89turbowagon Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Hey all. Just joined up. I'm excited to be the owner of a 1989 gl-10 awd wagon with the ea82 turbo engine pushing a 4spd auto (not excited about the auto tranny, but I like the car). Anyways, its a great car except my mechanic friend and I can't seem to get it running right. When I picked it up (for $700), it had cracks in the heads between the valves for 3 of the 4 cylinders and someone had pulled the thermostat out and hotwired the a/c aux radiator fan into full time service (among other things). Anyways, the thing has now has new everything (pistons, heads, all of the gaskets, oil & water pump, thermostat, temp sensors, O2 sensor, radiator, numerous hoses, timing belts and tensioners, plugs, dist cap, etc), but we still can't get it running right. Figuring out the timing with the cams being opposite each other and not aligned off TDC was fun, but it's finally all timed right. Yesterday, however, the compression on the passenger-side engine bank was running LOW (50psi instead of the 120 the other side is pushing) and the car is poofing some blue smoke under acceleration. We had some fights to get a bunch of old gas out of the system, but got that solved. A buddy told me the compression problems might be from 3 things, stuck fuel injector washing out the rings, timing belt for that side skipped a notch, or the head gasket gave up on life. Today I checked the timing AGAIN, sprayed oil into the cylinders and cycled it without plugs to lube the rings and try to get them to re-seat if it was the injector. This worked for a while, but ultimately it began running like it had been when the compression check came up low on that bank. Tomorrow morning we're running another compression check and a leakdown test and possibly replacing the head gasket, but I'm curious if anyone has any ideas what else might be going on. The oil pressure gauge runs at about 55psi on the dash when cold, drops to near zero as the car warms up (which I was told was somewhat normal, but still worries me). My mechanic buddy is a genius, but isn't familiar with subarus and this one is odd. I knew next to nothing when I bought this car and have picked up a little through the project but still don't know too much. Anybody have any suggestions or ideas or anything? Sorry for the long post! I'm so incredibly frustrated with this car! 3k into it and still not running right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbh Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 I'm not familiar with the turbo system on the EA82T, but does it feed the two banks seperately? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Check the injectors resistance against what the other three are. 2. something ohms I think. That'll rule out the injector staying open. 50 psi would have me thinking about an HG too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Anybody have any suggestions or ideas or anything? Seperate your thoughts, it makes them easier for us to read and then fix your problems. As far as your low compression, make sure you did the timing belts right. they need to be lined up with the 3 marks on the flywheel, the marks are not near TDC. the Drivers side needs to be in the UP position, while the passenger side needs to be in the DOWN position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 if you have low compression on both cylinders on that side then i'd guess the timing is off. are you positive the belts are aligned correctly? they are often done wrong by non-subaru familiar people. each cam mark should be lined up with the flywheel/flexplate mark, but each cam should be 180 degrees off from the other. one is up, the other is down. make sure they are dead on, it's not that hard...actually it's really easy once you know these motors. if you have low compression on one cylinder and it's fine on the other then that doesn't sound too good - gaskets or rings. blue smoke out the pipe...isn't that a sign of oil? lets' hope not, these things can smoke alot after a head gasket job, rebuild, etc. oil and coolant gets down in the exhaust pipe and doesn't go away until the car is run and heated up. and they can be a beast to start with the fuel being old, fuel lines being empty for awhile, coolant bubbles, oil not fully circulated, etc. a failed HLA can ruin compression as well. any HLA noise (often called ticking, valve noise, etc)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89turbowagon Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 Sorry for the garbled post, I thought the more information the easier it might be to come up with a solution. I will try to simplify and answer all replies at once. The problem: Passenger side bank (both cylinders) are having compression readings of 50psi, vs the 120 psi found in both cylinders on the driver side. Things I know: The timing belts are dead right. Perfectly 180 opposite of each other, one up, one down, lined up on the center of the 3 hash marks about a 1/4 turn away from TDC on the flywheel. I have not checked resistance on the injectors, that is a really good idea, thanks. I do not have my own equipment to test that, and my friend who has it is using it to work today, so it might be a day or two, but that will get checked. The car has run enough since the rebuild that the residual stuff would be blown out the tailpipe by now. I am not familiar with what the HLA is. Can you give me more details about that? There is no ticking or valve noise that I can tell at idle, however, there is some sort of unidentified sound (sounds like gravel getting shaken in a tin can) that randomly occurs when car is in motion and engine is put under load at RPMs higher than 3k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89turbowagon Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 I'm not familiar with the turbo system on the EA82T, but does it feed the two banks seperately? Almost forgot to reply to this one. Sorry. The water and oil feeds and returns to and from the turbo both run off of the passenger side head (the problem side of the motor) as far as i know. The air feed off the compressor side of the turbo runs into the top of the intake manifold and is distributed evenly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 i don't know turbo motors well. be careful with the rattle in the tin can, if it's pinging it could be very bad for the motor. ill let someone else that knows better explain. the HLA's are the "lifters". hydraulic valve lash adjusters. i'm wondering if the cam is problematic. what happened to this motor in the past? the cam lobes can get worn down...maybe something happened to the cam on that side. pull the valve cover and have a look at it. rotate it by hand and see if you can tell the valves are opening and closing properly/all the way. compare to the opposite side (good compresssion). valve covers are easy to remove, just a few 10mm bolts. don't start the car with the covers off oil will spray everywhere. i've done it for a few seconds before....not recommended unless you really want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meeky Moose Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 having built a couple of these myself and numerous timing belt changes on the side of the road and off.. it really sounds like a timing issue... you said 1/4 turn past tdc.. if i recall correctly the 3 marks used to set the timing are about oposite of the timing marks on the flywheel, hence one half turn to find them.. an out of time engine will do just what you have described.. the blue smoke is usually a sign of bad rings, but if its out of time on that side then i would think its going to smoke a little anyways since the valves are opening and closing at the wrong times, hence the low compression also.. heh wait till you mod a flywheel so far that there are no more timing marks, rofl, then it gets real fun.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89turbowagon Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 The timing marks are three identically sized hash marks on the pressure plate, right? Are there more sets of these marks besides the marks denoting TDC and the set of three marks I have found? Do these marks exist at every 1/4 turn or something? I no longer have the car in my driveway to go roll it over and check. I'm really starting to feel retarded about this car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbh Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 wait, pressure plate? you might be on the wrong side of the engine mate you mean the main pulley? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meeky Moose Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 there are the marks for TDC (0) (10) and (20) then oposite of them on the other side of the flywheel there are 3 marks like | | | gonna look just like that. you start by setting the crank at the middle of those marks, then do your belts.. if you set them by the 0 10 or 20 it will not run right. although i think FBH is onto something.. i was referring to a 5-speed car.. never set the timing on an auto before.. so i'm not sure if the pressure plate has the same marks, or if you gotta do it by the front crank pulley.. if doing it by the front crank pulley, there will be one | that represents where to set the timing after the belts are on by adjusting the distributor. there should still be the same | | | on it to start from.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89turbowagon Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 It does have the same ||| marks on the pressure plate/flywheel whatever you wanna call it that is visible through the little peeking window where the engine mounts to the torque converter. (firewall side of the engine) It is currently timed to the center of those three marks (not the 0 10 20). On mine they are not directly opposite tdc, they are 1/4-1/3 turn away (the difference being it's an automatic? I dont know). There are also marks on the main pulley? Haven't seen or used those ones, went off the flywheel. Unless there are multiple sets of the |||, I'm ok. If it needs to be timed off the main pulley than that might begin to explain my problem. Do I need to re-set things differently going off the main pulley? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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