subynut

I have not done that, but will do it once the weather calms down. (had no power from 6:30 till about 11 last night - really bad winds!) I have watched it in complete darkness and have had my hands in the area to feel any leakage (not the best way since those sparks are strong and really hurts when you get hit) and did not see or feel anything, my mechanic did some testing and he did not detect any spark leaks either. From listening to the engine, there is a very small stumble, but all our Subarus have a minimum of a small stumble....in fact, my truck has a small stumble and it's got 10 cylinders! During one time while letting the engine warm up via idle, I did have the engine light blink at me while it was just idling - same codes. I have not had it happen since. Will let you guys know.

Yes, I had them checked. 3&4 were fine, 1&2 were out of spec, so, go figure! But, no difference. I'm going to inspect the neutral switch and it's wiring when the weather eases up: 40-60MPH winds and temps in the 40s makes it difficult to work on the car.:-\ Good thing though, it may snow on the weekend so, in the mean time, I'll get to go romping in my truck!

Emily! Long time no hear! I'll look into the IAC to see if that helps the funky cold idle. NSS....that would be interesting if that is what was giving us the grief. Makes you wonder how much the ECM assumes, eh? EPA controlled fuel injection - works great, when it works!:-\ As I kinda figured, the MAF didn't make any difference. But, I had it laying around and figured why not? Will keep you guys and gals updated Thanks, Ted

97 Legacy Outback: EJ25, Manual, has EGR.

Thanks Dean, I will look into that unit some more. I wonder if it is just for Subarus of if it is universal....gonna have to check it out. As far as the bucking, it does not change whether it is warmed up or not. If the air temp is cold, it's worse, but not engine temp. I swapped the MAF with a known good one and reset the computer and will see how it runs. Thanks, Ted

Does anybody know if there is a DIY device that allows you to monitor all the parameters and sensor readings while your driving in a OBD-II Subaru? If I had some sort of data loging maybe I can see what is going on and get a better idea in diagnosing this quirk. Thanks Ted

Well, after talking to the machinist, he said it's a spun main bearing that is blocking off a oil passage and the squeaking sound I hear is that crank bearing/connecting rod assembly running dry. I'm going to price out parts and go from there.

^ Yup.

I'd go after that knock sensor first, then the O2. When was the last time the plugs/wires/pcv were done? Is it running rough? Quirky idle? How's the power output? What kind of primary driving? Maybe it's begging for a nice run out in the country.

The thing that concerns me is that it won't go beyond 2000 rpm. It just doesn't stumble and die like a lack of fuel or spark - it stops dead in it's tracks like you put the brakes on and locked up the tires. Also, It doesn't smoke at all - which is odd. Just sounds absolutely terrible. I think I am going to talk to my machinist and see what he says.

Yeah, a serious bummer....never goes easy.....oh twell, that's the story of my life. :-\ Anyways, since I'm going to need an engine, what year span can I pick from? It's the EJ251 SOHC with 10:1 compression There are no 2002 engines in the entire state, however, there are a few 2003 with ~73k on them for about $1900 with a 90 day warranty and they're 170 miles away! That's half the cost of an engine from CCR with an 1/8 of the warranty. OR What is the extent of damage when an engine starves for oil and stops suddenly? What would need to be replaced? Or do I not want to know?

It all comes down to maintenance and listening to your car. I've cooked a EA82 due to not knowing what the temp limits were, my brother killed a 1st gen EJ22 due to a bad oil pump and ignoring it, and I've got a phase II ej25 with rod knock from the previous owner not watching the oil level. My parents phase 1 EJ25 had the leaking head gasket issue that they ran for 25K miles till the oil contaminated the coolant and locked the thermostat closed and cooked the engine. So far, my experience with engine failures were due to owner error, not Subaru's error. I like the EA82 and Phase 1 EJ22 for their non-interfearance design. However, the only reason I like them is because of my own lazyness of not wanting to replace the t-belts unless they are broken. However, if I DID replace them when they were due, it would prevent one less tow home. Who's fault is that? Mine. {stupid depraved human nature} So, in other words, the EJ25 with the latest head gaskets is just as reliable as the EJ22 as long as you do the regular maintenance and catching any issues before they become catastrophic.

