Vinnyvango

The PCV valve was not in the vacuum path. On my 03 the valve itself is on the crankcase, not the plenum. So the oscillation still bothers me. Where should I connect the vacuum gauge? And no, I did not adjust the other timing belt. The Passenger's side timing mark is directly in line with the seam in the head (no rear timing cover notch). Thanks!

O.K. I tried it. Seat of the pants, maybe a little better. But not fixed:(. It seems to have more compression. After a few minutes of running the timing mark on the driver's side cam was a little closer to vertical, but tilted outboard. (I guess it's either inboard or outboard a little) Tooth count on that side is now 44.5. According to SWMBO there is no change. I feel like it's a little beter. I plugged the vacuum gauge into the brake booster again. A little higher at 20-21 but oscillating still. I then tried the PCV hose. The same range but oscillating very rapidly. What could that mean? My buddy has a 02 OBW so I'm gonna give his O2 sensor a try later in the week. I welcome any input. Thanks!

So the timing marks should all point up regardless of the tooth count? Thanks

Leak down test done. I did the passenger side first and it was as tight as a drum. I got a little leakage on the drivers side cylinders, but still below 5%. I'm guessing this was because the engine had cooled by the time I got to them. But the timing mark on the driver's side cam sprocket was tilted inboard. So I pulled the timing belt to be sure. The timing marks on the Subaru belt were already gone. So I marked the position of the crank timing mark on the belt with a sharpie and pulled the belt. I did the tooth count thing umpteen times. I even compared my sharpie marks with the non-stock belt that came with my idler kit. Installed the belt, pulled the tensioner pin and guess what. The timing mark on the sprocket shifted inboard again. But the tooth count is the same. SO I've lost all confidence at this point. Do I trust the tooth count? AND tooth count is actually valley count on the belt, correct? AND the number of valleys on the belt is 47 and 43.5 correct? Thanks. I'm hoping I don't look like George Costanza by the time this is over.

I've had this car for less than 6 months, but there's still a lot of history. I'll try to be brief (otherwise nobody will read all of it:-). 2003OBW 76K miles bought from a used dealer. It had a very slight miss at idle and some intake noise. I found the air cleaner housing was not installed right and had non-stock plug wires. So I bought it. It seemed like the mysterious rough idle, slide it into neutral problem. ........Then it overheated. Shop replaced the radiator and thermostat. Ran fine but I kept chasing the rough idle. New NGK plugs, stock plug wires, seafoam treatment, cleaning IAC did nothing to help. I even reset the valves. No improvement.......Then came the bubbles in the coolant overflow tank........Well, at least I've found a problem I can fix. With the help of BlutoE I pulled the engine to replace the head gaskets. I used Subaru gaskets and timing belt and an Ebay idler kit with water pump. Took the heads to a shop for milling. ALL EXHAUST and half Intake valves leaking. 3-angle valve job and $400 the heads are done. I realized while installing the first head that the head bolts were mixed up (some hack has been into this thing before and mixed the bolts:mad:). There was some confusion over the tooth count on the TB. FSM says 44 and 40.5 (I think). Mine wasn't even close. I ended up at 47 and 43.5. The mark on the TB didn't quite line up on the driver's side. But, after pulling the pin on the tensioner all timing marks were straight up. I set the valves myself. Again, FSM was wrong. The sticker under the hood indicated 0.10" intake and 0.15" exhaust. Engine in and fires right up. But it still has the rough idle. But this time, putting the trans in neutral helps, but it's even worse than before the HG. I hooked up the vacuum gauge at the brake booster and I get a rapid oscillation between 19-20 inHG at idle. When revved it jumps up like it should but the 1 inHG oscillation is still there. No CEL or pending codes. So, here I am. It seems to run fine above idle. Gets decent gas mileage. No oil use. I'm stumped. I'm having a hard time believing I screwed up the TB or setting the valves. The wife doesn't seem to mind, but after this much work, it should run like a sewing machine. Thank for all the help!

Just a wrap up for the archives; it was seated. I felt pretty sure it was as the starter teeth just cleared the bellhousing. As Bobaru suggested, I measured with a machinists scale. There was about 0.15 to spare. Now I get to start another thread about the rough idle/miss:mad:. Thanks!

