Could a MY97 2.2 with 118,000 miles have piston slap?.

 

All the symptoms are there:

 

#1 - colder morning (below 40ºF) nice and loud

#2 - as engine warms up, gets quieter

#3 - when fully warm, almost gone, just a quiet little tap

#4 - warmer days quieter on cold start and goes silent faster

 

 

I though this was mostly a 2.5 thing, but wasn't the MY97 was the first interference 2.2 with the shorter piston skirts?

 

I've kind of ruled out a solid lifter/valve clearence issue because it get quieter as it warms up, or could it be?

This sounds like lifter(s) ticking to me.

i've heard of some EJ22's getting piston slap.

 

at that mileage though a valve adjustment is not a bad idea. my EJ22 with 120,000 miles seems to do the same thing, but i haven't really looked into it yet. i'll start with a valve adjustment since that's something that should be done anyway. it's very minor so i'm not that worried about it and the wife doesn't even notice unless i point it out and it's her car.

i got piston slap on my 2.2, but it is mostly when its cold outside... it goes away after it warms up.. however i also get when i do heavy highway driving and come to a stop, thats when i get the slap too

Caught the slap? So, uh, is that a risk when your Subaru has multiple drivers??? :-\

 

 

95 Legacy w/ 2.2 w/ 225k on it. Mine makes a noise like that upon startup, regardless of outside temp. I always assumed it was lifter chatter, as it sounds just like what I am famliar with in hearing lifter chatter in other cars. I've never actually heard piston slap that I am aware of. Is it a similar sound?

 

 

"Dude, your car needs like some major oil added to it."

"Nah--it's fine. It'll go away in a minute..."

Been like that for 50k or more I guess...

Yeah my RX also has the slap. But it's a mild case, hopefully remedied with a loud stereo!

Yeah my RX also has the slap. But it's a mild case, hopefully remedied with a loud stereo!

 

 

Too funny! It's amazing what one can hear when the radio is turned off...

So you've got the dreaded piston slap, but its not the end of the world. Yes, its annoying but my experience with it, as well as anything that has been written here in various posts is that it will not affect the performance or longevity of your engine. My 97 developed it at 23 000 km and it never got any worse all the way to 269 000 km at trade time, and it never reared its ugly head on my 02, and the my 07 is as silent as a church mouse, and the best OBW I've owned of all three. Sure, you shouldn't have to put up with it, its annoying as hell, but it won't let you down.