heartless

don't go by what the surface looks like - you want to thoroughly inspect the undercarriage - THAT is where the problems will show. Rocker panels and subframe are going to be the big concerns... wheel arches will be covered in plastic most likely but those are the areas that will have rust thru the quickest - especially the rears. Check suspension components while under it.. looking for obvious worn or cracked bushings. Ideally you get to take the car for a test drive and take it to a mechanic you trust to put it in the air and give it a thorough inspection.

the double iridium plugs are a waste of money on all counts - take them back and get NGKs NGK plugs are best for these cars. OEM or NGK wires - nothing else is worth the time, money or effort of putting in.

i do hope you plan on doing the headgaskets on that while it is out.. that line of oily sludge going up the joint is just screaming for attention.

and preferably fully warmed up.

even at 17-19 ozs the above info is still light... think about it... 16oz to a lb... 17-19 would be over 1lb - not by much, but still over... the info in the1st post is LESS than a pound.. even at the high end.

thank you GD. I know the egr has nothing to do with that part, lol, but more interested in how it mounts - hanging points etc. if they are essentially the same, i can make it work other half says the undercarriage is not too bad from what he can see of it, just lying on the ground and looking.. so, it may be worth trying to get that bill of sale from the PO... at the very least, i would like to know why he junked it - ie: overheating? failing tranny? whatever.

heat and age... bet that one is about as hard as a rock, too, isn't it?

my 02 Forester says 21 - 25 oz (0.6 - 0.7 kg) on the sticker underhood - also 134a so yeah, that does seem a little bit low.

since you have intake off, make sure you check that metal pipe that runs to heater hose over REAL well... sits on drivers side... make sure there is zero rust anywhere on it... if there is rust, i would recommend replacing now vs having to take it all apart again later my 02 had a leak due to rust right where the smaller tube joined that goes to the throttle body

thank you all for the info! much appreciated. so apparently we can just have the car if it is just for parts (perk of him working there)... if we want to try to title it, have to go thru the original owner, get a bill of sale, etc... sounds like too much hassle to mess with it, so will probably bring it home to get parts out of, then take back the remainder. Head gaskets are something i had considered - not knowing the history on the car. It would also automatically get a full timing service, just because. and just thought of another question... exhaust? is that going to be pretty much the same? (mounting points, and such) if the exhaust on that car is in decent enough shape, would like to possibly swap it over as well... mine is in kind of rough shape, with several "patches" along its length

my guess is the noise is coming from the heater core, which is located near the center of vehicle - you say it is getting worse? are you losing coolant at all? check radiator when cold. do not rely on the overflow bottle level. if you are losing coolant, then you may have a leak somewhere... hoses, radiator, heater core itself, and head gaskets are all potential leak sources.

so basically we are just "deleting" the EGR? Simple enough i guess.. And yeah, @moosens - if you could keep your thread updated as you go, that would be fantastic. i think we are gonna go ahead and snag this car - depending on title status... we can get it for basically scrap price, and with a good motor, it is worth that.

Looking for clear, definitive answers here... Somebody brought an 04 Forester X in where my other half works to be scrapped out - overall, car is on ok condition, not perfect, but not horrible either, and only has 167K on the odometer... Has the EJ253 and definitely has EGR - automatic, needs a bit of work to be road worthy - brakes, struts, etc. - has decent tires on 16" steelies Engine starts no problem, idles well, no obvious weird noises, knocking or anything... sounds pretty good, actually. We were thinking maybe an engine swap into my 02 Forester that currently has 267K.. EJ251 with NO EGR - or, maybe fixing it up & putting it on the road - the right rear quarter is kind of concerning tho.. pretty rusty - more so than the left side. i did try searching, and from what I found, it is possible to do this swap by putting the existing 251 intake on the 253, but no one mentions the EGR factor... how does one deal with that? Pics of the car can be seen here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vuqc1t8dixsemsy/AABdE0mKTFg3mhnGF-mxCW_Xa?dl=0

brand does not really matter that much, it is about the circumference you want it to be as close as possible to the other tires and no big deal running with FWD fuse in - just be aware that it WILL handle differently in regards to doing the 2 tires - putting them on diagonal corners will allow you to run in AWD mode if you really need to... or, you can go FWD and put them both on front if you so choose.

auto vs manual does make a difference... automatic - you can use the FWD fuse thing, but the odd tire will need to be mounted on the REAR of the car. with the 2 tires - they need to be diagonal from each other... ie: LF & RR or RF & LR - again this is for a car that DOES NOT have viscous rear diff. check the circumference - ideally, all tires should all be within about a 1/4" of each other.

poster is in Chicago, so yeah.. rust prone area. LOL

invest in some PB Blaster and use liberally for about a week before trying anything. Seriously.

all i could see was camera shaking... i sincerely doubt that a tiny bit if movement (if indeed there is any) in that steering rack is the source of your vibration. More likely to be that wobbly stub shaft you mentioned earlier.

i dunno about that, Bennie... when we went to fix the hatch wiring on the partner's 06 Outback, had to pull a good 3/4s of the trim just to drop one corner of the liner to get at the wiring harness

yeah, i have done it exactly once. and yeah, it is a pain. actually took the whole unit out of mine to address some other issues i was having on the 1990 Legacy i had. Wagons are a lot easier than a sedan would be, lol. drop it down & the whole works goes out the back end.

With such a generic thread title, most people are going to look - does not mean they are able to answer the question posed, however. I was one of those views - and could not answer you if I wanted to. Have never dealt with that myself, so... Maybe in the future, be a little more specific with the title?

yup, headliner needs to come out to do the job right. There is no "easy" way to get to those drains.

must be a major difference between the H6 and the 4 of that era... his is right up front where it should be.. same place as my '02 Forester Good luck, have fun.

assuming yours still has the plastic under cover... we took his off and left it off.. much easier to access things without it but yeah, you are supposed to pull that cover off for the oil changes, and any other work up front (coolant changes, etc) then you are "supposed" to put it back on.. pfft his has been off for probably 7-8 years now, with no detrimental effects. oil changes are super easy with full access.

age is a factor too. when i got the Forester (214K miles and 14+ yrs old) and did my initial maintenance on it (timing, plugs, filters, etc..) the radiator hoses looked and felt fine from the outside, but the lower one was so thin in places you could actually see daylight thru it. i was honestly surprised that it wasn't leaking. needless to say, it, and the upper, got changed immediately, along with that small one you just dealt with, for the simple fact that it was prudent to do so at that time, while the radiator was drained, and things were accessible. I also changed out pretty much all of the vacuum lines, most of which were hard as a rock.