nighthawk2006 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Well after finding a great loyale (so i thought) im on the hunt for another old subie. I had the car inspected and it got a clean bill of health. But early on Friday morning around 6:10 in the morning the car just shut off and left me stranded. After paying a tow truck and a local garage some $ they diagnosed the car with ring land failure. Definitely a bummer! Maybe i should have done a compression test? Any ways im back on the hunt. Now im looking back into the first gen legacies. Looking more into the legacy turbos as i don't want to deal with hounding people if they have a receipt for the clutch being replaces. How do all of you like your legacy turbos? Any major issues? Some are for sale on craigs list where i live and have relatively low miles. Definitely considering it. Thanks to everyone in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naked Buell Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 I love them. I had a 2.2T legacy and have been in love ever since. As a matter of fact, found another one that had been in the family of the people I bought it from and have transferred it into my Brat. Bought the whole car for $500 and the transmission was gone. Automatic, but I didn't care because I was going manual. I drove the car onto the trailer. It had 170,000 miles but I rebuilt it anyway. They are great strong motors and I really like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nighthawk2006 Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 I love them. I had a 2.2T legacy and have been in love ever since. As a matter of fact, found another one that had been in the family of the people I bought it from and have transferred it into my Brat. Bought the whole car for $500 and the transmission was gone. Automatic, but I didn't care because I was going manual. I drove the car onto the trailer. It had 170,000 miles but I rebuilt it anyway. They are great strong motors and I really like them. Thats great to know. Are the transmissions on the autos suspect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 They were good cars but really too old and too difficult to find parts for. Too specialized. Stick to the non turbo models. The 92 through 98 models are your best bet. 95 and 96 being the best years as they are OBD-II and still relatively simple. Stick with the 2.2 engine. Automatics are more reliable and cheaper to maintain than the manual. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Ring land failure on a SPFI EA82 in a Loyale? I find that highly unlikely. It also woudn't just shut off. More likely a timing belt broke or the screw holding the rotor inside the distributor fell out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nighthawk2006 Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 Ring land failure on a SPFI EA82 in a Loyale? I find that highly unlikely. It also woudn't just shut off. More likely a timing belt broke or the screw holding the rotor inside the distributor fell out. So when the car broke down and i tried to start it back up, it would turn on but the revs would drop right away and shut off. After further investigation i looking in the air box and saw the filter was saturated in oil. So when i get it towed to the mechanic they told me the MAF was covered in oil, and thats why the car shut off. But they eluded to the fact that it was most likely ring land failure and i would need a new engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) They don't have a clue. A stuck pcv or over filled oil could do same thing. That's an " I can't be bothered to work on that " diagnosis Edited February 13, 2017 by matt167 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nighthawk2006 Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 They don't have a clue. A stuck pcv or over filled oil could do same thing. That's an " I can't be bothered to work on that " diagnosis Really? I had researched a bit and heard about the pcv. I did get an oil change and put engine treatment in it after too. Maybe i filled it up to much? Also is the pcv hard to get check for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 (edited) He's right - ring land failure is not an EA82 failure mode. That's the realm of EJ255's and EJ257's (WRX, STi, etc) If oil got all the way into the airbox..... well I would say something is dreadfully wrong somewhere. Start with the crankcase breather hoses and PCV, etc. I agree the shop didn't want to work on it or just have no clue what they are doing (more likely). At my shop we occasionally work on EA81's and EA82's but only because we all owned them back in the day so we have the knowledge and tools. Most shops just see an old car and a customer that likely has no money to fix it. Not to say that all EA owners are like that but shops will judge it that way due to it's age and perceived (lack of) value in general. This is really the kind of car you should learn to work on yourself. That's what things like this forum are for. Don't buy into the learned helplessness of your peers. GD Edited February 13, 2017 by GeneralDisorder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nighthawk2006 Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 He's right - ring land failure is not an EA82 failure mode. That's the realm of EJ255's and EJ257's (WRX, STi, etc) If oil got all the way into the airbox..... well I would say something is dreadfully wrong somewhere. Start with the crankcase breather hoses and PCV, etc. I agree the shop didn't want to work on it or just have no clue what they are doing (more likely). At my shop we occasionally work on EA81's and EA82's but only because we all owned them back in the day so we have the knowledge and tools. Most shops just see an old car and a customer that likely has no money to fix it. Not to say that all EA owners are like that but shops will judge it that way due to it's age and perceived (lack of) value in general. This is really the kind of car you should learn to work on yourself. That's what things like this forum are for. Don't buy into the learned helplessness of your peers. GD You are awesome. Also Matt 167 you are awesome too. I decided to make a appointment to get a second opinion at a subaru specialty shop. I would love it if i could keep this car going for years to come! Also is the PCV valve hard to change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 The pcv valve is right on the intake manifold. I can't tell you exactly where as I don't have a lot of experience with the spfi ea82. I recall something from many many years ago about a tsb from Subaru for the routing of the pcv lines on certain years of the ea82. My dad had one 20 some odd years ago that would randomly spout oil back into the intake system and cause the car to stumble and die if you didn't keep going. We were told about the pcv valve/routing issue by an ex Subaru tech who had opened his own shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 The pcv valve is on the back of the intake manifold about under the throttle body. You definitely need another diagnosis. I've been driving and maintaining ea82 spfi wagons since 1988. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nighthawk2006 Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 The pcv valve is on the back of the intake manifold about under the throttle body. You definitely need another diagnosis. I've been driving and maintaining ea82 spfi wagons since 1988. So this sounds like it's not a pvc valve to you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86BRATMAN Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 It doesn't sound like ringland failure. I've never actually seen a non turbo engine crack ringlands. I would look into the pcv system, especially having experienced a similar issue with an ea82 car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 So when the car broke down and i tried to start it back up, it would turn on but the revs would drop right away and shut off. After further investigation i looking in the air box and saw the filter was saturated in oil. So when i get it towed to the mechanic they told me the MAF was covered in oil, and thats why the car shut off. But they eluded to the fact that it was most likely ring land failure and i would need a new engine. Take the oil soaked filter out, unplug the MAF sensor wiring connector, check the oil level on the dipstick to make sure it's not above the full mark, and fire it up. Should run well enough you can drive it to a shop that's willing to actually diagnose what's going on with the PCV system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Take it out to Shawn at RetroRoo http://retroroo.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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