Bushwick

Didn't you get wheel pull or weird steering response with the bad bearing? I've had bearing fail in other cars, and it usually resulted in a grinding noise or rumble, with slop on turns that the bearing was being pulled on. This sound now is more of a thump, thump, thump, thump, about a second or so apart, hence the dryer with a wallet thumping analogy. Suppose if a CV was failing, it could be "dropping" on a revolution and creating a thump, but I'd think it'd be more consistent as it should be spinning quite fast.

I haven't had time to inspect further yet, but it's at least out of the -0 temps and slowing working up into the high 20's and 30's during the day so inspections should be easier. Yeah, I'm guessing the snow packed up and in while loose or slushy, froze, then lingered on the actual shield. I can thank 4"+ snowy roads and some figure 8's at a local school parking lot on a snow day Thankfully the drive shaft shield corner was loose and snapped at the tab, otherwise the ice never would have come out on it's own without melting with a MAP torch or something. I'm thinking I might have had 2 different noise makers coincidentally though and suspect the front right CV might be getting near failure, though the boots aren't ripped thankfully. I'll put it in neutral and see if there's a bunch of vertical slop or not. Also, if the front CV does snap or separate, is there enough power going the rear to get it home? Will the trans leak fluid if the CV spline is pulled from the trans? I've got some traveling to do (about 150 miles total) and won't have time to fix if it's a shaft. If it IS a u-joint, and say the front joint snaps and drops, what happens with these? I'm assuming the shield acts like an impromptu safety loop? Or does the exhaust catch it? Are these externally balanced? Gotta worry about weights getting flung off? Guessing it's a pain to get the rear of the shaft dropped to limp home? If the rear u-joint fails, is it safe to assume the FWD fuse being inserted allows the car to at least be driven w/o the shaft spinning? Just trying to think out a course of action in advance so I'll be somewhat prepared for the worse.

I don't think it's causing the clunk sounds (the shields) but there was a massive amount of ice being contained on the one that shields the drive shaft from the exhaust and I'm not interested in trying to climb under the car on slushy or salted pavement to mess with it constantly, and every time I "fix" a rattle, 2 more rattles develop. Normally I'd just chuck them and be done with it, but since they spent that much effort putting them in, was wondering how detrimental they are to blocking heat through the floor, or if a fire hazard could be present from removing them.

Are these heat shields detrimental? Half of them seem to rattle loudly, and if this is going to be a nuisance between clunking and rattling, I'll pull them unless there's a solid reason to leave them in? I can see heat from the cats being an issue, but the rest seems to be overkill from such a small diameter pipe that can't throw off that much heat. Also, this doesn't sound like a CV shaft or drive shaft issue?

OK, went to leave other night and the sound was really loud. Pulled over, nothing out of the ordinary. Looked mid way back under car and there was a HUGE gob of ice hanging off one of those stupid heat shields (it was on top of the shield and melted down). Knocked that out (chunk the size of a baseball fell off) and some of the sound went away. BUT, I also put the FWD fuse in after knocking ice out so not sure if that was the reason or not. Drove around parking lot and sound was almost gone. I put the car in reverse and got up to around 15 mph and the sound came back and got louder. Drove forward some and no sound. Went to gas station and I could sorta hear it when coming to a stop, but it was barely there. Today I got in, went to leave and the sound came back, though it doesn't seem to be consistent and wasn't as loud as before. Also seemed to quiet down with some driving. I'm still stumped. The noise best reminds me of a dryer with something in it. The other night, the sound was like a single shoe rolling around in a dryer (loud). Now, the sound is more like a wallet rolling in a dryer. Do "U-joints" typically fail and make noise on these? Going from Park, to Reverse, to Drive, etc. doesn't make any noise or clunks, but this sound has me thinking something is failing.

Just going off your symptoms, sounds like something is shorting and grounding out something else. Sounds like you figured it out already. I'd inspect further to find out what's "buzzing" (solenoids can buzz) and either replace or inspect. If the trans is binding, I'd fix and also inspect the wiring just in case there is a short or something? As for the gas mileage, do you have a brake caliper dragging? Is the air filter clean (can you see sunlight through ALL the rows??). People seem to ignore air filter changes and sometimes plugs, but these are important to get best MPG and healthy engine. Old O2 sensors can really hurt MPG, AND they can cause funky cold engine running if the preheater isn't working. I had a rear (downstream) O2 preheater fail, I ignored it, then the sensor eventually started shorting out internally and caused all sorts of havoc. Not saying it's definitely your problem, but it doesn't hurt to replace them, especially if old, and even more so if they get contaminated from say a bad head gasket or turbo failure. If it were me, I'd put a new air filter in and get some O2 sensors off rockauto for piece of mind. My MPG seems to be a touch lower than what others claim to get and the O2's are next on the list. Even if new ones only give you a 2% increase in gas mileage, they'll more than pay for themselves at the end of the year with the sky high gas prices.

