Bushwick

Before we became the "throw away" generation, we were the fix it or maintain it generation. What actually causes the pulleys to fail is they dry out and eat the bearings up, then can come apart. If you catch one before it can get completely dry, you can prolong their life. There's no magic or wishful thinking here. It's a ball bearing in a race. Keep them greased and they'll stay working.

If you can't get to it immediately, with engine OFF, stick you finger into some HD axle bearing grease, and press it into the crevice between the pulley and bearing race. Need belt off as well. Keep pressing the grease into the recess, then spin the pulley by hand, wiping excess off the pulley front (do NOT let it get on or in the pulley grooves). Get enough grease in there that the bearings are effectively repacked, and it should remove the wobble for the time being unless the bearings are physically ground down. The grease thickness will recenter the pulley. I did this on a couple of mine (non interference engine) that were getting dry but still spun smoothly, and 15k miles later they are still holding. At least 2 of them had a minor wobble from the lack of grease film for the bearings to ride on. After repacking, they recentered themselves. Again, bearings can't be physically damaged and pulley must still spin smoothly, and ideally any rust needs blasted out. I'll replace mine next time, but since I wasn't sure if the car would even run a full year when I did mine, I wanted to avoid dumping too much into it until the engine proved it'd stay running (which it has). Bearings are still quiet too and this is the 3rd year running it. Also, for best results, remove the pulley, spray out the bearing crevice if rusted, let it dry, then try and work the fresh grease into each side front/back and spin occasionally. You can see into the crevice (barely) and should be able to tell when it's completely wet and packed. After reassembly, start engine and idle it for 10 minutes and watch the pulley for odd wobbling or noise. If it looks OK, give it some gas and watch it further. EDIT: When I say mine had a minor wobble, I'm referring to minor lateral movement, like grabbing pulley OD while still bolted in but w/o belt on it, and it could move up/down left/right slightly or 12 to 6 o'clock, 9 to 3 o'clock. Once fresh grease film was in there, it felt firmly in place.

It'll completely change alignment, including in the rear. One trick is before tearing yours apart, is to drill 2 small 1/16" holes (or next size up) in the strut top near the factory holes through the top and strut tower. This way when reassembling, you can drop a couple nails in or even pop rivets and it's at least in the same spot assuming the lower bolt holes through the tube cover haven't shifted slightly. If you decide to drill through the strut tower, you MUST treat the exposed metal with either anti-seize, grease, etc. as it can over time rust out into a larger hole. Unless you have junk tires getting ready to be replaced, it's really not worth being so cheap you'll forgo a $65 alignment as I've had tires round off quicker than I could catch them- like in 50-100 miles noticeable rounding had occurred after just doing tie rods once and they were in the same spot as before. Rears, if squatting when last alignment was done, will probably be off as well. You'll most likely get inner tire wear.

Rice can absorb moisture, but you'd be better off using dry heat and you really need to disassemble a phone and lay it out otherwise it'll hold water longer, which is also bad. I've dried phones on defrost vent blasting hottest heat for a couple hours on at least 2 phones I found over the years and can verify that actually works, one of which had been packed in snow and the guy that lost it, said he lost it 3 weeks prior so it apparently sat in the snow pile I found it in and became visible once it started melting. IIRC, both phones had screen issues from the water and weren't 100%, but I was able to get into the contacts and call people at get the phones back once they said who it belonged to. Also, 1st thing you should do if your phone ever gets dunked is pull the battery and dry that in a paper towel, then air dry. Once disassembled phone guts are dry, reassemble then insert the battery, then try charging it.

If it doesn't immediately run right (stumbles, misses, throws a ton of codes, cranks no start) don't waste any more time of that ECU as you'll be chasing phantom gremlins that appear to be other things. I'd also yank the seats (sound like they are already out) put some box fans in their place and blow towards the dash. Leave them running 24/7 for a couple days AND leave the doors open with windows down to get the interior as dry as possible. Leave doors shut and windows up, and it'll get moldy and moisture will hang on the windows indefinitely. ALL the wires/connectors need to be bone dry before trying to start, and letting it air out is the best way.

If I were you, I'd just find a junkyard ECU and work off that. You can get them for $15-25. A cellphone or smaller electronic device can often be dried out and salvaged to at least get files/contacts, but when talking about 20 year old ECU that had 12v going through it, there's a strong chance it's junked or will cause running issues as it won't work correctly. Replace it, then see if it runs.

