GeneralDisorder

It would be best if you started a new thread for your issue - this thread is 3 years old and is talking about high-mileage, not syncronizer failure. GD

Brown vs. black doesn't really matter. Either can be of several types of seal compounds. I expect that the OEM seal is Viton. My reasons for suspecting this are that they generally last forever and are in an innacesible location. Unlike the cam seals (which are clearly Nitrile from how hard and cooked they get), the rear mains stay soft and supple upwards of 300k miles. That indicates a very high tollerance for temperature - which would be in accordance with Viton or silicone but I highly doubt they are silicone. I've never seen a silicone lip seal in brown or black anyway. Nitrile is a very poor choice for the rear main - it's actually a poor choice for the front main and the cam seals but that's what they use. Nitrile is good to 225* F and that's on the edge of where these engines run. Their life would be improved if something like Viton or Polyacrylate were use to replace them. Cost is the primary factor here with Viton seals being many times more expensive than Nitrile. GD

They are only $5 each brand new for the jets. I doubt it's worth anyone's time to try and sell them for less much less ship them, etc. You need to determine where it's rich, and what your jets are now before you can start trying to lean it out. GD

Unfortunately - once they reach a certain age you can't edit them anymore GD

Have those been failures of the latest revision HG's - the MLS 4 layer one's? I would probably question the prep work of the block and heads and if the heads were resurfaced, etc. Any head gasket job can fail if it's done wrong and there's always a higher percentage of failures on replacement gaskets vs. factory installed units (that aren't of a defective design) due to the natural variability of the work being performed and of the mechanic that's performing the work. At the factory they can take a lot of that variability out with robots and meticulous training and QC. At the point where you have a monkey with a wrench dinking around under the hood - it's up to him and him alone to do the job right. GD

Couple reasons - first and foremost the seal is VERY large - 50mm in diameter. Most people don't have experience with seals of this size. Second, people use non-OEM seals. The Subaru seals come pre-lubed for installation. Lubrication of the seal is neccesary as they don't get a good supply of oil up there right away when started. Third - people just don't know how to properly set seals and insure they are even all the way around. On a seal of this diameter it is CRITICAL that it be set perfectly straight. The edge of the seal needs to be within just a fraction of a milimeter of the same depth around the entire edge. Most failures are due to being too deep, uneven, or due to burrs on the crank from removal of the old seal that were not addressed prior to driving in the new one. Basically it's a lack of attention to detail and some of that is because people just don't understand how critical the details are with these. I've set a number of EA and EJ rear mains and I have yet to have one leak. It can be done - it just takes some patience and willingness to learn the correct procedure. GD

"Aluminized" means it's coated - it's still steel. Exhaust tubing is about as cheap as steel gets - that's mild steel only in the sense that the catagory includes everyhing below it as well - which is where exhaust tubing falls. It's not designed to carry a load - ANY load. That is not it's purpose in life. I do not like the "extend the strut tube" type lifts. I've bent the stupid strut tubes and extending them/welding on them is just asking for a huge, messy bucket of FAIL - not to mention it provides for no camber adjustment at all which is a problem either way but is easier solved with strut top lifts. As it is the stock struts need extra dampening to keep them in one peice - better to add to the body where the strut mounts and drop the strut and knuckle as an assemble. Then add extra dampening in the form of a Rancho type shock. Unless you are a machinist and can truely fabricate tube extensions that are not 1/16" thick.... you should not be trying this method at all as you could easily kill yourself and worse you could kill someone not involved with your decision making process. GD

I'm not sure how to explain it better - by "ignition switched signal" I meant +12v when the ignition is in ACC, and RUN. You can probe the switch with an ohmeter to find which lead is hot only in those positions (IE: it's not hot in OFF). You use a wire tap - which is just a plastic deal you crimp to the hot lead and it allows you to run another wire off it without soldering or cutting the original wire, etc. Any auto parts store will have them. You run that wire to one side of the relay's coil. The relay is just a switch - it turns on a large current using a small one. The pull-in coil is what does the actual switching. You supply the coil with +12v and it closes the contacts inside the relay. The other side of the coil you just run to any chassis ground. Then you run a wire from the battery terminal to an inline fuse (15 amp should do) and then to one side of the relay's contacts. The other side of the contacts runs to the fan - that is the fan power. It will be turned on when the ignition switch is turned to ACC or RUN - which "pulls-in" the relay coil, and closes the contacts - connecting the line from the battery to the line going to the fan. The other side of the fan has to be grounded to complete the circuit - the stock system uses a ground-controled thermo-switch that's in the passenger side tank of the radiator. You run the ground side of the fan directly to the thermoswitch and then insure that the radiator is properly grounded (there should be a factory ground strap expressly for this pupose on the top of the radiator running to the upper portion of the core support). Is that clearer? GD

Is it actually pitted? I use a "soft" wire wheel in a die grinder myself - it doesn't touch the aluminium other than polishing it a bit. Thick peice of glass that you can wrap wet-dry paper around - at least large enough to span the length and width of the deck and a little more to insure it's brought down evenly. 180 should give a good surface finish. GD

That's expensive. Probably your location. Here they are like $5 to $10 each. Major city though so I'm sure it impacts the price. GD

You learn the hard way don't ya? Good that you can laugh at it. Now do it right this time. GD