That's what I get for assuming.....she said that it just died, so I figured it was the t-belt. Boy, was I wrong! Pulled the cover off to take a peek and the belt was intact! So, I tried to turn it by hand and it took some rocking, but I got it to spin by hand, tried to start it - very stubburn, but it did eventually start. However, there was a rather loud knock coming from the middle of the engine. It idled a little rough, although when I tried to rev it, with a very loud squeek squeek it stops dead in it's tracks if I get it over 2000. Checked the oil - off the dipstick. I put 2 quarts in just to get it to register - made no difference. I do believe this engine has suffered lack of oil syndrome! Looks like an engine swap. If there is one thing that kills these awesome cars it's lack of maintenence.

The timing belt lets go in a 02 outback with a manual. What would the damage be? Valves, heads, anything else?

Ahhh, but that tells me I am not alone! Yeah, I don't understand how when it's being stupid, the light is out, but when things "feel" normal is when the computer has a fit.

Ok, I swapped the coil pack from the EJ22 off my wagon and the idle is a little smoother than before, but I couldn't do any more diagnosing due to time constraints. What's the difference between the diamond coil pack and the Hitachi coil pack? I did hook up a vacuum gauge to it and it's pretty stable at about 15.5" It has just a little bit of flutter when the cooling fan kicks on/off. I revved the engine and held it there in the RPM range that the misfire code would trip and the vacuum is solid - no fluctuations whatsoever - ~17" depending on how much throttle I was using and, of course, the check engine light stayed off. I did notice a slight valve tap from both haeds, donno if that could cause a misfire or not. Does the EJ25 DOHC have solid lifters or hydraulic? Mom and my sister are taking the car to Phoenix, ~170 miles away, wish I could drive so I could gather more data, but I must work that day. Some more data to chew on while I diagnose this quirky thing. Thanks, Ted

When I did the EJ conversion on my carbed 86, the feed lines from the tank were smaller on the carb pump than the fuel injected pumps. I just picked up some adaptors to go from the smaller lines from the tank to the FI pump. I did the same thing for the return line.

Cats usually go bad from too rich of a mixture and they get too hot (Usually a sure sign is rotten eggs smell.) and melt down the catalyst grid in them causing a blockage which makes the exhaust accellerate and heat up more which makes it hotter and volia! Blocked cat. When it goes you'll get a whisle under full throttle and when it fully plugs, the intake noise goes WAY up. But by then, the power will be so low, it takes 2 miles just to get to 55! Assuming the engine has been properly tuned up, here are a few experiments to try: Feel the exhaust pulses coming out of the tail pipe: does it have a slight pulse to it or is there practically nothing coming out? Disconnect each exhaust pice and see how it drives. Start with the mufler section: no difference except loud? Good, move on to the center section and go for a test drive, still no difference? Then the front cat/y-pipe is the problem. Remember, you will get some performance boost since there is less piping for the exhaust to work through, however, you should mainly just have more noise. I've also read that if you leave the exhaust plugged for too long it tends to burn exhaust valves.

If the cat is in good shape, you will not notice it is there. I have left the first cat in place on all my EJ swaps - no reason to add more work. If it's good, leave it; unless you drive near redline more than 90% of the miles on the road, then I could see a tuned exhaust; but who drives race cars on the street?

That's very interesting....did they do true duals or was there a cross pipe?

True, but also at the cost of handling and major fabrication of the front end to relocate the radiator - that's one LONG engine. I could go to a EZ30D, but I am limited to how much power I can generate since the heads have a single exhaust port for each side. If I had the funding, I'd go EZ30R, but not on my salary. So, I will stick with the 2.5. Besides, like you said, the torque out of that EG33 would rip my poor wagon in two!

TheLoyale: The reason for the 2.5 instead of the 2.2 is more displacement and 10:1 compression = more torque! Since I'm sticking to a N/A build, I need all the displacement I can get. Oh, and prolly no more than 2" pipes if I go true duals, anything larger and I will be working against the pipes instead of with them. CHIM: That's awesome! Love the lifted ea81 bodies. Good looking roo!

