nvu

I've recently noticed this with a bad tensioner; the side with the two smooth idlers, you could grab the top belt with your fingers and bottom belt with your thumbs and squeeze by hand. I had a failing tensioner and was able to see it move way too freely when squeezing. I've not tried this on an engine with a good tensioner, but pretty sure you wouldn't be able to move it with just hand strength.

Great writeup mpower! Those pictures really show the issue at hand.

I'm rebuilding a 2004ish era EJ DOHC. I'm wondering if a stretch belt for the AC from a newer gen would fit. Has anyone tried this before? Was it worth the swap or just more hassle to install/remove?

For a '96, it probably needs a new upper radiator hose. Squeeze the hose with your hand, if you hear crunchy sounds it's time for a replacement.

That kit doesn't have seals included, new bearings won't last long if water and dirt get in. Get new seals to go with your model, fronts and rears are different sizes so pick appropriately. The video is for a newer subaru with integrated bearing and hub unit. Your 2002 is a lot more involved, the bearings would need a press to remove and install. There are snap ring and seals to contend with.

I'd worry less about silica and more if there are flakes in the oil. Silica can be remedied: better filter or shorter intervals between changes.

Yup dohc cam plugs https://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_2004_STI-25L-TURBO-6MT-4WD-SEDAN/Engine-Camshaft-Plug/49223411/11051AA070.html

I haven't worked on it myself. From what I understand with the USDM immobilizers starting on 05 on, they are matched to the ecu that came with the car. People doing engine swaps have the old key taped to the immobilizer antenna and tucked away. We didn't get immobilizer models in US until 2005 so I'm guessing your 99 would be the older style. It's not simple voltage/resistor to bypass. https://iwireusa.com/blogs/iwire-university/what-does-it-mean-that-my-subaru-is-immobilized

Good to know. It's only been a little over a year for me. I'll check on it every once in a while and report back.

They were all dirty or cracked bushings, definitely failing state. I've only went with window weld if was too lazy to take things apart, though nowadays window weld is pricier than getting replacement bushings. I did have one that needed extra stiff bushings, so used concrete leveler. Needed to make molds to pour it in, but it completely filled the voids after some days of curing. It was definitely close to solid, had to tap it in with mallet. Car already had stiff cusco style transmission and engine mounts, so a little more noise from solid diff mounts isn't an issue. It was $7 at home depot.

I've done a couple, it's okay if you want to do it on car. More than likely you'll need to soap and water to get the grime off. Brake cleaner or acetone is fine. mainly to get the water off.

The first oil change is to flush out and machining swarf and loose particles. Put in conventional oil now, cut open the filter and inspect oil. It's an EJ25 with standard rings and metal headgasket, after the first oil change and you don't find unusual glitter, just drive it hard and get the seating over with. Get it warm, accelerate harder than usual, use lots of engine braking in between.

Great to hear things are fixed! Also you're talking about the pod on top center of the dash? I have a 2003 impreza and it cracked, replaced it with a 2006 one, it also cracked. The plastic just gets brittle over time. I've given up repairing it and covered the hole with some scrap plastic sheeting and double stick tape.

If you're doing timing belt, break loose the crank bolt before taking out the engine. On retightning, service manual probably says 90ftlb's, I'd do 100-110ftlb's.

This sounds way too familiar, I've had a freshly rebuilt 98 sohc skip 6 teeth on the first test drive. It fired up and idles perfect the first two days as I was putting the rest of the car back together. Then on the first test drive, gave it the beans and it was barely idling. Reset the belt the following week and it never skipped again, it's been 5 years now no belt issues.

Oh, you're right. There's no MAF on an '02 nonturbo sohc.

Just for kicks, try starting it with the maf sensor unplugged.

Yes, exactly because it was loose. Tighten to 133ft-lb, treat the procedure like headbolts. Oil up the bolt, clean out crankcase threads, try to torque in big 60 degree sweeps and avoid creaking.

Was it making this noise with the leaky cam seal head before? The new tensioner could blow a seal if it was retensioned too quickly. Either way, have your mechanic look at some of these videos, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=subaru+timing+tensioner+check

slow knocking like that is valve train related; slow pace like sewing machine. piston/rods related knocking is faster like machine gun speed. it doesn't sound like rod knock here.

Yeah, the cover gasket almost never leaks. At least top up the fluid and see how much was missing.

check out some videos about new pad and rotor bedding if you've never done it before. when changing the pads, pull out all the slide pins and discard the plastic bushings on them. reassemble with synthetic brake grease if possible

My bad, the cable is detachable on your model from the hvac unit. You should be able to get to it by taking off the lower drivers side dash only.

The blender door cable is a solid core wire, they last forever. You'd have to take apart the hvac unit to replace the cable anyways. Maybe try cycling the door a lot once it's hot, hopefully it frees up things. Also no way to grease things as the mechanism is inside the hvac unit

I did have a really fubar'ed hole on one block and went with a 12mm stud and 12mm nut. Retapped it to fit the 12mm stud. The water pump housing needed drilling slightly larger, but the fix saved an otherwise usable ej25 block. Luckily the hole was in the center of the pump and barely had enough room to fit the 12mm nut. I'm probably using the wrong terminology, but what I mean was the stud that normally fits in where a 12mm hex head bolt goes. Really not sure the actual size of the stud was, the nut was 12mm hex head. Dug through camera, still have pics