Car was fine until I had an abrupt loss of power and rough engine on the highway. The power loss is so extreme I can barely make it up steep hills.

 

I was able to determine that the car will run on either driver's side cylinder by itself, but won't run on either passenger side cylinder by itself. (it's 2.2 4 cylinder engine).

 

I replaced both passenger side spark plugs (gapped correctly) and replaced both distributer cables. Still didn't fix it. When I pulled the old spark plugs out they were saturated in oil - so bad that my socket piece was dripping oil all over the ground.

 

I was able to determine sparks are coming from all 4 connections on the coil pack, so I assume that's fine.

 

I'm guessing the half the engine seemingly quit due to the oil leak. The car loses a lot of oil and has to be filled up every two weeks.

 

Is this correct and is this engine hosed?

 

Thanks

This is just a guess as I am not a pro. I would say that the engine is likely in need of service. The first order of business is to do a compression test. If you do not have the equipment to do this yourself you may need to pay someone to do it for you. But, if you lost power in two adjacent cylinders and it happened at the same time I am guessing that it is a head gasket.

 

Just remember, I am not a pro.

 

Steve

First guess is timing belt jumped.

 

If one head is working and the other is not.

 

If it were electrical opposing cylinders would be missing.

First guess is timing belt jumped.

 

If one head is working and the other is not.

 

If it were electrical opposing cylinders would be missing.

Good thinking! That had completely slipped my mind. I'll check it out as that's a likely candidate. Thanks.

Just take both ends of the timing belt covers off (3 10mm bolts each IIR).

 

See if they are both lined up. Because it's likely they are not. It's sounding like the crank and drivers cam (which happen to be where the sensors are) are o.k., and the pass side is off.

 

An observation is that the R side valves usually bend first.

 

I'm disassembling engines now. If you need anything PM me. I just scrapped some really nice 97 heads but will have more soon.

 

I will be leaving for the weekend tomorrow noonish though I hope.

valve cover gaskets?

i don't really know how bad oil in the spark plug tubes can be? but water in the tubes will do what you have described. of course the ''suddeness'' is probably not oil related.

 

timing is a good starting place.

 

you said it was a ej22 in a 97 outback.

 

what year ej22?? this will help determine if bent valves are a possibility.

When you say the car loses a lot of oil, do you mean it leaks on the ground or that it just dissapears as in burning it?

it sounds like he said that there was oil in the part of the valve cover where you access your plugs could there have been grounding out do to the oil? just a thought.

get the odd ig mod that loses one side but whould be dead on 2/4 or 3/1 and is very rare to go bad timing belt or burnt valve or the idle moter is come unpluged they send the injector pulse through the idle moter to give it its signal if its unpluged or damaged will not fire #1 injector put a noid light on injector and look for injector pulse

Looks like a shredded timing belt to me. Why would this happen? Would it be worth it realign the sprockets, replace the belt and hope for the best? Could this have ruined the engine?

 

Thanks

 

What year is that engine?

 

That belt was WAY past it's prime.

 

Looks like when th e2.2 was put in they didn't put a new belt on it.

time for a complete timing kit.

 

as long as you are under the car taking pics, take one of , or at least look at, the exhaust y-pipe where it bolts on to the head. if it is dual port you are safe. if it is single port more research is needed.

 

or pull the valve cover and take a pic of the lash adjusters.

HLAs = non interference.

It's a dual port where it connects to the head. I almost have the old timing belt off. What else is needed other than replacing the timing belt?

 

Thanks

all idlers and the ware pump. plus ant seals that are leaking.

 

actually since it is a non-interference engine (dual port heads = '95 non-interference) you don't HAVE to do any thing else. but if you don't do it now you will right back here next year. do everything and you will be done for 60k miles.

 

chances are pretty good that there is something else broken, like an idler for instance. but as you take it apart you will see / find the bad stuff.

Idler kit.

 

cam seals (OEM) or the last ones form theimportexperts looked good.

Crank seal (see above)

the 2 Orings (dealer item) one for back of pass head, one fron tof drivers head by cam sensor.

 

WP (I like the rubber coated metal ones like the dealer has).

 

Timing belt

 

Accessory belts.

 

New coolant

Does anyone know how to remove the crankshaft pulley? Putting the car in 5th and applying the brakes doesn't hold it in place. It's been said to jam a screw driver into the transmission to stop it from rotating but the engine's in the way. I can't put a screw driver through one the holes because there's nothing but the plastic cover to provide support. Does anyone know where I might be able to get the proper tool to remove this? Auto parts stores don't have it.

 

Thanks

Edited June 12, 201213 yr by DavieGravy

are you talking about the crank pulley bolt?

 

use the starter bump method.

put a breaker bar on the bolt and brace it against the car frame at the battery. then bump the starter. presto change-o the bolt is lose.

 

pulling the pulley off of the crank shaft is a different matter. it should slide off by hand. but i may need some slight persuasion or maybe a puller.

 

careful not to crack your timing covers.

Thanks, the bolt loosened with that method. But after taking the bolt out the pulley won't come off.

Edited June 12, 201213 yr by DavieGravy

I was able to pull it off. There's an awful lot of belt shreddage here. Could something have seized? You can see in the below picture of the timing belt cover. All of that stuff is pieces of the old belt.

 

I removed the old belt before the cam sprockets were centered. Is it OK to move them individually or do I need to put the belt back on?

If the crank is ligned up thats about all you can do before moving the cams

I didn't line the crank up. Do I need to?

Align crank first.

 

Then align cams.

 

IIR this was a 95 2.2 because it had dual port exhaust?

 

If so you're safe anyways.

 

But with the crank lined up all the pistons should be out of the way of the valves.

check and replace the coged idler pully that bolts to water pump I change it evry time i do a belt and it fails alot good time to change water pump to