littlecars

Sweet, My frustration is over and now I have a great car again. I shouldent have to do any more major maintance for 100K. Next time I bet I could do the head gaskets in one day without sweating. The tourqe sequence was the same between the Flepro and the OEM gaskets, and I could not see a ovious diference between the two, but there is ovoiusly a difference Thanks agian for all the help, I would of not been able to fix it without the help.

O.K. I got it!!!!! I warmed it up and bleed the air off a ton of times. I got it all out now. Runs great, doesnt overheat! Thanks everybody for all the help! I would of never figured it out with out you. It is nice to have a depandable car again.

O.K. I just finished the car. It runs great now but...... Now it is getting hot. At first i let it idle for about 15 minutes then it started to get a little warmer than normal. I turned the heater on and it blew cold. I checked both radiator fans and they were both on. The radiator cap was cold so I took it off, it was a little low on water. I figured this was becouse there were air bubbles. I topped it off and let it idle for 30 minutes. I kept getting air bubbles, then I would top it 0ff with water. After about 30 min. there were no more air bubbles. I put the cap on and drove it. Now the heater works! After a few miles it starts to get hot again. I checked the radiator cap and it was cold. The upper rad. hose was hot and the lower hose is cold. Any idea what is wrong? I replaced the water pump and thermistat when the motor was out. I know I did not put the thermistate in backwards?

I just dropped the heads off to have the valve job done, becouse I didnt want to have a spring compressor. They just called me and said all the exhoust valve need replacing, they are hour glassed. They said this is very common. Is this true? Good thing you talked me into getting a valve job, or I would need a new motor when one broke!!!!

O.K. I will pull the motor again. I made sure I put the lifters in the right spot. I marked then wih a grease pencil as I took them out. I put them back exactly the same way. but since we are on this topic, can I verify this with a fealer gauge and check the gap? I did do both head gaskets and I will do both again. I will also do a valve job this time Your right, I am new at this. subarus that is. I have done several chevy 350 rebiulds, a few automatice tranny rebiulds, 2 or 3 toyota 22r head gaskets. I grew up on a farm working on tractors and stuff since I was a kid. almost exclusivly old carberated stuff. Nothing like a late model car thought. now I am a Automation/millright mechanic. It is like being a car mechanic but I fix rotory machinery, gear boxes, stuff like that at a oil refinery. So I am used to taking things apart very miticulacly and putting them back together exactly the same way. I am a fairly experianced machanic, way above the average "weekend warrior". but I am definitly not a automotive machanic, that is why I am hear. to ask all of you the questions that I do not know how to answer. I am glad I stumbled across this forum, I am thankfull for all the great help, advice and information that I have recieved and I am looking farward to being a member for a long time.

I think I might try to to the HG's with the motor in this time. What do you think?

At this point, will it do me any good to do a compresson check? I guess it might show me weather it is #2 or #4 is where the problem is? I have to replace the head gaskets anywheys and I will pull the valves out this time and check them for straitness and lap them. This explains the rough idle.

O.K., I just checked the vacumm. It is bouncing between 18" and 21". does that mean a valve problem? I am not going to have time to do a compresson check for a few days probably. I will let you know what I come up with.

I throughly cleaned and flat filed the intake/head surface. and used a new gasket. I did not disconnect the injector wires. they are definatly in the right spot.

heres a link to a photobucket page of pictures. I hope this works, this is the first time I have ever used photobucket: http://s983.photobucket.com/albums/ae316/littlecars123/

If you read the link you posted closely it states "some experts say heads that mate to MLS gaskets should not be resurfaced unless absolutely necessary".some experts say this and some disagree. I think that it sould be closely checked and only resurfaced if necassary. (Maybe we can agree to disagree)That why I used blueing and ran it acrost a quarts stone. The stone I used is certified every year and as flat as they come. this is the exact kind of stuff it is for. I am confident the heads are flat and just as smooth as factory, if not a little smoother. As far as lapping the valves, maybe I should have. my idea was that the car would be rusted out long before the motor would be worn out so I thought it would be a waste of my time. It ran fine when I pulled the engion apart. I figured it would run just as good when I put it together. but I guess I am wrong. Does anyone have a brand/model of compresson tester that they have found easier to use on a subaru? If I get off work on time tomarrow I will go buy a compresson tester and a vacume gauge.

does the tb look good to everybody? someone mentioned that if I had the intake and exhoust cams reversed I would have a problem like this. I would think that the woodruff key is in a place to where it I put them in reveresed the the timming would be way off.. I marked the cams before I took the out but maybe I made a mistake.

