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What started as an oil change on Laura's car became a spark plug replacement. Turns out all the oil seals are blown and the plug wells are full of oil. Since the car is due for a TB in ~8k miles I figure I might as well get it all done at the same time.

The valve cover gasket/spark plug well seal job seems fairly straight forward. Is there any specific brand that is garbage? Otherwise I'll just pick up whatever is on Rock Auto, ships from the same warehouse as the other stuff and is cheap.

Timing belt doesn't look too hard either. I'll be replacing the parts that this kit has. http://www.rockauto.com/info/Gates/TCKW ... _KIT_A.JPG Is there anything else I should be doing while I'm in there? I figure I'll replace the belts since it's silly not to. Any other non-obvious gotchas in the job? It seems pretty straight forward and the crank/cams/belt all appear to be marked.

I'd do the plug wires too, as well as the accessory belt and idler. I used the same timing kit - not a bad job at all. I like Felpro for the valve cover gaskets. Check the o-ring on the PS return line at the reservoir - they are prone to leak. Check the cam seals when you get the timing cover off - they are usually ok - I think I have a set if you need them.

Good luck,
Cash

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67 Firebird - Don't you still own your 1st car?
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Thanks Cash. The plug wires are the reason I'm doing this. Looks like oil wicked up into the boots and caused the wires to stick to the tips of the plugs. On 3 of the 4 plugs I had to go back into the hole with some pliers to pull off the clip on the end of the plug wires.

Got things mostly apart at this point. Looks like I have to undo the engine mounts and lift the motor up a bit to get the covers to clear the frame rail. Silly flat 4.

if you're still on the original head gaskets, poke around under the car and look very closely at the head-to-block mating seam. if its damp, you might be looking at replacing them. they tend to fail around t-belt time.

subaru claims the HG ordeal isn't a problem in recent years, but my '05 2.5RS had to get them replaced at 88k miles. i just had them do the t-belt at the same time. you may also want to do it yourself, its pretty easy. don't forget to have them replace the idler pulleys while they're in there. not every kit includes them.

i've done my valve cover gaskets and plug gaskets (the VC gaskets were fine, just my plugs were oily) and got the Felpro kit from rock auto. no problems yet, did them at 75k miles and i'm at 112k now. one tip i'd recommend is washing off the top side of the valve cover and heads where they meet. If not, you run the risk of dirt and grunge dropping over the edge of the seam and into the valvetrain when you pop the valve cover off.

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'05 2.5RS // DD rumble-beater and rally-X dirt slinger
'03 Xterra SE 4x4 // ponderous utility pig