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Hi all, I'm looking at purchasing an '06 OBW that had a JDM 2.5 ej253 installed a couple months ago. The seller sent me a video of it idling.: There's a weird slightly rhythmic clicking/clacking noise that repeats every 1.5 - 2 seconds. It doesn't seem tied to the RPMs of the engine though. Any thoughts? I have to drive 4 hours to see/pick the car up. Hoping to feel more secure before making the 8-hour round trip. Greg

Hi all, Looking for advice. I am looking at purchasing a 2007 OBW. 2.5i, 5mt with 245k on it. It's from an online auto-auction site, that just happens to have their physical address 5 minutes from my house. It's priced at about $1000. I'm able to go look at it, so that is a plus. Anyway, thoughts. Right now I'm assuming that the motor and/or the transmission is shot. I have the transmission/clutch covered, as I have a 5mt from an '05 LGT wagon with about 60k on it, and the clutch is brand new. Motor though, is a different question. Again, I assume it is toast. So, I wanted to know if anyone has ever bought a jdm import from ebay? They claim to have 50-60k on them, and the price is around $1900. If I go that route, should I replace all gaskets before throwing the motor in? Or, should I try and find a short-block/long block from any of the subaru dealers, costing close to $3k? I'm also assuming that the suspension will be tired, and possibly the brakes. Other than that, what else should I consider with this high mileage of OBW? I'm unfamiliar with this generation, so what else should I be looking at having failed or about to? My total price range for everything is $5500-$6000. I've looked at quite a few used cars from that price range, and I only find Subarus that are high mileage and beat-to-crap/neglected by their owners. I'm not really open to jumping to a new platform (GM, Ford, Honda, etc) as I very familiar with subaru, and my time is limited. UNLESS someone has a very compelling argument to do so. The goal is to have a dependable car for at least the next 6 years so that I can get through grad-school and my first few years of work while I pay my loans off. I have to do clinical rotations next year, and because of Covid and its ripple-effect(s), there's a good chance that I'll have to commute a long distance for at least one 12-week rotation. As long as the interior isn't burnt away from a fire, I am fine putting seat-covers on. I really just need the drivetrain (and I guess the A/C since I live in the desert) to work dependably. Are these motors (EJ253, SOHC correct?) prone to oil consumption? Or leakage like all subarus? If I buy one from the dealer, will it still have consumption issues if so? Thanks for your time guys, Greg https://www.copart.com/lot/43891860/clean-title-2007-subaru-legacy-outback-2-5i-nv-las-vegas (please don't buy it out from under me) @1 Lucky Texan@GeneralDisorder@Fairtax4me@Rampage

Been a while since I've seen this side of the forum. So, just got myself an 07 OBW, base model with a 5sp stick shift and only 78k on her clock. Runs great, no problems what so ever, purrs like a kitten, lots more power than even my built EA81, goes like the proverbial ape. But on day 5 of ownership (this morning's commute), it kicked out a CEL with a flashing cruise light. Reading up on nastysock and legoGT provided me with at least the idea is that it is emission or oil filter related. I'm going to call the dealership I got it from as I purchased an extended warranty with the car (3yr, 60k) and see what they can do for me. But in the meantime, any of you EJ experts have any clues for me? i may know plenty about EA and early EJ setups, but this new of an EJ is all sorts of different to me. Twitch PS: Yes, there will be a "User's Rides" thread about it, but have to come up with an appropriate name for it... PPS: "The Silver Bullet" is the current placeholder aside from "The Outback"

I just became the proud new owner of a Rio Red 1999 OBW, EJ25D, 4EAT, that's had a fair amount of work done by its previous owners, including the timing belt & tensioner, headgaskets, and a full trans service. So far, it seems to run pretty well, but the one weird quirk it has (so far) is that both the Main and Sub Radiator fans seem to be a bit overactive and will often stay on when the car isn't running, but the key is in the ACC or ON positions. The weird part is that when I drove around today in the heat (mid to high 80s) today with the A/C off, the fans didn't stay on, but as soon as I drove with the A/C on on my way home from work, the fans stayed on when I got home. Then, tonight, driving home with no A/C, the fans stayed on again. What I'm trying to figure out is what could be causing this. Bad/unplugged Coolant Temp Sensor? Is the relay getting stuck on sometimes? Are the fans themselves faulty? When I did research on these things before I bought one, I never found anything relating to this topic so I'm kind of at a loss here. I just bought this thing so I'm hoping it's not something catastrophic, as the car runs pretty well other than this weird gremlin. Any help would be appreciated, just go easy on me since I'm new to this whole "Subaru ownership" thing

