First of all, I am a 2.2 FREAK! Nothing Subaru has made beats them. You old school pushrod fanatics flame away but 2.2 are what floats my proverbial boat.

 

 

So last Wednesday I bought a 97 Legacy Outback 2.5 AT with a broken timing belt, QUITE inexpensively I might add, and today was the day I got started. All in all not too bad except....

 

 

What in the "H-E-double hockey sticks" was somebody thinking with the spark plugs!? I had the intake off and it was still a colossal pain in the sphincter to get the plugs out! Holy Cow! Do people get their 8 year old kids to change the plugs with everything on the engine? The 2.2s are no problem. Am I that spoiled? It is a good thing the head gaskets on the 2.5s blow or else the spark plugs would never get changed.

 

 

So this begs the 2nd question, I am sure there are some banged up valves and the possibility of a piston with an unusual hole in it. What do people normally change? I will do the water pump and tensioner and square up the head surface. What about idlers? Looking at the service records this belt suffered a premature break. What besides a water pump, idlers and a tensioner make a belt break? Bad belt?

Don't worry, I will take my Rittlan and then I will be OK with the plugs!

Thanks for any suggestions,

Greg

 

 

A seized cam maybe, Greg. BTW, I think it is head gaskets on the Scoob. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep it much longer.

 

Schmitty

Change the whole engine. Put a 2.2 in it. . . or perhaps a 3.0 H6. . .

 

I'm with you all the way WRT the 2.2 engine BTW. All but indestructable, and simple to service. . . IIRC, the 3.0 H6 is a 2.2 with an extra pair of cyls. . .

Ritalin is a close chemical cousin to Cocaine. They both act on the same brain centers, and are both equally addictive. Needless to say, they both cause the same bizzarre behaviour, and the changes are permanent. e.g. Dillon, Klebold, et. al.

 

The pharmaceutical industry is stringing-out a high percentage of children at a tender young age.

 

Shoot ALL H.H.S. officers on sight. They are criminals.

I'm with the 713! 2.2's RULE!! 2.2T's RULE EVEN MORE!!!

 

 

 

What in the "H-E-double hockey sticks" was somebody thinking with the spark plugs!? I had the intake off and it was still a colossal pain in the sphincter to get the plugs out! Holy Cow! Do people get their 8 year old kids to change the plugs with everything on the engine? The 2.2s are no problem. Am I that spoiled? It is a good thing the head gaskets on the 2.5s blow or else the spark plugs would never get changed.

 

 

A friend of mine works on Subarus for a living and he can usually change a set of plugs in a Phase-I EJ25 in 1/2hour. Then again he has the right tools and he attacks them from under the car.

A friend of mine works on Subarus for a living and he can usually change a set of plugs in a Phase-I EJ25 in 1/2hour. Then again he has the right tools and he attacks them from under the car.

 

You know I did try from the underneath. It helped a little. I think the right tool is a sawzall or a torch! and then go right in from by the front tire.

 

Maybe it is a good thing I am not an automotive designer, you think?

 

Greg

Shoot ALL H.H.S. officers on sight. They are criminals.

 

Clarification/retraction: DO NOT shoot H.S.S. (health and human services officers) on site. My comment was irresponsible. Rather just expose them for the sadistic thugs they are. More parental love, less Federal "love". Thank you.

 

Apologies for the off topic rant. I'm just pissed cause I'm stuck with a 2.457 (it's not even a true 2.5). :-\

I think the interference on that motor is valve-valve, so hopefully you won't need to touch the bottom end.

 

It's worth noting that this EJ25 is of the early type, when it was really just a stretched-out EJ22. They improved the design a little over the years... the spark plugs are a lot easier to change on newer EJ25s.

 

Subaru did once specify the exact tools you should use to change plugs on the early EJ25. They said to use a spark plug socket, a short extension, a U-joint extension, and a long extension. The length from the tip of the socket to the middle of the U-joint should be 100mm, and the length from the middle of the U-joint to the ratchet wrench should be 250mm. This supposedly works well after removing the air filter housing, battery, and washer fluid reservoir.

 

I think raising the engine an inch or two with a jack under the oil pan might help too.

 

But, anyway, yeah, I don't think the pistons can hit the valves on the engine you just bought.

Pistons and valves can and DO collide, violently sometimes.

 

Valves can bend, break or "drop".

 

Emily

http://www.ccrengines.com

If it were mine I'd tear off the heads and see what I had in there.

I have also heard of a seized cam and if I recall when they got that engine down it was determined to be because of low oil pressure due to an oil pump seal.

Trust me that it is truly frustrating to go to a lot of trouble and find out later you wasted all that time.