battleborn Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I bought a 97 legacy to fix up and flip. The previous owner had overheated the engine and replaced the head gaskets and radiator but couldn't get it to run right after. I was hoping for an easy fix but this one has turned out to be kind of elusive. Also, the previous owner had put so many things together back asswards...so far, I have fixed timing belt installation, vacuum leaks, missing and plugged vacuum lines, wiring harness, and more. It runs better than it did. Fires up right away, just runs slightly rough at idle. I got a knock sensor code, replaced knock sensor, drove it some more. It came back with a code for the TPS sensor and a misfire on cylinder #4 (which the prev owner had mentioned was the only code he had gotten out of it). I wanted to post here and get some feed back on my course of action. I did a compression test...everything came out ok at 150 or close for all cylinders. It has new plugs and wires, new fuel filter, new coil, and I had picked up another set of fuel injectors for cheap a while back so I even swapped those out to see if it made a difference. I took the off the intake previously to work on harness issues and I'm fairly confident there are no vacuum leaks or anything like that going on. My next plan is to work on the TPS sensor (I think the prev owner had 'adjusted' it) and hopefully get rid of that code. But for the misfire...I'm going to check the valve adjustment, and after that I'm kind of out of ideas. Advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/157364-99-outback-22-swap-random-p0325-p0303/ Always a good idea to search the Form and see what you find. I think the link above will help you out. Good Luck, Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Well your relying in a badly overheated motor that the same guy that couldn't adjust a TPS put head gaskets in. I would swap another long block in personally since who knows how well the block was decked and the heads resurfaced. What kind of gaskets did he put in and so on so forth. If they had the rest of the motor so back rump roast wards how well did they do the tourque sequence and once you get it going how long is the shody head gasket work going to last. I would find anothe ej22 and swap it in personally just for the peace of mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 maybe a dropped valve guide? they can even shift around if loose I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battleborn Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/157364-99-outback-22-swap-random-p0325-p0303/ Always a good idea to search the Form and see what you find. I think the link above will help you out. Good Luck, Larry Thanks for the link...I've been searching and reading the forum for quite a while but didn't see your post. It does seem like a similar issue, but rather than highjacking your thread with my own troubleshooting I think I'll keep this one going. Well your relying in a badly overheated motor that the same guy that couldn't adjust a TPS put head gaskets in. I would swap another long block in personally since who knows how well the block was decked and the heads resurfaced. What kind of gaskets did he put in and so on so forth. If they had the rest of the motor so back rump roast wards how well did they do the tourque sequence and once you get it going how long is the shody head gasket work going to last. I would find anothe ej22 and swap it in personally just for the peace of mind. Thought about this and it's a possibility. Apparently a machine shop resurfaced the heads and he does have a receipt for it. I've got a line on another EJ22 but given the good compression test and lack of current head gasket problems, I want to know what the problem is rather than swapping in a whole new engine and hoping for the best. maybe a dropped valve guide? they can even shift around if loose I think. Interesting...I'll look into this more. Maybe something I can see when I do the adjustment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battleborn Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 (edited) Finally coming back to this and getting a chance to look at the valve adjustment after addressing all the other issues on the vehicle (short of pulling the engine out). I've got a copy of the factory manual section on the valve adjustment and have read a few web articles on it. Pretty straightforward. But I've run into something strange. The timing cover on the passenger side is pulled, and the arrow on the camshaft sprocket is pointing a 12:00. This should be TDC and let me read the clearances for cylinder #1. But cylinder number one's valves aren't loose...I can, however, slide a feeler gauge in for cylinder #4 and if I rotate the camshaft around to 9:00 I can slide a feeler in for Cylinder #1. The timing belt is installed correctly, of that I am positive. And the marks all lined up. So that leaves me with the rather odd conclusion that perhaps the sprockets themselves were installed incorrectly 90 degrees off by the previous owner? But honestly I'm surprised that the car would run at all in that case. Any advice appreciated, probably going to take the timing belt off and investigate this a bit further. EDIT: Took the timing belt off real quick to be sure everything was ok with the sprockets. I think the valves on cylinder #1 are just way too tight and the intake valves that I checked on cylinder #4 are loose at TDC. Toying with the idea of just replacing the whole thing with pre-1996 heads and being done with it. Edited March 6, 2016 by battleborn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.