SchwarzeEwigkt

This is an EJ22T, right? Don't the rear cam seals on those things leak? They're just o-rings, right? Why not check those?

Meh, I'm more just venting that it's kind of a pain. It's certainly doable. I just wish the #3 plug wire would come out. It's resisted me for about eight hours now. Maybe if I go out there right now it'll come out, having had overnight to think about what it's done. But I'm going to have to replace this bolt here and maybe the whole thing.

Finally got started on this job. More than a little bit of a pain in the butt. So far I've got the radiator out, outer timing covers off, three of the four spark plug wires off and the driver valve cover off and new gaskets installed. I've fought with the one spark plug wire on #3 for hours. It doesn't want to come out. The other three came out without too much drama, but that one's being a jerk. I also have to mention how really evident it is that the EJ25 really is too large a motor to fit in the Legacy engine bay properly. It is not a joy removing the valve cover bolts. I also am a bit annoyed at some the fragility of some of the hardware. I've broken the alternator slider adjustment bolt, one of the coolant bottle mounting bolts (I just had it out a few months ago too!) and BOTH the washer fluid bottle bolts. I'm not looking forward to drilling those out. They all just twisted right off without even putting up a fight. They felt as if they were made of aluminum. I wasn't even using a big ratchet! Oh well. So, yeah. That's it so far. Cams on the driver side look great, no scoring or anything and very little sludge in there. The question I have at the moment is what is the part called that holds the left side of the alternator up and tensions the belt? The thing with the long bolt and the block of metal? I'd like to get a new bolt or whatever, but I can't figure out what it's called. Tensioner? Adjuster? Maybe someone has a part number?

I just want to throw out there that these (and many) engines are both more powerful and more efficient higher in the rev range. Having a shorter final gear means you keep the engine in the efficient areas of the rev band with the added bonus of not having to downshift to accelerate. Having a stupid tall triple overdrive gear only works with engines that can keep the car moving down at 1200RPM. That's why you can get away with it on an LS7 Corvette or a Viper. They make huge gobs or torque basically from idle, so you can toodle around at 12MPH in 6th gear. They displace 6L and 8.3L respectively, though. They're huge. You can't do that with small displacement engines. Subaru engines generally are anemic below about 2200RPM and downright worthless below 1800RPM. On modern engines, fuel efficiency is more about throttle position than engine speed. If you end up getting a taller rear end or huge wheels, you may end up reducing revs. The problem is, you very well might pull the engine out of it's efficient range, increase the need for downshifting, increase the need for standing on it to accelerate and, most importantly, suck the life out of your driving experience. If you don't like listening to it, fix muffler, fix the exhaust hole or buy something else. Not trying to be inflammatory, but there's a whole lot that goes into this other than just engine speed.

Those hardly ever develop external coolant leaks. You're sure it wasn't the water pump or a hose or something? I'm not accusing you not being thorough enough, but with the odds being what they are, it's something else.

I've yet to see a write-up on a DOHC timing belt job. There's tons on SOHC's. Anybody think they'd benefit from me taking the extra time to do that while I'm in there?

Oh, I see what you mean. The DOHC's aren't like that. The bearings and caps are all under the valve cover. The seal goes right into a bore cast into the head.

I replaced the thermostat not that long ago. I do like that seal puller. I may have to get myself one of those. I don't know how I feel about pulling the bearing caps for the cams, though.

Alrighty. I've got everything on order to do this job. Got all the seals and stuff sitting on the kitchen floor and the timing belt kit with all new pulleys and seals (and a water pump!) coming tomorrow. I forgot to get a PCV valve, but I'll just swing by AutoZone and throw $6 at them for a new one. Any words of wisdom for me? I'm especially nervous about initially taking the belt off. I don't know what to expect the cams to do when the belt gets loose or comes off. I'm also not clear on how to get the cam gears off to get to the seals. There's a hex shaped thing on the cam I gan grab with a big wrench, right? How the heck do you get the wrench in there? Or is there more room than I think? I know I'm worrying too much, but I don't want to kill the Scoob.

I was able to get over to where the car was to get everything fixed (after fixing my sister's car AGAIN. Stupid Chryslers...). The OD of the exhaust pipe is 2", or rather a tiny bit less than that. Die grinder + cutoff wheel + 2" ID exhaust patch pipe + 2 pipe clamps = WIN.

The flanges on the pipe after the cat and the one before the exhaust disintegrated. I see they sell flange repair kits, which seem to consist of some cast thingies that bolt on over the pipe, effectively a bolt-on flange. I was going to clean up the pipe and get some of these (or a piece of flex pipe and two exhaust clamps), but I don't know the pipe OD and the car's not accessible at the moment. Anybody know offhand the outer diameter of that pipe? I'm pretty sure it's 2", but the Internet hasn't been useful getting me that info.

That's what happened to me when I blew a hole in my radiator recently. It kept overheating because there wasn't anything in the system. It won't suck the coolant back in from the bottle because it needs to be full up already to do that; it needs to make a syphon. If there's air in the system, there's no way for the coolant in the bottle to get back in. You have to put coolant in through the top and bleed it via the bleeder screw. You might have a leak someplace and it finally ran down enough to make a difference.

