New member curious about head gasket issues

[MC Hammered]

I thought there is no torque bind on a manual transmission car, that issue is for automatics only.

I'm looking for a nice winter beater and daily driver as I complete my BMW project, and I was thinking about a Subaru.

Funny you state this as I was in exactly the same search a couple a month ago.

The only wagons I found with the EJ22 were Brightons and the base trim level sucked, the odd Legacy surfaced but it was not well maintained.

Lots of EJ25 Legacys and Outbacks and I was about to give up and just buy a well maintained, one owner Legacy GT when a well maintained 1996 5speed Outback popped up and I bought it right away.

My suggestion is to wait for one as they do exist, or find a Legacy GT wagon with an EJ22. Easiest way to see what the engine type is, is to look at the metal plate under the hood. It will have EJ22 or EJ25 stamped on it with a bunch of other letters and numbers.

[1 Lucky Texan]

plenty of people have had the center viscous locking diff go bad. It does seem to be more robust than the clutchpack in the autos.

[MC Hammered]

Thanks for that information and I will keep it in mind if the symptom ever surfaces.

[Joester]

I went and checked out the car last night. Turns out the dealer had 2 outbacks! (well, one of them was just a legacy wagon but i forgot which one)

anyways, they had the green 1997 5spd with the 2.5L that i didnt even look at

They also had a red 1996 2.2l wagon with 212k miles. I drove it and it seemed to drive fine, but it had a blown CV boot, suspension was about 150k miles overdue, and the rear diff was leaking as well as something up front, so I'm going to pass it up. They were only asking $1500 for each though, so it wasn't really a BAD deal per say, but id rather spend a tiny bit more and have a nicer car.

Thanks once again for everyone's advice!