heartless

I think I am going to leave well enough alone. I dont have the right tools to be able to install a new seal of that size, and I darn sure dont want to bugger it up trying. I would gladly let you do it tho, if you cared to come up here! Hi Tom. Yeah, it isnt too shabby for a 15 year old car. has a little bit of rust forming in the corners of the rear wheel wells (the typical spot) but if we can get it up and running, gonna see about fixing them before they get any worse. Not going to spend a lot of time & energy on that until I know it will run, tho.

also, make sure the battery has a full charge using a proper charger - do not rely on the alternator to recharge a discharged battery.

yupper - had a similar issue with my car using the same motor - pulled motor for a complete reseal, several of the exhaust studs came out of the block - they got reused anyway on reinstall - less than 2 weeks later, blew out the exhaust gaskets. New studs/nuts and gaskets - problem solved.

Gary knows what he is talking about, and I personally would follow his advice. Even if you go ahead with the complete engine/tranny swap - at the very least - DO THE TIMING - including all the pulleys, seals & tensioner - before stuffing it in that engine bay (easier access if done while out). That way you KNOW it was done right, and it should be good for, at minimum, 90K. With an interference motor, I would not risk not doing it - regardless of documentation. I would also follow his advice about re-doing the headgaskets - just because. Doing as much of the "maintenance" type stuff before putting a "new to you" engine in a car, and doing it right, just makes sense - do as much as possible while the motor is out and easily accessible - leave nothing to chance - especially on an interference type motor, and one that is prone to headgasket issues. In all honesty, I have shied away from the 2.5 cars because of the HG issues. They may be fine IF they are done correctly (big IF), and maintained properly, but so many dont get the kind of care and maintenance they should get that I dont want to deal with the potential issues. I dont have the time, energy or the money to deal with them. (which is why the 98 forester we just got is getting a 2.2 transplant that is being gone over before installation)

Bonomo - 93 LS wagon? I am betting that the car used to have air struts, and that is the air line that used to feed that strut (I have a 90 LS wagon that I pulled the air struts out of) that short black bit at the top is plastic tubing that got cut off, right? if it is, then yes, that is the old air system for the air struts. you can safely remove that whole section if you want to.

If all you need is the valve/cam cover set, then do what fairtax4me suggests, and get just what you need. Rockauto is a decent palce to deal with. the gasket sets I was referring to are complete engine rebuild sets with every gasket, seal, o-ring, etc., needed for a complete engine rebuild. As for quality - they are decent - maybe not top quality, but not junk either. about the only thing in the set that I probably wouldnt use would be the headgaskets - but since the 2.2s are not prone to the HG issues, it hasnt been a problem/issue.

Thanks to tractor pole I will soon have new fans for the Forester! Yay! Also hoping to have the rest of the items needed fairly soon as well. Yesterday I got the front accessories off the 2.2 and got it power washed. Did discover that the back bolt hole for the power steering bracket is pretty much stripped out - guess I will need to try to helicoil that. Also pulled the front accessories off the 2.5 to be swapped onto the 2.2 later.

