Engine clunk, tear down question..

[Indrid cold]

I will try and make this short:

 

Replaced engine from my 88 Wagon EA-82, Single port fuel injected. I bought wagon at cheap price as the engine EA-82 Non-Turbo, made a serious CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK sound. So bad that I got car at a great price. My nephew a Subaru Freek (got me hooked) shook his head... its bad what ever it is. So we got a replacement eng. and set bad one aside.

 

I am new to this so I thought I would dig into the EA-82 engine to learn.

 

Pulled valve covers off. All looked good, took Cam towers off....nothing out of the ordinary (noob ordinary-anyway) so I took the heads off. Valves are a bit crusty but not bad. Cylender walls have cross hatch pattern on them and no ridge on top. One piston head looks kind of clean so possible coolant leak and steamed inside? (Hey, what do I know.) or it was water from engine sitting outside at my Nephews in Seattle.

 

I layed the heads down and gently depressed the valves down with the rubber end of a hammer, all moved smooth. Accidently droped a hydraulic lifter...hope it doesn't ruin them, appears o.k.

 

I took the oil pan off. No metal shavings, no loose anything etc.. nothing in bottom of the oil pan, all looks good and tight. I took a small mirror and poked up inside behind pistons.. looks good I guess. I understand that a running engine is creating the stress needed to creat the clunking sound but was thinking something would be obvious by now....

 

I have not split engine yet.

 

What do you recommend? Continue and split block?

 

I remember an earlier post of someone putting wrong plugs in and they would tap top of head or what ever.... hate to crack a good engine when this thing could be good but...?

 

I am learning a ton doing this so don't mind this. I am finaly getting some of the past posts now that I have taken one apart... Micky Mouse gasket:rolleyes: , gotch ya... LOL.. etc..

 

I believe I am doing fine so far, of course this is the easy part! I need this engine/want to get it running again.

 

So any suggestions? Continue on to block split to inspect wrist pins, crank etc.. or?

 

Sorry so wordy and thanks in advance.

 

I will try and post a pic of the one head.

The right piston head was shinny and cleaner then the others, the left is alot of flash bounce but black... so was this a possible coolant leak?

 

[idosubaru]

dropping the HLA won't hurt it. i would immediately store them in a bag of oil though if you ever plan on reusing them. keep them from rusting at all.

 

rotate the motor over by hand and as you're doing it, keep pressure on top of the pistons (do one at a time obviously unless you have 3 or 4 helpers!!)....you're looking for any play in the pistons as you slowly crank the engine over. rod bearings and the piston pin are good things to keep an eye out for, but hard to really get a look at without splitting.

 

some of these guys will have some good ideas on what to look for.

[Snowman]

Are you positive it wasn't just a really bad lifter clack?

 

You might be able to narrow down the noise a bit more...did it change with engine temperature? How about under load? Normally a rod knock will sound different when under load than not, and it often sounds worse once the engine warms up and the oil thins out.

 

It really wouldn't hurt anything to remove the pistons and split the block. If you're already this far, it won't take much more to go the rest of the way, and then you can be sure that everything is fine. If all the bearings look brand new, you could even reuse them. It depends on what you want out of this engine. If you need it to run for another 100k, then I'd tear it apart and replace everything. If it's just a fun project and you can be pretty sure that everything inside the block is fine, then you could just run it.

[idosubaru]

good point - a very bad HLA/lifter noise has been mistaken many times for internal engine issues. these engines are quite durable and don't have issues without neglect usually.

[Indrid cold]

Thanks for quick reply and given so far. Other then listening to the engine run for a trip around the block we really don't know or remmember much about how the motor ran etc... my nephew had an engine to exchange, it was very loud...more then a bad lifter I think should ever make.. but Noob to these so must agree one could have been bad.

 

I will get those HLA/lifters in oil.

 

I willl get friend to help put pressure on head and slowly crank.

 

I have learned that these are tough engines. I questioned from the very begining if this is something other then main crank etc... but I must rely on others and my meager knowledge of mechaniching.

 

I will look at chiltons on how to test lifter or any recomends to determin how to find the bad one?

[nipper]

One cylinder being cleaner then the others is could be indicitve of a head gasket leak, but it is kind of hard to tell with the engine apart and over the net.

 

Cross hatch still being on the cylinders is a good thing. Droping a lifter, well we all done that, just dont drop the camshafts.

As long as you have the engine this far apart i would go ahead and split the case. If you want to rebuild this or learn how to put it back together, you need to stop at this point and get the HAYNES manual. When you start tearing things down beyond this point some things need to be kept in order and marked. Actually go ahead and get the manual, tear it all the way down, as it will give you a good understanding on how the engine works. Never a bad thing.

 

nipper

[Mark Humble]

Hard to tell from the pic, but it almost looks like the clean piston might have been hitting the cyl head. Look really close at the piston and head to see if you can see a shadow caused by them hitting. This would indicate a spun rod bearing.

[Subarian]

I'd say you definitely had a leaking head gasket. You can pull the pistons without splitting the block. Take out the large plugs on the bottom of the block that have allen heads. Then you line up the wrist pin with the hole. There's a spring clip you have to remove, and then you can get the wrist pin out by taking a long bolt and cutting a hook into the end of it. Then you can get to the rods to see if you can find any play. But if you're going that far, I'd split the block and check it out inside. Remember there are a couple of "hidden" bolts joining the block halves, or you'll get really frustrated.

[Indrid cold]

Excellent info: I could read all day but don't get it till I have the part in my hand so appreciate the info on this well beaten subject.

 

I do have manuals... 4 of them.. each less informative then the next LOL...

I am finding only one way to learn...a picture, the members of this site and greasy hands

 

All Hydraulic lifters looked good and moved well so I don't think that was the problem... sounded deeper and very solid clunk in engine.

Sounds like I got to keep going too assure crank etc.. is ok as that seems to be the feeling from the experienced members, ... Not sure on the wrist pin removal but let me get there...maybe tomorrow. And will assure to keep proper order etc..

 

Yea, have heard stories about the two hidden bolts and a kid chained motor block between two rigs and pulled, not realizing the two main bolts hidden under gasket.

 

I will look at other points brought up and GREATLY appreciate this, thanks Saberian, Mark, Nipper and others. :cool:

[ShawnW]

Another vote for head gasket but it would be a waste of time to re-use the shortblock at this point. Rebuild it while its all apart and have a fully rebuilt engine! Do what has been advised for on checking for a rod knock but frankly it is probalby the bearing the failed and the crank is probably ok.