Looking at 94 Sport Sedan. tips?

Just wondering if it is a good deal. 1994 Subaru Legacy Sport Sedan. EJ22T. Automatic. Its red. paint is faded but little rust if any. 180,000 miles. Owner is asking $2065. Is this a good deal? What should i pay? Anything i should check closely? Thanks ahead of time.

Matt-

Be warned, these old turbo leggys are not for the faint of heart. Be prepared to work out a lot of bugs. $2065 isn't that bad of a deal. It all depends on if you think it is worth it.

Don't get me wrong, I love the old tleggys. The 22T is pretty bulletproof.

Here is my experience with my '93 SS that I bought for $2300. It had 160k, 4EAT, a new timing belt, pulleys, etc. New brake pads and rotors, and pretty new tires. I figured it was a pretty good deal and I was dying to have an SS. My buddy eekay found it out in Colorado where he lives and checked it out, test drove it, and bought it for me. A friend of mine gets free plane tickets and she offered to fly to Denver and drive it back to SLC for me. She drove it about 70 miles and the head gaskets failed. Luckily she had a friend in Denver that had a large trailer and he hauled it out to SLC.

Long story short, I decked the heads, replaced the HGs, and every single other seal/gasket I could get my hands on while the engine was out. New timing belt, pulleys, tensioner, etc. Put the engine back in and it ran like crap. It was slow as hell. So I replaced all the pcv lines, the cracked turbo inlet elbow (notorious for breaking, no longer produced by Subaru), cracked air intake into the throttle body, all of the vacuum lines, most of the coolant lines. It started to run a little better, but I would still get this horrible boost leak/misfire upon hard acceleration, and sometimes under light acceleration.

Recently it wouldn't accelerate. So I replaced the fuel filter, and installed a Walbro 255 fuel pump. Better. Problem was still there. Checked the injectors and all four were out of spec. Replaced all of them. Still better, but misfire still there. Checked the coil pack and it was out of specs. Replaced it with a Diamond coil pack from a 5MT. Better, but problem was still there. Upper radiator hose blew apart and the engine overheated. Replaced the last of the original coolant lines and thanked my lucky stars the engine wasn't toast (wife was driving it when it happened). Installed a boost gauge. Grounded pin #4 of the tcu to a rocker switch so I can access "Power" mode (which is awesome BTW, a must do for anyone w/4EAT )

So I built a boost leak detector and pressurized the system yesterday and I finally found the major boost leak that has been causing all my problems. The turbo inlet gasket cover was on finger tight! I tightened it up and the car is finally running like a SS should, almost. I can get up to the stock 8.7 psi of boost now. I still get the boost leak, but hopefully that will be fixed once and for all. The gasket is toast so I ordered a new one, should be here Friday.

Now you may not have any of the problems that I ran into and be just fine. But the head gaskets on the 22Ts are prone to failure (leak internally), all of the coolant lines, pcv hoses, vacuum lines, air intake are old and brittle as **** and hard to find replacements for.

All that being said, now that my SS is almost back to it's former glory I couldn't be happier. It is a pretty fun car and pretty damn fast. But it has been way more work than I ever imagined and cost me thousands of dollars that I wasn't expecting to dump into it, and that is with me doing ALL of the work myself. I could have bought a WRX with all the money I have put into the SS (but the SS is cooler, ha ha) However, I have learned a ton about Subaru engine mechanics and am confident that I can fix just about any mechanical issue.

Holy long winded post!

Thanks for all the info. Didnt get to look at it today because of weather but here are some pics.

http://images.craigslist.org/3Ge3m03Jb5Nb5H95Mdccee5adff2b44a91e08.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/3n13Ia3ma5N95Ha5R2cce4e4509eef6e11cdb.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/3k53G53J15K35S25Jecce711a037e500d1946.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/3k03Na3H65Gc5F35J1cce39857588835e12f5.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/3Ed3K23Fb5N25G35Fccce51e2814f9d0e10b7.jpg

Looks like it needs a good cleaning. Only thing that concerns me is the slight body damage and missing steering column cover.

