Since this car is going to have zero involvement in the Challenge build, I figured I'd split this out of the Farm Use Challenge Car thread, and delete the posts in that thread.
I got it cheap- a mobile mechanic had started doing the timing belt, and then literally became a Missing Person.
The 2.5 NA engine is out of the Outback Sport for some rehabilitation.
No matter what happens, I'm going to do some Dusterbd13 levels of cleaning in the engine compartment, since it is covered in a sludge of oil and dirt. Touching any surface under there means you're getting filthy. There's absolutely no reason to leave it that way.
To be fair, the grimy photos don't really do the level of grime any justice.
Current working guesses are:
The previous owner was dumping oil everywhere when filling it up.
The techs working on the car were dumping oil everywhere when filling it up.
Valve covers are leaky as heck.
Any combination of the above three.
I got the timing belt in.
Then one of the local kids expressed interest in it. So, now I'm apparently going to take everything back apart while it's out of the car and put fresh head gaskets in it, too. I refuse to sell somebody I know a car that I didn't do the best job I could on.
As noted above, since one of the kids is interested in it, I've set about fixing it more thoroughly than I would have if I was going to drive it myself. I removed the timing belt, got a bunch of new parts and set about making it as good as I can get it.
New head gaskets. The old ones were MLS and showed no signs of leaking, but I thought it best to do them while I was in there. Yeah, I left a bit of carbon on the pistons, sue me. I was a bit loopy on volatile organic compound fumes by that point.
New valve cover gaskets and intake gaskets.
Plus a bit of cleaning to get the worst of the oil/dirt/gunk of off everything. The long weekend helped me set up the the engine ready to go back into the car. Now I just have to get it in there and hope it runs. If it doesn't, it becomes a donor car or something. I hope to hell it runs well. We'll see. Cross your fingers for me. If it turns out it doesn't run well, it'll be a donor car, post-challenge for one of the WRXs, as I try to wring as much money out of these projects as I can.
The real value in these projects is that they work as a kind of therapy for me. Taking something broken and turning it into something of value to somebody is soothing to my soul.
Today I managed to get the engine in the car and bolted to the transmission, and reinstall the starter. Most of the engine wiring is hooked back up.
Next steps are to install
- new plugs and wires
- brackets and accessories (power steering, AC, alternator, etc.)
- radiator and hook up coolant hoses- including to heater core
- fans/shroud/etc.
- battery and hook up the wires to the starter
- intake/airbox/etc.
- any connections I might have missed
Then:
- Put oil in it.
- Fill radiator and add coolant flush
- Hope to hell it starts
- Drive it back and forth in the driveway to check the transmission
- Run it for a bit over a few days
- Change the oil and filter
- Drain the radiator
- Put new antifreeze in it
I got everything together, except the exhaust, tried to fire it up and... fireballs out of the exhaust.
It feels like it has compression. I'm pretty certain I put the wires in the right spot and routed them to the right cylinders. I'm not positive, though, so I'm going to check again tomorrow.
This might wind up being a donor car after all.
I wouldn't bother with a compression test. You said "wires" so I assume it has a coil pack and not coil on plug. You have wires mixed up or possibly just bad wires.
It does look like you have the left cam a tooth off. The lines on the belt line up with the lines on the sprockets. The cam sensor is on that cam, this may have a lot to do with it. Especially if you have coil on plug, it may be firing the coils 360 degrees off.
You had the heads off, did you check the valves for leakage? Even if you didn't, if you didn't see any obviously bent valves, it should be okay...
Thanks for the feedback. Pete.
I don't think I pulled a Keith on this. The pink dot is where the line on the cam is (Not my photo).
There were no bent valves that I saw. I'm still going to do a compression test. Even though it won't be too difficult to take the front cover off and reset the belt, a compression test can be done just by pulling the plugs, and if the compression is bad I won't have to fight with compressing the tensioner.
The pink dot isn't where the line on the cam is, the white mark across the line in the sprocket is where the line is, no? That's what the timing belt line is supposed to align with.
You can't really go by the notches in the plastic, as the plastic isn't really all that precise. This is why it's so nice that Subaru belts have the lines on them, you aren't trying to line up things that never really line up like, say, a DOHC Mopar.
That said, it should still start and run, maybe with a bit weird power curve. I had a Subaru that I drove for three years that had the driver side cam retarded a tooth. Because this had a distributor, the distributor adjustment was maxed out. I never fixed it because the timing cover fasteners, IF they came out, weren't going back in. Lots of rust. Besides it was neat to have an engine that did nothing, nothing, nothing, then woke up at 3500 like you flipped a switch.
I wasn't using the plastic. Still, dang! Now I have to check it. I *swear* the pink dot had the vertical line in it, but if I botched it, it would explain exactly what I'm seeing, but also why hand spinning didn't put piston on valve. If it winds up being a bonehead mistake, I'll still be happy if I can easily fix it.
Ok. I took everything back apart, cleaned up any stray marks, reset the timing belt (and broke the plastic cover in the process), verified the spark plug wire routing and so on. Same issue, except no fireballs to speak of, though I didn't crank it for as long.
I'm positive the timing belt is on properly and must set on those particular teeth.
There are a few more things I'm going to check (such as trying some ether), but it looks like I'm going to do a compression test.
Zero compression on two cylinders. It's so bad, the needle didn't even really jump. I was astounded, so I bought a new compression tester, just to be sure. Same result. I have the exhaust off, so I had a helper spin it while looking at things, and it seems like the exhaust valves aren't closing all the way.
This is probably now a parts car.
