jjou812 Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 96 obw 2.2 with 163k miles. been making a tappet noise for a month or two. i put some seafoam in the oil and thru manifold vac hose, ran it for 20 minutes, and changed the oil + filter. tappet noise gone, but a clattering sound like piston slap appeared immediately, which it never did before. could the seafoam have damaged something:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Have you changed the oil? Thats the first thing i would do. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Plus seafoam is going to clean stuff up. So if dirt/muck/carbon/etc was cushioning certain things, it may have cleared it out. So you may hear some more noise. Also if there were pre-existing looseness/mechanical issues, that muck may have been masking it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjou812 Posted June 23, 2007 Author Share Posted June 23, 2007 that makes sense. so what should i do? ignore it? try a different oil? at the advice of a subie mech i put 15W40 in it. do you recommend something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Plus seafoam is going to clean stuff up. So if dirt/muck/carbon/etc was cushioning certain things, it may have cleared it out. So you may hear some more noise. Also if there were pre-existing looseness/mechanical issues, that muck may have been masking it? i was going to say that, but i didnt want to seem like i was bad mouthing seafoam. "cleansers" always make me nervous on an engine. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Yes cleaners have advantages and potential disadvantages. There is a big discussion on seafoam going on right now at subaruoutback You can certainly run a heavier oil if desired. Are you sure you don't simply have the normal Subaru engine noise for which Subaru says do not attempt any repair? These engines will routinley have piston slap and on the solid lifter (non-HLA) engines some rocker clatter too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 did your car originally come with a 2.5? some slap isn't all that rare and i wouldn't attribute it to seafoam myself. change the oil and see what happens over time. might be time to check those oil pump backing plate screws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 [...]i put some seafoam in the oil and thru manifold vac hose, ran it for 20 minutes, and changed the oil + filter. tappet noise gone, but a clattering sound like piston slap appeared immediately, which it never did before. could the seafoam have damaged something:confused:Unfortunately, on an engine with 163k miles (yes, even an EJ, and even if the oil has been changed on a regular basis ), there's a certain amount of "sludge"/"varnish"/"whatever" that builds up in places. Sometimes it's in places that cause problems; sometimes it's filling gaps, and removing it causes problems. [...]at the advice of a subie mech i put 15W40 in it. do you recommend something else?Piston slap on an EJ usually shows up mainly on a cold engine, and gradually abates when things expand as the engine warms. What viscosity were you running when the noise was apparent? Did the noise show up mainly with a cold engine, or even after it was thoroughly warmed? Did the 15W40 completely quiet what you're hearing when the engine is cold, and when warm as well? Although written concerning the 2.5, this is interesting: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/KnockingInfo.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimokalihi Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 It's probably not piston slap. My 90 legacy did the same thing when I put seafoam through it. It only did it for a day or two though. Then it went away. I'm pretty sure it's just the hydraulic lifters get freed up. Should go away. Or I could be wrong. I dunno. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulwnkl Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Without disparaging anyone's choice of cleaner, I personally will not use a Seafoam-type product in the oil. I have used a vast number of things over the years and found them all to be complete crap EXCEPT Auto-RX. I used that on my '91 XT-6 to positively excellent effect. It is not a quick flush like Seafoam or the Amsoil products. It takes a few thousand miles and a couple oil changes to complete the cycle. However, it will NEVER break chunks or gunk loose to get lodged in some other, more critical place. It does, however, work as stated and will clean things up slowly, safely, and better than anything else I know of short of a teardown/rebuild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 I thought the same thing as Bulwnkl said when I started reading these posts. I haven't tried the product myself but I sure would if I needed it. You may want to try it and see if that helps quiet the slapping at least some. Here is a link to their site. Check out the reviews from people that have used the product. http://www.auto-rx.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkster58 Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Without disparaging anyone's choice of cleaner, I personally will not use a Seafoam-type product in the oil. I have used a vast number of things over the years and found them all to be complete crap EXCEPT Auto-RX. I used that on my '91 XT-6 to positively excellent effect. It is not a quick flush like Seafoam or the Amsoil products. It takes a few thousand miles and a couple oil changes to complete the cycle. However, it will NEVER break chunks or gunk loose to get lodged in some other, more critical place. It does, however, work as stated and will clean things up slowly, safely, and better than anything else I know of short of a teardown/rebuild.whats the cost on that Auto-rx? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulwnkl Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 See the website linked in the post above yours. It's $25 or less depending upon how many bottles you need, and there's a coupon code on the site right now for a couple bucks off. Shipping is included in the prices posted on the site. If you're interested in the results on my XT-6, go to their testimonials page and look up #58. I had low compression in that engine (though it ran well and gave no really big signs of trouble) and the product corrected the issue. {DISCLAIMER} I HAVE NOT BEEN AND AM NOT COMPENSATED IN ANY WAY FOR THEIR POSTING OF MY POST OVER AT BITOG AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY COPIED IT UNTIL WEEKS OR MONTHS AFTER THEY HAD DONE IT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkster58 Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 See the website linked in the post above yours. It's $25 or less depending upon how many bottles you need, and there's a coupon code on the site right now for a couple bucks off. Shipping is included in the prices posted on the site. If you're interested in the results on my XT-6, go to their testimonials page and look up #58. I had low compression in that engine (though it ran well and gave no really big signs of trouble) and the product corrected the issue. {DISCLAIMER} I HAVE NOT BEEN AND AM NOT COMPENSATED IN ANY WAY FOR THEIR POSTING OF MY POST OVER AT BITOG AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY COPIED IT UNTIL WEEKS OR MONTHS AFTER THEY HAD DONE IT. Cool thx...Spark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted June 23, 2007 Share Posted June 23, 2007 Yes I've run the auto-rx too. It seems nice. IIRC it is a fatty acid ester that slowly disolves gunk. And it has some antiwear additives and some other stuff in it. The patent is online somewhere. If you hunt around over at bob's you might find a group buy, discount code, or sometimes they do a like buy 2 get one half price or something. One oil additive I really like is Schaeffer's #132 Moly E.P. oil treatment. It also helps some of my oil burning lawn equipment stay going. It also has antimony, an interesting antiwear additive. Here's neat little site for product ingredients in case you haven't already seen it: http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/products.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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