Heh Yall, The valves are sticking in my 92 legacy w/130K. Any quick fixes? It only happens occasionally ( usually about 55mph under load) but it is making the car undrivable. Thinking about used engine, but everyone wants to sell me a 2.0 instead of the 2.2. Any advice?

Try running some Mystery Marvel Oil to help with the stickiness. That might just do the trick and then you won't need a new motor. 130k is when they are just getting broken in.

What do you mean by "Sticky" valves? Sticky valves are not related to engine speed/load and usually it requires a valve job to correct.

 

Do you mean clicking/clacking lifters? Clicking lifters can sometimes be solved by the addition of a Wynn's Valve Quiet to the oil. Other times a new lifter is required, or the oil pump backing plate has come loose leading to insufficient oil pressure.

 

Could your catalytic convertor be plugged? At FOT the engine might be struggling to eject exhaust causing the exhaust valves to overheat and not fully close. If not prompty repaired the exhaust valves can melt, because the valve releases its heat to the engine block when closed, and if it doesn't fully close it can't release its heat.

 

The 2.0 and 2.2 are both good, no significant difference in terms of reliability. The 2.2 would be prefered for more power with no additional fuel consumption. The 2.0 exists because some countries driver's license restrictions are based on engine size with new driver's being limited to 2.0 liters or less.

The dealer diagnosed sticking valves. The problem is loss of power and the engine shakes and pings. Feels like its running on one cylinder. After a minute or two it clears up and runs fine again

Originally posted by jaybobb

The dealer diagnosed sticking valves. The problem is loss of power and the engine shakes and pings. Feels like its running on one cylinder. After a minute or two it clears up and runs fine again

 

In that case I would try an oil additive as Northguy suggests to see what happens, it is not going to make things worse.

 

Other that the engine running normally after a few minutes, the loss of power, rough running and pinging are exactely what happens when a catalytic convertor plugs. Eventually the cat completely plugs and the engine will not run.

 

Subaru's are not known for valve problems (lifter problems, yes) which is why I questioned the diagnosis.

 

Could it be the coil pack? I have seen a few coilpacks go haywire and misfire when cold and once they warm up they work fine. The coilpacks can also misfire at about 3000RPM under load causing extreme loss of power and rough running, this would account for your 55MPH problem. It is an occasional problem usually occuring (not not always) in damp weather.

Overhaul your engine with the help of a mechanic and make sure that oil id filled in your engine area with proper coolant fill In radiator, so if your valve are sticking due to lack of oil or overheating it will resolve by this overhaul.

If still some problem occurs, as you said one cylinder is working at startup. Than swap the cylinder parts like piston or block or rebuild them to make your car engine work proper.

Prior knowledge source – www.hiperformer.com/engine_basics/how_engine_works.html complete guideline for engine repair.

I would suspect a failing fuel pump, coil pack or ignition module before sticking valves based on your description of the symptoms.

 

Easy to get a spare coil pack and ignitor from a u-pull-it junkyard, the ignitor is mounted dead center on the firewall. Test them out and see if it cures your stumbling issue.

This car is either fixed or in a junkyard. Check the original post date of Dec 2003

Ha, I've been duped by terryduper into responding to a necro-bumped thread. Oh well.