sirtokesalot

well today we put the engine back together with standard sized bearings. i used the engine that was in the car. we tore it down sunday and it was in very good shape no visible wear everything we could measure was within spec not sure what was knocking we suspect it was from a lack of oil due to a partially clogged oil passage in the crank for cylinder 1. the rod bearings were lightly worn but i dont think should have caused the knock. i reused the pistons if it still knocks now its piston slap. i wont know for sure until wensday when the head gasket set arrives unless it arrives early. engine has new rod and crank bearings new piston rings and every seal on the block has been replaced. it should be basically a new engine. i might pull it again and pit pistons in it if it still does it but for now i want the car back before snow and ice comes and it should run fine and id feel better with it knowing everything inside is new.

so the stock sizes wont be correct then? the rods have no scoring and the crank has no scoring the rod bearings seemed to be the only worn part on the crank. why would the pistons need to be knurled? i would be using the pistons that came out of the engine and what do u mean with the rings? im sorry i just dont understand it. i am mechanically inclined but this would be the first engine ive torn this far down and done rod bearings on. i have changed rings before but on smaller engines and i just ordered the ones that were for it. so far i havent ordered anything yet for the forester block. i tried a valve adjustment today on the engine in the car now and it did not change anything. my mechanics stethoscope showed up today as well and i can say the sound is definitely coming from the block and i can hear a distinct metal on metal knocking sound from the block very faintly still but its in there.

so when ordering rings and rod bearings ... do i just order the standard size? the oversize ones im guessing is for if u have to get the crank redone or use bigger pistons?

Well that forester engine turned to hell. I tore it down and got the pistons out to find rod play in all of them. Not alot but still there. We split the case and pulled all 4 rod bearings they were pretty much toast but the crank is good and measures in spec and the rods measure in spec. So if I keep going this route it's new rod bearings new rings and new head gaskets as well as all the small o rings and crap to reassemble the case.i will also not use any other part of it besides the block. The heads were full of sludge the oil pump sludge oil pan sludge starting to wonder if I should bother with this block or not. I mean the clock looks good and is in spec but where els could sludge be that I cant clean out? This is not the engine that was in my car. This is another engine I had sitting around from a 2001 forester I parted and scrapped. I might just spend the time and redo this block. At least I'd know it would be like new inside when I finished and shouldn't have to worry about engine issues again for a long time.

this engine does kind of have a hidden history i left out. the car belonged to my mom before me. 2 years ago the head gaskets let go and it mixed coolant in the oil started to overheat then got towed to my moms house where they then moved it 2 or 3 times in the yard never drained the oil/coolant mix and it sat for nearly a year before they towed it down to me to change the head gaskets last year. the cars done about 7000 miles since then and the knock has been slowly presenting its self. i think this is the reason behind it all. i have a possible plan c as well now too. i have the forester block with low compression but on top of that i have a friend whos looking to replace his wrecked subaru .... he still drives it but its technically totaled anyways hes going to look at a rust free car today that needs a transmission and i told him if he buys it ill do the work of swapping the transmission from his old car and whatever engine he wants to keep ill make be in the new car but i want the extra engine for payment so that might work out for me but i wont know till later if he went and got the car or not. im likely going to go out to my friends house later after work and pull the heads off that forester block i have to check the internals and see if its a worthy swap. the forester block is low compression but did run without knocking last time it was in a car it just ran poorly.

i honestly think its a rod knock in the making.

Would there be any bad effects of using the pistons and rings from my current engine in another engine? I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to get a quiet running engine from what I have. If I pull the pistons and rings from my current engine and say put them into the low compression engine then use my current engines heads and new head gaskets. Would there be any bad effects of using old rings and pistons?