I'd pull the battery cable off to reset everything like Fairtax stated. Any codes that were thrown at the time of rolling over need to be reset. Once the battery reset has been done, start the car. See if any codes are still getting thrown and go from there. Look for fluid leaks. Find where the shift linkage attaches to the trans. Have somebody take it out of park (make sure their foot never leaves the brake pedal and set the e-brake if it works or block the wheels to prevent getting run over) and run it through the gear selections i.e. D, 3, 2, 1, and R, and back to park. The lever on the trans should be moving with the linkage. If the linkage moves but the lever on the trans doesn't, you'll need to fix that. I believe you have a drain plug on your trans, remove about a quart as it sounds like you overfilled it. Also, you need to look VERY carefully for cracks in the trans casing. Also look for anything else that might have snapped.

Is the book saying 59.992 or 59.92?

If he has a Legacy GT, it's a turbo'd engine correct? Running heads that raise the compression will cause issues i.e. the ej22 heads. Is there a significant difference with turbo'd engine heads and non turbo'd heads? i.e. different valve sizes, compression ratios, etc.?

Auction cars a grab bag. Often they are bank repos. Very RARELY will they get worked on before going to auction. More than likely, it belonged to somebody that may or may not have been driving it. It might have been parked for awhile, repo'd, and now you are finding out why it was parked. It's way cheaper to find a used trans than rebuild, assuming the failure is mechanical. A rebuild will need the trans pulled anyways, plus parts and labor to rebuild which can easily surpass $1000 depending on what's wrong, whereas a used trans in good shape just needs swapped in. Sounds like you have some troubleshooting ahead of you.

Up top? Not a wheel bearing. Wheel wells are cleared, as are the mud flaps, etc. I have the steel rims, so not sure how snow would get packed in them? Wouldn't the heat from the brakes melt everything off?

How bad is the vibration? I think mine has a very slight amount, but hardly noticeable. If it's bad enough that your teeth chatter, I'd check the engine mounts and trans mount or whatever mounts these have. You can try raising your hood, and have someone put it in reverse and watch the engine for excessive movement. Then put in "1" or "D" and see if it moves also. I've never seen one fail in these, so it's hard to say how much movement it'd introduce. But failed mounts in other cars will add vibration, especially if they are packed with hydraulic fluid or have been swapped out with race mounts which add more vibration.

Is it turbo'd? You mentioned MAP sensor. Those *can* causing jerking when the car goes to boost from vacuum, but I haven't had MAP issues since my 84' Chrysler Laser 2.2 turbo acted up in high school. A failing crank position sensor (or one with a short in the wiring) can cause all sorts of headaches. I had a 92' SHO that had the crank sensor wire routed too closely to the crank pulley, which caused it to rub the insulation OFF and created an intermittent short that would cause the engine to buck badly then stall. And created a hard start issue after it'd stall. Very hard to diagnose as it was hidden by the timing belt cover. Could also be a cam shaft sensor issue too. Any codes getting stored? I start there.

I love driving in the snow. So anytime we get a lot, I go out for a stroll. Anyways, on the way back the other day while coming down my street I heard a really weird warbling sound coming from the front right. I figured it was just packed snow/ice rubbing and forgot about it. Went out tonight and it started again while holding the wheel to the left (like going around bending turns). While at the gas station I noticed a bunch of snow still packed up and in the control arms (both sides) along with packed ice. Knocked it all out, but the sound is still there. I'm completely stumped. Stopped a 2nd time to make sure the CV shafts and boots weren't rubbing or touching anything, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. But now it's making the sound at slow speeds (intermittently) and gets more pronounced when braking, but seems to be road speed dependent and not engine speed dependent, nor does it change with suspension travel. Putting in neutral while coasting makes no difference. I'm stumped. It's a low rumbling noise and sounds inconsistent. Thoughts? Trans failure?

Reread what he wrote I think you misunderstood. The other person suggested alcohol to "cure" it, and OP was stating he didn't want raw fuel in the oil, or at least that's how I took it. If his cat isn't working correctly, he'd get a raw smell like a cat-less car would. High CO could be a number of things like clogged air filter, bad cat, bad O2, etc.

Biggest advantage of doing a full tune-up all at once is it can rule out many things while helping keep the engine in top running shape. If an air filter is dirty or you can't see light through all the rows, then it needs replaced. Another thing to consider is the O2 sensors might be failing or not doing a proper job. Given your high mileage, it definitely wouldn't hurt replacing the cat(s) and O2 sensors as they are both crucial to emissions as well as MPG. If either fails, you'll get too lean, too rich, damaged cat, excessively high EGT, etc., all of which can damage an engine if ignored too long. If you plan on keeping the car for awhile, then the preventative maintenance now will go a long way (that's assuming something isn't totally bad).

If you are trying to cross-mate 2 different cars by reusing much of the car that's getting the upgrade, then you gotta goof with the wires, so what. You stated before "A LOT" of people have done the swap, so there should be plenty of DIY stuff out there. Honestly, I'd rather just take ALL the wiring from donor and swap out i.e. not try and splice by mix and matching stuff. Why bother splicing up the CAN bus stuff if you can just pull everything from a donor? Use new or make your own ground points (very easy to do with self tapping screws and cordless) and run power to the fuse block. If all the wiring from the donor is used along with it's ECM, etc., just need to get it wired to ignition, tach, etc. etc. The guy wants to upgrade, not buy a different car or be told to buy a different car.

