Advice needed on possible Legacy purchase

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Ok guys, I'm here from thesamba where I've been planning my Vanagon conversion and I think I may have found my donor car but I'm hoping some that are more knowledgeable on this motor can chime in. It's a 1999 EJ22 Legacy Sedan, 120K on the clock, conveniently located around the corner from my mother's house. It's unregistered but drivable, and my mom has ok'd pulling the motor in her driveway, hopefully wont take more than a month going slowly on weekends (been pretty busy with the new public school job).

 

Here were my observations checking it out to the best of my ability:

 

-Took it for a drive, motor pulled hard, but there's a whistling sound at higher rev. Reading on one of the Subaru forums it sounds like it could be an exhaust leak, vac leak, or a pulley issue.

-Got to running temperature REALLY quickly, but didn't overheat and in fact stayed slightly below the middle mark.

-Coolant res was empty upon returning from the drive so I couldn't check for bubbles (head gasket).

-There's a good amount of coolant puddling under the passenger's side intake. I've read this could be as simple as a gasket for a flange.

-Saw 3 drops of oil on the ground after the drive as well. There are definitely oil leaks here and there.

-CEL is on but I didn't bring my OBDii scanner so I wasn't able to pull the codes, was told it was emissions related.

-Dipstick looked ok, under oil cap was ok too. Loosened the oil cap to see if it would "dance" (youtube buyer's guide suggestion for these cars) and it did. Does that really indicate blow by/compression issues?

-Seller mentioned that the AC pulley and belt were removed but the compressor is ok?

 

Seller was asking $800 a couple of weeks ago but ad is down now and nobody has bitten. He says a kid had showed some interest in it as a pizza delivery car but he didn't feel comfortable selling it to him with the ball joint issues? I dunno about that story. He likes the idea that I'm only using the motor though.

 

He is flexible on price and he had listed the timing belt job done within the last year but with no paperwork to show for it. I offered $350 last night, haven't heard back.

 

I think no matter what, I'm redoing the belt job myself, doing all the gaskets etc. Is $350-400 too little to offer? Does anyone see any red flags in the description of the problems I found that I'm missing? Cracked head (whistle)? Compression problems (oil cap dance)?

 

Thanks folks!

[RustyRuu]

it's not unreasonably low, I would maybe pay 500 for it if you really wanted it.

 

whistle is probably vac leak

 

i don't know what this oil cap dance is but you can take it completely off, see if it changes idle or if anything comes steaming or smoking out. blow by.

 

before its warm take the coolant cap completely off as well and give it a start. the coolant shouldn't shoot out if it does its a head gasket.

 

you can compression test it for complete confidence in your purchase, its usually a free tool rental at most major chain auto stores.

 

i have 96' EJ22 with harnesses and ecu, in the corner of my garage, for a future swap into a Syncro, if i can still find one. I wish subaru still made a low range gear box options, those swaps are cool good luck with yours.

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it's not unreasonably low, I would maybe pay 500 for it if you really wanted it.

 

whistle is probably vac leak

 

i don't know what this oil cap dance is but you can take it completely off, see if it changes idle or if anything comes steaming or smoking out. blow by.

 

before its warm take the coolant cap completely off as well and give it a start. the coolant shouldn't shoot out if it does its a head gasket.

 

you can compression test it for complete confidence in your purchase, its usually a free tool rental at most major chain auto stores.

 

i have 96' EJ22 with harnesses and ecu, in the corner of my garage, for a future swap into a Syncro, if i can still find one. I wish subaru still made a low range gear box options, those swaps are cool good luck with yours.

 

Thanks! He ended up accepting the $350 for it.

 

If anyone knows of a good write-up on removing the motor and tranny please link me with it. I've found a good video for 2.5, is it pretty much the same process?

 

I've heard these are easy cars to work on (I'm a VW guy), but my one time doing so (helping/guiding my brother) on an Impreza, the simple act of replacing an oil pressure switch resulted in needing a replacement head on that side (slight over-torque split it) . I pretty much said I wouldn't touch or help anyone with a Subaru again, but here I am-haha.

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Only thing is, I'm a little disappointed in myself for not catching this but there's an odometer discrepancy listed on the title. At the price I paid I suppose it doesn't matter too much if the motor is good, which it seems to be, and even if it's not at, $350 it's a start. The seller didn't seem shady and the discrepancy was reported before him by his wife's uncle I believe. I'm hoping the numbers were not too far off but there's no way to know really, could have been a 175K Legacy that swapped in a 122K used cluster.

 

MA title in the uncle's name lists 96,572 as actual mileage in 2015 when he took ownership. Previous state was VT. No mention anywhere of odometer discrepancy but that probably would have been on the previous title from the seller if it happened prior.

 

Title transfer on the back to niece's husband lists the discrepancy and mileage at 113,498 in 2016.

 

I'm hoping the odometer issues emerged while the car was with the uncle because then it can't be too far off. I wonder if there's a way to contact VT dmv and see if the old title number could provide a record.