CIS Subaru

I figured out it was those injectors by going around the engine unplugging one injector at a time. When I unplugged those two, absolutely nothing changed. After looking at the fuel line routing, I think I know what happened. #2 and #4 are nearest the fuel inlet, while #1 and #3 are nearest the return line. I think the pressure regulator helped protect the injectors on the return line end, but the inlet pipe was left unplugged and must've allowed the injectors on that end to seize up. I'll eventually get those injectors professionally cleaned and/or rebuilt. I'd be willing to bet that that's all they need. For now, I'm not going to worry about the crankshaft endplay. I've found other threads talking about "crankshaft creep" in these engines being somewhat normal, and my engine seems to be running fine now that the injector issue has been resolved.

Problem Solved!! It was the injectors. #2 and #4 weren't firing. I replaced all 4 with the injectors from the 2.5L, and now it's running great.

My first thought was the plug wires because I was using some old wires I had lying around. I bought new wires, and triple checked that none were crossed. Then I thought maybe it was the injectors since the fuel lines were not plugged when the engine was stored. This still may be the case, though that crankshaft "endplay" issue really has me worried. I did not actually measure it, I just pushed and pulled on the crank pulley while I watched/felt it moving (with and without flywheel). It probably was a little under 1/8", but I've never had any other engine do that at all. After looking at an exploded view of an EJ engine block, it looks like the center main bearing is responsible for the endplay? Would I be able to see the thickness of the thrust surfaces of the center main bearing if I pulled the oil pan off? I'm suspicious that some acidic material in the oil may have eaten away at the bearing. Yes, the EJ25 flywheel bolted straight onto the EJ22, as did everything else except for the ignition coil. The EJ25 coil was too small to bolt to the intake manifold properly. Even the EJ22 single port exhaust "Y" pipe bolted straight onto the Forester's cats.

I just finished swapping a low miles '97 EJ22 into my '98 Forester, and when I fired it up it shakes really badly. I used the Forester's clutch and flywheel, as well as it's ECU and wiring. New plugs and wires, Forester's coil. After some initial difficulty getting it to start, it will now run okay except that it shakes violently near idle and hesitates badly when I open the throttle. At approx. 1200 rpm, the engine is shaking like a paint mixer! It seems to smooth out at higher rpm, but I don't think that means much. What would cause this? Do I have cylinders misfiring? Could I have botched something when I tranfered the clutch/flywheel? How can I tell? The EJ22 has been stored in a shed for the last 5 years. I was told that it ran fine in the car it was removed from, and I have no reason to doubt that. The only thing I noticed about it that seemed out of the ordinary was that the crankshaft was able to slide almost 1/8 inch back and forth in the block (before I mounted the engine). Any ideas?

This is sooo strange. I just had this same idea yesterday, and was looking for an old post about it since I assumed it had been done before (given the 96-98 EJ25's reputation). I also have a '98 Forester (getting oil in coolant), but I have a '97 EJ22 from an Impreza. I'm just hoping to keep the Forester driveable while I take my time with a proper EJ25 head gasket replacement. I have the Y-pipe & cats for the EJ22, so I'm not really concerned about the single-port exhaust problem. I am hoping to be able to use the Forester's wiring directly on the EJ22. Anyone know of any issues with that? Do both engines use the same sensors, etc. since they're both OBD-II? As for using an older EJ22, I think I read somewhere that you can retrofit them with the necessary electronics from an OBD-II car, but it involves swapping cam and crank sensor wheels (pulleys?) among other things. I could easily be remembering this wrong though, so do more research if this option interests you.

Do it Sidewayz has it absolutely correct. I had a '83 2wd Sedan that suffered from repeated loose axle nuts. I noticed it because of the brake noise in turns (dragging when the brakes were not applied). I kept tightening the nut, only to have it loosen up on me a week or so later. It turned out that the cone washer was wearing down. I replaced it with a good one I picked up at a junkyard, made sure the nut was tight, and the problem never returned. If I remember correctly, don't the torque specs for the axle nut say to tighten to 150 foot pounds and then TIGHTEN MORE until you can get a pin in? I always stand on my 18" breaker bar and bounce a little until the holes line up. That seems to work just fine. I've sometimes wondered what it would take to actually overtighten these things.

When I'm driving one of my EA81 cars and I see another on the road, I give a wave. Since this is a VERY rare occurrence in Ohio (I sometimes think I must own 1/2 of all the EA81 cars in my county), the other drivers usually wave back with an understanding smile.

I will do everything in my power to be at this thing. Can you imagine two Noahs in one place. Lunacy I tell you!

Thanks for the GREAT info!

For periodic "maintenance", I've had very good luck with Berryman's B-12 Chemtool. It's pretty cheap too! (I'm not sure how widely available it is.) I like to think of it as SeaFoam Lite.

Hi, I'm buying a '93 Impreza tomorrow and it needs a new hood. Since I'm new to Imprezas, I was wondering what all would need to be changed to use a '97+ hood? It looks to me like the grill would need to be changed to the newer style, and maybe the headlights too. Do the fenders also HAVE to be changed to use the later hood? What about the radiator support? Also, will a later style bumper fit without changing any of these other pieces?

That's exactly the sort of advice I'm looking for! Are rear swaybars from certain models better than others? What about front swaybars? Thanks, and keep 'em coming!

I'm sure you guys aren't so bad, eh. I've been on the Old Gen forum for a few years now, and only ever just glanced over here in this forum. Now I find myself buying a '93 AWD Impreza L Wagon, so here I am. I know a little about the EJ series engines, but I'm pretty clueless as to most other aspects of these "new fangled" Subarus. So I expect I can pretty easily swap an early EJ22 into my car for a little more power, but what about upgrading other stuff? This is not a performance project, and I don't have much time/money, so I'm mostly just curious about what parts I should look for at junkyards that will bolt on and "improve" my car in some way. Brakes and suspension are high on the list, but I'd love to hear about any cheap upgrades I can do even if they're just cosmetic.

You should be able to put an EA81 with 4spd d/r tranny into your car pretty easily since the '81-'84 cars came with that configuration. I believe Dr. RX performed this very same swap to an '80 DL hatchback soon after joining the board years ago.

My first Subaru was one of these cars, so maybe I can shed some light on this topic. This is a normal '85 2wd GL-10 sedan. Mine had everything listed in this thread, except that the interior was not actually the same as the RX interior. My interior had a very small checked pattern covering everything, and had solid color seat belts. From what I remember, the '85 RX interior used a larger checker pattern just in the center of the seats and along the centerline of the seat belts. Special features I remember about this car: (some of these also appeared on other models) -Digital Dash -Trip Computer -Power steering, windows, locks, and mirrors -3 piece locking fold down rear seatback -Special interior cloth (even on headliner and sunvisors) -rear seat heat ducts below front seats -rear door glass defogger vents in B-pillar trim (I really miss this) -2wd 5spd had 3.9 diff instead of normal 3.7 -MPFI system (same as on a non-turbo '85-'86 XT) -Gravel guards on rear doors -plastic trim panel between rear tail lights In '85 they didn't have the SPFI system yet, so they used the MPFI system on the high end cars to make them smoother and a little more powerful than the carbureted alternatives. From '86 on they quit using the non-turbo MPFI and just used SPFI for the non-turbo GL-10 cars.