• Recently bought a Baja with 148k and I’m considering putting a new motor in it as It keeps overheating and I’m fairly certain it has blown hg as I replaced the theromostat and rad cap the motor drips oil and due to price of hgs I’m considering buying a motor with a warranty and putting it in myself. I have access to a ej22 would this fit into the Baja?

Edited January 13, 20197 yr by Imprezafan96

No. You need a 1999 to 2004 Legacy engine or an engine from a Baja. If you are considering new, we are usually doing Subaru reman short blocks. They are 3 year/36k warranty from Subaru (when professionally installed). We do these all the time for about $4800. Call the shop if you are interested in having us do it up right for you. You can buy those engines yourself but the warranty doesn't cover non-professional installation. 

GD

Edited December 10, 20187 yr by GeneralDisorder

My 2 cents.  I agree with GD that there is nothing like a new engine from Subaru, but you might not need to buy a brand new block. I buy lower mileage 2.5's for anywhere from 500-$750 and then do HG, Water pump, idlers, cam o rings, timing, the works when it is out of the car.  I like to her it run and prefer buying a car that was in a rear wreck so I know it was a runner.  You don't say if it is automatic or stick.  If it is stick, obviously do a clutch when it is easy.   Obviously, if your engine has been overheated , that is bad and I wouldn't bother rebuilding that one.  But you might consider one with bad heads and reuse your heads for example to bring the price down a bit of the motor.  Best of luck either way you go!

I really appreciate your experience Thank you for the feedback, it is a manual. I am curious of how much it might cost to go with 3pins idea. I like the idea of a new motor professionally installed but I don’t know if my wife would let me sleep in the house if I spent another. 4K repairing this ride;) lol

 

the cost of the engine, parts $350 and $1000-$1500 on labor.

Depends on where you get the used motor. Around here if you want a runner they run about $1500 for the complete engine. They are in high demand in the NW. Then you need to do head gaskets which is $2250 including all parts and labor with new timing, etc. I can get you a short block from Japan for about $1200 with 40-60k on it..... the Subaru reman short block is $2350. So could save about $1150 or so there. So with a JDM short block, all parts and labor.... looking at about $3450. Add radiator and hoses for another $250. All would be covered by our standard warranty including the short block so 12 months / 12,000 miles. 

GD

Dang GD. That is a pretty penny for an engine. Here in the rust belt, the cars crumble before the engine dies often.

Edited December 11, 20187 yr by 3Pin
grammer

Yeah that is the state of demand for Subaru engines in the PNW. Our cars don't rust at all (seriously - AT ALL) so you can have a car that's 15+ years old and just needs an engine but is otherwise perfectly fine. So the demand here is very high, and the supply is very low - since they don't rust out. We basically have to wait for them to get wrecked to get good low mileage engines worth having. There are high mileage ones out there where the car just was at end of life but no one wants those. 

GD

I should load up a truck with MW 2.5's , make a road trip and make some $$.    Or buy a car out there, ship an engine already overhauled here, have it installed and drive home.

LOL

 

Just to update the guy who sold me the car actually came and fixed it , new water pump radiator, t stat, and timing belt, and it hasn’t overheated since, however I was still a little unsure so I took it in to the professional shop I use and they couldn’t get it to overheat, I new it had some oil leaks and they quoted me $3500to pull the motor and reseal everything!!!  I would go with general disorders plan before I did that! It sounds like a good deal actually.

It will overheat again eventually.  They pretty much all do

Be prepared to do the HG job.  I do the whole job out the door including new timing belt set for just under 2000.  That is EVERYTHING resealed.  Pistons pulled, new rings.  Head surfaced.  Japanese OE parts.

As they said it’s most likely headgaskets. 

The water pump wasn’t bad and didn’t fix it. It had air in the cooling system and by draining and refilling he temporarily mitigated the air pockets which cause overheating. 

They will reform from the blown head gaskets and you’ll be in the same situation eventually....but with cheaper aftermarket parts?

We are talking about a 2003 2.5 sohc.   They drip coolant/oil  and overheat from a lack of coolant .   A 2.5 dohc  has a poor seal at the fire ring and boils coolant and that creates air pockets.

1 hour ago, montana tom said:

We are talking about a 2003 2.5 sohc.   They drip coolant/oil  and overheat from a lack of coolant .   A 2.5 dohc  has a poor seal at the fire ring and boils coolant and that creates air pockets.

That's for factory installed gaskets. Replaced gaskets can additionally fail like the EJ25D's you mentioned.  Also significant overheats won't do it any favors, which wouldn't be a huge surprise on a recently purchased craigslist special. 

GD - do you guys ever install JDM engines? would that be good choice for Imprezafan if he as problems again?

Yeah I mentioned that in post 6. 

GD

There's also the option of a complete JDM Ej20 in the $5-800 range. Several importers in Washington to drive up to and grab one

5 hours ago, matt167 said:

There's also the option of a complete JDM Ej20 in the $5-800 range. Several importers in Washington to drive up to and grab one

The performance sucks. 

GD

Yeah, but it's an option. Depends on his budget, that's why I mentioned it as an option.

Performance/Budget right? 

Cheers 

Bennie