Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

EJ-22 problem. Valve train, belt or spring?


Recommended Posts

I was driving my wife's 1990 Legacy yesturday with a blatant disregard for traffic law and wellbeing of automibile. I was using the gas pedal like a tiggle swich, rather than a variable control device. Anyway, the car has 175k on the ticker, we got it at 160k and I have never changed the timing belts.

 

It developed a pretty heavy duty ticking at 3000 rpm and above. It sounds like valve train to me, I can't tell if it's coming from the left or right bank, maybe center. I only messed with it for a few minutes. The car still has good power but pulses between 500-800 rpm at idle. It doesn't seem to be a head gasket because it is RPM related and not compression related. I'm thinking it must be timing belt slipped one tooth and the valves are contacting pistons when the lifters pump up and open the valve all the way. I'm glad the valves are horizontal so maybe there won't be any bent valves, fingers crossed...

 

Looks like I'll be pulling the timing covers off today to see if everything is lined up. My question is, assuming the noise is a valve smacking a piston due to belt slippage and valves are bent, what is the easiest way to replace a head on this thing? Should I pull the engine or can it be done properly with the engine in the car? Maybe unbolt an engine mount and lift that one side up?

 

I'm thinking that it could also be a broken spring, but I'm leaning more to timing belt because the noise is pretty constant whereas a broken sping is a vey erratic sound that I would also hear at idle.

 

Any and all feedback is greatly appriciated!

 

Chuck- Portland, OR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have a non interference engine, so no chances of valves contacting the pistons.

As for the nature of the noise, I'm afraid I cannot help you there.

Others will certainly volunteers other ideas.

Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it's RPM related then I'm going to say lifters.

 

What kind of oil do you use? Do you have enough oil? Also consider that the engine does have 175k, and that if the timing belt has not been changed recently that the oil pump seals could be old and allowing air to enter the oil and exacerbate the valve tapping.

 

And frag is right, the EJ22 is not an interference engine, so don't concern yourself with that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you're golden, no valve or piston issues to worry about on this motor.

 

change your oil and filter and that may help.

 

reseal your oil pump. (one gasket and one seal) that's generally the first step. if it doesn't fix it, that's okay it needs to be done anyway.

 

if the tapping is from one cylinder, then one of the HLA's (lifters) at that cylinder has issues. if the tapping moves or changes sides of the motor it's likely oil pump related. HLA's can graduallly be cleaned over time if you're willing to add some MMO or ATF to the oil, do some oil changes and give it some time. SEAFOAM is also a highly touted product but i've never used it before so i'll let someone else talk about that. very good results have been posted using it as well. i use ATF (and MMO on ocassion) to clean out used subaru motors (HLA's particularly) when i first get them. run a quart of ATF or MMO in with your oil for awhile and gradually it may clean them and free them up. it is possible that they are seized to the point they need to be replaced. you can also pull the HLA's and disassemble them, clean them and reassemble them. i've had a couple that i couldn't pull apart to clean one time, so i replaced them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I changed the oil after running a qt of ATF in it and draining it out. The engine was way low on oil, didn't register on the dipstick even after the qt of ATF! I'm fearing that I lost a bearing. I was doing some serious sliding around the corners at full throttle right before this happened.

 

It's still tapping, sounds very metallic but not sheet-metalish. With a screwdriver handle in my ear I can hear the most noise on the driver side.

 

This problem happened all of a sudden so I'm leaning away from the oil pump, but I'm not leaving it out of the equasion just yet.

 

Next is a compression test and possibly a JY engine. I'm getting an EJ-22 for my Baja bug soon anyway...

 

Thanks for the replys, I'll be checking this all day so keep em' comming! Thanks!

-Chuck- Portland, OR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...