Hey all you might remeber me as Cryslr. Been a long time hope everyone is well. I'm a traveling beekeeper know. Anyway my sisters subaru is having some troubles, It was leaking oil bad, so I pulled the motor and replaced the value cover gaskets and tighten the oil filter. Checked the clutch and did a comprisen check, all clyniders within in 25 lbs. Did a full tune up, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. The loss of power and oil leaks where both problems before I pulled motor. Any way, runs good revs high, until you shift into 2nd gear and then it falls on its face. Any clues what this might be??

A shout out to Q-man and Mike

Eric you can eat it.

Jason

Hmm Why did you pull the motor to replace the valve cover seals and do a tune up? Do you have a check engine light on?

Maybe there's something wrong with second gear?

 

Have you tried third?

 

No CEL? If not, does it illuminate during the bulb test when the key is turned to run?

 

Also wondering why the engine was pulled to change VCGs? Seems like a lot of work for something relatively simple.

 

 

durrr... brain fart

Edited March 19, 201016 yr by Fairtax4me

Well it's so easy to pull these motors why not, but real thought it was a rear main or front seal it was puking so much oil. I don't think the check engine lite is on, don't have any tester either. Thought you experts could just tell me whats wrong. Also not near the car for the next few weeks.

Jason

The "experts" have steps to a diagnosis....... What plugs and wires did you use BTW? ONLY use OEM wires or NGK and ONLY use OEM NGK PLUGS!

OK didn't do that, but real don't think thats the problem as it's doing the same thing that it did before I did the tune up. I'm not exactly new at this, started on this site with way back when with my buddies from the hatch patrol. Built lots of lifted subys. Just thought it might be a common problem with a common solution. If you can't help thanks, Jason

Hey all you might remeber me as Cryslr. Been a long time hope everyone is well. I'm a traveling beekeeper know. Anyway my sisters subaru is having some troubles, It was leaking oil bad, so I pulled the motor and replaced the value cover gaskets and tighten the oil filter. Checked the clutch and did a comprisen check, all clyniders within in 25 lbs. Did a full tune up, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. The loss of power and oil leaks where both problems before I pulled motor. Any way, runs good revs high, until you shift into 2nd gear and then it falls on its face. Any clues what this might be??

A shout out to Q-man and Mike

Eric you can eat it.

Jason

 

Could be a MAF. Could be a ground issue. You really need to check codes. Is it drivable so you could go to Autozone or Schucks for a code check? Where is the car now? What did you do with that property btw?

Could be a MAF. Could be a ground issue. You really need to check codes. Is it drivable so you could go to Autozone or Schucks for a code check? Where is the car now? What did you do with that property btw?

 

Don't have to drive it anywhere to check codes, its OBD1. Just connect the little plugs and read away. Which also makes sense why there might not be a code yet, OBD1 was so slow you practically had to set it on fire before it would realize something was wrong.

Hey Q-man long time. The car is on the Olympic pennisula on the Hoh River. Looks like I'm going to have to buy a code reader. As I said I'm not on the Hoh right now, I'm down in California working the bees in the Almonds. Just tring to reconnect and get some ideas. We still have the homestead on the Hoh, I'm married now. Also have a place in North Dakota where I live in the summer when we are running the bees there. Jason

Anyone think this could be some bad values or rings?? Is a 25-30 lb differences on compresion OK??

For an old car that's kinda to be expected. Maybe it could use a valve job and a re-ring, but honestly it's probably not worth the effort. Is that causing your trouble with the loss of power? Probably not unless the compression is significantly low on all 4.

If you had a valve problem you'd have it all the time. Compression should be within 10% high to low regardless of age. If it is outside of that then you may need to look into repair.