If he uses the correct crank pulley mark and has the cams aligned, it should fire assuming all is well.

Yeah, if seat rails sit too high or yours are electric, you might want to try swapping the actual seats over while retaining your factory tracks. My 95' Legacy had bare minimum manual tracks (forward/backwards only) which actually sat very low to the ground, and I was able to swap in a seat track with height adjustment (that goofy telescoping bar lever on the side that you pull/lower) when I retrofitted a heater element in. Was even able to reapply the seat back cover to the 98-99' leather back assembly which had a cam lobe style bar connected to a small lever that pushes the center out a bit when turned, to give more upper back support vs. sinking into the seat. Just had to poke a small hole in the cover once it was slipped back over to accommodate the lever. If you have a little time, most of these seats have enough in common that you can pick and choose what features you want. I even added fresh padding for lumbar, seat bottom, and lat support.

Serch your area for a "custom muffler shop". Do NOT take it to a Midas or other similar muffler shop chain. You want the hole in the wall, 2 guys running the shop deal that advertise "custom exhaust" work. These are the guys that will hack your muffler off and weld in whatever you bring them. If you want long-lasting, consider buying pre-bent mandrel sectioned pipes and have the shop weld them, but talk to the guys first to make sure it's something they'd do. They might be able to order it themselves, or have some on-hand. They might also need the car up on a lift with you saying what you want. You can order nice pipe sections online. Buy straight sections, and "J" sections. Ask them how much of what you'd need i.e. 4 "J" sections, and 5' of straight, etc. If it were me, I'd go with 2.5" OD from cat back, and run an average muffler. Could try something like a chambered Flowmaster, etc. but go with a mildly aggressive note or less as they can get LOUD, quickly i.e. no 40 or 50 series. I personally like to run Summit Racing Turbo Mufflers on NA cars. They are NOT for turbo'd cars. The name originates from a time when "turbo" was a generic synonym for "fast". I like these mufflers as they give a really clean sound w/o being obnoxious. Might be a little too quiet in a catted car, but they weigh roughly 8 pounds (vs. a 35-40 pound stock muffler) and sound good and clean went mashing the pedal. They only cost $35. I've always run them on my 302 powered Mustangs and they are meaner on those, especially when running an "H-pipe". Don't go larger than 2.5" pipe as it'll slow the car down off the line. 2.25" pipe might give a little better early torque curve, along with better velocity, but it'll sound quieter. A cheap work around would be to run 2.25" pipe until the muffler, then weld pipe adapters to the muffler and jump it to 3" in/out. It'll sound a tad more aggressive while maintaining more back pressure.

A more reliable way of checking for bad valves is to connect a $15 vacuum gauge (get it at parts store, they can be used for LOT of future engine diagnosis issues) to the engine (use a " T " connector if needed, do NOT connect to the fuel pressure regulator line) and observe what the needle does at idle after engine is fully warmed up. Use this as reference: http://www.gregsengine.com/using-a-vacuum-gauge.html scroll down as they have a generic chart. Dunno how far above sea level you are, but that can alter vacuum readings slightly vs. what that chart lists. Big thing is what the needle tells you. If her plates are still current from Washington, tell her to leave them on and keep it insured. Technically, if stopped by police (assuming they aren't expired from Washington sticker) she can say she travels back and forth between states and is considering a permanent move. This will/should stop her from getting ticketed while the engine is sorted. In the meantime, you need to figure out if the issue is in the head (bad valves, etc.) or piston ring related. If it's not puking burnt oil out the pipe, it's hopefully head related and easily fixed. You can replace the head yourself, for little money. Would need a new head gasket, and an exact head match for ease. Dunno if cam profiles are significantly different across various EJ25 heads or not, so ask around. Biggest thing with a used head is making sure it's not warped, and make sure is has oil on the important bits before installing. I'd replace the head before replacing the entire engine. On the other hand, I can get EJ22 and EJ25 engines all day long for $150 from a local Pull-A-Part. Being the state you are in where everyone owns new cars, you might get lucky with inexpensive engines abound in your area, so a full engine swap isn't too painful. Good on you though for being a stand up helper. Sounds like she got scammed from an jerk offloading (she probably would have been better off taking you with her to buy a car, go with her on next buy ) a car he new was going out of state. My mom did a cross country move once, so I can't help but feel sorry for this woman as that's a big deal to up and move, and having a car with serious issues has to be really stressful for her.