I tried again to seat the torque converter further. No joy. I did get another pic. Hopefully this one is better. I marked the TC mating surface with a sharpie even with the front of the bell housing. Does it look seated now? [url=http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=652677/url] http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=652677 Thanks again! Shawn 84/90 Westy/Soob 03 OBW with blown headgaskets:mad:

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I'm a little confused. I've looked carefully at the pictures here: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=81925&highlight=TORQUECONVERTER It's difficult to tell because of the mounting "ears". On my 03 the mounting surface for the flex plate is a continuous ring, not tabs or "ears". That's what I was trying to show in the picture. The front face of mounting ring is right at 0.20" from the face of the bellhousing. I'll fiddle with it some more when I get home tonite and at least try to get a better picture. Thanks!

Hello folks: I'm fairly new the the Subaru cars, though I've been running an EJ22 in my Vanagon for over 9 years. Based on that experience I bought the wife a 2003 OBW with only 76K miles. Less than 6 months and 2k miles later I'm doing the head gaskets:mad:. While pulling the engine I did everything possible to leave the torque converter in place including my best "STAY" command. It didn't work. I read the thread by mnwolftrack. I tried for an hour and just couldn't get the last detent. SO I used a wire to hook the spring clip on the shaft that connects to the TC. I manually connected them and slid them into place. Within half a rotation I felt a clunk and the TC slid in 1/4"-1/2" further than I could previously get it. The face of the TC is now less than 1/4" from the bellhousing face (See photo below). So, is it fully seated? http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=652569 Thanks. Shawn 84/90 Westy/Soob

I just stumbled into my old post and thought I had updated the thread. Anyway, after throwing parts at it for almost a year I finally figured it out. The hydraulic tensioner bolts came loose. Every time I hit the throttle the timing on one bank would get out of time. Since there was only one cam sensor the computer could not adjust. So take warning. The tensioner bolt torque spec (20lbs IIRC) is not enough. AND USE LOCTITE! I'm blaming it on not replacing the timing belt idlers. But who knows. Good Luck.

Another update and Uh-Oh. I replaced the air flow sensor with one from the junkyard. Same thing. Miss throughout driving range. Disconnected the battery cable overnite. Added some Iso-heat water remover. And drove about 15 miles. Seems better but still not good. Still misses at idle and has a miss under load below 3000 rpm. On another note. I've been reading alot. Too late. I've commited a cardinal sin. I fussed with the throttle stop screw and used a carb cleaner on the throttle body. Of course the idle is too high (1500+). I've also tried to reset the throttle position sensor. AND to top it off, my mother hit a deer with my other vehicle so I need my bus back ASAP. Junk yards here are asking $100 for a throttle body. But I don't think that's the source of my problems. I can live with a high idle until I can find one at a reasonable price. I am worried about the miss. Any further suggestions?

You might wanna check out the Yahoo Subaruvanagon list archives as this has been discussed several times. Most seem to be happy with the increased HP of the EJ22. But lately the issues with OBDII seem to have been worked out (and the EJ22 is getting long in the tooth) so there have recently been several 2.5 Phase II's. IF I had a Syncro I'd go all the way; EG33. Yeah! As for the skid plates, I don't remember where I saw them but they are commercially available I believe. I know that smallcar.com has an engine carrier with a skid plate, but I think that H&R motors has a sling type that protects the tranny too. The Yahoo Sycro group would know. Good luck finding a syncro/westy. They were only made for like 4 years and the late models fetch a nice price.

More info. Disconnected the battery overnite. Checked the engine ground, cleaned up the throttle body, checked again for vacuum leaks. Then drove around the block for a few minutes. Still have a miss at idle and under load. I even set up the BC/BF scan tool to read from the Subaru Select Monitor. Nothing really out of whack except for a wildly fluctuating AFM voltage. Checked the codes: 16: I disconnected it momentarily to check for a miss. 35: Purge Control; I've always gotten that one. So what's the next move here? AFM or am I looking at a compression test? Thanks for any suggestions.

Is there any way to check the AFM?

Shawn: I don't have a CEL. (No smog requirements here). I use the LED on the ECU to check the codes. Is this giving me test mode codes or read mode codes? Thanks. Update. Cleaned the throttle body (dirty) and tried to adjust the idle with the IAC. Still missing. At warm idle the o2 sensor was reading .7-.82V . Also sprayed carb cleaner around the intake/head interface. No change in idle. Varified fuel pressure readings (o.k.).