Digger19

Just driving home, stopped at a traffic light and the engine started to run like crap in an instant. Looked at the instrument panel. Check engine light on, abs light on, no RPM on tach, fuel qty dropped to empty, and temp very low. Limped her home, shut it off, and now will not start or even turn over. Measured battery voltage. 11.87 volts as I was thinking that because it wouldn't turn over bat was low and possibly the alternator had failed, but I really don't know. All engine lights on instrument panel seem to illuminate dimly when trying to engage the starter, but nada happens.

Found a leak in the radiator. Bought a new one. Have not had any overheating problems since although today after I shut the car off there were some slow bubbling(1 every second or so) occuring in the overflow tank. Is this normal or is it indicative of an impeding HG failure?

The overflow was almost empty. Topped it up and took the car for a drive. Temperature was normal. There was no bubbling in the overflow at all. No white smoke out hte tailpipe. After I shut it down could definitely smell antifreeze in from the front of the car. Nothing dripping on the ground, but am guessing I have a leak somewhere.

Radiator took about 2 quarts of fliud. I am sure this was the cause of the overheating. Question is, where did the antifreeze go? At times I can smell the antifreeze outside the car after I shut the engine down. Does this mean an external leak, or would a blown head gasket let some pass out the tailpipe? Could a bad rad cap cause fluid loss?

Car has 215k km. Have not done a compression test. Only assuming it is head gasket as car started overheating on acceleration and when speed started to get over 90kph. The temp fluctuates quite rapidly between normal to slightly low to very hot depending on load. When I loosened the radiator cap antifreeze wanted to bubble out of the rad. I assume rings are still good as car does not use any oil( have used synthetic from new). Right now I just need to get the car going as it is our families only vehicle.

I have a 97 Outback Ltd. Engine is a 2.5 DOHC. Can I replace the head gaskets with removing the engine even though removing it may be easier?

The car has 180000K. What is this plate and can it be changed without removing the engine?

I have a 97 Outback with 2.5 DOHC. I am pumping oil out all over the place, and most of it ends up on the exhaust. Can't really tell where it is coming from. Starting to get embarrassing. I was thinking about pulling the engine, changing the cam, crank, etc oil seals, and while the engine is out replacing the head gaskets as well as I am starting to consume about a 1/2 liter of coolant every 10000k. Unless there is something more obvious I should be looking at thats easier?? In any case, how long to pull the engine, change the seals and head gaskets and get the engine back in. I have 4 days off coming up and want to do it then. Is it workable?

My 97 Outback has been doing it for the better part of 5 years. Sometimes goes for weeks without a problem, then will happen daily for a few days then quit again. Especially noticeable after a glide down a long hill. Started 100,000 K ago and hasn't gotten any worse or better, so I'll live with it.

Thank you WAWAlker. You hit it right on. Just a shame that I spent $150 and far too many hours repairing something that in the end took only 15 minutes to ultimately fix. And to think that some people think that the internet is a waste of time and resources. Couldn't have resolved this without it. Once again, Thanks to everyone who put their two bits worth in

Thanks for all the help: Both cams rotated clockwise looking from the front of the engine. As I read more and listen to the engine, I am leaning toward a faulty/tired tensioner. What drives me there is the history of the component( at least from what I read) and the consistent yet inconsistent knock. As I would now think that I damaged nothing else during the replacing of the belt, sounds like the logical place to go next.

Question: If when I caught the axle stand on the trailing arm when I lowered the car, could a damaged bushing on the fwd end of the trailing arm cause driveline vibrations and gear noise to be transmitted through the frame/body of the car. The lowering of the car onto the axle stand was the only abnormal thing that happened when I initially ground and reinstalled the rotors. It is not brakes as braking makes no difference in the sound, and the dust plates are all well clear of the rotors. I checked the bushing on the trailing arm as good as I could in situ but not sure if that is really a practical way to check its servicability The more I try to isolate the noise, which when lifting off the throttle at highway speeds sound more like a high frequency metallic vibration/rattle, it sounds like it is coming from the r/h side of the car just fwd of the rear wheel well. At lower speeds 30kph and slowing down I hear what sounds like the whirring sound of gears being slowed down. At 50-70 KPH as a rule I hear nothing. What noise cuold I expect to hear if the drive shaft center bearing is coming apart and could I expect any other symptoms from it?

My suspicion is that #2 was not near TDC if #1 is. #3 or #4 maybe, and that is why i asked about the piston position. Can't quite see all of your tensioner, but it looks different than mine. Mine has two bolts holding attaching it to the blockand I know that on later models they went to 1 bolt tensioners. Having said all that, the noise disappears totally more or less when the engine is warm. The reason I say more or less, is after driving it for 10 minutes yesterday, idling away it disappeared as fast as it appeared. Later in the day, the noise was there as soon as I started the car. Drove for a couple of blocks, the noise disappeared. Arrived at my destination about 5 minutes later and it was there sporatically but regularily. Drove home three hours later, it was there on start, disappeared quickly and was not there when I arrived home. It is quite loud as I hear it inside the car no problem at all. Sounds like someone is taking a hammer to the head of the piston if I could describe it, or the diesel clanking but more rhythmic is also an adequate description. Can piston slap be this loud or have this type of sound? Do these engines have any history of lifters leaking down? If so could this cause the sound I am describing? For the last 5 or six months I had beeen noticing when I started the car up in the morning a ticking sound, much like maladjusted or bad lifters. Went away after a few minutes. Could it progress to this type of noise this fast?

How loud does piston slap get? Can't hear this at all from inside the car, but man is it loud outside. Sounds like a clunky old deisel rattling away. This would be the best way to describe it. The noise though isolated to what I think is #2 cylinder. Because I cant hear it from inside the car this may have been going on for longer than I thought, but then again maybe not. DOHC. Took the timing covers off and all accessory belts this morning. Knock is more rhythmic than I thought with engine cold. When I was listening last night I had just driven the car for about 10K and that may account for the more sparatic sound.

With #1 cylinder at TDC where are the other cylinders relative to TDC irrespective of what stroke they may be on. Reason I am asking is I just changed my timing belt. While trying to break the crank pulley slipped three teeth on the crank gear. After I finally got the pulley off the driver side cams came off the lobes and slipped from their timing marks. Rotated 120 degrees for the top cam. Don't remember how much the bottom rotated when it came off the cam lobes. Put the engine back together last Sunday, started fine and ran fine. Today, I was outside the car with the engine running(for the first time since) and I hear a noticable knocking. Decreases in volume with RPM increase but still there none the less. Coming from the drivers side of the engine. At times I think it is from the #2 cylinder area, and at other times I think it is from the timing cover area. Really hard to tell. The knock is quite loud. It is not erratic but is. In other words it is not like every second or every half second , but is more like 6 or seven knocks rapidly one after the other, then nothing for a few seconds, then the pattern repeats. My thinking is I may have bent a valve when the cams slipped from their timing marks as their is quite the push by the lifters/springs when the cams slip off the top of the lobes. I would think though that a bent valve would have a more consistent knock though. I am going to take the timing covers off tomorrow morning, check things over and see if the noise goes away. Any other ideas??