I did not disconnect the fuel injector to to the heads. I didnt event take the intake off. I just unbolted it and left it in place. Since then I disconnected the injectors cleaned the connections and reconnected them one at a time. I didnt lap the valves. The idle is rough. the motor shakes and shimmies. it reminds me of my old air cooled VW when one of the dual carbs was screwed up and only running on 2 cylinders. there is a little hesitation when i first hit the throddle but as soon as the motor speeds up it has good power and runs smooth.

drivers side upper pulley drivers side pulley drivers side lower pulley (the cammera is upside down, it is the only whay I could fit the camera there The hole thing

crank pulley upper passanger cam pulley passanger cam pullies lower passanger cam pulley

I did not have the heads check for cracks, and I did not take the valves out. I cleaned them very, very, very good and looked for cracks. I do not know exactly where to check so I looked everywhere, expetualy between the valves and the spark plug hole. I could not fit the smallest feeler gauge between the head and the flat edge. I put machinest blueing on then and ran them acrost a quartz stone at work ( +/_ .00001") within a few seconds the blueing was gone. so they are very very flat. definatly within spec. Then you ask "out of adjustment" do you mean the valves? I didnt know they could be adjusted? how do I do that. I took them out, marked them and put them back in the same spot. I didnt even check the with a feeler gauge. The symptons again are: runs great at driving speed. plenty of power. at idle it is very rough. like it is missing. I can hear a little bit of popping out the exhoust, but not much, only at idle If I am behind the car. I took it to autozone and they scanned it. they said missing on #2 and #4. I sprayed starting fluid to check for vacumn leaks and did not find any. I took apart every electrical wire cleaned then looked close at them and put then back together. I will try to send some pictures.

I dont have a vacumn gauge. I have the front half off of the motor and I sounds like I will have to re-replace the HG's anywheys. so I better just do it and hope my idleing problem is gone when I am done!!!

I wish I would have used this forum befor I wasted $150 on new head bolts!!! and 20 hour replaceing HG's that wont work!!! Oh whell, I bet I can do it in less than 12 hours this time!!!

The reason I did the hg's were. i had a little exhoust smell in the coolent, random overheating, and a little white smoke out the exhoust. It still ran great, no missing, and no check engion light. The felpro gaskets I used are MLS gaskets. I just looked at the timing again and it is spot on. I dont remember what brand of tb I used. It is extremely unlikely that I have exhoust and intake cams swapped. I marked them befor I took them out. But how do I tell what cam goes where?

It looks like it will be easier to replace the gasket again then do a compresson test!

I just added my location to my personal information. I definatly didnt try to cut corners by buying felpro gaskets. I thought they were about the best. I didnt by dealer gaskets becouse I work 60 hours a week and I have trouble geting to the local dealer when they are open. Anyone have a preferance of a compression checker that would be easy to use on a subaru? It looks like it will be hard to get it in there. If I have to replace the gasket again should I buy new bolts again?

If I put the wrong cam pullies in the wrong spot would that matter? or is that even possible. I a pretty surI put them on in the same spots I took them off. But not possitive. If I had them in the wrong spot the marks would be way way to far off, right?

Mine is the DOHC, sorry if I forgot to mention that earlier. The prockets are on there in the right posistion and the marks are definatly lined up right. I checked it several times before putting the cover on the first time and I checked it again just a few minutes ago. But I will not put it all back together until tomarrow and I will check it again then. I know I torqued the head on there correctly. The gaskets I used were Feltpro. They looked like a quality gasket, everything lined up just right and the job went pretty smooth, whell until this! When you say TB, does that mean throttle body?

I just ran outside to make sure the woodruff keys holding the gears onto the cams are still there, and they are.

O.K. I just ripped the covers off and the timing belt is right on the money. I was hopeing to find something wrong. This should not matter but I also replaced the water pump and thermistate whiill I was in there. The temp is fine though so I dont think this is relivent, but I thought I would add it anywheys. Any more thoughts???