Some of you may remember I had a pulley sieze and crash a few valves on my 99 2.2 Impreza. I installed a new belt, all new pulleys/tensioner (from EBay) and had the heads done. All was good, until yesterday, When it got cold in the AM (38 deg). Now I have a thumping or loud ticking but only until things warm up.

 

My first thought was the oil filled tensioner, any one had any problems with the E Bay kits?

 

Won't have tim to tear into it until the weekend, meanwhile my wife has it up in Denver for the week.

 

Any thoughts :-\

 

 

Bill

Could be lifter noise. When was the last oil change? What brand of filter do you use?

Oil was changed at same time as the repair, less than 1K miles.

Puralator Pure 1 and Castrol GTX.

 

 

Bill

probably is a lifter...but thought i would share this experience with you. In May I looked at a 2002 legacy GT...all seemed good. when I went to buy it...started it up and I hear a rythmic ticking sound coming from what I thought was the drivers side head/front of camshaft area

Bought the car anyway

When I went under it, later, all it was was the exhaust heat shield right below the block...stck a naik in it as a wedge and sound was gone. I was sure that it was coming from the engine...but wasn't

I hope I can find a similar problem, and not a lifter.

A lifter means a head job again, right?

 

Do you mean a stuck lifter?

 

 

Bill

Collapsed, sticking, dirty. Some MMM and an oil change should shut it up. Do you use the high mileage mix or plain old GTX?

Some MMM and an oil change should shut it up. Do you use the high mileage mix or plain old GTX?

 

 

OK I'll bite what is MMM, I use the regular in the subie, Did not think 120K was HIGH, "for it" Should I go with the high mileage mix?

Only one potential problem with the lifter theory...

Your engine might not have hydraulic lifters. Somebody who knows a bit more about the changes in the EJ22 across the years will have to chip in and confirm.

 

Marvels Mystery Oil. Typo, my bad. The high mileage stuff has extra detergents in it and some other additives that help prevent things like sticking or collapsed lifters. It's the next best thing besides switching to full Synthetic.

Edited September 22, 200916 yr by Fairtax4me

OH, hydraulic lifters, don't think so, not in this one.

Just a cam and valve springs!

So what is the MMM?

 

and... That brings me back to the tensioner possibility?

 

 

Bill

Well there's an adjuster in there for the valve lash. That would probably make a good bit of racket all the time if it was out of whack though.

 

As far as the tensioner. Could be possible, but I think the only way to find out for sure would be to pull the covers off and start the engine.

Do you have a mechanics stethoscope? Those are helpful when hunting around for strange sounds.

 

 

edit: It should have been MMO. Marvels Mystery Oil.

Well there's an adjuster in there for the valve lash. That would probably make a good bit of racket all the time if it was out of whack though.

 

As far as the tensioner. Could be possible, but I think the only way to find out for sure would be to pull the covers off and start the engine.

Do you have a mechanics stethoscope? Those are helpful when hunting around for strange sounds.

 

 

edit: It should have been MMO. Marvels Mystery Oil.

 

OK, MMO makes more sense, this wekend i'll pull out the stethoscope

and pop the covers and do some hunting. If it is the tensioner may be an obvious and visual thumping. I just Hope she don't skip a tooth in the meantime if it is the tensioner.

Turns out it is the tensioner, the belt was so loose that it was

slapping around as it turned, glad it did not skip a tooth or more.

 

I re-did the tensioner and it was fine for a bit, then the same thing,

seems the tensioner is not pivoting on the main mounting nut but is

rigid and when the belt gets going, adds tension. This in turn pulls

up on the tensioner, but being rigid and not pivoting, does not add

tension in the downward direction.

 

Seems this E Bay kit was the problem. I am going to get a OEM

one and that should fix the problem.

 

I hope the pulleys are not crap like the tensioner, or "another

head job"!

 

Bill

Turns out it is the tensioner, the belt was so loose that it was

slapping around as it turned, glad it did not skip a tooth or more.

 

I re-did the tensioner and it was fine for a bit, then the same thing,

seems the tensioner is not pivoting on the main mounting nut but is

rigid and when the belt gets going, adds tension. This in turn pulls

up on the tensioner, but being rigid and not pivoting, does not add

tension in the downward direction.

 

Seems this E Bay kit was the problem. I am going to get a OEM

one and that should fix the problem.

 

I hope the pulleys are not crap like the tensioner, or "another

head job"!

 

Bill

 

Glad you caught it, but this is why i am against Ebay parts. this could have cost you another major repair.

 

 

nipper