GeneralDisorder

$750 That is definitely not right. What in the heck is he including in that quote? Only special tool I think of would be the strut spring compressor - that's not all that special either. About $50 or less from most any good auto parts store that carries a few tools. Sears probably has one too..... For the remote - have you tried a new battery? They are RF so there should be no need to clean anything. GD

Goo is bad - that could be part of the problem. The dealer gaskets are like a mineature head gasket - they are graphite impregnated metal and are a LOT different from most of the aftermarket gaskets - which are usually paper and generally don't last long - sometimes weeks. The bolt torque on these is critical as well - 12 Ft/lbs. They are designed to be installed 100% dry. No sealant is used on any Subaru gaskets. Subaru used either gaskets OR sealants - never both. If a sealant is required it is included on the gasket already. Head gaskets seal four things - coolant, oil, and cylinder gasses are kept IN while atmosphere is kept OUT. A failed head gasket can be a leak that results in the mixing of any of the four. Thus the answer to your question is: Not Always. GD

Not neccesarily - but it would help to have a hood scoop. Add a temp probe and see what the IAT is before/after the IC. You should be able to watch the temp rise and fall and see how much effect the IC is having. If there is not enough airflow the IC will saturate and pretty much stop working durring long pulls under boost. GD

Did you use manifold gaskets from the dealership? GD

The turbo oil passages are very small - cooling after the turbo will not effectively do anything as there will not be enough flow through the cooler to affect any real change - also the oil will drain back to the sump from such a large cooler and will cause a wide fluctuation in the oil level. A proper cooler is mounted between the pump and the oil filter and will circulate the full volume of the pump (after it's filtered) through the cooler. Which can be an air/oil cooler or a water/oil cooler. Water/oil is prefered as it warms the oil quicker and keeps the oil temp more even. Air/oil coolers such as that big transmission cooler can cool the oil too much and cause it to flow poorly (incorrect viscosity due to low operating temp). A front-mount is a bad choice for a small turbo such as the stock one used on the EA82T - the pipeing will be too long and this increase in volume after the turbo creates additional lag time while the turbo has to pressurize all that extra pipe and large intercooler internal cavity. Top mounts mostly avoid that by having very short piping requirements and thus tend to have better response time. It's about what you are doing with the car - if it's going to be a WOT race engine then a front-mount will be fine. For a daily driver that is going to run all through the RPM range then a front-mount can cause driveability issues. Subaru's answer for the top/front mount trade off was the AWIC style with a top mounted water/air IC and a front mounted radiator with an electric circulation pump, etc. GD

Yes - 1/8" is an insane amount of play - definitely bad and probably not even rebuildable since that has likely more than closed the air gap and caused contact with the reluctor, etc. Find a replacement distributor for sure. GD

"Thermostat got stuck while on the highway"......?!?! It doesn't work that way. How did the thermostat get closed? Unlikley. More likely it just straight blew the head gasket - pretty common with those. March down to the dealer and order ALL the coolant lines in the car. Get a 2-row radiator (hard to find now - everyone is saying they are out of stock and no longer manufactured). Hope you don't blow it. Sounds like it's on borrowed time - high mileage EA82T with blown head gaskets - sounds like a boat anchor to me. EJ swaps are so easy and well documented on the EA82 FI cars that it's a no-brainer. Why have 115 HP when you can have 135 or more easily. GD

Hhhmmm - I'm not totally following what's going on - are you saying the exhaust studs on the cylinder heads have stripped out? If so that's a common problem and is easily rectified with a heli-coil. You should drop by my place (West Linn) and I can have a look at it.... no charge unless you want me to do the heli-coil's, etc. I also might have some used exhaust stuff that's better than what you have now. It seems like you are refering to the exhaust manifold and not the muffler - perhaps a nomenclature confusion? GD

One of your front hubs stripped out - the axle is spinning in the hub. This happens largely because of improper axle nut torque, worn corn washers that will not seat, etc. Take it apart, clean the splines on the axle, replace the hub and cone washer, and reassemble - make sure the cone washer has no burrs, etc and apply a decent amount of anti-seize to it prior to installation. Torque to 150 Ft/lbs. GD

My '99 Forester has had both front axles clicking (OEM Subaru axles with good boots) for at least the last 20k miles. Whatever - I'm not replacing them till they blow . Only takes about 15 minutes to change an EJ axle anyway. You've got a lot of life left in it - you could probably just reboot/regrease it and be fine for another couple years at least. GD

The newest HG's for the EJ25D are a 4-layer MLS design - you can spot them if you look at the edge and count the number of layers. '98 will have some form of MLS gaskets from the factory - probably 3 layer. Those are better than the '96/'97 composite gaskets but not by much. If it's still got the original head gaskets - just figure on doing them premptively. The risk of bottom-end damage from overheating if they blow is too great to drive it without replacing them IMO. Also figure on a valve adjustment while you are in there - these engines are shim-over-bucket and the shims will have to be replaced to get the valve adjustment back in spec. If the timing belt wasn't done at 105k - figure on that as well and probably the water pump too since it may not have been done even of the timing belt was..... But for $2200 that's not a bad deal - I recondition these and sell them all the time and a '98 with 150k would easily fetch $4500 around here (after I'm done with the full service, etc). GD

