Preventative Maintenance

[morrocco88]

Hello there,

 

I'm new to this board and Subaru's. I have a bunch of other cars and have condemmed myself to a life of no car payments and constant tinkering on a fleet of used cars in the garage. I have just picked up a 97 Legacy Gt sedan for the AWD and I've always loved the look of these cars. It has 105,000 on it and the previous owner didn't take good care of it. The car runs pretty good but probably needs a tune up. I plan on doing a thorough tune and fluid change, Ie tranny fluid and filter kit, front and rear diff and motor oil. I do have oil leaking on the exhaust where it joins together and have heard that it could be the seperator plate. I hear you have to pull the motor to get to it. So, I was thinking about pulling the motor to fix that, and wanted to do some other "overhaul stuff" while the motor is out. I don't know if the timing belt has been changed, but I was told the previous owner had a bunch of "top end" work done about a year ago. I don't know if he had a blown head gasket, and had them replaced or what. Finally, my question is what should be done while the motor is out, that would be good insurance? Seals? Oil pump? timing belt & pulleys? I just need some info from people that know these cars. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

[DerFahrer]

It probably was a headgasket. Any 96-98 EJ25 (2.5-liter) was DOHC and they were notorious for blowing headgaskets.

 

In that case, the heads should have been mildly rebuilt, and the oil seals in them should be new, as in cam seals, valve cover gaskets, valve guides, etc. Check the back timing covers behind the cams. If you see oil there, then your cam seals might be leaking. Also look at your valve covers. If they're covered in oil then the gaskets and/or grommets are leaking. The oil dripping onto the exhaust could be the oil pan gasket (your oil pan and crossmember will be quite nasty), or also, your front differential sits right above there, check the axle seals.

 

None of this REQUIRES pulling the motor, but the oil pan gasket might be easier with it out.

[nipper]

First thing i would do is pull off the timing blet covers, and like said, inspect all the seals and see what they look like. i would suspect if a head gasket was done, the valve cover gaskets would be new, the exhaust gasket, not to sure what else would be easily seen. i imagine eht e cylinder heads would look cleaner then the rest of the engine under the covers.

Replace timing belts, if the other seals look ok, replace the crank seal, waterpump, oil pump seals,and any belt idlers. There is no tranny filter to replace, but a tranny flush will avoid torque bind. USe suabru coolant and deminerilized water, and you should be good to go. ALso check the vin with a dealer to see if any recalls were fixed. You may even luck out and find out a dealer did the headgasket.

 

 

nipper

[eseiler]

It probably was a headgasket. Any 96-98 EJ25 (2.5-liter) was DOHC and they were notorious for blowing headgaskets.

 

 

My understanding is that it's the 97-99 that have this problem bad. 96 for some reason was spared. I was told it was rare for 1996 OB and this seems to be borne out by the small proportion of 96s with blown gaskets in this online compilation of those with 2.5L engines and blown gaskets--->http://home.comcast.net/~skipnospam/guestlog.html

 

I wonder if the premium fuel requirement has anything to do with it...did the later models require premium fuel?

 

 

Damien

[nipper]

nope iot was gasket design fault on the 2.5L engines that was later corrected. The replacement gasket solves the problem.

 

 

nipper

[morrocco88]

First thing i would do is pull off the timing blet covers, and like said, inspect all the seals and see what they look like. i would suspect if a head gasket was done, the valve cover gaskets would be new, the exhaust gasket, not to sure what else would be easily seen. i imagine eht e cylinder heads would look cleaner then the rest of the engine under the covers.

Replace timing belts, if the other seals look ok, replace the crank seal, waterpump, oil pump seals,and any belt idlers. There is no tranny filter to replace, but a tranny flush will avoid torque bind. USe suabru coolant and deminerilized water, and you should be good to go. ALso check the vin with a dealer to see if any recalls were fixed. You may even luck out and find out a dealer did the headgasket.

 

Morrocco88 - There is no tranny filter to replace? I bought one from Napa. It is a sheet metal container with an in and out neck on it, and has a fine brass wire mesh filter inside. Did they sell me something that I don't need? What seals will I find under the timing belt covers? Sorry about all the "newbie" questions.