wayneb

Rooster2: Youv'e had much better luck with Bosch plugs than me! They fouled in my subie within 2k miles. Nomad327: Thanks for the info about double platinum plugs, didn't know of such a plug. Great description on how to replace plugs! I've found for me that I can replace the passenger side plug easily from below. The driver's side I found through trial and error to do just as you described. One thing I found recently and can't remember where, I bought a long reach plug socket with a swivel end. The socket is about 5 1/2" long and the swivel end is just the right length to attach a ratchet to. Again the rubber tubing works great, learned that trick from working on small block chevy's with headers. Your spark plug replacement should be used as a sticky for others, it's just that good! Thanks again; Waynebh

Hi All; Tine to replace plugs and I know I have to use NGK's,learned the hard way! Does anyone know if platinum or Iridium plugs offer any improvement over stock plugs? Thanks in advance; Wayneb

Hi All; 1998 Legacy out back wagon serial #4S3BG6857W7604569 Went to replace all my idlers & tensioner and bought kit from ebay. The only problem is my tensioner looks like what's shown for the 2.2 motor in my Haynes manual. The newer style tensioner doesn't appear to even have provisions to bolt onto block. Anyone seen this before??? Thanks in advance; Wayneb

Thanks Guys! Had them reversed on both sides! Explains a lot about how it's running! Thanks again; Wayneb

Hi All; Had engine out to repair valve damage from broken timing belt and think I may have wired injectors wrong. How can you tell if they are wired correctly? thanks in advance; Wayneb

Hi All; Talked to guy at maching shop and he suggested looking at valve guides for damage. Did that and didn't notice anything obvious. Next tried pouring alcohol in intake ports with head on side with intakes facing up. Left for 1/2 hour no leaks. Did same with exhaust ports and three of four exhaust valves leaked! Relapped valves and they sealed tight! Next put head on engine and tested compression with cams out. compression wqay up in #2 cylinder, in fact 5psi higher than others. Will try with cams & belt installed tomorrow but I think I found the problem, leaking exhaust valves! Wayneb

Hi Nipper; I replaced the valve and three others on cylinder #1 due to cam belt failure and subsequent cranking causing bent valves. I'll have to try the dykem, I also plan on putting head back on engine and performing compresssion test again after checking/re lapping all four valve seats. The plan is to leave the camshafts off the heads so all valves remain shut and performing compression test by rotating engine with a ratchet on balancer bolt. I think I'll dykem the seats before reassembly. I can also listen for hissing past seats and or pour fluid around seats through ports to test seal Then I think I'll try again with cams and belt in place. I think if head gasket is issue, then I won't be able to get any compression with valves completely closed. If seat is problem then compression test with cams and belt in place should show a big difference. If that doesn't prove successfull then the head is going to a machine shop! Wayneb

Hi Nipper; Could I have had a bad head gasket seal? wayneb

Hi Nipper; Replaced head gasket upon reassembly. Haven't reused gasket assumed that you can only torque it once, is that true? Wayneb

Hi Nipper; Dry #1,3,4 185 to 190 psi. #2 maybe 10 to 15 psi. I suspect a bad exhaust valve seat on valve that was bent and replaced in that cylinder but can't see anything to indicate that. Wayneb

Hi All; Replaced bent valves and re assembled engine, put in car but when started ran terrible! Did compression check and #2 cylinder would not hold compression. At idle vacum wobbled and had dead miss. I pulled engine and checked #2 exhaust valve that was replaced and saw no problem. Anyone have any ideas? Wayneb

Hey Wawalker; Not a problem, just never seen a bent valve before and your comment was the only one I think I saw about it. OWB, ordered parts from 1stsubaru.com yesterday afternoon with overnight shipping and got them today! Great place to buy parts as far as price and availablility. I used them two years ago when I replaced head gaskets. Also great customer service. I can't recommend them enough! Wayneb

Hi All; Found the following: both intakes and 1 exhaust valve bent in #1 and one exhaust valve bent in #2. Interesting in that the valve face was bent on shaft but shaft was staight on all the valves. after reading some of comments about bent valves, I expected shafts to be bent but now that I think about it, the way they bent makes more sense. Just awaiting parts to rebuild. Wayneb

Hi All; Pulled heads and found interesting observation, The exhaust valves on cylinders 1 & 2 had marks on the as though they made contact with the pistons. These are the cylinders that were causing misfire issues, especially #1 which had more prominant marks on exhaust valves. I'm going to pull valves off for inspection tomorrow, I suspect that the exhaust valves on mentioned cylinders will be bent! Overall rest of engine looks great! Wayneb

Hi All; Well it's a no brainer! Compression check showed following: #1-90psi,#2-150psi,#3-185psi,and #4-185psi. I should have the engine out this morning, all that's left to do is pull hood, motor mounts,bellhousing bolts,and flywheel bolts. My next question is should I replace bent valves, have heads rebuilt, or purchase rebuilt heads? Any other suggested repairs/parts to replace whilst engine is out? Thanks for alll your help; Wayneb