There's a whole procedure for it. First of all - make or buy a bleeder bottle. 20oz soda bottle and some clear tubing works - punch a hole in the cap and then insert the tubing down to the bottom of the bottle. Fill about 1/3 full of fluid. Then you have to bleed in this order: MC primary (close to firewall), Right rear, Left Front, MC Secondary, Left rear, Right front. You hookup the tubing to the bleeder screw, crack it open and pump the pedal till you see new fluid going through the tube. Then move to the next wheel, etc. Throughout this process you need to insure that the MC is always full of new fluid. If you suck air into the MC you have to start all over again. GD

Unless the packageing specifically says not to retorque them - then you need to follow the FSM procedure which does include a retorque. Personally - I just make sure all the threads are clean/oiled and torque them to 55 instead of 47. I don't bother with a retorque and I've never had a problem. And yes I've done a few non Fel-Pro head gaskets that were supplied by customers, etc. Never had one blow. GD

It's probably the rear main shaft bearing - you might be able to rebuild the trans and it will be cheaper than a used one. Going rate for a used '97 OBW trans is about $400 with 100k on it. Newer is more - cheapest I've found for a '99 trans is $900. And that's USED. I would pull it before it totally grenades and replace the bearings. In the case of the one I have it doesn't even move anymore. The tranny is TOAST. So I don't have that option. But it's not that hard to replace the bearings and I would be doing that if I could since the results would be superior to used and cheaper. This is a common problem with the 5MT's - in fact it's the one thing that makes the 4EAT's more reliable - which sucks. :-\ The HH's never really changed. The last one I played with was a '96 and it was the same as the HH on my EA81's. Slightly different cable on the tranny end but otherwise basically the same system. GD

I wouldn't trust any shop that says not to change those. That's a huge gamble and at that mileage it's bording on irresponsible. Same with the water pump and cam/crank seals. I just did a '95 EJ22 with 165k on it where the cogged idler had siezed. Used the bolt as an axle and destroyed the WP casting. That's what happens when they don't get replaced and you are already at higher mileage than I've seen them fail at. IMO, you replace it all - every single belt change. The risk of failure is too high for the amount of damage that can be caused on an interferance engine. My local Subaru dealer agree's and reccomends replacement even though it's not called out in the maintenance schedule. People opt out because of the price but that's on them. For the 90 to 96 EJ22's with the 60k belts I would be ok with every other belt change. But not on the 105k belts or the interferance engines. That's just good sense since the labor is the same price and the parts are not expensive at all. The whole kit off ebay is ~$150 shipped and comes with japanese bearings. Subaru Shop Fail. Repeat business win (or lose?) I always explain to the customer that the LABOR (my profit) doesn't change. Only the price of the parts (which I don't markup) and that it's to their benefit and mine that they receive honest infomation so they feel good about the job and/or know they might have to come back. As long as they are apprised of the risk and are willing to shoulder it - it's out of my hands. GD

There is also a difference in the rear diff flange from 90-94 and 95+ driveshafts. The bolt pattern and size is different so you have to swap the flange on the diff end to swap the driveshafts. I think the difference is between innie vs. outie rear axle DOJ's. GD

Actually it's just a matter of swapping over to the '96 pedal assembly and installing the cable and fork/hardware on the tranny end. Really simple. You don't want the HH - they are dangerous off road because they won't let you roll backward without jiggery-pokery with the pedals to get the HH to release the brakes. If you *need* to roll backward for some reason it slows the reaction time. GD

I think his intended question was *if* he could use a transmission from a cable clutch car by any amount of bolting/unbolting of parts - ie: "is there a fundamental difference that would *prevent* me from using a cable tranny". I doubt very much he intends to go back to a cable. Although they do tend to have less issues in some cases with all the slave cylinder/hose problems on some years. At least with a cable you pretty much know where you stand - it's either a bad cable or a broken fork if you are having problems that aren't related to being worn out. GD

It's either air in the system (need to bleed/replace fluid), or the caliper's are hanging up on the slides. Those are the usual causes on Subaru's. GD

Oh - yeah that's a different world at the yard. Hammer it up! But it doesn't work when you get back home with the new part . GD

Hhhmmm - maybe it doesn't on the EA82. IIRC they have a two-peice ign. lock that can be unbolted from the column - unlike the EA81's where they have to slide off the end of the column. Yeah now that I think on it you could probably leave the wheel on GD

Yeah - a good idea for sure. But it's his thread so he *could* go edit the title to include transmission Q's. GD

Try a simple flush - drain and refill the tranny twice - driving 10 miles in between. This assures that you get the fluid out of the TC. You will need about 3 gallons of ATF. Cheap stuff is fine for ATF. GD

Just rewire it. Get yourself an ignition switched signal (3M wire-tap the ignition switch harness - on the SWITCH side of the plug) and use it to close a relay. Run a fused line from the battery, through the relay, and to the fan. On the other lead for the fan, run it through the themoswitch on the radiator and then to a body ground. It's a really simple circuit. A new relay and new themoswitch (if you even need it) should run you about $20. GD

+1 - EA82's in particular are a HUGE biotch. Smacking the ends of shafts with hammers is not the approved removal method and while it might work, you can easily swell the end of the shaft, transfer the blow into the rack or steering u-joints, or otherwise F somthing all to hell. Beating on things with hammers is almost never the right answer. Though putting pressure on it with a puller and giving the end of the puller a few love taps may be neccesary to dislodge them. A real man uses his brain *as well* as his braun and gets the job done with the least effort and least collateral damage as possible. EA81 and Justy wheels are not pressed. They just slide right off. Why they didn't do this with EA82 wheels is beyond me - I don't wish to crawl around inside the head of the man that thought up the idea of a press fit splined connection with a steering wheel on a light passenger car that has power steering...... no way that was the right answer but they did it anyway. GD