This is after idling 10 minutes and then the 20 min drive to work. Few stoplights before I got there. U can hear it when I accelerate and it goes away when I get up to some speed then I stop again and hear it lightly again near the end. have to listen closely.

i dont know why it quoted you i cant seem to remove it. heres another clip of how it sounded this morning starting it about 5 minutes ago in 30 degree temps. in the video it sounds a little less loud than in person but still noticable.

it is possible its just piston slap but it still bothers me. the low compression engine i have did run and drive from where i got the car to where the engine was pulled and i know that engine did not knock it just had low compression so ither way it goes ill likely still slap new rings and head gaskets on that engine redo the heads and have an engine to swap in this summer if it lasts the winter witch im thinking it will due to it not really getting worst minus when its really cold. it doesn't fully go away when its warm but it does get much quieter.

well i changed it today and its still there. im likely going to build another engine for it that doesn't knock for next summer or whenever it lets go. it might never let go it might just be severe piston slap ither way i dont like it so engine swap will be in order as soon as i can ither find a good one cheap or get this low compression one rebuilt

im starting to believe its a bad tensioner. i took the drivers timing cover back off and with a 2 foot extension i listened around the block with one end to ym ear and the other on spots around the block. the left and right heads are pretty quiet if i take the oil cap off and listen inside the crank case i hear nothing knocking if i put the extension above the timing tensioner i hear the knock and if i put the extension down on the tensioner its self i hear it the loudest through the extension and i can feel the knocking as well on the side of my ear while listening to it. im going to pull the tensioner off my 2001 forester parts engine and see if that fixes it hoping to get the job done tomorrow night or Thursday. the timing belt was new about 4000 miles 1 year ago but the tensioner was reused. it should be fine to just reuse the belt i would think yes?

it seems the more i drive it the louder it is getting still only while cold though and it is not getting louder fast but definitely seems louder than it was before. however u can still hear it when it warms up while accelerating just not very loud. i don't think its piston slap a friend of mine seems to think its a rod knock but i dunno about that ither as it doesn't sound like any rod knock ive heard before. what is the cheapest way to fix an engine with low compression can i just put rings in it and new gaskets or is there more to it than that? i have a 2001 forester block that had low compression when we pulled it last year before scrapping the car.

ive learned i can use the box that's there and just ad a few things from the other box witch i do have in the part car. there's a few sensors that i need to ad and id need to build a circuit to control the a/c compressor witch i think would be the hardest part of it. ive been basing it from this post here. https://sl-i.net/FORUM/showthread.php?19317-Converting-2000-Legacy-GT-to-Automatic-Climate-Control

i like the look of the digital one better

well i think ive decided to throw myself into hell and i want the digital hvac controls. ive been separating the hvac wiring from the main harnesses on a parts h6 for a while now slowly making progress if anyone would like updates on this as it goes ill keep updating it but it will likely be a slow process and may end up with the project going on hold for a bit at times. i will likely end up running into some issues i will need help getting past with wiring as well when i get to some stuff like the a/c but im trying to maker it be a stand alone setup so i dont have to cut or modify the factory wiring but rather install a secondary harness just for the hvac control

i do have another ej25 engine but it had low compression and misfired pretty bad thogh it did run and not make any odd sounds. how likely is it that the block is fine and the compression issues were int he heads?

update. im not sure witch axle it was i replaced both front axles today and the wobble is gone.

well the idea was that i have the ej22 block and figured i could get that engine running with the cost of head gaskets.

is there a head combo that would not lower the compression and still work? i wouldent mind a little less power as long as it runs and drives reliably and possibly retain the non interference bit if possible. its mainly a thoght for now as my 2.5 still runs but my 2.2 block was one of the quietest subaru engines ive ever heard. it had no internal knocks or piston slap sounds.

whats the difference between a 95 2.2 block and a 2001 2.5 block? is it possible to merge the 2 engines together using the 2.2 block and run it in the 2001 outback?

well i caved and screwed it to the trim panel blocking the passenger dash vent. i wanted my xm back. im open to other ideas of places to put it i dont quite like it there but its there for now. i have a spare dash vent panel to swap it out later and not have holes screwed into it.

does anyone here still use a separate xm radio? where did you mount it? ive been looking at it for a few days now holding it in different spots all around the dash and just cant seem to find anywhere it would fit and be user friendly at the same time.

if thats piston slap thats the loudest piston slap i ever heard in one of these engines. this engine i was told only has 115,000 miles on it.

would the cam tensioner get quiet after a few minutes of the car running? that sound will completely go away after driving about a mile or 2. or if i leave it idling for 10 or so minutes. heres another vid of it running with the drivers side timing cover off the tensioner seems prety stable to me but the sound does seem to be coming from the center of the engine vs one or the other side. u can tell by the end of the video however that it is already starting to get quieter from just running for the couple minutes it was running messing with it. should i let it warm up and make another vid of how it sounds warm? this sound only happens when the engines cold.