Bushwick

My 95' ej22 is on life support (body rot) but the engine and trans are still super strong at roughly 190+k and the AC still blows cold. I still DD the darn thing even though it's got so much rear body rot it's getting retired. I got the car with around 170k and this engine has yet to miss a beat. Other than replacing almost all the lifters when I got it (would not pump up), and a timing belt at the same time, only needs oil changes. I'd drop this engine and even the trans into a better body in a heartbeat even with the mileage. Doesn't smoke, knock, puke HG, nothing. It just continues to run, and I've yet to see the CEL appear and it's passed every emission check.

What do you mean by "steam out the pipe"? Is there a large, billowing cloud of sweetish white smoke following the car? Normal exhaust should dissipate quickly and barely be noticeable. Cold morning it'll be more pronounced, but barely. Large white clouds that have a sickly sweet smell and the "smoke" lingers, is usually coolant. Chances are she overheated it (gotta teach them to be observant of the car and anything out of the ordinary like steam billowing out under the hood and the odor coolant gives off i.e. when it leaks; I can smell coolant leaks on some cars walking past them in parking spaces) and kept driving. It could have warped the head, blown the head gasket, etc.

I've been glancing at locals and came across a 99' Forester with 140k miles with heated seats and mirrors, auto and cloth. Anything particularly goofy with that year? Obvious stuff like timing belt and head gaskets, I'm aware of. Anything else I'd need to be concerned with off the bat?

Humor me here, but remove the gas cap, then see if it'll start (might take a bunch of cranking intervals). I've encountered problems where a bad cap wasn't allowing air in. Car was a 96' Lincoln Mark VIII. Would run fine, park it, and 5 minutes later would crank and crank. Car only had 70-80k miles at the time. Forget why what immediately made think "gas cap" back then, but I loosened it and it'd fire right up. Happened 3 times before I replaced it. Sold the car with 130k miles and it never happened again. Also, fwiw, my Legacy had a leak in the fuel return line, under the rear seat area. As a temp fix as it was a winter failure, I pinched the return line under the hood with vice grips, to stop the leak. Car ran "fine", but like the Lincoln, it developed a no-start scenario after sitting (engine off) even as short as a 5 minute stop. Unpinched line, cranked until fired, then pinched line again to drive.

Yeah, if it was some rare model, I could see cutting a rear out of a donor and drilling out spot welds, and grafting that in, but not with this. It was originally an $850 winter car that lasted 4 years w/o fail. Drove daily after surgeries as it was an auto and easier to get in/out.

It's pretty fugly. Wasn't much left to work with and can only do so much with an arc welder and thin metal. Noticed the passenger side is starting to rot as well. Maybe a pic once that side is vertically braced and both sides are tied (think of an "H" bracing).

I think there was an issue getting the charge light to cooperate with the newer alt. IIRC, it wouldn't go out. Alt has been in the car roughly 3 years now. Thought faulty batteries were the initial issue, as the last 2 winters they died and I just replaced under warranty. It's holding the charge, so I'm thinking it was the way it was connected. I checked, and no AC current, so diode is probably ok. Amplifier noise is something else apparently that decided to act up at the same time the draw became an issue. I'll check it's draw eventually. Just glad it's drivable atm. Might be able to squeeze another year out of it before the rust becomes terminal

Actually, I'd disconnect the downstream O2 1st and see if it fires. IF it's shorting internally, that can prevent engines from starting, and cause all sorts of issues. Had it happen in a Saab 9-3 where the heater element in the O2 was shorting, and caused severe backfires, stalls, etc. If the O2 is wrong or faulty, it might cause the same/similar issues.

If new plugs, it should fire. Can pull them again, and hold a lighter to the tip briefly or use a propane torch to speed up being dry. If it wasn't a boxer engine, I'd say hold the torch over the exposed plug hole as that'll burn out any residue (works great on lawnmower engines tho you have to be careful. Maybe pull fuel pump fuse and crank engine several times in 5 sec. intervals (w/o any of the plugs in) to get some air in there if it was flooded that badly. If it still won't start after drying them verify plug wires are connected in the correct order, verify it's still getting spark, and gas. Figure out which one it isn't getting and go from there.

Yeah, I believe you are correct. Could have sworn it wouldn't charge w/o that wire tho after 1st installing, as I remember going through the effort to splice the connector. However, had radio on for 1st time after pulling wire and one/both amplifiers are super noisy all of a sudden, as if a ground wire was bad and it wasn't able to suppress the alternator noise anymore. Gotta figure out if it's related or a ground is loose to one of the amps.

Had to get REALLY creative! 1/4" plate sections (pre-cut) roughly 6" x 8" maybe were butted up to each other, side-by-side. They connect on floor, and attach at upper strut tower sides where there was still all the metal. For extra ruggedness, given the body metal is super thin, I pulled the headliner down over the rear area, and ran a 1/8" 2 x 12" strip, attached at the top of the roof support on the edges (factory support where roof meets the edge above rear 1/4 glass. Then ran a tube off the strut and connected other end to that plate, off of one of the 1/4" plates, to relieve some of the stress of the tower going over bumps, so it has no way of moving "up" and possibly breaking welds on the thin body metal. From the outside, thinking of pop riveting thin gauge over the opening (inner fender well behind spring) and rtv the thing beforehand and primer it, to keep water and fumes out. To get the tower back down btw, used a cable ratchet with rear off the ground. Wasn't pretty, but it worked. At some point, going to run another vertical brace on other tower, then tie both sides together. Should help the other side stay straight and reduce stress on the bad side even further. Windows are blacked out in the back, so not like anyone will ever see it. It looks hideous, so no pics. Brake lines were replaced couple years back. Fuel return was replaced as well. Other side is still OK. Guessing it rusted on a seam, and spread from there.

