battleborn

well, you can double check them with feeler gauges if you're worried about it before they're installed. In general Subarus hold their valve adjustment pretty well so they may not have had to change anything.

That's the 2.2 engine, right? If so, I wouldn't worry about the head gaskets. If it's the 2.5, replace them.

I'd ask the machine shop to be sure, but 'rebuilding' a head to me says replacing valves and springs and that would mean adjusting/replacing any shims necessary.

Finally coming back to this and getting a chance to look at the valve adjustment after addressing all the other issues on the vehicle (short of pulling the engine out). I've got a copy of the factory manual section on the valve adjustment and have read a few web articles on it. Pretty straightforward. But I've run into something strange. The timing cover on the passenger side is pulled, and the arrow on the camshaft sprocket is pointing a 12:00. This should be TDC and let me read the clearances for cylinder #1. But cylinder number one's valves aren't loose...I can, however, slide a feeler gauge in for cylinder #4 and if I rotate the camshaft around to 9:00 I can slide a feeler in for Cylinder #1. The timing belt is installed correctly, of that I am positive. And the marks all lined up. So that leaves me with the rather odd conclusion that perhaps the sprockets themselves were installed incorrectly 90 degrees off by the previous owner? But honestly I'm surprised that the car would run at all in that case. Any advice appreciated, probably going to take the timing belt off and investigate this a bit further. EDIT: Took the timing belt off real quick to be sure everything was ok with the sprockets. I think the valves on cylinder #1 are just way too tight and the intake valves that I checked on cylinder #4 are loose at TDC. Toying with the idea of just replacing the whole thing with pre-1996 heads and being done with it.

Thanks for the link...I've been searching and reading the forum for quite a while but didn't see your post. It does seem like a similar issue, but rather than highjacking your thread with my own troubleshooting I think I'll keep this one going. Thought about this and it's a possibility. Apparently a machine shop resurfaced the heads and he does have a receipt for it. I've got a line on another EJ22 but given the good compression test and lack of current head gasket problems, I want to know what the problem is rather than swapping in a whole new engine and hoping for the best. Interesting...I'll look into this more. Maybe something I can see when I do the adjustment.

I bought a 97 legacy to fix up and flip. The previous owner had overheated the engine and replaced the head gaskets and radiator but couldn't get it to run right after. I was hoping for an easy fix but this one has turned out to be kind of elusive. Also, the previous owner had put so many things together back asswards...so far, I have fixed timing belt installation, vacuum leaks, missing and plugged vacuum lines, wiring harness, and more. It runs better than it did. Fires up right away, just runs slightly rough at idle. I got a knock sensor code, replaced knock sensor, drove it some more. It came back with a code for the TPS sensor and a misfire on cylinder #4 (which the prev owner had mentioned was the only code he had gotten out of it). I wanted to post here and get some feed back on my course of action. I did a compression test...everything came out ok at 150 or close for all cylinders. It has new plugs and wires, new fuel filter, new coil, and I had picked up another set of fuel injectors for cheap a while back so I even swapped those out to see if it made a difference. I took the off the intake previously to work on harness issues and I'm fairly confident there are no vacuum leaks or anything like that going on. My next plan is to work on the TPS sensor (I think the prev owner had 'adjusted' it) and hopefully get rid of that code. But for the misfire...I'm going to check the valve adjustment, and after that I'm kind of out of ideas. Advice?

I just got done doing the same thing yesterday. I removed the ball joint upper keeper bolt (14mm), used a prybar to drop the A arm out of the hub, drove out the CV pin so I could slide the axle out, and had plenty of room to get my impact gun on it. It was worth the three steps for the extra room.

Finally posting back as the issue is resolved! As suggested above, it was the stereo! Replacement unit off of eBay solved the problem. I disassembled the old stereo to get my cd's out and found out that it was a paper label coming off that had jammed the disc. To answer foamman, it can be done, just take your time and mark/label the tiny screws. Trickiest part would be the tiny tension springs, but those could be held with a bit of wire while you were taking it apart. I wasn't careful with mine as I had already purchased and installed the replacement. Thanks to everyone who helped on this thread...this forum rules! End result seems to be that Subarus (of this year at least) have rather odd stereo circuits (probably due to being integrated into the climate control system). If your stereo acts up AND you have a battery drain, pull the old stereo out.

Yes, should be fine there - that was the cause of my original .78 amp reading in this thread. Current procedure is to hook a wire to + battery post and to + battery terminal. Clip multimeter leads to same. Wait 5-10 minutes. Disconnect jumper wire. Meter goes to .229 amps (or close to it, fluctuates a bit).

OK, finally got a chance to get back to this. I pulled the SBF-8 fuse and the AC relay. Minimal drop in current, not enough to make a difference. Reading still about .2 amps. Might get a replacement stereo/climate control off eBay since that needs to be fixed anyway. Other than that, guess I'll keep driving it until the battery goes out again and maybe get an Optima or similar hardy battery in the hopes that it'll hold out for a while.

Just had a moment of daylight to take a look, but I did verify that SBF-8 is under the hood, and I did pull it during prior checks. There is also an AC relay which is under the hood next to the main fuse box...I have pulled that one before as well with no drop in amp drain. Alternator lead looks fine. No obvious wear or damage. As soon as I get a chance (probably not for the next few days) I'll remove the stereo and see what happens.

Had to work late last night and didn't get a chance to look at it. Will try and look at it tonight. Cougar, thanks for the tips. Will see if I can find those relays/fuses.

Yeah, true...the only reason I haven't taken the stereo out and unplugged it is because I figured that both the memory circuit and main circuit are powered by a fuse. But at this point it's worth a shot.

Already did the jiggle/shake/slap test, while exhausting my fairly copious vocabulary of swear words. But it wouldn't hurt to give it another shot. Hoping I'll have some time to mess around with it this evening. Will post back with results....

Texan, I did a bit of that on my own with no luck...but when I get a chance I'll have a friend help me do it a bit more thoroughly. Fairtax, I'll take another look at the alternator lead, but haven't seen anything obvious yet. Was thinking that I should remove the under hood fuse box and inspect wiring and connections to it. Thanks for the ideas...