Vacuum lines can crack, harden, split, stretch, get soft and mushy, etc. Heat and contaminants are main causes. Visual inspections mean absolutely NOTHING. On really small nipples, vacuum hose can harden over the nipple from transferred heat, but be soft and pliable 1/4" beyond the nipple. If 1psi of water was going through the hose, it'd leak. If a vacuum can't be maintained, it'll affect the engine's ability to run smoothly. My Legacy is older, but was 100% stock under the hood when purchased. I had erratic idling at one point. So I went to parts store, and bought about 5 feet of vacuum lines that matched the ID of the hoses on the car, and systematically replaced every hose, one at a time. Only do one at a time as it's too easy to either miss something or connect wrong in some locations. Be sure to also replace EVAP hose under the hood as well as any sensors under the intake runners, etc. If engine has a PCV system, replace those as well. On mine, I think there was an area that served as a junction, and they used an odd jump-size in diameter (like going from 1/4" to 5/16" or similar) and I had to get creative buy wetting the inside of the hose and using elbow grease and a small ziptie for added security. Do NOT pull hoses that are tight as you risk breaking nipples. Score the hose with a razor and twist lightly, it'll pop off. I noticed my engine ran a tad stronger and felt more responsive after doing mine, and idle smoothed out. Even if it doesn't fix the issue, it'll eliminate quite a few unknowns. You also might want to inspect any grounds near the firewall around/on the trans, as well as connectors. It's possible something has corrosion and was bumped, and is causing erratic running issues.

Buy a couple cans of generic oven cleaner. The generic oven cleaner is a generic Easy Off. I used to get cans at Dollar store or Giant Eagle for like $2 each. It has lye in it, and will remove heavy greases and oil-based gunk off cast iron, steel, and aluminum 10x better than ANY auto parts degreaser, but it will dull polished aluminum. Cast aluminum won't be hurt or matter. Shake can, then spray on the inside of the pan and let it set for 4-5 minutes, then rinse off with garden hose water. If your valve covers have seeped oil onto the crossmember, block, etc. it'll clean them to bare metal regardless of how thick. You'll most likely have that silver varnish built up in the actual pan. It might pad material, I'm not sure. But that oven cleaner will strip it right out, so you'll have a very clean pan. I'm NOT a fan of sealed anything, as all the the manufacturer needs to worry about is the car holding together long enough to get out of warranty, then it's on you. They push ultra thin engine oils now which in the short-term, reduce friction and might get better EPA ratings, but when a plethora of engines are spinning bearings at 8k miles, something is wrong. Anyhow, the point is having fresh fluid in the trans plus an extra filter, will prolong life. Could even go a step further (if towing anything, it's a must) and you can run an external cooler.

I wouldn't just "reflow" the solder as it'll just happen again. Go to Radio Shack and buy a 45-60 watt soldering iron. No need to get fancy unless you plan to solder a bunch of stuff in the future. A straight soldering will suffice. They sell braided copper as well. It comes in a white disc and the copper is spooled inside. The rubber disc helps to protect the copper. Also, buy a reel of thinnest lead-free solder. I say thinnest as it's easier to work with and doesn't require as much prolonged heat to flow it. Remove radio from car and power, and get access to the pins in question. Pull a section of the braided copper out, and let it touch the solder on the pins or PCB, etc. Heat it up. The copper will act like a wick and pull the solder into it. Just keep using fresh copper until it's all off. Then, go back and lay fresh solder down. If new solder mixes with old, it won't hurt anything. Radio Shack is fairly decent, and hopefully it holds longer than whatever the factory used. Do NOT allow fresh solder to bridge connections it's not supposed to, or you'll end with a short.

