jonathan909 Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 When I rebuilt my '99 OBW's EJ25D last winter I bought the Enginetech kit from Rock. Convenience, you know, all the pieces in one box at a good price. First thing that was wrong was the ring sizes, but that was my fault - I didn't know that they varied, so I had to buy the right set, as it was too late to return the wrong ones. Then I found that the head bolts, um, could have been straighter... but they worked. And I was fully aware that the head gaskets were cheapies, and not MLM, but figured what the hell, it's the first time I'm rebuilding one of these things from the ground up, so it's all an experiment anyway. The experiment turned out well, it seemed. Ran flawlessly for the better part of a year, including an impromptu 5000-mile round trip to New York in November after I wasted two months trying to find someone to tow a sailboat from Long Island to Montana. Yesterday my wife got home and reported that the heater was sporadically blowing cold. Sure enough, bubbles in the coolant tank. I'll be ordering up a proper set of MLMs today, but could really have done without the hassle, esp. since it's still pretty cold here. Grrr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocei77 Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 The moral of this story is that if the price seems to be too good to be true it probably is. Sorry you had to learn the hard way. O. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Other than genuine Subaru can we please start and continually update a sticky that promotes acceptable kits or combination of genuine SOA (i.e. belt) with other kit components. It can also contain warnings of bad experiences. I recall Gates had good ratings until made in China appeared stamped on parts marketed as made in Japan. I am also old enough to recall when "made In Japan" was a mark of junk! If the consensus is to go genuine Subaru all the way, then will start hunting down least expensive vendors, while taking care to somehow avoid the knock-offs as have surfaced with NGK plugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Drop in a used 2.2 and be done with it. I've been happy with every swap I've done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan909 Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 6 hours ago, ocei77 said: The moral of this story is that if the price seems to be too good to be true it probably is. Sorry you had to learn the hard way. O. Sorry? How come? Did you manufacture these gaskets? If so, I'm going to have to put out a hit on you. Otherwise, you don't have anything to be sorry for. Sure, this is annoying. But I knew going in that MLM is the right choice, that this was an experiment, and that you don't experiment unless you're okay with a negative result. So I won't do it again, but I'm not losing sleep over it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan909 Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 4 hours ago, lmdew said: Drop in a used 2.2 and be done with it. I've been happy with every swap I've done. As much as I love the EJ22 (when mated with a 5MT), it just wouldn't have the power to drive this thing with a 4EAT. The 2.5/auto combo is underpowered enough for what I do, which is why I'm moving up to EZ30s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan909 Posted February 14, 2020 Author Share Posted February 14, 2020 4 hours ago, brus brother said: Other than genuine Subaru can we please start and continually update a sticky that promotes acceptable kits or combination of genuine SOA (i.e. belt) with other kit components. It can also contain warnings of bad experiences. I recall Gates had good ratings until made in China appeared stamped on parts marketed as made in Japan. I am also old enough to recall when "made In Japan" was a mark of junk! If the consensus is to go genuine Subaru all the way, then will start hunting down least expensive vendors, while taking care to somehow avoid the knock-offs as have surfaced with NGK plugs. I'd like to see that too - a thread for keeping track of what's good and what's junk. For example, I've been really happy following GD's recommendations on non-OEM timing components, assembly lubes, etc., and it'd be helpful to everyone not to have to hunt through hundreds of threads and thousands of postings to find that info. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 thanx for sharing your experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan909 Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 Addendum to this thread: The other experiment I performed as part of the rebuild was with that little timing belt (guard? guide?) that's mounted just over the crank sprocket. Well, it's there in the EJ22s, but I've never seen one in an EJ25 - but the mounts are there in the castings for it. So I stuck one in. Another bad idea. When I opened the timing cover to begin the HG replacement, it was full of black rubber dust ground off the back side of the belt. That crap was also deposited on the idler rollers, and the idlers are discoloured, just like you'd expect with a piece of metal that had been severely overheated (though that's obviously not what happened here). I've ordered a new belt and won't be trying that trick again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 6 hours ago, jonathan909 said: ...that little timing belt (guard? guide?) that's mounted just over the crank sprocket. Well, it's there in the EJ22s, but I've never seen one in an EJ25... My 2002 Forester, which has the EJ251 engine, does have the timing belt guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocei77 Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 The clearance was wrong. You generally get an orange/red plastic spacer to give the correct clearance. My 05 uses it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, jonathan909 said: I've ordered a new belt and won't be trying that trick again. Those are used only on manual transmission cars. Auto's never have them. It's to prevent a belt skip if the car is bumped while in gear. They serve no purpose on an auto car. Regardless, the guide is not supposed to touch the belt - there is a clearance spec and if it's adhered to the belt will not touch the guide. The problem isn't the guide, it's the improper assembly, and if you want to get completely technical it shouldn't have been added to an auto car where it performs no function. I very likely warned you about those gaskets...... GD Edited July 14, 2020 by GeneralDisorder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 there're FIVE of those b@st@rds on my WRX. I built my self a tool/spacer to use when I installed them. i THINK they should be 1mm above the belt but can shift when you tighten them so, you really need a spacer in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan909 Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 On 7/14/2020 at 5:48 PM, GeneralDisorder said: Those are used only on manual transmission cars. Auto's never have them. It's to prevent a belt skip if the car is bumped while in gear. They serve no purpose on an auto car. Regardless, the guide is not supposed to touch the belt - there is a clearance spec and if it's adhered to the belt will not touch the guide. The problem isn't the guide, it's the improper assembly, and if you want to get completely technical it shouldn't have been added to an auto car where it performs no function. I very likely warned you about those gaskets...... GD Thanks - I didn't know why it was there on the MTs. (Obviously) the guide shouldn't (and didn't) touch the belt - I can pull some lulus, but not one that stupid. I suspect that the tensioner was getting sloppy and beginning to let the belt flap (hence the rubbing and wear), so I replaced it. Car happy again now. On the gaskets, I don't recall a specific warning, but I knew better and decided to experiment anyway, so I don't have a problem with taking my lumps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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