Now that I've got your attention, time to tell my story/ask my questions. Like (I'm sure a lot of you on here), I've been a Subaru fanboy for as long as I can remember. Growing up I watched the WRC on TV as much as I could and I remembered, more than anything else, those WRC Blue and yellow Subarus screaming through stages and absolutely embarrassing everything else out there. From a young age, I knew I had to own a Subaru at some point. I also remember going to local auto shows and drooling over the brand new Subies on the show floor and sitting in any of the ones I could. Fast forward 10+ years, and here I am looking for my third car. First was a '94 Volvo 940 wagon that I kept for 4 years, but got rid of when it started to get old (and expensive). I'd also outgrown the car and wanted to get something that could do more. I was abroad in Oz for a semester and when I came back, I bought an '03 Montero Sport. Good truck, but abysmal fuel mileage and completely not what I was looking for in a commuter vehicle for school and work, and I can't find the time to actually off-road it like I wanted to. That's where I am today, trying to sell the Monty and hopefully buy a used version of those Outbacks I drooled over as a kid. I've done a lot of reading on this site, NASIOC, Edmunds, etc, and I've absorbed a LOT of information, so now I'm coming to you guys for your personal experiences. Ideally, I want a 2000-04 OBW (in a lighter color) that's been as well-kept as possible by the previous owners. Here are my questions for you guys (based on personal experiences, others' testimony, etc): 1.Is there any year of OBW, between 2000 and 2004, that's better than any other? I know my dad always abides by the "never buy the first year of anything" rule, so that's pretty ingrained in me as well. I also know that '03-on EJ25s have a decreased risk of HG failure; is this true? 2.How many miles is too many? Where do you make the cutoff as to whether a car is worth the money or not? My price cap is $3.5K, so whatever I find under that is going to have a lot of miles, and I know it depends on how well kept the car is, but when should I walk away? 3.Do any of you ever have problems with your car running hot during normal driving? I had a guy on another forum (not Subaru-specific) say that "any time the needle is past normal your [sic] overheated" and that "I would have to go into full temp management mode to climb a grade, even with new head gaskets"...he also went on to say that the design of the car led to poor cooling. I have a hard time believing Subaru would knowingly sell a car to the public with a cooling system that poorly designed. 4.Are there any items you guys would recommend I specifically inspect pre-purchase, and is there anything you recommend I should do shortly after initial purchase, just as peace-of-mind maintenance/care? Sorry for being so wordy, this was half an introducing myself post and half a OBW-specific post, and I could go on with all the other nit-picky questions I have. I'll stop now so you guys don't just ignore this! Anyway, I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say and hopefully adding to my Subie knowledge so that I feel comfortable when I go look at OBWs! Thanks!

I just bought a 97 obw and I know little about it but im learning as I go, so far I have replaced my trunk latching stops or whatever they are called with newer ones from a newer obw to remove the trunk rattle, had a bad squeal on startup from my starter so im replacing that, my idle has been all over the place even at walking speed and anytime i move to neutral when coasting and such I checked my mass airflow sensor and its clean as a whistle so Im assuming its the throttle control module so I ordered that and am ready to replace. another issue is my rear wiper doesnt work and when I try and turn it on a strange buzzing noise comes from my left and behind me but not all the way at the back it sounds like something in the back passenger door or something wiring related any ideas? and last but not least my clutch pedal squeaks like a hamster in heat... any permanent fix for this? thanks MrLinfoot

My 97 legacy obw has the ej25d motor and is now knocking quite noticably what would be the best approach to fix rebuild or swap out

