dave833

Funny you should say that-- because it ended up taking me about 4 hours. I dropped the exhaust, but the exhaust nuts weren't the problem, one of the motor mount nuts was. I ended up rounding it off (with a 6-point impact socket even!) and had to cut it with a dremel and a cutoff wheel. Oh, and then when I went to put everything back together, the motor mount studs were about 1/4" out of alignment with the crossmember holes. It took a lot of jacking, jockeying and prying to get them lined up again. Oh by the way-- did I mention the cover plate WASN'T EVEN ATTACHED TO ANYTHING. It had completely broken off its mounts. I pulled it out and threw it away since that area of the transmission is protected by the crossmember. Obviously if I'd known it wasn't attached I'd have just pulled it out... I guess all's well that ends well! I really hope I don't have to do that again. Ever.

OK well that was easy to diagnose-- the bottom cover over the flexplate/torque converter has come loose and is rattling. As I recall that cover was bent/damaged when the engine was changed and the bolts probably weren't tightened sufficiently. Fixing it is another matter since the bolts are inaccessible behind the crossmember. At least it's nothing serious, just bothersome.

've run out of ideas trying to diagnose an internal engine rattling and scraping noise on my 07 OBW 3.0 EZ30 H6. It sounds like a chain dragging across metal or gravel shaking in a tin can. It's worse when the car is cold, then it mostly goes away as the car warms up and only happens if I'm making a right turn. If the car is cold, stopped, and idling, I can make it go away by lifting/pushing the left side of the engine up a little. Engine has about 150k miles on it-- not exactly sure because it's one of those Japanese replacement engines. I was fairly certain it was timing chain related so I removed the front cover and inspected the chain. I could see no rubbing or excessive wear or play in the chain anywhere or on the guides. I had purchased two new authentic Subaru chain tensioners so I installed those and buttoned everything back up. There was NO change in the noise-- the new tensioners had no effect. I ran the engine without the accessory belt and the noise was still there so I know it's not an external accessory. It's not motion-related, I turned off the engine when it was making the noise with the car in motion and the noise stopped immediately. I drained and replaced the oil with 5w30 synthetic and that had no effect on the noise either. I'm stumped!

Gone to the junkyard today-- never did find out what was wrong with it.

I wouldn't use anything but Subaru OE head gaskets on an EJ25, but does anyone have any experience with aftermarket HGs on an Ez30 3.0? Yeah, I know they "never blow" but sometimes they do.

I checked my timing cover bolts last night-- all 57 of them-- and they appear to be rust-free, thankfully! Not that it means there isn't hidden rust, but the superficial inspection looks promising.

Yes I got it cheap-- $850-- and it's in very nice condition otherwise. Obviously well cared for. I picked it up at an auction where cars are sold that have been donated to charity, among others, which this one was. The mechanical condition wasn't disclosed, just that it was "running and driving." Well, what seemed to be a spectacular deal is turning out to be maybe just a good deal if I do all the work. Should I change the water pump while I'm in there?

Yeah... not looking forward to keeping track of 56 bolts of different sizes! I replaced the head gaskets on Subaru's other "bulletproof" H6-- the EG33-- in an SVX, in an unheated garage, in January in Utah with the engine still in the car. This couldn't be any harder than that, could it?

Yeah... I know they're not supposed to fail on the EZ30, but apparently this one I just bought did. It overheated twice in the past two days, Bouncy temp gauge needle (never pegged in the red) some bubbles in the overflow tank but the tank never flooded over, and the coolant was drawn back into the radiator when it cooled down. I got a block tester and the magic blue fluid turned yellow when I revved the engine with the tester connected to the line from the radiator to the overflow tank. So before I approach the exciting prospect of yanking the engine and doing the HGs (I've done EJ25 and EG33 HG's before, but never EZ30s because they don't fail, right?) are there any of these "head gasket fix" additives that might work for an HC into coolant leak like I have? What about the Subaru coolant conditioner? BTW: The car has 170k miles.

Yeah... I know they're not supposed to fail on the EZ30, but apparently this one I just bought did. It overheated twice in the past two days, Bouncy temp gauge needle (never pegged in the red) some bubbles in the overflow tank but the tank never flooded over, and the coolant was drawn back into the radiator when it cooled down. I got a block tester and the magic blue fluid turned yellow when I revved the engine with the tester connected to the line from the radiator to the overflow tank. So before I approach the exciting prospect of yanking the engine and doing the HGs (I've done EJ25 and EG33 HG's before, but never EZ30s because they don't fail, right?) are there any of these "head gasket fix" additives that might work for an HC into coolant leak like I have? What about the Subaru coolant conditioner? BTW: The car has 170k miles.

I've done head gaskets on these before, but to be honest this car's a beater on its last legs and isn't worth investing much more time and money in. It hasn't been taken care of, and replacing the head gaskets won't change the poor condition it's in otherwise.

I pulled 4 CEL codes and there was one for cylinder 4 misfire, one for something to do with the evap system, one that was "manufacturer control" or something, and one other generic code of some kind. Nothing that related to the crank sensor, but I'll probably replace it anyway just to see what happens. New ones are pretty cheap.

My dad's '99 Outback overheats occasionally-- I suspect the head gaskets are on the way out- anyway, it was being driven on the freeway a few nights ago and began to overheat so the driver pulled over, let it cool down, added coolant and then attempted to start it, but it wouldn't start. He towed it to my house and I attempted to get it to start. There appears to be no spark coming from the coil pack- I've pulled a plug wire, stuck in a nail, and touched it to metal on the engine-- no spark. I substituted another coil pack which I'm fairly sure was good, and still no spark. I substituted a couple different ignition modules and that made no difference either. I looked at all of the fuses and fusible links I could think of and they were all good. When I crank it over it at least sounds like it has some compression. The timing belt is still on the pulleys-- I replaced it myself for him about 15k miles ago. So I'm scratching my head here-- is there a sensor or sensors involved that triggers the coil to spark that could have gone out? I can't see why the engine overheating would prevent the coil from generating a spark. Anyone have any other ideas? It does appear to be getting fuel-- I even sprayed some starter fluid into the throttle body.

If it's only jumped timing or the timing belt is off, you might first try just putting on a new timing belt before you yank the heads off. There's a slight possibility it will run ok. That happened with my dad's '99 Outback, he let the timing belt go and it broke. We put a new one on and it actually runs OK.

The clutch is locked up and the pulley is turning-- as for what's going on inside the compressor I can't say. I'm experienced enough to say it looks to me like the compressor is turning correctly.