had that exact problem before so I don't know what would have gone wrong..... my money is on the linkage not allowing it to go far enough to snap into reverse completely. GD

First off - all bolts stretch to some degree. There is a BIG difference between stress and yield.... in metalurgical terms the stress at which the material starts to exhibit permanent deformation is called yield. Subaru head bolts do stretch but they DO NOT exprience permanent deformation - thus can be reused an indefinite number of times. The reason for the degree turns is purely one of practicality - because the Subaru head bolts tend to creak in a large percentage of cases even when the threads are properly chased and the bolts are clean and lubed - the degree turns are set to put about 90 ft/lbs on the bolts. The creaking will throw off a regular torque insturment. Degree turns are impervious to creaking. So no - Subaru head bolts are NOT torque-to-yield. GD

Pitch the tranny in the dumpster - it's shot or will be eventually. Not worth fixing - just install a 5 speed. GD

If it just won't stay in gear then it's not the gears - it's the shift mechanism that keeps the reverse fork from sliding out of engagement. And it might be as simple as an adjustment of the linkage. The D/R and single range reverse shift rail and fork (5th and reverse) are probably the same. Might even be able to use later AWD parts as well. Lots of that stuff is interchangeable. GD

There are some very slight differences in the diameter of the bore in the block and the spec of the pump. They have A, B, and C pumps from the factory though I think all the replacement pumps are A's. They all fit and work though it's just the diameter of the bore and clearance with the outer pump rotor..... I would suspect it's not assembled quite right or hanging up on something. GD

No one (including the dealer) replaces EJ head bolts. Unless they are damaged in some way they can be reused indefinitely. They are not torque-to-yeild and despite what some parts counter guy will tell you they never require replacement. You don't need studs to "fix" the head gaskets on the EJ251 - the gaskets were at fault not the engine design. The sealant used on the gasket suface washed away over time and cause external seepage. The replacement OEM gaskets solve this problem and you should NOT use anything but the dealer part. I have done bearings and rings - I would reccomend ACL for bearings. OEM on rings. GD

Yes it should definitely spin. Perhaps the pump is assembled incorrectly? Get out the mic. and depth gauges and check the thickness of the rotor, it's distance from the pump mating surface and the depth of the cavity in the block, etc. Find where the problem is..... GD

Early Legacy's are 4.111. '95+ are 3.9 GD

If you can weld it's not too hard to get a couple flanges, a gasket, and a universal stainless flex. That's how I would fix it. But I have done a bit of exhaust work and it's not really a big deal to me. I would not like having the header, cats, and mid all one peice on the '90 to '94's and the newer stuff becomes a problem if you try and seperate the rear cat flange - leads to leaks and P0420 codes..... plus those flanges are usually a mess too. GD

Yeah - the center diff is very easy to change out or replace the VC on. You remove the rear cover of the tranny and it slides right out. Then you just pop out the snap ring in the end and it slides apart. The VC is the bit on the top directly under the snap ring. If you get a good used one you just plop it in and put it back together. If you get a new one make sure to also order the bearing that is on the end of the VC (806255010). And in either case you should order the bronze thrust washer that's under the bottom spider gear in the center diff carrier (803135013). GD

Sorry - meant coil..... yeah my write up might indeed say that. I haven't updated that in years. There's a lot of little changes that should be added to that document. It's a guideline - not a rulebook. I put the ECU in the glove-box and route the wireing through the passenger side firewall plug. This makes most of the wireing perfect for mounting the coil in the stock location, etc. GD

Personally I mount the coil in the same location as the EA81 had it - that way you can use a stock EA81 plug wire set. GD

Anything from 1990 to 2005 (and beyond if you change inner CV joints) will work but 90 through 98 will be easiest. In order to keep the same rear diff ratio you need a 4.111 final drive transmission..... 90 to 94 Legacy, 93/94 Impreza, 95 to 98 Outback, 98 Forester are the big one's. Might be others and many after '98 will fit but additional work has to be done with the starter mounting, etc as those are 8-bolt bell-housing setups. GD

Well - it was $80 when I bought it. Probably the sale price.... $99 right now: http://www.harborfreight.com/fwd-front-wheel-bearing-adapters-66829.html GD

You are probably dealing with rust eh? They can be a real pain. You want to open up the pinch with a screwdriver and then use a good amount of penetrant on it. I use a 24" pry-bar (not a cheap one either) to pry the ball joint free of the knuckle. They can be a real beast. I've worked on them for 30 minutes to get them off before. GD

He has a very..... "biased" veiw. He see's stuff that breaks. He probably doesn't bother considering how few of them that really is in the scheme of things. He also follows the direction of his management and probably is replacing a lot of them without neccesity. Management see's a lot more profit in replacing head gaskets than dumping in a $1.49 worth of conditioner and explaining to the customer that it's not really an issue if you keep up on coolant changes and use the additive. I have a Forester with 250k on it and two bottles of conditioner fixed it right up. It has made multiple 500+ mile trips and hasn't lost a drop since I put it in. The VAST majority of these engines are the same. Also - they redesigned the head gasket. If you get into one with the INTENT of replacing the head gaskets premptively you can be assured of a long future of leak-free reliability. A friend of mine did this very thing - bought a '99 Forester with 110k on it. Only seeping a bit of oil but no coolant. We pulled the engine and replaced the head gaskets, did the 105k timing belt job, sealed it all up and replaced coolant hoses, slave cylinder, etc. It's going to be trouble-free now for another 105k till the next belt is due. Frankly it's a good investment and a great bargaining chip to pull out on a prospective seller that may or may not know the head gaskets are leaking. Get $1000 off the price and you have easily payed for the job. Furthermore - you are shooting for the moon with a used car. Something is bound to break sooner or later on whatever you buy. If you plan on a major service right from the start you will both know where you stand AND be ahead in terms of cost. GD

The phase-II headgasket issue is nothing to concern yourself about. They weep some coolant and sometimes oil on the drivers side. The coolant conditioner almost always stops it. And replacement of the head gaskets is relatively easy. I would buy a phase-II and have no qualms about it. Phase-I's are a much larger problem. I would totally buy one with a blown phase-I and replace with an EJ22 though. Done several of these and it's a great swap. Looks factory. GD

Used rack's are about $50 to $75 and they rarely leak or fail.... that's the route I would go rather than chanceing it on a reman unit that may not have been assembled properly. I have bought one reman rack - wholesaler closeout at Rockauto for like $95 - power rack for my EA81 lifted wagon. I was going to rebuild the original rack but after pricing the parts, etc it was going to be around $115 for the parts and I felt it was questionable to rebuild it based on what I saw when I tore it down so I took a chance on the reman......It's been installed for about 50 miles and already leaks . I'll probably end up resealing it again myself. I'm hoping it's just a reseal job and that the "reman" people did alright with..... some of it. GD

I buy/recondition/sell Subaru's in addition to doing repair work for the fine members here and other's in the Subaru community. If you want to talk about buying somthing from me or having me recondition one of your own purchases, etc - drop me a line on my email: cropperr (at) gmail (dot) com. GD