dhopper340

I replaced the intake gaskets when I was there. The one I replaced looked perfect and water got into the cylinders after the new one so I don't think it's the gaskets but maybe it's the mating surfaces. We were thinking head gasket as well and we might get to that point but I'm trying to eliminate anything else before we pull the engine out. Couple things make me think it's not the head gaskets. 1. the cylinders on that side have good compression and the exact same compression as the other side and 2. I would think if a head gasket was leaking it would be a slow leak. This basically filled the entire cylinder with water in like 2 or 3 rotations... that seems like a pretty severe leak like water is just dumping into the cylinders. Anyway I'm going to pick up the intake manifold tomorrow so I run my bore scope through it to inspect it for cracks or anything. I'll post and update after that. Thank you guys for your help!

So my Dad pulled the carb off and the coolant passage was blocked off by the gasket. He also took off the intake manifokd and said he plugged all the ports in the manifold filled it with water through the heater hose. He then saw water dripping out of the intake side. So in summary we are pretty sure the water is leaking into the intake somewhere in the manifold. Has anyone had an intake manifold leak and suck in water like that? Is there a common place where a crack could form between the water and air passages? We will do some more testing and hopefully we can find exactly where it is leaking if it is and hopefully it is repairable.

Hey Bennie thanks for your quick response! we didn't think about water getting in at the carb thats interesting. My dad is going to pull the carb off later today and let me know what he sees. The car is over an hour away in my dad's shop... We initially thought it was water getting into the intake through the gasket so we replaced the intake gaskets. The old ones looked fine no tears or anything obvious and the mating surfaces look good from what we can tell. Next time I'm over there I'll pull the intake off and give it a better look. Any slick way we can test if there is a crack in the intake manifold? Maybe somehow pressurize it with water... For the compression I read that an EA71 can read up to 160 psi I think? I couldn't find a lot of references to that. When they rebuilt the engine they had to bore 40 over and used ea81 pistons (I could not find ea71 pistons). So I was thinking the ea81 pistons probably lowered the compression overall but each cylinder was exactly 120 so I figured that was pretty good and it seemed to run well and idle briefly even without adjusting the carb or timing. if I had a leaky head gasket on the passenger side at least that side would be significantly lower you'd think but it isn't. Thanks, Dustin.

Thanks, I have some extra head gaskets included in a gasket kit i bought. When we have a 120 psi I assumed the head gaskets were good but maybe not... Also I didn't mention we pulled the intake and put new intake gaskets on to see if that was the problem but we put more water in the radiator and still sucked water into cylinder 1 and 3.

Hello all, I want to start by saying that I am new to subaru and working on their engines. I have a 1979 Brat EA71. When I bought it it had a bad cylinder. The EA71 engine was rebuilt by a local Subaru shop. My Dad and I installed the engine with a new weber carb. First we checked all 4 cylinder compression and each was exactly 120. So we decide to try to run it with the radiator out still so no water in the engine. It basically starts right up and idles for about 10 seconds before we killed it. Didn't want it too get too hot. It sounded great actually. So now we are excited and we hook everything else up and fill it with coolant etc. We turn it over and it turns over twice and immediately locks up and won't even turn by hand. We pull the plugs and turn it over again and coolant shoots out of the cylinders on the passenger side (nothing on the drivers side). The cylinders were completely full of water. What the heck? This can't be just a leaking head gasket can it? Could this be a crack in the head? It sucked in so much water in 2 turns of the engine it seems like something bad... If it is sucking water that bad through the head gaskets it wouldn't read 120 psi on those cylinders (1 and 3) would it? Any help would be appreciated we are struggling.

@azdave I had a hell of a time finding the new water pump. The one I finally found on ebay came from Indonesia or something NOS supposedly for EA61 or EA71. I'll see if I can pull out the pulley a bit so it can line up better. Thanks.

@moosens Turns out you were on the right track with the water pump. When I compare the original to the new one everything is identical except the pulley on the new water pump seems to be pressed in slightly more than the original one (maybe a 1/4 inch or less). Otherwise the alternator aligns perfectly with the crank pulley. I was thinking it was the crank pulley the whole time but it is the water pump. Maybe the water pump is for an automatic like you suggested or maybe they just screwed up when they manufactured it... either way I'm going to roll with the new one and hopefully the belt doesn't make a lot of noise or have issues. If it does I'll just switch back to the original water pump which is pretty rusty but seem to function. Thanks for your help!

@moosensThe starter is top center.

@moosens Do you mean water pump? I put on a brand new one I found on ebay for a ea71 that exactly matched the old one (assume it was the original). I'm pretty sure the starter is top center, I'll have my dad double check tonight. The pulley does go over the shaft and into the key but it seems to bottom out before it is fully seated. Doesn't seem like there would be anyway that it would go further in unless the distributor gear wasn't fully seated (is that possible?) or it was the incorrect gear but the distributer itself does seat fine and engage with the gear.

@CrazyeightsWe were thinking of removing the seal and the gear to see this weekend. I will update what we find. @moosensYes it is an internal passage water pump. I assume there are numbers on the engine? I'll have my Dad send me them since the engine is at his place. Could it be possible that the pulley is from a narrow case engine? or maybe the distributor gear?

Hello All, A little background. I bought a 79 Brat with an EA71 last year that had a bad piston. I pulled the motor and took it to a shop that specialized in Subaru engines which was recommended. They machined the heads and block and installed new pistons. I got the motor back from them and began the process of putting installing all of the accessories (new oil pump, water pump, clutch etc.). This is where I am running into my issue. When I brought the motor in the crank pulley was attached. When I brought the motor home they had removed it. Now the pulley does not seem to sit flush and does not align with the water pump pulley. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the motor before because I'm not really sure if it was like this before I took the motor in. The guy that did the work claims he doesn't know why it wouldn't line up and I could bring the motor back to him (it kind of a far drive) but I wanted to ask the community to see if it was something I could fix myself easy enough. See attached pictures of misaligned crank pulley. The picture of the pulley shows the original wear and another pic shows the shinny wear not seated. Any help is greatly appreciated.