I took advantage of that, in fact! I got a set of front brake rotors for my BMW on closeout for $15 each. That's like a third what I was expecting them to cost. I figure if they suck, I'll get better ones and sell these ones for scrap.

Ordered another radiator. Found what seems to be a very good parts place, too. www.rockauto.com. Cheap, rates well. Picked up a few other things for the other cars too. Whoo, $5 foglight assemblies for the fiance's Focus!

Used the fallback plan and called the local dealer. Seems it was built in 8/96. So it uses the more expensive radiator. Nuts. Oh well.

Looked again. There's nothing on the door itself other than the VIN sticker. Do you mean on the sticker on the door jamb that has the tire pressures on it? I didn't see it there, though that's where I expected to find it.

Well, I'll look again. I was planning to go out in the other car to get some JB Weld for the radiator anyway.

Good idea. I was planning to get some to plug a hole in my exhaust anyway. What the heck, you know? Incidentally, I looked under the door. Nothing but another VIN sticker. I'm starting to think they didn't put that ANYWHERE on the car.

Yeah, mine's a '97. I'll look on the bottom of the door in a bit. It's definitely not on the metal plate on the strut tower. Just VIN, configuration codes and such. Incidentally, it just occurred to me that I might be able to fix the radiator by soldering it. Gunna look that up. I figure if I make the hole worse, who cares?

I've been all over the Internet and back and climbed all over my car trying to figure out its build date. I can't find it anywhere. I haven't needed it up until now, but I blew a hole in the radiator the other day and need to know the build date to order another one. I looked at the aluminum stamped plate under the hood on the driver strut tower and the sticker inside the driver door on the body. Nothing on either. I haven't found any other stickers anywhere besides the ones on various parts with the VIN on it. Where am I not looking? This has got me pretty steamed since I want to fix the bloody thing and I don't know which radiator to order.

Oh, I see. You're using them just to keep the belt from coming off. Now I get it.

I was planning to do the valve cover gaskets as well too. They leak. I forgot to mention that. Think I should do the front mainseal? I guess I'll have to buy a puller. I probably should have one anyway... As for the spring clamp, you mean this thing? How would you put it on there? Can you draw me a picture?

Alrighty. I've been sifting through information on this topic for literally years and still haven't come up with a straight answer. I've got a '97 Outback Limited now with 205k on the clock. Naturally, it's got the Phase 1 EJ25. The engine was rebuilt (short block, same heads, due to the infamous craptastic head gasket issue) at about 120k. The guy I bought it from said his mechanic said that the timing belt looked to be new-ish then, so he didn't replace it. Seems like a stupid way to save $50, but then it's in the past. About two years ago, I gave the ol' Scoob to my sister who was at the time in dire need of a car. It was my second car (opposite an '02 BMW 325Ci), so it didn't matter. Not living at home with the car and having someone else driving it all the time meant that my normal anal-retentive maintenance schedule was not followed at all. The car's a bit worse for the wear. I've got it back now and have noticed (besides some rust and a fairly big hole in the exhaust I plan to fix with creativity and a welder) some issues that have me wanting to do what amounts to a super-tuneup. It idles rough and lacks power, especially when cold. I've also got a squeal/squeak that I am pretty sure is a timing belt idler or the tensioner. It definitely needs spark plugs as those were done the better part of five years ago, but as the timing belt is at least 80k old, I feel like it's not a bad idea to change it. Rather, if I want to have a Scoob with more than a paperweight for an engine, I'd better change it. I suspect it's stretched some too, with would contribute to the rough idle, lack of power and crap gas milage. I figure I'd better do the cam seals (if they're leaking), the water pump and check the oil pump while I'm in there and definitely do the tensioner and idler pulley. I'm considering doing the front mainseal too, but I know that's not leaking and frankly don't want to be bothered. The problem I'm having is the old "why the heck do I need those stupid $300 tools to hold the cams down while I change the belt" thing. Do I really need those? Some people say no, others say yes. The Endwrench guys know what they're talking about, but they are somewhat biased because they write for dealer techs; they just have those tools lying around. Now, based on how a DOHC direct actuation cylinder head is put together, theoretically the valves could hit each other if the camshafts spun unrelated to each other. That does, however, assume that valves would get forced open. I would tend to think that the pressure of the springs would try to force the valves shut and spin the cam around to settle in some equilibrium state where a few valves are a little bit open. I guess that if you let them spin slowly by going slowly, things should be fine. There are some reports of people doing this and coming out just fine. Thing is, I'm not one to rely on luck. I tend to like to plan for the worst. I am, however, a cheapskate at heart and see no reason to buy $300 worth of timing tools I'd use once. Especially on a car that's worth all of about $1500... What I'm looking for from you guys is positive confirmation that it's possible and safe to do this job without those stupid things. I'm also looking for your wisdom. I know I'm going to hear the "do a search" comment, but know that I've already done that a lot (see my previous comment about looking at this info for years). I need the myths dispelled. I want the old girl to run right again.