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Advice needed on '99 OB with EJ25D

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  eagleeye 
#1 ·
So my cousin bought her first car a few weeks ago .. and I'm cleaning up the mess a previous owner created on the engine. When she bought it, the motor was pouring oil out on the left side just behind the timing covers from a leaky cam seal. I finally had a chance to start taking things apart yesterday (it's been parked in my driveway), and the exhaust cam seal fell out in my hand once I got the plastic gears off.

This morning, I found out *why* the seal popped out:


The lower bolt on that cap had been replaced with a Grade 5 1/4"-20, and I suspect the upper one was the same until they sheared the head off trying to tighten it down. Additionally, the cam caps closest to the flywheel look to have been installed backwards, with the arrows pointing towards the flywheel not the timing belt. Also part of the "ring" on the exhaust cam at the gear end is broken off and missing. This is on top of them butchering both inner timing covers, chipping three of the four plastic cam gears, and apparently throwing away the center timing belt cover. Head gaskets were done not too long ago, but clearly not by the same person who screwed things up

Should I attempt to get the broken bolt out and clean up the mess as best I can, or just find another head to swap on? The rest of the car is in great shape (body & interior), it's only got 130K on the clock. I've already checked the head on the other side of the motor and didn't find any similar disasters over there .. looks like they only had time to screw things up on this side before selling the car.


While I'm not a n00b mechanic, this is the first Subaru where I've gotten under the hood. All my experience so far has been with VW's (both air & water-cooled), Mercedes, old Chevy's and an occasional AMC. :surprise:

Thanks everyone!
 
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#4 ·
That's pretty much what I figured. Found a LH head with cams for $135 shipped, should be here on Friday.

Out of curiosity, what would the ramifications be with some of the cam caps being installed backwards? I know on the I-4 VW SOHC engines I'm familiar with, the cam bore is clearly off-center and attempting to put the caps in backwards typically breaks the cap (or occasionally the cam), but I couldn't see anything on these that made them directional besides the arrow...
 
#7 ·
The mess gets messier. I went to swap on the replacement head this afternoon, and the threads in the block for one of the head bolts are stripped .. can't even snug up the head, much less torque it.

It explains the crapload of teflon tape I found wrapped around that bolt when I took the head off...

Guess I'm looking for an engine -- or at least a shortblock -- in the Portland, OR region. I've been to John in Gaston (went out last Friday for cam gears) .. any other sources in the area? I know I can't drop a complete later engine in and have it work (phase 1 v. phase 2), but is it possible to do a "frankenmotor" with the EJ25D heads on a later 2.5 block?

:banghead:
 
#11 ·
Update, haven't checked back in a while. We picked up a used EJ25D from a '98 Forester with under 100K on it (and the head gaskets already replaced with Cometic!) for just over $1K last week, and I spent my Saturday putting it in. I'm hung up on a broken stupid plastic adjuster for the A/C idler pulley and not having the right plug wires.

I'll be hitting the key next week, then cleaning up the garage and trying to figure out what to do with all this "extra" engine stuff. If I can find a shop in town (Portland, Oregon) with the Timesert kit I'm probably going to get that done and put the motor back together and then .. dunno. Maybe find a good shell with a blown motor to stick it in, maybe help my buddy stuff it in his Karmann Ghia, maybe sell it off, haven't really thought that far ahead.

Thanks again, everyone.
 
#12 · (Edited)
New update. Started the car today, after first cranking with the coil disconnected to build oil pressure.

It starts easily, sounds nice, but for some reason wants to run at 4000-4200RPM. I let it run for about 20-30 seconds to see if it would drop down but didn't get anything so shut it off. Can't see any disconnected hoses that would cause a vacuum leak.

The engine is all '98 Forester, including the coil, intake manifold and TB. Dropped it in, connected all the hoses, plugged in the wires, etc. etc.

BBQing dinner right now and going to the movies with my wife after dinner, so I'm not going to get to anything until tomorrow, so if anyone has ideas or suggestions I'd really appreciate it. I'll peek some more before it gets dark and see if I missed anything obvious...


EDIT: Nevermind. Just found the cable wasn't seated right in the throttle body and was holding the TB partly open. Popped that into place and the idle settles right down where it belongs. Yes, I feel like an idiot for missing that. But hey, I remembered to put oil in the engine (BTDT years ago), and even filled the engine with coolant through the upper hose instead of relying on the radiator bleeder.

Thanks...
 
#13 ·
if its easier you can pull the fuse to the fuel pump to crank and build oil pressure. (always a good idea after a oil change before the first crank).
 
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