Quickest possible question regarding 2001 3.0 H6

[jonathan909]

Interference or non?

[el_freddo]

I’ll put my bet in for interference. But chain timing rather than rubber belt cam timing, so something needs to be pretty catastrophic for valves to hit pistons in this engine - anything is possible though!

[jonathan909]

Hoping for a known fact rather than a bet.

[el_freddo]

True. On the flip side I’d rather a known fact that it’s NON-interference than a bet that it is. 

I’m 99% sure the last non interference engine Subaru produced was the gen1 EJ22E. The Gen2 EJ22E used roller locker that helped bump the compression ratio for better power but the downside was the engine became an interference engine. 

Since the H6 is chain driven, interference or non-interference shouldn’t be an issue unless you’re trying to settle a pissing competition between you and a mate. 

[jonathan909]

No, this is a real-world problem.  Car died very suddenly on the highway (en route home from the glass shop with a brand-new windshield after a windstorm+tree took it out.  Such is my life these days.) and the symptoms are:  Cranks, but sounds different, like less stuff than normal is turning; cam position sensor error.  That it's turning at all seems like somewhat good news, as that suggests I don't have a piston wedged against a valve, though it doesn't mean there wasn't a hit.  Hence the question.

So my first guess is a thrown chain (the EZ30 has two).  But since then (last week), winter has set in here for real - it's subzero, we're under a foot of snow, and the car is not (yet) in my (unheated) garage, where I'll have to pull the 64-bolt timing cover in order to confirm my suspicion.  And first I've gotta bolt a winch onto the far garage wall so I can pull it in...