^ Um, I'm not afraid of actually getting dirty, and I know my way around turbos and what not. If you have the money and want it done, it's doable. I say straight forward as he won't have to weld up a custom k member or weld in motor mounts, etc. The engine is a direct swap. Cutting wires and adapting them is easy, just takes time and nobody likes it.

You can replace them with traditional bolts, so long as you have clearance to extract with a socket or wrench. Anti-seize like stated above will help keep the bolts from freezing and help prevent future breaking or snapping. Just need a dab on the threads (don't over do it).

^This doesn't work and should not be done. Give the car a tune up (plugs, wires, oil change, fuel filter, and air filter- just replace ALL this regardless of the plugs you put in as they are probably fouled out now- make SURE they are hand gapped by YOU and just stick the factory OEM style plugs in- nothing exotic as that might actually hurt things). If it still doesn't pass after that or run right, your catalytic converter might be bad. If it's still running the factory cat at 266k miles, it's probably time for a new one. You can run a universal cat. Summit Racing sells a bunch of them in the $80 to $100 range that work, just make sure you get the correct style meant for that year engine. After all that, run it good on the highway for 30-50 miles to break it in and burn any oils off that might be in the pipe from manufacturing to inhibit rust while sitting. If your cat is failing or failed, you'll get a raw gas smell out the exhaust (after it's warmed up) as it can't convert the gases anymore. FYI, your factory cat is worth $100-$200 easy (even if it failed) from a "cat core" buyer. Junkyards will but them, but you won't get as much. Basically a junk yard will buy it for $50, then sell to a core guy/place for 2-3 times as much. Cut the junk yard middle man out and go straight to a core place. What ever you do, do NOT throw it away. Universal cats are cheaper since they don't have the same level of platinum as OEM. But they'll still get your car to pass. I ran one on my turbo'd Saab and it passed with flying colors. Think I paid $100 for it. Keep in mind though, universal cats won't get a premium like OEM if you ever scrap it.

OK, I thought you were gonna say it was the gauge leaking. I have my PC running through a stereo, and the vacuum leak was pretty loud. It sounds like it was close to your camera, so I'd get some carb cleaner spray and start wetting down ALL the vacuum lines where they connect (especially at the throttle body), move the vacuum lines (you might have a split, or rot on a small section, maybe it's touching something hot and poked a hole, etc.) and see if the idle changes or the hiss gets louder. Make sure the car is at normal temp (watch what you spray so it doesn't ignite) so it's not idling high. If you still can't find it, you might have a gasket failure (like the intake manifold, throttle body, etc., so start carefully checking there). Either way, something is leaking and I suspect it might be why it's running funny. If the leak is bad enough, you'll be running lean, which is bad.

If you have access to everything needed, I say go for it. It increases the cool factor of the car and if you ever go to sell it, you'll definitely get interest from people wanting a Legacy (or sleeper) with a WRX power level/engine. What you'd need to do is take EVERYTHING from the WRX that allows that engine to run. So, ECM, wiring, etc. Some stuff might be interchangeable, some obviously not. Stuff that you might have to make work arounds for are things like getting the tach to work, etc. Grab the fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, etc. and install on yours. The swap should be straight forward. If guys can put LSX engines in WRX and make all the dash stuff i.e. tach work, then staying within the same family should be rather easy. Buy a LOT of solder, heat shrink wrap, and electrical tape and start researching the swap. 1k miles on the BRZ engine and they want $400??? Buy that thing and flip it for a quick profit. 45k on the ej engine sounds like a good deal too. See if the yard will let you get it running before committing. If the accident was bad enough, it could say put enough pressure on the exhaust to crack the turbine housing for the turbo or damage a head, etc. You'll need to look it over VERY carefully. I strongly suggest spending 15 minutes and doing a compression test as well as checking the turbo out for play.

I could hear a rather loud vacuum leak in the bottom video. Any idea what's leaking?

Did you disconnect the battery to let the ECM reset? Also, check the wires going to the knock sensor and the connector. Also, did you have issues with the knock sensor before the CPS went bad?

That engine has something in the neighborhood of 12.5:1 compression. That's way too high for forced induction. It only makes 200 hp as-is (low torque with 7k rpm redline = OK for light car; NOT OK for heavier car) which isn't very much. Honestly, if it were me, I'd get the guts of a turbo install for a turbo'd Subaru (preferably a Legacy GT for less hassle) and compare the costs of swapping out the engine with a GT or WRX as you could easily sell your 2.5L and recoupe a large amount of the cost. The $400 for the BRZ engine seems like a steal though. Considering that engine is still very new; if it runs good, I'd buy it for $400, sell it on Craigslist for $1500, and just wait for a serious buyer. Ebay would get the best hits with less of the "Yo, you take $150 4 that?" CL gets but obviously there are fees involved. I gotta think it's a hot engine to sell off for a profit right now (could ask more for it, but you lower the odds of a quick turn around). I'm guessing that yard is more interested in selling and moving in bulk, rather than top $$$$ and waiting a year or more to sell.