RelicGL Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 After viewing the FSM for the EA81 in order to familiarize myself with the engine I was trying to figure out how much I could accomplish with the oil pan off. I'll be removing it to clean the oil-pickup screen, clean the inside and out of the oil pan and mate a new gasket. Engine has 165k kilometres, a little over 100k miles and only 50 of them from me...the drive home after aquiring it. I'd like to check for various play and clearances of the crank while under there and, if humanly possible, individually remove each connecting rod and piston for a re and re. New rings, bearings and bushings. The FSM describes a procedure where an access plug is removed from the front of the front cylinders and the rear of the rear cylinders. With each cylinder at BDC insert appropriate tool [needle nose pliers?] and remove piston pin clip, and remove piston pin with another appropriate tool through this access hole. Now....? Will the unbolted connecting rod come out with the crank in place but rotated and can the piston come out from the bottom as well? I have a flexible shaft cylinder hone and if piston to wall clearance allows I would like to hone a fresh pattern on the cylinder. Will a ridge on the bottom of the cylinder have to be removed? The hone has different grit stones. I have the medium to fine. Piston cleaning, groove checking and some new rings, a new bushing pressed into the con rod small end and some new bearings for the big end and back in after a THOROUGH cleaning of cylinder wall and oiling anew. I also have a digital micrometer to check each crankshaft journal for roundness. Are new piston pins a good idea and is it necessary to replace connecting rod bolts? How's there reputation for just cleaning and loctiting red upon re-assembly? I sure as hell don't want to pull the whole engine and split the cases....nope! What can replicate the piston pin removal tool? Can this be done in car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBrumby Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 You have to pull pistons out from the top, or sides as it is. You need to pull engine to remove the back two cylinder's gundgoen/wrist pin, as the access hole is behind flywheel bellhousing. Why exactly do you want to do all this stuff? As an ea81 should go fine till 250k km, I have heard stories of some of this vintage still having majority of factory crosshatching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 you proboably would have to split the block in half to get out the rods and crank. you would be surprized how easy it is to pull a subaru motor, as it is a standard procedure for a lot of stuff especially if you take the heads off. for 100,000 miles that is still fairly low, a lot of the ones i see have about 135-185k miles. the re-ring isnt necessary if the car rins and drives like it is, why dont you wait till the motor has better tha 225,000 miles before all that. run straight 30 weight oil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 After viewing the FSM for the EA81 in order to familiarize myself with the engine I was trying to figure out how much I could accomplish with the oil pan off. I'll be removing it to clean the oil-pickup screen, clean the inside and out of the oil pan and mate a new gasket. Engine has 165k kilometres, a little over 100k miles and only 50 of them from me...the drive home after aquiring it.I'd like to check for various play and clearances of the crank while under there and, if humanly possible, individually remove each connecting rod and piston for a re and re. New rings, bearings and bushings. The FSM describes a procedure where an access plug is removed from the front of the front cylinders and the rear of the rear cylinders. With each cylinder at BDC insert appropriate tool [needle nose pliers?] and remove piston pin clip, and remove piston pin with another appropriate tool through this access hole. Now....? Will the unbolted connecting rod come out with the crank in place but rotated and can the piston come out from the bottom as well? I have a flexible shaft cylinder hone and if piston to wall clearance allows I would like to hone a fresh pattern on the cylinder. Will a ridge on the bottom of the cylinder have to be removed? The hone has different grit stones. I have the medium to fine. Piston cleaning, groove checking and some new rings, a new bushing pressed into the con rod small end and some new bearings for the big end and back in after a THOROUGH cleaning of cylinder wall and oiling anew. I also have a digital micrometer to check each crankshaft journal for roundness. Are new piston pins a good idea and is it necessary to replace connecting rod bolts? How's there reputation for just cleaning and loctiting red upon re-assembly? I sure as hell don't want to pull the whole engine and split the cases....nope! What can replicate the piston pin removal tool? Can this be done in car? If the engine is running fine, let it be. The engine has easily another 150,000 miles of life left in it. If you really want to check the health get a compression test, hook up a vac gauge and learn how to read it, and a GOOD oil pressure gauge. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 you proboably would have to split the block in half to get out the rods and crank. No probably about it. You MUST split the case(which means removeing it form the car) to get the rods and crank. You have to take the heads off to get at the case bolts so they have to come off too. Replace you're pan gasket and leave the rest alone until there is a real reason to pull the motor. You've got tons of miles left as is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RelicGL Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 No probably about it. You MUST split the case(which means removeing it form the car) to get the rods and crank. You have to take the heads off to get at the case bolts so they have to come off too. Replace you're pan gasket and leave the rest alone until there is a real reason to pull the motor. You've got tons of miles left as is. It sounds like a case of leave well enough alone. It does run fine, no puff of blue on startup, factory dash oil pressure gauge appears to read plenty of pressure [a better aftermarket one, ya I like that] and once the Hitachi secondaries kick in there's gobs of torque..well...considering the flow restrictions inherent in this thing. So....chasing down oil leaks...ya, I'll stick to that. OOH! pavement is drying out....gotta go work on it! Thanks for the responses, folks! My Subie loves yas all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RelicGL Posted June 6, 2007 Author Share Posted June 6, 2007 Well.....bottom of transmission covered in oil, oil leaking on to Y-pipe is definately NOT from oil pan or the seeping oil pump up front, so it looks like I need access to the rear of the engine. As an apartment dweller I don't think I can get away with engine pulling. They certainly don't mind if we work on cars but I may be pushing it if I assemble an engine hoist and rip out the engine, which does look straight forward and simple. I can, however, do a semi-stealth transmission pull. The DOJ and CV axles have to go anyway for replacement so it's a good time to address a variety of concerns at the same time in one fell swoop. I start a new job tomorrow with more hours and higher pay so bonus income helps to pay for it all. $400 bucks allowed as budget for re and re of front cv axles, wheel bearings and a gasket set for engine and miscellaneous things like oil, filter, antifreeze. I have a 5-gallon pail of GL-5 with hand pump in my storage so that takes care of trans and diff lubes. Does the transmission/transaxle mind GL-5 or would something low-sulphur like GL-4 be better? AH, the fun of it all.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 The rear mains of these cars don't leak that often. Espescially compared to the Front and the oil pan. I'd reseal the front and the pan before attempting a Trans removal. It would suck to pull the trans, then the Flexplate and find a seal that is not leaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I have become convinced that a great deal of the "oil" that was coating my engine for years was actually ATF from the power steering pump.. I've actually been meaning to post about that... but you might want to clean the engine bay thoroughly and let the leak start to recur before tearing TOO far in and expecting spotless results after you finish with the wrench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RelicGL Posted June 7, 2007 Author Share Posted June 7, 2007 The rear mains of these cars don't leak that often. Espescially compared to the Front and the oil pan. I'd reseal the front and the pan before attempting a Trans removal. It would suck to pull the trans, then the Flexplate and find a seal that is not leaking. That makes sense. It's wet and fresh up front below the front crank seal and oil pump, wet around the oil pan, wet all along the skid plate, and thicker and drier along the bottom of the transmission. Driving at speed must be blowing it onto the y-pipe and transmission. I don't think the car got much highway speed based on where I bought it from. Alot of stop and go traffic with much congestion whereas the drive to my home had more open highway to spray it more onto the y-pipe and transmission. So, front seal and oil pan does make the most sense. Besides, the clutch works too good now since the cable dilemna was fixed, which I doubt would be the case if the rear main was leaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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