hi every one another newbie here. i was wondering if any one could help me out . hubby got me a 1990 legacy which had been sitting for awhile before we got it. took it for a drive and parked it for a couple of hours then started it to come home. hubby thinks it has done the head casket and not sure what else . we have had trouble locating any one in the geelong area who knows anything about the legacy motors. we have an ej20d. we have found a ej20 motor on ebay that comes with motor, trans and wiring from a 2002 forrester. would this motor go into my 1990 legacy? 

I'm not familiar with the ej20d, cars in the US market never had that engine code.

Either way, because of its age and differences in electronics you will need to source an engine from Legacy in the same year range. 1989-1994 roughly.

 

If it just has bad head gaskets, those are easily replaceable. I'd like to know the reasons why he thinks it needs head gaskets though. Did it overheat? Does it run rough (shaky/vibrating) after sitting? Were there bubbles in the coolant reservoir? Did the coolant boil over or overflow out of the reservoir? Any smoke from the exhaust?

Is the engine making noises like loudly knocking or ticking?

no knocks rattles or bangs, bubbles in radiator , didnt over heat but smelt hot temperature gauge showed  normal, running very rough . wouldnt idle. green power light on  and wouldnt turn off .ej20d(2litre double over head cam non turbo)

IMO it's usually better to fix what you have.

 

Head Gaskets aren't a bad job.

 

Yank the engine and reseal it including the baffle plate in the back, new crank and cam seals.

 

I leave the rear main seal alone.  Usually it's NOT what is leaking in the rear and replacement usually leaks.  Better left untouched IMO.

thanks for the advise will look into sourcing parts for my subi

 

no knocks rattles or bangs, bubbles in radiator , didnt over heat but smelt hot temperature gauge showed normal, running very rough . wouldnt idle. green power light on and wouldnt turn off .ej20d(2litre double over head cam non turbo)

Imho That doesn't sound like a head gasket. Unless your saying there was bubbles in the rad, I'm not sure.

Edited May 5, 201312 yr by mikaleda

Smelled "hot" is usually burning oil or grease from a leaking seal or split axle boot.

If the car sat for a while (several weeks or months) before being driven there could have been residue or cobwebs on the exhaust pipes and they usually make a strange smell.

If its running rough I would look into nothing more than a tune-up to start with. Plugs, wires, PCV valve, air and fuel filters. Check for split vacuum hoses and check the hoses for the breather and PCV system. (The ones that run from the valve covers up to the intake pipe)

Maybe run some fuel system cleaner with a tank of fresh gas before changing the fuel filter.

running rough suddenly ... my guess is the timing has jumped a tooth or two.

 

but it could be some thing really simple. lose wire, or a vac leak.

 

it is going to take some investigation to figure it out.

 

check all the wore connections under the hood, especially the spark plug wires.

 

buy some carb cleaner and spray it around the smaller vacuum hoses under the hood. if the idle picks up you have found the vac / intake leak.

 

remove the timing covers on the cam sprockets, 4 big roundish things on the front of the engine, 2 each side.

check to see if the timing hash marks line up correctly.

 

below is a pic of timing marks for the ej25 engine.

but if i know subaru, it is identical for the ej20 engine.

all the timing for marks SOHC ej engines are the same 89 - 04.

so it stands to reason all the DOHC timing will be the same too.)

 

Edited May 6, 201312 yr by johnceggleston

Hi,

If the POWER light is on that points to / indicates a transmission related issue, too. If the POWER light flashes at start-up that means it's throwing a code - similar to the 'CEL/Check engine light', which can be retrieved using this INFO.

 

And if it's running that bad, the CEL is likely on and those codes can be checked using this INFO.

 

Gl,

Td

Edited May 6, 201312 yr by wtdash

thanks to every one so far we have a bit more understanding now  so a big thank you