Managed to have 1/4" plate sections welded in, along with some extra tube supports, to keep the strut tower centered, so it's back in service. Never thought I'd have a car where the wheels were almost ready to fall off, only to come back from the brink of auto yard death! FWIW, I suggest pulling the carpet up and removing the plastic to periodically inspect your rear towers. They put a rubberized sealant on from the factory, that holds it's form even after the metal is gone. If you catch it earlier than I caught mine, it's an easier fix And need to be safe too! My tower top was about 4" from the back 1/4 glass.......

Well, I've left the wire unattached, and so far it's charging w/o issues, and seemingly it's not being drained now and is cranking strong after sitting a couple days. And just to be clear so someone skimming doesn't read that wrong, the alternator is a 130 amp out of an 11' Tribecca with the EZ36.

It's definitely self-exciting at idle and charging w/o the wire (any wire) attached. Just drove to appt. and it sat for an hour, and cranked strong, but showing a bit high running voltage of 15v when I know it was 14 in the past, unless the meter is wonky, which is entirely possible. Will have to check in the morning if it's low. I'm unsure about the diode being bad. Just set to AC on multimeter and probe battery posts?

After reading some other threads, it was mentioned the newer Subaru alternators kick on via rpm-based activation (many alternators are either/or),which is odd as I clearly remember checking it when during the initial retrofit, as it wouldn't charge until the wire was connected. However, after deep charging the battery and starting the car, it was definitely charging w/o the wire connected at idle. Gonna see if it can do w/o the wire.

Just discovered my battery drain, which seems to be from the "on" wire that feeds to the alternator. With key-off, the wire is still showing 12v+? Is that wire supposed to be key-on 12v? I only have 2 wires (not including the actual charge wire), this one and the dummy light source. I swapped in an ez36 alt, which has the 3 wire, plug. Anyhow, is there an easy place to convert the wire off a key-on source under the hood? Ideally from the underhood fuse box? i.e. bypass the factory wire and run my own key-on wire.

My 95' has the steel crossmember holding the rear pumpkin. I thought they switched to a large aluminum crossmember and changed the rear Independent suspension at some point around 99-01'?

So only up to 98' Legacy and 99' Outback is basically drop-in? Saw an 01' Legacy and almost got it, glad I asked first. 99' Outback has the updated rear crossmember?

I know this engine/year ej22 is considered a direct-swap for newer body styles. Was wondering up to what year Legacy it remains fairly straight-forward? There are some fairly clean Legacy models locally,with the dead/dying ej25 for really good prices, and considering my engine is seemingly good and I've logged roughly 20k miles with it, thinking it might be worth the effort to transplant, as I like having a Legacy, especially in the winter (other car is RWD BMW, so...)

If it were me, I'd try a thicker oil like 10w 30 (assuming it's running 5w 30 now) synthetic (spend the extra $15 as it's better than conventional) at next oil change, then watch it like a hawk. If it looses almost none, great. If it's loosing 50% less, can try 10w 40 at the next change. I think the too-thin oil is to reduce start-up emissions for the epa tests, but seems to cause issues like spun bearings, etc.

Starter problems are quite often caused by bad battery cables/clamps, bad/broken/corroded/missing grounds, or loose connections. The ground side is the easiest to rule out. Just jump a cable from a solid engine point (away from belt) to neg terminal. Preferably, wait and do try this when it's clicking, as it'll be easier to solve. With key ON and car in park, I think you can jump the starter directly (been ages since I tried that in another car).

Yes, they can leak, and it can leak erratically as well. As others mentioned, the weep hole should be showing signs of coolant dripping if that's the case. If the belt is off, you can check the waterpump pulley for shaft play.

I ^ 2nd a new radiator cap. Make sure it's an oem pressure rating. Although uncommon, they can fail or stick, and in your case, it might be unable to pull fluid back into the system from the over-flow. As far as the modded thermostat was concerned, that's a rather old trick to getting a carb'd (or at least a non modern OBDII that doesn't track engine warm up times) engine running cooler and it might lower some working resistance of the water pump, though unsure. Can try wiggling the connector on the temp sensor with it running and have someone watch if the gauge fluctuates. Can also use a multimeter on the actual sensor and see if it's reading steady or erratically. Although unlikely, if you have say a long gravel driveway, drive constantly down rusty roads, let salt build-up in winter, the AC condenser and radiator and get packed up and loose their efficiency over time. I like to take a nozzle OFF the hose and (carefully) hold it close to the fins, and work left/right, etc. The water will be dark if there's gunk and clears up almost right away. More of an issue with thicker 3" radiators, but worth the 5 minutes while messing around under the hood.

Just the rears. @Numbchux You've apparently never done this as I've seen it happen from sitting in driveways. Moisture from rain or early morning are enough. Hell, we used to have it happen at a used car lot I used to work at, and that was on cars sitting a couple days to a week at most. I got chewed out for setting them after a car wouldn't move that the sale's guy was trying to take on a drive for a customer. Leave long enough and the rotors will need turned.

If it's a flexplate issue, I'd imagine you feel it vibrating deeply when revving, and a loose starter would probably cause a "zing" kind of sound. Definitely sounds like a rubbing/scraping kinda noise like a dried out needle bearing. Might be worth getting it inspected locally by a trusted mechanic.