Hi guys, I drove my Dad's 97 Outback (EJ25, 5sp manual, all stock, 207K on the clock) today and boy was that an experience! I got the misfire on just cyl 3 today, however, dad has been complaining that it usually complains about 3 and 4 on every drive. Plugs are Subaru new, same with the wires. Now onto the interesting drive to work today: When I fired it up, all seemed normal: running at about 1700 till I touched the throttle then every time I pushed the clutch in it would climb to 3k then slowly work it's way back to about 1000. Once it warmed up, the idle was slightly rough at ~650. It bucks (sometimes quite violently) with the throttle just off the idle switch whether it's warmed up or not. While driving in the 2-3k rpm range at light throttle (trying to keep it from bucking), the check engine light was blinking away at me. Now, during that time it was blinking, it felt fine - did not feel any hesitation whatsoever. But the computer thought there was something wrong. I checked the codes when I arrived at work and it had 1 count of a misfire on cyl 3. A little history: The car has always had a slight hesitation right off idle - annoying, but "within reason". Car gets excellent mileage: 25 all city, 30 out on the highway, ~27 mixed. The head gaskets blew and made a royal mess about 20K miles ago and we swapped the engine. Ever since I pulled that thing, we have have had the misfire on 3 and 4. Although, it was very rare and usually happened under very harsh driving or very long freeway runs back then. Now, if your in the 2-3K rpm at part throttle, that CEL will blink and blink and blink. When you check the codes there is usually one count of a misfire on 3 and 4. Never 1 or 2. The CEL will stop blinking if you go to WOT and sometimes will go out if you stay on the floor long enough. - that don't make any sense! I have checked connections, traced wiring thinking I pulled something during the swap, I have checked for vacuum leaks, checked the impedance of the coil pack: within spec - may try swapping it with another I have laying around to see if anything changes, Cleaned the MAF - had my mechanic check it and he said it was within spec. O2 sensors are no older than 5k miles and from Subaru. I talked to the techs at CCR and they have no idea. I tried calling that Suby specialist place (can't think of the name - they were at WCSS9 with that white high mileage 1st gen legacy) and they said without driving the car, it's very hard to diagnose over the phone. Which I can understand - I have the same issue trying to fix a computer over the phone. Could the computer be on the fritz? Although $250 is a rather expensive test since the wrecking yards won't take them back - none within a 200 mile radius. What I don't get is why when the car is running it's roughest, the computer doesn't throw any codes, whereas when it drives fine, the CEL blinks it's way to the next county! Any brilliant ideas? Thanks, Ted

Without a muffler of some sort, yes, it would sound terrible. When we did the EJ22 conversion, he didn't get the exhaust done immeadiately so it ended right after the cat. Boy, was that LOUD! It sounded terrible too. I heard a EA71 with straight pipes - that sounded mean, but way too loud for street driving. However, if I use a set of glasspacks or turbo mufflers, that should keep the noise at a reasonable level, but still sound mean with duals. I toyed with doing duals on the EA82 in my old 86 wagon, but decided against it due to lack of low rpm torque. Since the new engine will be 2.5L, that's 1250cc per side. Should be able to find a good pipe size with that. Anybody know what the size of the EJ22 y-pipe is? I know it's double walled to keep the noise down. That's option A, option B would be get a set of equal length headers, resonator, and an STi muffler to put on there. Quiet, but deadly. The other thing with true duals is whether the ECU will be able to compensate for the fact that it's only seeing half the exhaust gasses....If it goes nuts, then I will have to use option B. Choices choices..... On a side note...drove my dad's 97 outback (207K on the clock) to work today and boy is that thing picky - bucks with the throttle just off the idle switch, check engine light blinks at me at part throttle with the RPM in the 2-4k region, when it's cold it can't make up it's mind what rpm it wants to run at, checked the codes after arriving at work and said it had 1 count of misfire cyl 4. Strange....after a drive like that it normally gives a misfire on 3 and 4. Tell you what, that's one funky subaru. Looks like I have my work cut out on that one.

Thinking of going true dual exhaust on the PandaWagon......Would be loud as all get out, but a ej25 would sound awesome that way! Putt putt one side then putt putt the other, repeat! Question is what woud the ideal pipe size be? However, first.....gotta find an EJ25 to stuff in it!:-\