Save or Scrap my 2.5? Advice Wanted

Hi Everyone,

I am new here and this is my first post! Some history-

I had never owned a Subaru befrore, but had always liked them. I recently bought a 95 LSi wagon with a 2.2. I love this car!!! I would have liked a Legacy GT wagon, but was drawn to the 2.2 as it seemed to be a better engine choice.

While looking for some winter tires.....I ended up buying a 99 Legacy GT Wagon. lol I could have bought the winter tires for $400, or the whole car with tires for $800! .. Seemed like a no brainer.

So here is where I could use some advice-

The owner had the from 68000km's, it now has 200000 km's. He never changed the timing belt. Clearly that would need to be done. The oil looks clean, and the coolant does as well. Should I look at an engine swap? Or replace the timing belt, pulleys and water pump and hpe for the best? Or just do the headgaskets as well?? not sure what to do. I could bring it in for a coolant check to see if the exhaust matter in there. And decide after that..?

not sure what to do. The owner says that it doesn't overheat, but I'll be pissed if I spend 300 - 400 bucks for the timimg belt (and related parts) only to find the headgaskets are shot, or soon will be.

Sorry for the long winded post, any advice would be great!

Also as far as a swap goes, I guess a 2.2 would work, what else would work with little work?? (the GT is an auto trans.)

Thanks!!!

200km is ~124k miles, so if the belt has not been done you are driving on borrowed time. and a failed belt will require a head gasket / timing belt job in addition to some valves. the belt is due a ~169km.

some of these engines gaskets failed at 60k miles, some are just now failing at 180k miles. so i would look for signs of gasket failure, and do the timing belt job. parts can be had for ~250$ US. but for another 100$ you can get head gaskets from subaru and do them as well, if you do it yourself. if you are paying for labor at a shop it is going to cost $$$. a friend of mine can do it all in a long day.

200km is ~124k miles, so if the belt has not been done you are driving on borrowed time. and a failed belt will require a head gasket / timing belt job in addition to some valves. the belt is due a ~169km.

 

some of these engines gaskets failed at 60k miles, some are just now failing at 180k miles. so i would look for signs of gasket failure, and do the timing belt job. parts can be had for ~250$ US. but for another 100$ you can get head gaskets from subaru and do them as well, if you do it yourself. if you are paying for labor at a shop it is going to cost $$$. a friend of mine can do it all in a long day.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mention it, but I would be doing the work myself. Parts seem to be ALOT more money here in Canada. Even if I buy from Ebay, I am up against 13% taxes plus duties if the parts are not made in North America. There is also the exchange rate, buy we are pretty much at par these days.

I guess pulling the engine, and just jumping in is the way to approach it.... Although, I am in no real hurry to get it done, so there is no pressure.

I still have my Festiva for my daily driver!!

[quote=michael11;3117623

While looking for some winter tires.....I ended up buying a 99 Legacy GT Wagon. lol I could have bought the winter tires for $400, or the whole car with tires for $800! .. Seemed like a no brainer.

on a lighter note,

"you may be a subaru fanatic if ..."

you go out to buy used tires and come back with a subaru.

when you do the timing belt you will want to do all of the components, belt, idlers, smooth and cogged, and water pump. if you engine hast the old style tensioner you don't need to replace it unless it is leaking or obviously bad, but the new style is all one piece and should be replaced. these parts may not be bad now, but the question is will they last another 170km.

i just did a swap on a 97 OBW with 142k miles (timing belt already done) and the cogged idler seized up, destroyed the passenger side intake cam sprocket and bent valves. i already had an engine so i just swapped it.

i get timing parts from "theimportexperts" on ebay. others like mizamoto or something like that. search for 'subaru timing kit'.

or swap any and all parts you like from the 99 to the 95. then replace the t-belt, any noisy idlers and water pump if leaking (this is what most dealers do) and SELL IT. (if you use ebay parts this really does not save you very much, but subaru charges $50+ each for the idlers.)

this way, you get what you want and maybe make a buck.

Is there a place that sells a timing belt kit? I bought a 98 GT wagon with no maintenance history. The serpentine belt looks really new but I can't get at the timing belt without removing stuff unless there is an inspection port somewhere I don't know about. As far as my head gaskets go, (176,000 miles now) when should I be worried? Does it give you any warning or does it just go? I don't leak a drop of anything nor do I even think about overheating.

On a side note, does anyone know if the dealership can look up service records? I think my car came from an auction (bought it at a shady used car lot) and wouldn't have been serviced here.

Just thought I'd reply back with a pic of the cars. I still haven't decided what to do with the engine.

just to confirm, A non interference 1995 ODB2 2.2 would be a straight swap?

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/2355/img12149697107.jpg

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Just thought I'd reply back with a pic of the cars. I still haven't decided what to do with the engine.

just to confirm, A non interference 1995 ODB2 2.2 would be a straight swap?

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yes a straight swap. there is a minor plumbing change with regards to the charcoal canister, they moved it to the rear of the car, and the power steering lines will miss a support bracket but neither will stop the swap.

you use the 2.5 AC bracket and the 2.5 flexplate, assuming it is an auto trans. everything else is the same. lots of info over on http://www.ultimatesubaru.org , do a search.

I don't have an answer to your question, but I just wanted to say I'm jealous of your driveway. I'd love to have those cars over my '05; one manual, one auto.

Thanks! Well actually they are both automatics... but hey I'd trade both of these for an 05...

yes a straight swap. there is a minor plumbing change with regards to the charcoal canister, they moved it to the rear of the car, and the power steering lines will miss a support bracket but neither will stop the swap.

 

you use the 2.5 AC bracket and the 2.5 flexplate, assuming it is an auto trans. everything else is the same. lots of info over on http://www.ultimatesubaru.org , do a search.

Thanks again for the info!! One more Subaru forum that I didn't know about... There sure are alot...

Yeah, I meant if I had my choice one would be manual one would be auto

You can't beat the way an older Legacy drives, its so much different from my 4th gen. don't get an '05!!

Yeah, I meant if I had my choice one would be manual one would be auto

 

You can't beat the way an older Legacy drives, its so much different from my 4th gen. don't get an '05!!

Wow.. I would have thought the 4th gen would be nicer! lol.. I bought my LSi wagon for my wife, but after driving it I had to get one for myself. It really does drive nice. Thats why I bought the LGT. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the engine....

yes a straight swap. there is a minor plumbing change with regards to the charcoal canister, they moved it to the rear of the car, and the power steering lines will miss a support bracket but neither will stop the swap.

 

you use the 2.5 AC bracket and the 2.5 flexplate, assuming it is an auto trans. everything else is the same. lots of info over on http://www.ultimatesubaru.org , do a search.

I just searched there... and a few other sites. The only problem I can see is that my 99 Legacy GT's might have 8 holes for mounting to the bellhousing, and the 95 might only have 4 ???

Does this sound right ?

Thanks

the 8 bolts came with the phase 2 trans , i think , which was in 99. but even so 4 will match 4 on yours. you just use the ones that work.

Thanks so much for the reply. I read somewhere that I might have a hard time mounting the starter. I may be only able to attach it with one bolt..?