How do I know which engine I have?

[Sheldon]

I have a '97 Outback with an automatic transmission. How do I know whether
I have the 2.5 engine?

 

[johninKY]

You have the 2.5. Easy enough to verify. Look around the alternator an
you should find EJ2.5 casted into the engine block

 

[Sheldon]

You have the 2.5. Easy enough to verify. Look around the alternator and
you should find EJ2.5 casted into the engine block.

--

Thanks. I'll check that out.

 

[Richard]

I have a 99 Outback Sport. It say EJ2.2. I assume that means I have the 2.2
liter engine. Thanks for the information.

 

[Catherine Jefferson]

I have a 99 Outback Sport. It say EJ2.2. I assume that means I have the 2.2
liter engine. Thanks for the information.

You're lucky. I used to own a 1998 Outback Sport that had this
engine, owned it for seven years and drove it over 130,000 miles before
someone ran into it while my husband was driving it, and totalled the
car. (It was at around 165,000 miles at the time.) My insurance company
gave me a nice settlement largely because the engine was both undamaged
in the accident and was in such superb shape.

The adjuster told me the engine appeared much newer to her, and asked me
if I'd ever had the gaskets replaced or other major engine work done. I
hadn't; just done regular oil changes and tune-ups.

I also drove that car hard. Although it looked like a slightly sporty
Japanese hatchback, it had the superb Subaru AWD, a beefed-up
suspension, and was designed to handle off-road conditions as well as
roads. It had been all over the back roads in the central Sierras,
Coastal range, and Transverse ranges in California, and much of the
Mojave and Colorado deserts as well.

I now have a '99 Forester, also a good car. But that 1998 Outback Sport
accelerated better (although the engine was smaller), and could handle
off-road conditions almost as bad as the Forester can. It was the best
car I'd ever owned.