A new kick panel is easily found at a junkyard. Any 90-94 Legacy panel will fit. It's an old car so body damage is common. What are your plans/expectations the car? I plan on painting my SS and make it look new so a little body work doesn't scare me.

If it is running fine it should be a fun car. Good luck.

A new kick panel is easily found at a junkyard. Any 90-94 Legacy panel will fit. It's an old car so body damage is common. What are your plans/expectations the car? I plan on painting my SS and make it look new so a little body work doesn't scare me.

 

If it is running fine it should be a fun car. Good luck.

Im ok with body damage. Didnt say my concerns were big ones =p. My short term plans are to give it a tune up, clean it out really good, put new tires and have it aligned. Get it ready for daily driving duties. Long term i will find all the missing parts like the steering column cover and the engine cover piece. Get it repainted and thats really about it. Just keep up on maintenance. Might do the timing belt and water pump soon as well. My H22 Accord snapped a belt and i dont want to go thru that again haha.

The 22Ts are non interference so if your timing belt snaps there won't be any internal engine damage.

There is also a really easy "Power" mode mod that you can do to get the 4EAT to hold the gears longer and drive sportier. You just ground pin #4 of the TCU. I just did it and it is super cool. I'll do a write up on how to do it soon. I'd love to swap in a 5MT but I gave the SS to my wife and she likes the auto.

The 22Ts are non interference so if your timing belt snaps there won't be any internal engine damage.

 

There is also a really easy "Power" mode mod that you can do to get the 4EAT to hold the gears longer and drive sportier. You just ground pin #4 of the TCU. I just did it and it is super cool. I'll do a write up on how to do it soon. I'd love to swap in a 5MT but I gave the SS to my wife and she likes the auto.

Oh, well thats good. Ill still pull the cover off and see how it looks. Id still rather fix it then having it towed back to my house.

Theres alot i could do to this car. Ill do a remote start and a turbo timer. but mostly im just gunna drive it daily.

edit. Im also afraid the turbo will be shot. Im not familiar with turbo cars as this will be my first one (and im just 19 and an amateur home mechanic wannabe). But i know enough that if you put the wrong oil in or dont let your car cool down at idle before shutting it off you can damage it. How would i know if the turbo is bad? would it just be dog slow or noticeable? Im going to look at it this saturday. Anyone else want to add to things i should take a close look at?

Oh, I would still replace the timing belt as soon as you can. I'm just saying it won't destroy your engine if it breaks. When you replace the timing belt also replace all of the pulleys, idlers, hydraulic tensioner, and the water pump. Also while everything is off replace the cam seals, the crank seals, reseal your oil pump and tighten the screws on the backside, and replace your camshaft support o-rings. There is one on the driver's side, and two on the passenger side.

The turbo is most likely fine. The VF-11s are pretty long lasting. You can check for shaft play but that necessitates removing it (which I would avoid at this point as everything is so brittle and you don't want to crack anything). If the car is dog slow and you can't hear the turbo spooling up then there is probably a boost leak. No need to install a turbo timer. If anything install a boost gauge so you know how much boost you are getting.

Also, the moonroofs on these old leggys almost always leak. Mine does. I'll fix it when it warms up a bit.

Went and looked at it today. Looks alot better than i thought. Tad bit of rust on driver fender and passenger rocker. Needs new tires but other than paint and body problems the car is mechanically fantastic. Turbo spools up and its pretty quick. about due on oil change and the oil is still clear. and there is coolant in the overflow tank so im guessing there is no headgasket problems.

Going to pick it up for 1600 later this month.

Thank you for your help. Looks like you guys have a new forum member.

You should take your questions about said vehicle to LCO, the best and most knowledgeable forum for the first gen Legacies.

bbs.legacycentral.org

I think you'll find a few concurrent members. 8-)