Bserk Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Hey y'all. I was a regular visitor here while I was figuring out all the issues with my 96 Legacy OBW. I ended up with a great car after a lot of help from this site. Then, I was faced with a decision that I agonized over. I 'inherited' a 03 Nissan Sentra, and for many reasons, including the fact that I work at a Nissan dealer, I decided to sell the Outback. With winter coming up shortly, I have been kicking myself for not keeping it, but whats done is done. Today, we took on trade a 97 Imprezza Outback Sport. 2.2, 5 speed stick, and I bought it on the spot! Im back, all you Subie fanatics! After all the 2.5 DOHC issues with the last car, I was happy to see the 2.2 under the hood, since you all have told me its the premier Subie engine. And Ive always been a standard shift man, so that influenced me as well. It needs a clutch, so I got a fantastic deal on it. I can barely drive it the clutch is slipping quite bad, but I did some tight donuts in the yard and felt no torque bind (another issue I had with the last car, solved with the solenoid C replacement) Other than that, it appears to be in great shape. A couple very small rust spots, no holes, just surface. This is going to be a great winter rat. Now to go search 'clutch repalcement' and find the easiest way to go about that. I guess it was inevitable, I got the Subie fever now. Looking forward to bugging you guys when I run into problems again LOL, take care, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Hey y'all. I was a regular visitor here while I was figuring out all the issues with my 96 Legacy OBW. I ended up with a great car after a lot of help from this site.Welcome back! [...] After all the 2.5 DOHC issues with the last car, I was happy to see the 2.2 under the hood, since you all have told me its the premier Subie engine. [...]Keep in mind that beginning with the '97 model year, the 2.2 is an interference engine -- unless you know the timing belt isn't due, it might be a good idea to replace it. Depending on the mileage, while you're in there it could be time for other things as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 You can run but you cannot hide, Subaru is the in the blood or not. Trust me lots of Subarus later, I always come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 I got the Subie fever now. Welcome home, Bserk. Good to see you back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WickedV6 Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 You can run but you cannot hide, Subaru is the in the blood or not. Trust me lots of Subarus later, I always come back. Man, you can say that again, I had a 90 and 92 Legacy and sold them two years ago or so and guess what, I just bought a 1995 Legacy wagon. These are great cars. Prasad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Now to go search 'clutch repalcement' and find the easiest way to go about that. I guess it was inevitable, I got the Subie fever now. Looking forward to bugging you guys when I run into problems again LOL, take care, Doug Considering that you will want to replace the timing belt as well (for reasons mentioned above), I would pull the engine, and reseal the whole thing. The seals last for about 150K miles, the timing belt lasts for 60 or 100K depending on what kind of smag requierments you have. I would get the 100K timing belt, all the seals, perhaps a water pump, certainly the thermostat and gasket. That comes to about $250 online, and you can get the new clutch from the same place usually. I would get one that is made for a Legacy Outback, as those engines have 30 more HP, and the clutch is just a tad better (interchangeable with your engine, no problem). When you are done, you will have a car you can truely depend on! Oh, and welcome back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bserk Posted October 3, 2008 Author Share Posted October 3, 2008 OK, Ive read a lot here (again!) Ive decided that since I do want to do the TB while Im at it, and previous experience and advice here tells me to do the seals, etc... Saturday morning, the engine comes out of Izzy (sorry, but all my cars get names. And this is Izzy Imprezza) Ive read here and heard elsewhere that I may need to deal with a sleeve, to deal with wear on the throwout bearing shaft. I have a great advantage here, since I can tear this apart and deal with whatever I find, and push Izzy back outside if I have to order more parts..I feel for the guy that has to have the car up and running on Monday regardless. This will be a winter beater. I dont want to break the bank, but I dont want to miss 'needed' maintenance either. So she's gettin the timing belt, the cam seals, the metal plate if needed... along with the clutch parts. I have a lot of experience with Nissans, and few Nissans run the water pump off the timing belt. At 140,000, if it were mine, and a Nissan, I wouldnt change the pump. But then, it wouldnt be a drastic issue if the pump failed. I think its unlikely that a water pump would fail without symptoms before damage was done on a Subaru. And I guess thats my questions.. if you are 'aware' of your car and listen for unusual noises, could a water pump fail and cause valve damage before you caught it? If you were planning on 'winter beatin' a rig without spending more than needed, would you do the water pump at 140,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 One question to get you thinking in one direction or the other: How many water pumps do you know that last 240,000 miles? At 140K that water pump is likely near the end of it's reasonable life expectancy. Do you want to do all that work to put a timing belt on, and then have to do it again because you did not change the water pump the first time? Also, if the WP goes, it can take the TB with it, and on your car, that is really really bad. On teh seals, I would also change the front crank seal, oil pump O-ring, and the valve cover gaskets (along with the valve cover bolt seals) as all of this sits in the oil, and will leak as well. Izzy will be a lot happier if you do, and the cost is not much more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bserk Posted October 4, 2008 Author Share Posted October 4, 2008 Engine out and its very obvious why the clutch failed (other than at 140,000 it was probably due anyway) The plastic plate behind the flywheel is bleeding oil profusely, the entire bell housing was full of oil, and the clutch disc/pressure plate completely saturated. The t/o bearing shaft seems fine to me, not worn like I had expected after researching this job. (maybe all that oil kept it well lubricated so it didnt wear- lol) It is a real treat yanking an engine on a Subie for me. I know I have an advantage using the facilities at work, but I wouldnt have a problem pulling a Subaru engine in my driveway, and no way would I try that on a AWD Nissan. Or even a FWD for that matter. They really kept service in mind with their design and thats something most every other company has long forgotten about. Ordering a bunch of parts Monday morning and with a little luck, I'll be driving her next week at this time. I'll get the seals, TB, clutch parts, etc installed on lunch breaks, and stick the engine in next Sat. As much as I loved the Outback last winter, I really cant wait to have a AWD standard shift car in the snow. Thats gotta be fun! (oh, it came with a practically new set of Blizzacks too!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Heh. Every time, every time I work on any other make of car, I love my Subaru all that much more. I actually had a similar problem to yours (clutch failed due to the oil separator leaking) and I ended up doing the whole job (pull the engine, pull the clutch and flywheel, installed a new rear main seal and a new oil separator, cleaned up the flywheel , and installed a new clutch , then reinstalled the engine, and had the car running) in 6 hours. Started at noon, in my driveway, and went out to dinner in the car that evening. . . OK, I'll grant you I do work on these cars for a living, and with those same tools I used. . OK, I'd also already had the engine out before, so seized components were not going to be an issue (resealed the engine at 200K miles) but really now. . . I'm firmly convinced that a good part of the reason that Subarus last so long is that they are jus so insanely easy to work on. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted October 5, 2008 Share Posted October 5, 2008 Ordering a bunch of parts Monday morning and with a little luck, I'll be driving her next week at this time. I'll get the seals, TB, clutch parts, etc installed on lunch breaks, and stick the engine in next Sat. you probably know, but don't forget the new screws for the seperator plate. the ones from the plastic plate won't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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