Milkshake in the PCV system (and normal colored oil) is typically NOT head gaskets. That's usually either normal condensation mixing with the oil vapor present in the PCV or it's from bad intake manifold gaskets, etc. Typically a good cleaning of the PCV system and proper intake manifold gaskets from the dealer (aftermarket are crap) will solve that. Seriously - I have had to replace ONE head gasket on an EA81 in over 10 years of working on them - these "damn Subaru's" are pretty damn bulletproof if you ask me. GD

Looks like it could also be the intake manifold gasket(s). Agreed - not the EGR pipe. Not possible. GD

Yes - if you pull the spade connectors out of the plastic connector on the EA81 harness they can just be slipped onto the Maxima alt male spade's. GD

Best bet would be some 6 x 139's with about the same offset as the Subaru wheels you have now. Isuzu, Toyota, etc are usually good choices - just have to drill out two holes. GD

You will have to thread the lower starter hole on the transmission and install a stud there - when they went to the 8-bolt bell housing they eliminated the starter mounting stud and instead put one of the 8 bolts in that same location. You will only use the top bolts and the bottom engine studs. You will have to retain the wireing and switches from the '97 as the '99 is likely going to have different plugs that don't match the '97 harness. As mentioned the clutch fork and pivot will have to be changed for the '97 cable stuff. It's pretty much a bolt-in though. I went the other direction recently - put a '97 tranny into a '99. Those '99 8-bolt transmissions are very expensive - got a great deal on a '97 with low mileage and a warantee so it made more sense to go that way. GD

I already told you - didn't you read my post? GD

You don't want the early turbo radiator - it doesn't have a radaitor cap . The cap on the early turbo EJ's is exclusively on the auxillery water tank. Newer turbo stuff (WRX, etc) have one on the radiator as well so you might consider one of those. Also Koyo makes an all-aluminium radiator for the early Legacy turbo that you could have a filler neck/cap added to by a radiator shop that can TIG weld. Good luck with fitment though - the Koyo is pretty thick IIRC. GD

Too big, wrong offset. Check the stickies and do some searches - this is all covered weekly around here. GD

On EJ25D's ('96 to '99 except '99 2.5RS and Forester which are EJ253's): You can inspect the edges of the head gasket to determine if they have been replaced with the upgraded gaskets. The first update was a 3-layer MLS gasket, while the most recent update is a 4-layer MLS gasket. Either of these are much better than the originals - the 4 layer being almost bullet-proof. I've never heard of one blowing out. On the EJ251/3 the problem is a poor sealant design on the head gasket's coolant and oil ports leading to external leakage - typically it's the left cylinder head that has the most problems. You cannot determine if these have been replaced but a careful inspection will usually show if the gasket is leaking. Look at the underside of the heads toward the back corner - oil and coolant at that point means they are weeping. In any case neither engine is of poor design or particularly bad from a reliability standpoint if the head gaskets are replaced. The EJ251/3 is a great engine IMO (especially the early 253 from '99 which makes 8 more HP than the 251 from '00 and up). I replace the head gaskets in these all the time - takes a couple days to pull the engine, tear it down, resurface the heads, and put it back - but the cost isn't very high in terms of parts. ~$500 with the complete timing set, belts, hoses, etc. GD

It really isn't important - just tighten with a 1/4" drive ratchet. Just make sure you have a good even bead of RTV around the plate. GD

. Yikes - that's a serious short. GD

You can make a Noid light easily enough - just a resistor and an LED. Couple bucks at Radio Shack and you would easily be in the know. GD

You should be able to get a flex line from any hose/coupleing supplier with NPT thread on either end. Then you can just adapt to what you have. You may consider replacing the tank check-valve at the same time - eventually the plastic check ball in them disintegrates - McMaster, Grainger, etc sell them. One thing that can really prolong the life of the single-phase motors and pumps with seperate start windings is to use the pressure switch contacts to cut the start windings as well as the power to the motor - this causes them to coast gently to a stop instead of engaging the centrifugal clutch as they spin down and using the start windings as an electric brake. This has the added effect that the contacts in the clutch are only arcing when they disengage on ramp-up and not on spin-down. GD

Typically it lasts a long time - no combustion gasses, etc like a gasoline engine. The splash-lubed machines need their oil changed more often as they typically have a lot of metal in the oil compared to pressure-lubricated machines. At the shop where I worked we would do an intial fill of SAE 10 (turbine oil) and run it for 8 hours straight at 100 psi. Then drain and fill with SAE 30 and we would reccomend it be changed every 100 hours of operation. More often if the conditions warrant (high humidity/low temp operation, dusty environment, etc). If you buy a new (quality) machine you should change the oil after the (relatively short) initial run-in period as there can be quite a bit of metal from the rings seating. GD