Hello, I'm a new comer in USMB. Always like subaru, bought a used 04 Outback (Blue color ) with 121K and love this car! It had a slight oil and coolant leaking when I got it. After I did the coolant flush with "all maker/all models" orange coolant without any "conditioner" ( have no idea of the head gasket thing back then, did the flush because a stupid coupon...), coolant is leaking faster. Now I can hear the dripping when car stops. It lost about 1 gal coolant in 3 months, but the oil level was only down down a little bit between oil changes. Now it has 128K and I'm going on a road trip so I need to replace timing belt to make it safer. I did have the T-belt checked before it was in a good shape although it's original. First I planed to replace both T-belt and head gasket (HG) at the same time to save the labor cost, but I decide to only do the T-belt and use the famous subaru cooling system conditioner to mitigate the leakage, after 3 day's research online. Really thanks everyone who post on HG leaking, especially grossgary and GeneralDisorder Here's my reasons: 1. many examples (15+) has been found that prove the little conditioner works pretty well and car should be good for 50K+ miles. And almost everyone who tried conditioner found it worked although the total number is only a few. a. GeneralDisorder tried this on his severe leaking 99 forester ( I guess EJ253?), the dripping stoped almost immediately and last for 20K+ miles (by now?). Also he said "My parts guy says many times the stop leak cures the problem forever and they (customers who had HG leakage) never come back." I think most customers found HG problem was fixed, though some might sell the car. b. grossgary talked about his friend's 03 (outback?) went from "solid oil leak" to "leaking really good oil" in 70K~80K miles, which was quite a lot mileages. But I don't know if HG is finally blown or not when he stopped using car. c. lots other cases can be found by searching on this board or through the internet, I just can't named them all. d. Very interesting and useful reviews about the conditioner on amazon: <http://www.amazon.com/Subaru-Cooling-System-Conditioner-SOA635071/product-reviews/B008HQHS7M/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=byRankDescending> 7 worked, 4 didn't specify the effect. also all worked cases are from newer reviews, so I guess they got this information online maybe this board. Great Jobs:) 2. coolant won't go to combustion chamber or mix with oil for these engines (EJ25 Phase II). Because of newer design of phase II, leakage was found to be external and most likely to stay with external leakage. Although allwheeldriveauto claimed this external leakage can become internal if not replacing HG after major leakage, I have only found one suspected case that overheated after 15K miles of coolant leaking, but no reason for overheat was stated. No one actually posted internal leakage after external leakage (I might see somebody said a direct internal leakage developed, but not sure), after going though some posts here, all posts in HG failure log on <http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/88-head-gasket-issues/18583-hg-failure-log-no-discussion-log-only-20.html>, and most post on <http://allwheeldriveauto.com/subaru-head-gasket-problems-explained/>. 3. Even if coolant goes to combustion chamber, sign can be seen from bubbles in coolant overflow bottle; or even if coolant mixed with oil, sign can be seen from milky color thing on oil dipstick ( maybe and oil in coolant overflow bottle?). Even if all signs are missed, replace HG after first overheating seems won't cause more issue. If overheat is missed, then no next.... 4. This seems to be better in the long run. I expect my subie could run more than 350K miles, even not with me at last. I wish it could last for 8k+ miles with the conditioner, then replace both HG and TB, definitely using a MLS HG, which should be good for at least 150K according to allwheeldriveauto. But does anyone see a failure on the MLS HG? just curious...(I know the OEM ones are prone to fail a second time as the first one) 5. For the short run, spend much less money now. Local independent Subaru Shop quoted ~1500 for HG and TB replacement at the same time. If do them separately, TB (and gears) ~530, HG ~1270, so total is ~ 1800. As a college student, I feel nearly $1K saving is a lot. Even if it turns out HG need to be done very soon as well (which is very unlike to happen), I only need to pay 300 more. The disadvantages and concerns: 1. Replacing HG seems to be better for the mid-term run. If I only drive it for less than 8K miles, it is better for me to do HG now, but not the best way for the car. 2. The risk is higher for long road trip. Replacing HG gives more peace in mind than checking oil and coolant at each stop in a long road trip. I love road trips so this is a big concern for me. But checking fluid levels frequently also provides quite a peace in mind. 3. If the condition doesn't work and problem become severely bad within 10K miles. then I need to have the HG replaced, spend 300 more. But I believe possibility for this to happen is <2%. 4. This is just for me, my mechanic is a honest, knowable, and fair Subaru specialist. It may be a little struggle to find a good Subaru mechanic if I move away after graduation (probably will). But I need to find a good mechanic in the new area anyway. Well, to sum up, from the information and analysis I got, if just using conditioner, topping off fluids, and keeping an eye on temperature after leakage being found, I think there's 97% probability for engine to last 20K miles, 80% to last 50K miles, 60% to last 80K miles, 40% to last 100K miles (frankly, just guessing) before problem goes really worse, like annoyance by topping off every 300 miles, or internal leakage, etc. I have already dropped my car for replacing TB (&gears), coolant flush, and adding conditioner. I would like to test this method and post updates later, to see the result. Thanks for your reading, looking forwards to replies, answers, corrections, comments, etc. apologize if any misleading due to my poor english as a non-native speaker. And most important, Happy Holidays! Fisky