I am running the NGK wires on my 90 Legacy with no problems - not sure how well they work on the newer stuff (96+), but they work fine on the 1st gen 2.2 on the tensioner - first, check it for being worn out - if you can push in the piston (as in pushing it against a fixed object with a bit of body weight behind it) if it moves it needs to be replaced. if it does not move, use a vise and compress it s-l-o-w-l-y! do NOT rush this part! you will damage it if you do. small turn of the vise handle - just a little tension (between 1/8 & 1/4 turn of the handle), let it sit for 3-5 mins, small turn of vise handle, let sit - repeat until you can insert a pin thru the holes (get the holes more or less in line before compressing - one hole on either side of the body & one thru the piston shaft) to keep it compressed until after installation - a small allen wrench is commonly used for this. to save a few dollars, there are complete timing kits available through eBay from several sellers - a lot of the guys like "the import experts" for timing kits. I have used "mizumo auto" kits with no issues on the old GL 1.8s and 1st gen Legacy 2.2s - in fact, just ordered another 2.2 kit from them for a similar job as you are doing, complete with all pulleys, seals, water pump & gaskets, and tensioner. Cost was under $175 shipped to my door. They also have complete engine gasket sets with all of the gaskets, seals, and o-rings you could possibly need, including the little grommets for the cam case covers. Cost is around $50 for the complete set and has everything you will need and then some. have you looked at the oil separator plate on your engine? if it is plastic, then yes, order the metal one. But, it may already be a metal one and only needs to be resealed. I know for sure the 90 & 91 model years had the metal plates - check before spending the money unnecessarily. injectors - I personally dont know of any running issues between auto & manual swaps - but the injectors "should" all match (be of the same type) they are not typically "mix & match" compatible. I think the differences are in flow rates - but not sure exactly. Try a search for "fuel injector" and see what you can find out. Only other thing I can suggest is new vacuum lines throughout - even tho they may "look" ok, they are old and most likely dry & brittle - even a little bump can cause cracks that may go visually unnoticed but can cause all sorts of strange running issues later.

starting with the basic tuneup items is always a good idea when you dont know the history of a car. Sparkplugs - NGK brand as specified in the owners manual; plug wires - these cars are a tad fussy about those, OEMs are best; not sure on the newer stuff, but the NGK brand wires seem to be OK on the older ones. Stay away from cheap parts store brands for sure. new air & fuel filters couldnt hurt PCV valve? they tend to get overlooked and are a maintenance item, altho typically these cause issue under load, not steady throttle... check and replace any hard, dry, brittle vacuum lines - poor vacuum can cause all kinds of funny issues.

Miles lives in the Milwaukee area - I would be closer to gritle than he is. only about 3 hours versus 5. Do a little shopping around on the phone - smaller, independant shops - see if you can get somebody to give you a ballpark estimate for the job (or at least an hourly labor rate)

there is no difference between "cv boot and drive axle boot" - for all intents and purposes they are one and the same. Subaru axles have 2 joints and thusly 2 boots - one by the wheel and one by the tranny. You need a new axle if the boot is torn and it is clicking when turning - torn boots will allow the grease that lubricates the joints (essential) to escape - usually slinging it all over the undercarriage of the car as the axle rotates.... Sometimes they can go for a long time, sometimes not - kind of a crap shoot on how long it will last. You dont mention year/model of Subaru, so pricing on a decent axle assembly is just a guess - but should run somewhere around $75, give or take. That is just for the axle, no labor. Sorry I can not help you with a "good" mechanic up there in the cities, but I will agree with you that $94 an hour labor does seem a tad high - $55-65 would be more within reason.

could be several reasons for that... 1. you dont say where specifically the event will be held - your profile says Columbus, Indiana, but that really doesnt help - you could be from anywhere. 2. you posted this at 1 am - many folks are sleeping at that time, and most have jobs - not a lot of activity in the early morning/daytime hours. You may get more interest later this evening. 3. there really arent all that many members that live in that vacinity (if the event is to be held in the Columbus, IN area) - the greater majority are Pacific Northwest, with a fair share on the east coast, and Colorado areas. Not all that many of us in the midwest to be honest. We also have international members. I think the Wounded Warrior Project is a great cause, but I cant afford to drive over 3-400 miles to attend (again, assuming location).

Not enough information.... First off - we need to know how hot did it actually get... 1. Did the gauge peg out & the motor quit running? 2. Or, did you notice it was getting hot and YOU shut it down? 3. Does fuel get to the engine? 4. Is there spark? 5. Compression - did this get checked manually? these are all yes/no questions...

yup, already planned on replacing the O-rings in those places, and even tho the seperator plate doesnt look bad, I am going to do a reseal on that as well, just because it is accessable right now. cam covers will get new gaskets and grommets as well. Oil pan will be coming off, getting cleaned up, rust converter and a fresh coat of paint. davebugs - not really sure that makes me feel "better", per se - LOL - but, because of the pattern/distribution of the crustiness I am inclined to believe the logic that the heater hose above was probably the source of the leak

ok, thanks for the reassurance guys. I know the EJ22 is not prone to HG issues, but it does happen - occasionally... We bought the car as a parts car, engine supposedly ran (cant remember really) but the transmission had problems, body - welll...it had hit something/been hit in the front, and they just slapped some other body panels on it without actually fixing things under them. it sat out in our yard for about 4, going on 5 years now...

