98 Subaru repairs on the 2.5 L engine

I did all the stuff on the front of the engine and had one of the valve covers off. You don't need to pull the engine to do it. You will need to take out the fans, radiator, battery and air cleaner box.

Are you sure that you need to do the stuff in the back? Front oil leaks put oil *everywhere* and you might want to gunk and pressure-wash the engine first to see where the oil's coming from. Here's a link to my experience:

Depending on the mileage, service history and condition, you might want to consider changing the timing belt and tensioner while you have the front of the motor apart.

Be sure to Loctite the oil pump bolts. They have a nasty habit of backing out.

the crank seal. But I also changed the cam shaft seals (2) on my 2.2 '98 legacy. I used a Haynes manual. It is easy for a careful ammeter mechanic. Be careful not to scratch the shaft surface while digging out the old seal. You will need a compression tester to find TDC on #one cylinder. Especially if you replace the timing belt. Changing out the water pump is your call. I bought a kit with all the belt rollers but most were OK. Charlie

As far as the cam and crank seals, do I need any special tools to replace them or to remove the pulleys so that I can get to the seals? What tool(s) did you use to dig out the old seal and to install the new one?

Also, is the compression tester really needed? Can't you just line up the marks on the pulleys? That's what I did last time I changed the timing belt.

The last time you changed the belt, was it on the 2.5? That is an interference engine so you must use care not to move the cams with the belt off or you could damage valves and/or pistons.

I used a rubber strap wrench for mine, but I have the 2.2 single cam engine. The cam bolts were pretty easy to break loose for me. If you have dual-cams, Snap-On and MAC make a dual-cam locker to hold the cams in place while you change the belt. For digging out the old seals, I used a small flat blade screwdriver to work them loose and then I fished them out with a flat chisel. To install the new ones, I used a large socket and a small piece of PVC pipe the diameter of the seal to make sure I got them in evenly to avoid leaks.

I also did not use a compression tester, I just used the timing marks on the pulleys and timing cover.

The Subaru service manual is contradictory in this respect. Page 18 says never to move the camshafts after the belt is removed, but page 26 shows the safe and unsafe directions the left (driver's side) camshaft can be rotated.

In any case, the left side will give you fits because one of the cams will be pushing a valve in, causing the shaft to want to turn when the belt is off. There's no such problem on the right side.

Next time I'll break them loose before removing the timing belt.

I don't understand why a compression tester is needed either. Just follow the procedures and line up the marks.

I noticed on my 2.2 that one side seemed to want to stay right in place and the other side wanted to move about a 1/4 turn if I barely touched it.

Just a late follow up....

I got the job accomplished. Lining everything up w/ the marks on the belt cover, etc worked out great. I believe the oil leaks are history.....for now. Hopefully these seals will last another 100K miles when I have to replace the Timing belt again.

It's been about 5 months since the repair mentioned above, and the car has started idling roughly. The check engine light has come on w/ misfire codes for Cyl #2 and #4. It's been working fine all along until just now. I replaced the coil, plugs, and plug wires, so I don't know what else could be wrong.

Any ideas?