So my fiance owns a legacy L and she ran into some trouble the other day. she left work just like normal and then about two or three miles down the road her car just shut off. When she started it again it made a sound like it wasn't running on all cylinders. It starts but idles really rough and slowly loses speed until it shuts off. Her dad has decided that he should replace the engine because there was very little oil in it and he thinks she broke a cam lobe. I don't know if I agree with his decision but he has decided to here in a little while replace her engine which seems a bit on the drastic side. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do so we don't have to replace the entire engine?

I've never heard of an ej22e with a broken camshaft, it's something that they're not prone to do. Does the car have a check engine light on, if so you'll want to get that scanned to see what it says. What if any noises does the engine make when running? Was the oil level visible on the dipstick when it was checked?

The oil was not visible, but the car makes a thumping chuffing (I guess) and it slowly idles down till it dies, also it was throwing an evap code before the incident but we haven't gotten it check since then

Jumping to the conclusion that it has a broken cam lobe is ridiculous. Nobody can really say what's wrong with it until you do a bit of digging and see what's up. In my experience of 2.2s running out of oil..... they seize up good and solid. It's anyone's guess until you run some diags.

Without basic diagnostics or a video/audio file my wild guess would be fuel pressure.  But it's a wild guess without more info.

 

If you want the help of the board in coming up with a diagnosis then we need some information.

 

First, submodel (L, LS, GT, etc...) of car and engine size (i.e. ej22, ej25, etc...)

Pull any codes (harbor freight has code readers for around $10) and post them here.

 

Take a video of what is happening and post it up here.

 

That will give us enough basic info to start throwing real ideas, not guesses, at you for what is actually wrong.

Edited May 7, 201510 yr by lstevens76

Kinda sounds like a fuel pressure problem.

Worst case it jumped timing. Pull the timing covers off and check that the notches on the outer edge of the cam sprockets line up with the notches in the rear cover. Check the belt for frays and cracks. New timing kit is about $200 on eBay with tensioner water pump and all the idlers.

+1 to the comments above.  However, the most likely source of a 90's car stalling suddenly.

 

Fuel pump failure

MAF failure

 

The problem is that neither of these faults reliably set a code, and I have had both.  The MAF failure is really hard to diagnose since the car often will restart after 5-10 min and run for a number of miles thereafter until it stalls again.

 

But changing the motor is really crazy but you better not say so out laud.  And I know for certain that the 2.2 engine can be really low on oil without damage, not that anyone should allow it of course.

Edited May 7, 201510 yr by mikec03

While all your answers and questions are germane, the biggie here is that she ran it almost completely out of oil.  The engine (no matter what else is going on with it) is trying to seize permanently.    At best, the bearings are now very damaged.  (Sorry, mikc03, they do get damaged, they're just more forgiving of ignorance than most Subaru engines).  With no oil showing on the dipstick, it had less than a quart left: so at least 80% of the oil was gone.  Eeek!

 

If it was my car, I'd replace the engine.

(Who am I kidding? I'd have my husband build me a new one! ) 

 

Emily

Knowing that my car can be 1/2 a quart low (maybe 3/4) and parked wrong the dipstick can show little to no oil is why I'm asking questions.

 

The whole scenario just doesn't add up.  Had oil been put back in before trying to start it?  How much oil was added?  

 

Questions I meant to ask sooner.

 

With no oil showing on the dipstick, it had less than a quart left

With no oil showing on the dipstick, there is at least 2 1/2 qts left.  The car will run without damage at 2 qts [but don't try it].  This even assumes that the person making the measurement has the car level and is not making a mistake on the reading the dipstick, which is commen.

as a person who has done a lot of oil changes on beat Subaru cars. No oil on dipstick will generally drop 1 quart or so, and nothing out of the filter. Most of those engines have audible rod knock. We had one toss a rod out of the shop leaving owner stranded. But we note pre service oil check and noises.

Unplug the maf and see if there is a change in the running of the car, after making sure it is parked on a level surface and the oil is topped off, and let us know what happens.

Okay, so I will work on getting video, but it is a recently rebuilt L model, he said there was like no oil in it but when I checked it, it looked about half full so I really don't know but I think once I figure out this idling issue on my car I will start running more diagnostics. How should I check the fuel delivery?

There should be a schrader valve on the fuel line (same kind of valve you have on your tires).  You can sometimes get away with just pushing down the valve, verifying pressure, then turning the key on and make sure it rebuilds but this isn't very accurate and can give misleading results.  

 

The best way to test the fuel pressure is to use a tester which most auto parts stores rent or if there is a harbor freight near you they sell them pretty cheap.

 

Make sure to have a code reader available as well.  If there is no CEL (check engine light) I would still attempt to read codes.  The light could be burnt out or it could have pending faults giving you a hint to the problem.

No schrader valve on these.

A pressure tester is the best way, but you need to T into the supply line where it comes up to meet the fuel filter on the left strut tower.

 

You can also pop the supply line off and stick it into a plastic bottle and turn the key On. The pump will run for a few seconds to prime the system and it should squirt about 1-1/2 to 2 oz of fuel into the bottle.