Is the grunge on the back side of this motor indicative of possible headgasket seepage? this is the drivers side rear of the EJ22 I plan on putting into the Forester...is yellowish/white & crusty/flaky looking... passenger side in same area just looks oily/dirty...

Got the EJ22 yanked out on Friday and set on an engine stand... Backside looks pretty good, surprisingly enough...main seal has a small amount of seepage, but not enough to warrant messing with it. I suspect that the separator plate was resealed previously. Aside form the usual accumulation of dirt & grime over the last 20 plus years, it doesnt look too bad, altho one area kind of makes me wonder about possible head gasket leakage...this is the back side of the divers side head... The passenger side is just oily dirty...

agree with cougar - if you have tried the starting fluid with "no or limited success" then you do not have a fuel delivery issue. You never mentioned that you had tried starting fluid before this. If you had, you would have gotten very different responses.

Shawn - I suppose it is possible they were loctite-ed previously - all I know is that the two were a HUGE pain to get out - most of the others came out ok, a bit tough, but not ridiculously so. Thanks for looking up that torque spec - may I ask what specific year/model that is for? I did finally find the exploded drawing - it shows a clutch flywheel, but I assume the bolts would be torqued the same - 1990 FSM states 58-62 ft lbs.

we were using a good impact gun (Ingersoll Rand) trying to take them off - had to use the Irwin extractor set on two of them because the heads rounded off. spray with PB, whack several times with a 3lb mini sledge, try to remove - repeat multiple times...finally got out the expensive "freeze off" spray, and the last one FINALLY gave up and came out. but geez...took nearly an hour to get one stinking bolt out! Guess when reassembly starts I will, at the very least, use some blue thread locker on them, to prevent them from possibly backing out

what are the bolts holding the flexplate to the crankshaft supposed to be torqued to? trying to remove the flex plate from the 2.5 yesterday, we had a heck of a time getting 2 of them off, almost to the point we were ready to break out the angle grinder on one of them! The ones on the 2.2 came off relatively easy by comparison. Looking thru the 90 FSM we have, I could not find any torque specs for those specific bolts - all I could find in the reassembly section was "install flex-plate to crankshaft"...

Screams underinflated to me - especially if the wear is even on both sides of the individual tires. I do not go by the infaltion rates posted on the door plate - I look at the tire itself - it will give a maximum cold inflation value - whatever that value is, subtract 5 or 6 psi* and inflate to that value when the tires are cold. * for standard passenger car tires - for our pickup with high weight rating tires I can run as much as 15-20 psi below max value and not worry about them wearing funny.

You are putting the cart before the horse here - it could simply be trapped air still in the system coming out - is it still sucking the overflow bottle dry? if it is, then it wasnt filled enough/properly and is still trying to burp itself. the still running to the hot side suggests this as well. Have you turned on the heat to circulate the coolant thru that part of the system yet? If not, you should. I would keep an eye on it for a week or two, dont go jumping to conclusions after just a couple of hours. If you are still getting bubbles after a week or so, then you can entertain thoughts of headgaskets.

Anon - both the DD and the parts car are 1990 models. I dont want to lose the use of the DD for several reasons - not the least of which is that i am also job hunting & in a rural area that means a minimum if 15-20 miles of driving to get some where - usually more like 30-40 miles one way. With gas prices as they are, why take down a perfectly good gas miser - even temporarily - and be forced into driving a gas hog of a pickup truck? The parts car did run when we got it but had tranny problems. I am pretty confident that we can get it running again

Upper wiring harness has arrived! Thanks again, matt167!