It might be a power or ground wire for an amplifier. If it was too thin gauge, they can overheat and they'll cook the wire cover. It'll overheat the actual wire similar to how seat heaters work. If the ground was pinched, it'd have the same effect. I ran a small Class T amp before and underestimated it's power draw and ran a cheap ground wire that was undersized. It was only powering tweeters. While blaring the stereo, same deal, smoke poured out in the back seat area and I thought I had a fire, cut people off to get off the road, get out and check, and the actual wire got so hot for the ground in melted into the carpet. I'd trace the wire back to find out what it's connected to. If your radio isn't working properly now, it sounds connected. A previous owner might have installed a small amp w/o you even knowing it's there, or maybe there's a factory amp (if no black box with speaker under seat, maybe not) or was an amp someone tied into at one point, and left the wire hot. Though if it's carrying 12v+ and grounded out, it should have popped the fuse right away.

You need air moving over the cooler. If it's packed tightly were stagnant air resides, you'll want a fan on it. If it can catch some air across the fins, you should be OK. A temp gauge in the trans fluid will tell you how well it's working assuming you do a before/after. Not sure why you'd frown on a fan(s)? The more torque you put through an auto trans, the higher the converter can stall. A trick in the old days was putting a small torque converter from a lower powered engine behind a big block (big blocks made a ton of early torque) and this allowed for higher stall speeds. Higher stall speeds allow the engine to launch at a higher rpm, where it's making more power. The downside is extra heat (plus mechanical failure if converter was weak). The upside was obviously getting a higher RPM power level to launch the car from when mashing the pedal vs. off-idle power level with a lower stalling trans. Just saying, you want it to be as cool as possible.

Are you still going to use the radiator side inlet in tandem with trans cooler? If not, it won't matter as it'll just pass-thru. If you want even better cooling performance, get a small fan and zip tie it to the cooler. For best performance, use a thermostat on/off to a relay, but make sure the temps aren't getting too hot before it kicks the fan(s) on. My 96' Lincoln Mark VIII ran an external power steering cooler and it had a very compact fan on that. If you could find 2 of those fans used (guessing they go for nothing used), it would pull the heat out of the fins w/o noise. Could probably run them off key on source until thermostat switch is installed.

If it only grinds when the AC is on, unhook the wire on the compressor instead. It'll still spin, but won't actually engage the compressor. Defrost still works, but you'll loose the dehumidifier effect from the compressor running with defrost. Roll front windows down a bit if muggy in the car until glass dries.

You might want to drop the trans pan in 50 miles, wipe out any silver film from inside the pan, refill trans again (you'll still have fluid in the torque converter, which is probably rough right now from being run low and it'll mix with fresh fluid being adding now) then see how well it goes from there. Don't forget to fill with engine running, and put shifter through the gears (D, R, N, 3, 2, 1, etc.) several times, check stick (still running) and add more, run through gears again. Keep doing that until trans stick line. It's completely different than checking oil. You are aware Dex III has been superseded with DexronVI or even V, right? Dexron III when it was in GM trans would be burnt by 80k miles and countless GM trans needed rebuilt by then. My 95' Legacy uses it in the power steering IIRC and it won't even remain stable in there after a certain time (when fluid is bad in PS pump, steering effort gets harder and mimics rack failure). Dexron V and VI is also easier to get as it's the modern revision. FWIW, I had an old Ford with a C3 trans that leaked (forget how/where) and once low, it would roll backwards on hills and couldn't hold position when running and in drive, and eventually would go into higher RPM before moving. Once fluid was added, it'd move again, so don't count that trans out yet. Trans shop would love to rebuild/replace as that's their bread and butter but it makes you starve

Were there any bolts or anything left over from the timing cover under the hood? Like say laying around the engine? Reason I ask is it's possible previous owner dropped a belt, started tearing down, realized it was junk, and scraped the car instead of repairing. I've seen quite a few 2.5 and 2.2 up around here for the $150 price, and the 2.5 engines are almost complete. Even the EJ22 engines are normally all there.

If you are willing to watch Pull A Part's website for Canton, Akron, and Cleveland, they get a LOT of EJ22 and EJ25 engines. Last I checked, I think they run for $150 complete. If willing to wait, I suggesting passing and getting a complete EJ22. I've even seen running Legacys for under $900 with a bunch of rust on CL. You could yank engine, trans, rear, etc. and scrap the body after selling off parts and possibly come out ahead or barely break even, otherwise drop $150 for a complete engine at PaP. From what I can tell, many of PaP cars are running when brought in. Usually when the rear crossmember rots out and there is a bunch of rust elsewhere, people junk them.