Hi All; Engine has 215,000 miles with head gasket./seals/valve job/water pump/timing belt and idlers replaced at 185,000. The lower idler pulley failed which caused the belt to break Thanks for all the input. It appears that the compression test will really tell me where to go from here! I've replaced plugs with NGK and swapped wires with problem remaining on #1 cylinder. I think my biggest problem is I don't believe a valve is bent cause it runs so dang good other than idle, probably have to recalibrate my way of thinking in this matter! WAWALKER Thanks for the info on bent valve inspection. I have a feeling I'm pulling engine/head to check for how many valves are damaged. would have been my next question to forum. I'll update y'all sometime tonight/tommorrow after compression check. Wayneb

Hi Grossgary; Thanks for the ideas. I would think if you unplugged the crank sensor the engine would die. I thought the crank sensor is neccessary for spark. Again with the cam sensor, if unplugged engine should die since it's necessary for injector signal. I wonder if it will behave as I imagine or not? I'll have to let you know what I find. I always thought open/closed loop operation just meant whether the oxygen sensors are being utilized for air/fuel ratio. but then again I learned computer control for autos using GM system, others could be different. Wayneb

Hi Grossgary; The thing that baffles me is that the engine runs smoothly when cold/closed loop conditions. would a bent vavle causing misfire only show up in an open loop condition? Wayneb

Hi All; Cam belt failed recently, replaced and had misfire on #1 & #2(CEL). Replaced cam belt & idler(failed),coil, wires & plugs. The car idles decent when cold but real rough when warmed up. It seems to run real well at speeds, just poorly at idle when warm. I have an actron scan tool that is indicating #1 misfire but only get CEL once engine warms up. Could the cam or crank sensor have been damaged when belt broke? Or perhaps injector problem? I know in previous threads others have suggested bent valve but valve train is real quiet and engine runs great under acceleration. I am going to perform a compression test tomorrow, but my intuition tells me it's something else. Thanks in advance; Wayneb

Hi All; I recently replaced timing belt after belt broke and now engine idles poorly. It runs fine at all other ranges, just idles poorly and CEL shows misfires on clyinders 1 & 2. Could this be minor valve damage? I double checked timing marks and #1 & 2 intake cam was slightly retarded. correcting this issue helped idle some but still is rough. Do I need to replace some bent valves or could perhaps this smooth out in time? OBW, the only other thing replaced was coil pack and plugs. Which I replaced after timing belt to see if that was problem. Thanks in advance; Wayneb

Hi Grossgary; I replaced the cam belt idlers when I did head gasket work. Kinda suprised that this one failed, I suspect seal failure on bearing. What are the symptoms of valve damage? rough running and possible backfires? I'm hoping that this will be minimal, I know form head job that valves seemed recessed in seat a bit so maybe will get lucky. Well, I guess I'll find out this weekend once get back together. Wayneb

Hi All I feel stupid!!! Incorrectly checked signal to coil pack! checked side terminals to ground instead of to positive. Coil ok, ignitor ok. Also incorrectly checked cam sensors! Probably cause they were hard to get to and I was tired. No signal from cam sensors so guess what? pulled cam cover and was a broken timing belt! Hope I didn't damage engine by cranking! Belt failed due to seized lower idler. Hopefully can get parts tommorrow and didn't bend valves from all that cranking! Unfortunately car is in driveway and can't get in garage calling for rain next few days so may be weekend till get back together. Thanks for all the help; Wayneb

Hi Grossgary; My sub has an ignitor module separate from the coil pack and since the coil pack is not getting a switching signal, I kinda think the problem is not the coil but the coil is not getting the signal to discharge. Have you experienced issues with coil packs that lead you to belive it has failed? Or just more likely to fail with age and miles than ignitor? I will test coil pack when I get home this evening for resistance of winding and windings to ground. Wayne

Hi Grossgary; 205,000 miles, I did head gaskets/valve job/water pump/idler/belt at 185,000. No major work recently, just oil changes and tune ups as necessary. Wife's car she was driving home from baltimore,stopped for gas and car died 5 minutes later. I first thought was fuel issue but pump working replaced filter and plenty of pressure. then checked for spark with timing light on all 4 wires with no spark. No check engine light when died but of course it won't start now so can't check. I checked the voltage to coil pack and good to center terminal but obtained no switching pulse to ground from either outer terminal. I checked crank and cam sensors for resistance and pulse and were ok. My feeling now is coil not getting signal but don't quite know how to diagnose ignitor. Port Tobacco is in Charles County west of La Plata, tornado capital of MD Wayne

Hi All; Car died on side of road, no spark. I checked and voltage to coil ok, but no switching on side terminals. checked crank and cam sensors and they checked ok for resistance and ac pulse. How do I check the ignitor? anything else to check? Thanks in advance; Wayneb