Rastrahouse

I got the engine stripped down and found what I thought I would; the #3 rod bearing fell out of the rod and looks as if it was running with no oil on it, even though it came out soaked in oil. The surface looks like it had melted and flowed sideways. This is the same bearing that failed originally. The baring caps were torqued properly; I was worried that it might have come loose. What could cause this? Could the oil passage in the crank be blocked? How would I check or fix this?

A completely dry start would have been incredibly stupid. I hose it down with breaklean since my shop space doubles as a wood shop and is impossible to get absolutely clean. I coated each bearing with hyperlube (similar to lucas). The pistons were left dry, as recommended by the machine shop and the factory manual. I did not prime the pump and oil filter but had to spin it quite a bit before running it much; I forgot to connect a large vacuum hose, so there was plenty of oil in it by the time I got it running much. The bearing clearances were between .0016 and .0018. I have read a few articles about Subaru bearing tolerances being tighter than industry norms with recommendations to open them up to as much as .003 to improve oil flow and cooling. Apparently Subaru has done that on later engines.

I had all 4 rods reconditioned. I did verify the clearance of all 4 with plastigage; they were at the high end of the spec, which is what I asked for (better oil flow). The block was cleaned by the machine shop, and I rinsed it again with brakeclean before assembling it. I changed the oil after I noticed the problem (I planned to at 500 miles anyway) and it came out mostly clean, with a bit of of brown residue on a rag. The first 500 were with a straight 30wt oil.

I just finished a complete overhaul (rings, bearings, valve job, grind crank, surface heads and block) on my 99 legacy GT (2.5L DOHC E25D) because it has spun the #3 rod bearing. I also upgraded the oil pump to the STI pump, thinking that more flow would help prevent the problem in the future. I was very happy with the results (stronger and smoother than it has been for a long time) until last weekend when it started ticking again with about 500 miles the on engine. It sounds like the original failure, not as loud, but getting worse quickly. On a cold start the ticking is very loud and quickly quiets down as the oil pressure comes up. After that the sound is quiet at idle, but get louder at higher revs. Is it possible for a rod bearing to fail that quickly? I thought about valve adjustments, but I wouldn't expect them to change that quickly, And I wouldn't expect them to quiet much as the oil pressure comes up (mechanical cam follower, no hydraulics). One interesting note, on the same trip that I noticed the ticking noise, I also found an oil leak. It is just enough to wet the heat shield at the junction of the two header pipes at the rear of the motor, and make a little smoke and smell. It's only intermittent. I'm guessing that it is the rear main seal, and that I tore it putting it in. All this really put a damper on what started out a very fun drive. This was the first time I was willing to open it up for any amount of time; I got to pass a few times on a clear road and was able to accelerate hard through the top three gears. 4500 in 5th gear is starting to be real fun, with the engine still pulling hard. Any suggestions would be appreciated; I'm back to driving the Suburban until I figure this out..

Thanks for the suggestions! The big hose to the idle air controller was disconnected. I also cleaned all of the grounds and the large connectors to the engine electricals. It started right up and the fuel gauge works. The Temp gauge was trapped at the top, and a few bangs on the dash freed it. Everything works and I drove it to dinner. I now have the first 8 miles on my rebuilt motor, that runs smother than it did originaly. I have to look at the tachometer to make sure that it is running at idle. Now I need to have the patience to wait to play until it is broken in.

I disconnected the fuel line front the filter and verified that I get fuel flow out of it when the pump is on. I will double check the ground point, all three of them.

99 Legacy GT 2.5 30A I just reinstalled my engine after a full rebuild (spun a rod bearing at 160K), and was very happy when it fired up almost immediately. But after 3 seconds it died, sounding like it had run out of fuel. This repeats every time I start it. If I press the accelerator the engine dies. Observations: Fuel Pump: I verified that the fuel pump works, it pumps for one second after the key is turned on, not the two seconds that the manual says it should, and never comes back on after the engine starts. I put power direct to the pump so that it runs all of the time, but that made no difference. The temp gauge is pegged at maximum The fuel gauge is pegged at empty; this is after I poured in a few gallons to make sure there is some in the tank. I know that there is more, but I don’t know how much. The car has been siting for 18 months, and the engine was out for 6 months. I almost trashed the car, but decided that I can't afford to replace it with anything nearly as much fun to drive, and my son wanted to help fix it. Is it possible that the ECU is seeing the false overheat reading and shutting it down? Any ideas where I might look? I’m anxious to drive this car again; I’m tired of driving my Suburban to work.

The valve adjustment looks similar to my old SAAB 99 Turbo; cup followers with shims, between the cam and the valve. It took me all afternoon to get it right; but it was good for 100k miles. I'm really looking forward to that part of the rebuild:-\. I found a set of FSMs at http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/. They don't have the legacy GT, but the outback look about the same. If you have a source for the matching manual I would be grateful. My kids are 12 and 15, the perfect age. My 12 year old daughter is even more exited than my son:).

The timing belts was from an incompetent shop that started out with an aftermarket tensioner. I caught it before the belt broke, but after it had skipped a tooth on one cam. They replaced it under waranty with a Subaru part this time. The second one was also a failed tensioner, my new shop caught it before it broke, the old shop paid for it again. The new shop tells me that even the Subaru tensioners occasionally fail early; they had one fail 5 minutes after a rebuild, during their checkout. It destroyed the motor and they had to replace it. The new shop also tells me that the valve guide on #4 can be a real problem on the DOHC motor. For some reason it gets more heat that the others. They have seen a number of these. The only reason I am considering rebuilding this is that both of my kids are interested in learning how. The education opportunity make it all worthwhile.

ZundFolge, How did the rebuild go? What did you find when you got it apart? I am about to tear into a 99 legacy GT with the same symptoms; It suddenly (over about 5 miles) developed a nasty bottom end knock. This has been the engine from H*ll; 3 timing belts (the tensioners kept failing), blown head gasket, Valve guides that get pushed out of position (twice) causing burned valves. I have doubts about rebuilding it, but I gotta have a car, and it is still cheaper that a new one.

Found it, Thanks! http://www.northursalia.com/techdocs/trannychart/trannychart.pdf TY754VCAAB 1st 3.545 2nd 2.111 3rd 1.448 4th 1.088 5th 0.78 Final drive 4.111

What is trranychart?

How do I find out what the gear and final drive ratios are for my 1999 legacy GT 2.5L 30A with a 5 speed manual are? I am trying to figure out the shift points for the best acceleration.

I just had the timing belt tesioner fail in my 99 legacy GT. The timing belt and tensioner were replaced by my shop 3 years ago, and this spring the car started running a little rough and idling very poorly. turned out that the belt had jumped a tooth on intace cam on the odd cylinder bank and the timing belt was trashed; it had been rubbing the timing cover. Fortunately for me, the shop paid for the whole job, it was just out of waranty and could have been very expensive.