You can rent an AC charge kit from Auto Zone. It's technically "free" to rent as they only put a hold on your card until it's returned. I had a hell of a time getting mine charged (95' Legacy) correctly and it's still finicky at times as it might be freezing the sensor (forget what it's called) behind the glove box. I suggest charging on a warm (not hot) day and cross your fingers it'll blow cold when temps are really hot. Other cars just top off and they go cold, not this one.

Filler necks seem to be an issue with these cars. If air is entering the gas tank, it can affect the evap system, and it can allow excess dirt to enter, which will eventually clog the sock and shorten the fuel pump's life span as it pulls more current and works harder trying to supply sufficient fuel flow. Only you know your limitations. A mechanic will charge a bunch to fix the issue. The neck should be bolted to the body, then feed into the tank. I dunno if you have drop the tank on these or not as I'm not sure how the tube feeds into the tank. Some cars you can unbolt the flange area behind filler hole cubby, unhook the vacuum line, then slide it down and work out of the tank. If you have to drop the tank, run it as close to empty as possible every extra gallon will make it a nightmare to work with, even if you manage to get a section of wood attached to a jack and the tank strapped to the board. Also, do yourself a favor and get new tank straps if it needs dropped. You can tin snip the old straps and save a bunch of time. Throw some anti-seize on the threads of new straps and they'll always loosen. It'd also be wise to have say 1/2" or thicker plywood sheet, like 3' x 3' and blocks under each corner. This way, if the tank slides of jack assembly, the wood will catch on the blocks and entire tank might only drop a couple inches vs. falling on the ground which can be bad, not to mention near impossible to get off the ground while on your back if it has a half tank of gas in it. Also risk damaging fuel lines if it drops too far, too quickly.

What year/model do you have? Just because you were doing something innocuous and a code appeared doesn't mean anything. Read up here: https://www.google.com/search?q=P1507.&oq=P1507.&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=p1507+subaru I skimmed a few forum links from that search at the top and most are saying it might be a ground issue.

AWD and 4x4 are the same thing. 4x4 was a truck-related terminology of years past, and typically applied to RWD trucks that had manually locking hubs (had to get out and lock hubs by hand) and a lo/hi 4x4 lever. They also ran solid axles front/rear. AWD terminology typically was used on later cars and some early smaller tucks that had all-time 4 wheel drive (all-time meaning it can't be disabled though some Subaru do have the means to force FWD). Some had solid rear axles with CV shafts in the front, but that's fallen out of favor for mainly independent front and rear differentials with front/rear CV shafts. Different manufacturers have varying differences with how the power is applied to the front/rear wheels, but it's all fundamentally the same. Some people will argue that 4x4 is different, but it's not. The trans setup and the way the power is sent the wheels is the only real difference. I think modern Jeeps like the Liberty, etc. are actually FWD and will power the rear if/when needed. Can't go wrong with any of the Subaru line up. Forester sits higher, and gives better ground clearance. Run good winter/all-season tires and you'll probably never get stuck unless you decide to go off roading on grass with 10" of snow setting on top. I've pulled a RAV4 out a of a ditch, and even an F150 off a patch of ice, and a smaller Tracker that got stuck in a driveway, and my car is a 95' Legacy wagon of all things. Most recently stopped at a CD store last heavy snow fall and the plow hadn't arrived to salt his parking lot. FWD Dodge Journey was stuck on minor grade, as was a brand new cargo van. I drove right on out w/o even a hint of tire slip after they got out. You'll love a Subaru. I actually enjoy mine so much that after a heavy snow overnight, I'd go out at 4-5 am and look for the side roads that weren't plowed or salted yet to just to drive through the deepest sections I could find. Very fun and liberating in a sense. Remember years ago owning RWD cars that got stuck on 2' of snow of flat driveways, so it's nice not having that restriction. Even nicer is you can drift on turns.

Believe it or not, if lug nuts are loose, you'll never feel that. You won't find out until it drops a wheel I don't know if it's vibrations from the road, or centrifugal force, but snug lug nuts will completely unthread themselves (all 4 or 5 can do this) w/o even damaging the threads. It's actually a rather spooky phenomenon and even more disturbing is the fact you won't be able to feel anything at the wheel. Kinda surprised they don't force opposite hand threading of wheel rotation as that might prevent it.