MoonDog

Oh is that what a dwell meter does! I've wondered, but never had to work on anything with points so I guess it just never came up. What kind of change should I expect to see with the O2 sensor unplugged? ...not necessarily running correctly but more consistent if the sensor is bad?

I'll give the stethoscope trick a try. I swapped the MAF with one in my other car, no change to either car. It's a different coil pack, nothing was swapped between the two engines except the TPS. I'm getting good consistent spark but for the couple minutes it would take I suppose I should try swapping coils with my other car. I'll look into the grounds. There was one flavor of one year ('95 legacy w/ automatic trans) with an EJ22 that had both EGR and dual exhaust ports, and I just happened to stumble across one when I was wandering around the pick-n-pull friday I coulda been on the way to witness the birth of my first child and I wouldn't have left that yard until that engine was in the back of my truck!

Honestly I did not replace the O2 sensor, it was a code that would come and go, though obviously I should have, and that will be my next step. I swapped nothing from the old engine except the TPS, and did no work to the new engine. Both engines have OEM plug wires, and I've done the basics as far as moving components around to get the misfire to move, but it stays on #3 and I have no idea what kind of miss it is, other than it comes and it goes! Any shadetree way to check the injector pulse? Vacuum leak does keep nagging at the back of my head, I'm out of brake cleaner and need a break from this car so I think I'll head on down to the 'ol walmart and get some more

OK this is driving me crazy and I'm *thiiiiis* close to starting to pull my hair out, so I appeal to you all and your overwhelming knowledge base for help. A little background: Car is a '99 Outback EJ25, CEL for misfire on cyl3 and I think there was a "catalyst below efficiency threshold" or something like that in there at one point in time too. Stumbling was noticeable and seemed to be isolated to cyl3, could tell by unplugging injector and/or plug wire, but it had good spark and there was voltage at the injector plug (multimeter, no scope available.) swapping plug wires and injectors around did not make the misfire move. Finally car started burning lots of oil and 3 went completely dead, a leak down test gave lots of blowby into the crankcase and out the exhaust. So yesterday I swap in a complete '95 EJ22 (dang that was easy!) and low and behold there is an intermittent miss that seems to be only on cyl #3! Sometimes it idles ok, sometimes not. sometimes the car accelerates normally, but most of the time it bogs down badly under load. Free revving the engine and opening the throttle quickly, it just gets really throaty and takes a moment for the RPMs to get up. Openign the throttle slowly it does just fine. I've checked everywhere and can't find any vacuum leaks. I swapped the MAF with one from another car with no change to either vehicle. I did have to take the TPS from the old engine and put it on the new one, could lack of adjustment there be doing anything? Seeming to be isolated to one cylinder even after a swap really has me stumped. Should I be looking at the ECU or wiring next? Thanks guys, I really appreciate any help.

Yup I did buy it, and yes all it needed was the pulley and belt and it runs great! Start to finish it took about 3 hours, I'm beginning to like working on these cars!

you guys have a lot of insight for sure, I appreciate the feedback. Interior is ehh, body is ehh (one fender is rusted pretty badly but not a spot on the rest of the car) and the interior is ehh, but I think it will pay for itself just in gas savings if it means I don't have to drive my truck around while I work on my outback. So I towed it back and got the shop heated up and dug into it. Hmmmm, the cover seems to have an extra hole melted through it where there should be an idler pully behind it, and there were these little metal balls and shrapnel stuck / melted to the inside of it! I guess that clacking sound was in fact the timing belt flopping around inside, thanks grossgary!

Daaaang you guys are quick! Thanks for the confirmation on the engine, but the more I think about it the more that clacking sound bothers me and I can't quite tell where it is coming from. The guy does practically want scrap value for it ($300) but I'll probably pass, Thanks for the help!

Hi all, I'm looking at picking up a '92 Legacy to use as a daily driver while I do engine work on my Outback, and then to build into an offroader. I've found one with a broken timing belt and the owner swears it's an interference motor, but I was under the impression that none of them were until later, though it does make a clacking sound when the engine turns over. So my questions are, were there any interference engines available for this car? and I can't see the engine ID but I'm assuming it's an EJ22, correct? If it does in fact just need a timing belt I'd jump all over it, a new engine on the other hand... well I have too many projects like that already!