subpilot Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Yesterday I was told the EA81 & EA82's were notorious for throwing rods. I just did a search on it and didn't get much. Has anyone had this problem or is it BS? Subpilot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Yesterday I was told the EA81 & EA82's were notorious for throwing rods. I just did a search on it and didn't get much. Has anyone had this problem or is it BS?Subpilot Never heard of this myself. The notorious problems I've heard about (and experienced) are constant oil leaks (keeps them from rusting...) tick of death (which can seemingly go on for 20,000 miles with little effect) head gaskets if you ever overheat them. timing belts on the EA82 (only because no one ever seems to change them until they break) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84gl Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 I've never seen a subaru thow a rod or heard of one that did til snowmans and that was though this board so i would say that is very very rare for a subaru these are tough engines not like chevy dodge of ford which are by all rights junk i've never seen one of their motors last 150k without major work beleave me i use to work at a dealership on the other hand i have a subaru wagon i still drive with 563k on it and thats the origonal engine the only work thats been done to it is head gaskets and timing belts that not the ony hi milage subaru i've owned a 3 door i had a few years ago had 396k on it when i sold it and still run good but too me a low milage subaru is one with under 200k on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Whoever told you that is smoking something pretty good. I actually have thrown a rod on an EA82, but it was entirely because of my own stupid mistake when assembling the engine that caused a bearing to self destruct after about 5000 miles. I have heard of three other people throwing rods on EA motors...at least two of which were caused by serious abuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 to me a low milage subaru is one with under 200k on it Yeah. I've never owned one with less than 189k on it. My current one had 189k when I bought it last year, but its up to 203k now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ru_ Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 I used to rev my loyale to 7500 rpm's (damned civic's) and never had a problem with the bottom end in it....Keeping in mind...VERY TEMPERMENTAL when it comes to oil. If you have the lifters ticking, that usually means the oil pump is sucking air from somewhere. The only engine I have heard of throwing a rod was on one of our ice racers....it ran out of oil... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Only seen one thrown rod on a junkyard EA82. The piston was literaly shoved through the block just under the intake manifold. Quite a site to see! Looking over the rest of the car, especially underneith, it was quite obviouse they had beat the piss out of it untill it blew up on purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TROGDOR! Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 EA82's will throw rods when run for extended periods with no oil in the crankcase. I've heard stories of several doing this, and I also bought a car in that condition. Usually they throw one through the bottom of the power steering pump- and many still run!! I never test-ran the one I got with a thrown rod because it had no starter, but the engine still turned over freely by hand! More than likely would have run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 EA82's will throw rods when run for extended periods with no oil in the crankcase. Gee, who would have thought? :-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fj401968 Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Gee, who would have thought? :-p I am on my 4th soob... a pretty clean '87 GL wagon with 5 sp. D/R. Cost $700 My most recent previous Soob was a '90 Legacy. I bought it for $2500 and put 100K miles on it before killing it... very comfy car. I'll miss the A/C, Cruise and powered sunroof. It had been overheating due to a blown headgasket for the past 6 mos (but I was able to drive it to work each day, round trip 60 miles). I decided I wasn't going to fix it because the trans was getting clunky and it was getting pretty beat up. A few weeks ago I knowingly ran it into the ground. The headgasket problem had suddenly gotten a lot worse and it pushed all the water out on the way home and got very hot in a hurry. I decided to just see how far it would drive with no coolant. I was able to drive over 20 miles with the engine hot as hell and rattling. Towards the end I had to keep my foot in it to keep it running. It got me home... it evan STILL runs although it blows smoke now. I was impressed. I've never been stranded in a Subaru yet. Previous Soobs: '81 GL wagon 4 speed, third gear synchro was trashed but I loved that car. It even had A/C. '88 GL wagon FI, 3 speed auto. I got it with only 60,000 miles from a grandma who only drove it in the winter and kept it garaged... very clean car, had A/C and P/L. Good car but I hated the 3 spd. automatic. I love the 5 speed bu I wish my current Subaru had a few creature comforts. I've gotten spoiled with PL, PW, cruise, A/C and the like. I mostly use it as a commuter to save wear and tear on our family car. When I REALLY want to head to the hills I have a '68 Toyota FJ40 Landcruiser... now THAT is a tough vehicle... no timing belts to go out on that engine. It has heavy, timing gears. Everything on FJ40 Landcruisers are overbuilt from end to end. I really do like Subarus though. Like I said, I'm on my fourth one. I'd like to keep this '87 I've got for a long time. It has 192,000 miles. The clutch is getting really weak but the engine runs really well, doesn't leak (amazing) and is getting 28 mpg. I'm hoping to improve my Subaru wrench turning skills with this car. I know the workings of Landcruisers far better. With the help of this great board, recently purchased books (Chilton, Haynes and 'How to Keep Your Subaru Alive') and experience of course, I plan on becoming a decent shade tree Subaru mechanic. Sorry for rambling... Tracy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlrallyx'r Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Ive never seen any thrown rods on ea engines, have seen a few on ej's-both 2.2 and 2.5- one with less than 20k on it. makes quite a mess-makes a good conversation piece on the wall of shame... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffast Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 I've never seen a subaru thow a rod or heard of one that did til snowmans and that was though this board so i would say that is very very rare for a subaru these are tough engines not like chevy dodge of ford which are by all rights junk i've never seen one of their motors last 150k without major work beleave me i use to work at a dealership on the other hand i have a subaru wagon i still drive with 563k on it and thats the origonal engine the only work thats been done to it is head gaskets and timing belts that not the ony hi milage subaru i've owned a 3 door i had a few years ago had 396k on it when i sold it and still run good but too me a low milage subaru is one with under 200k on it i find that very offensive my truck has 183k on it and it still runs like brand new never eats oil and still has all origonal motor/transmission and i just changed the diff this weekend due to blown pinion i admit dodges engines are crap and so are most of chevys new stuff but the old ones run forever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 i find that very offensive my truck has 183k on it and it still runs like brand new never eats oil and still has all origonal motor/transmission and i just changed the diff this weekend due to blown pinioni admit dodges engines are crap and so are most of chevys new stuff but the old ones run forever If you take care of just about anything, it will run for a long time. My example is the little 50cc scooter I rode around on when I was 14-16. Most of them self-destruct after a couple thousand miles. I bought a used Yamaha Riva (the cheapest model they sold) for $500 with 1500 miles on it. I ran Yamalube synthetic oil, changed the plug and gear oil as well as cleaned the air filter at all the suggested intervals. When I sold it for $350 two years later, it had 6500 miles on it and still ran absolutely like new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeakingOil Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 I put a hole in my ER27...still not sure why, but sucker popped the rod up and then sucked it back in. Pulled it out of the hole after it was cooled off...got PICs somewhere. From my understanding it is a rare occurrence to have this happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
off-road-knight Posted December 25, 2010 Share Posted December 25, 2010 well my ea82t threw a rod through the block a couple days ago I changed the oil fresh the night before and was on a 30 mile drive and I heard rattling noises from the engine and I pulled over and shut it off, checked the oil and it was full with fresh oil, started it back up and it had noisy rod knock! tried getting it back home until the rod threw out the side of the block and left a trail of smoke down the highway I only was able to drive it for a week before it exploded! had 352,000 miles, didnt have a way to get it home so I had to leave it on the side of the road until the next day... damn CHP called a tower and it was towed to an impound who wanted 350$ to get my car with a blown engine out I only paid 300$ for the car and got it running (timing belts done wrong) drove it for a week then BOOM and now its not even worth getting it out of impound would of loved to drive that car some more my plan was to put a new block in it but now WAY too expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 (edited) gah, what a rip when they pull that impound charge business. you could try and negotiate with them, the car isn't worth anything to them anyway, they'd probably rather just have the scrap price for it and give it back to you. but at that mileage why not just get another. I only was able to drive it for a week before it exploded! had 352,000 miles, issues were probably suspected by the previous owner, likely dumped some additives or something in there to quiet it up before selling it. way too coincidental. after 350,000 miles and 20+ years it *just* happens to blow up *immediately after an oil change*, right after you get it for $300? it's possible....but the writing is on the wall is my guess. highly unlikely (even for an EA82T ). Edited December 26, 2010 by grossgary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPGsuperchargedBrumby Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 (edited) the old EA motors don't throw rods unless A,they are reassembled incorrectly or B, someone drives it like a Muppet....or a lack of oil will do it too the mid late 90's ej20 turbos are starting to get a reputation for running big end bearings....and throwing rods....how ever i suspect both the bearing failures and rod failures are always caused by idiots doing two things to cause it.....the bearing failures i think are because by heavy lugging the engine to get "the cool suby sound" as they cruise up and down the main street etc...i've always found it odd to hear a sube on friday night cruising up the main streets sounding like the RPMs are just above idle yet the car is doing 20 or 30mph. the thrown rods a caused by over revving it pure and simple...every EJ rod failure i have seen has been a result of prolonged high RPMS Edited December 26, 2010 by LPGsuperchargedBrumby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeamCF Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 I had over 300k miles on the EA81 in my GL before I replaced it. It had a nasty rod knock. I used to bury the tach and just flog it out at the dunes. Never had a problem. I recently took that engine apart and was greeted with an oil pan full of main bearing and rod bearing chunks. They were well embedded in the sludge on the bottom. So they had been there awhile. So an EA81 will run at 7,000 rpm with no bearings in it for at least 50,000 miles (the length of time I owned it with the nasty noises coming from the case) no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indrid cold Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I think that would be leaning towards the "NO" side... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I once bought a 95 Legacy L wagon, with the ej22 in it. I bought it with a pretty noticable nock and proceeded to drive it the 9 miles back home. It blew the engine:piston and rod out the top passenger side right under the intake manifold when i got to within about 4 miles from home. I was out nothing by driving it home other than a blown engine. Otherswise i would have been another 60 bucks tow into that 200 dollar pos. I pulled the blown rod motor, sold the car witha not yet installed 1990 ej22 and made about 500 profit. I have not had good engine experience on any subaru newer than 1994, and have had NO engine problems on 1982-1994. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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