[fragiggle]

Hello all, this is my first time posting here
I am officially done with any form of mechanic on my car, all they have ever done is destroy my transmission and 2 engines. on the engine in my car it began to make a knocking sound so i turned the engine off and got it towed to the people who said they'd hold through on the warranty on my car since i had taken great care of the engine. i got it there and they declared, apparently without seeing the rods, that the rods were blown and it was rod knock, and going to cost $6300 to fix. screw that, they avoided the warranty issue completely by erasing all the times i came in to check it up. since it was on warranty i had no receipts from them. after telling them off saying id rather scrap it then let them touch any part of my car ever again, i decided to rebuild the engine. oh it blew just before 30,000 miles, with good care of the engine.

the car has had the transmission rebuilt about 30,300 miles ago

I am a noob to this,
I am in school for physics, after changing from mechanical engineering.
i haven't been working on my car because ive been too busy, now that my car won't work it is bering only a hastle.
i do believe that i possess the capability to do this and it is not scaring me away at all. but first i need to make sure i have a good understanding of the process. thats why i'm posting now.


I need to order a rebuild kit and want to make sure that i order the right one. the engine came completely stock as far as i know. the link below is to a kit i want to make sure i could use and if i would need any of those options. i can take things apart and put em back together with new parts but finding which parts are the right ones is my hard part.

Subaru 2.5L 1999-2003 EJ25 Engine Rebuild Kit

the head gasket was just replaced, i believe the knocking sound is piston slap so replacing the pistons and rods is my main concern. then apparently there is metal in the oil from the rods wearing out they said. so i need a new oil pump.

so what i'm looking to do is,
1, drain all fluids
2 remove engine
3 can i flush the system to get all the metal out?
4 take apart engine following manual to the teeth
5 put in all new parts
oil pump, oil filter, rods, pistons, and all the seals
6 put engine back together
7 put engine back in car
8 Never go the that mechanics shop again.

does this sound alright?

for the site
is my car a legacy or an outback since it's a "outback legacy"
is my bore size standard?
is my main and rod bearings standard?
where is my thrust bearing? how do i tell?
rod bearing size? bigger is better, or possibility it won't fit?

like i said i'm a noob, i would surely appreciate some help here, the car is not in my possession now. the autoshop was i guess bummed they don't get to fix my car and don't want to put it back together yet. guess they didn't like it that i think i can do it, the dude pretty much yelled at me for not doing it his way.

Thanks for reading, any help would be awesome! looking forward to seeing more of this community.

 

[canubaru]

your 99 outback is a legacy outback. they didn't drop the leacy part until a few years later. so it is a legacy outback.

your engine, commonly referred to as an ej25 is a 96 - 98 2.5L engine, not a 99+ plus engine. 99 was a transition year and the forester got the phase 2, 99+ engine. the outback has the phase 1 engine, 96 - 98. (although to confuse the matter a little, the block, crank, and bearings are probably 99+, phase 2.)

but it may not make a difference, you only need to know if you are splitting the case and doing a complete rebuild..

generally speaking it is not cost effective to rebuild an ej25 engine, down to the crank. you can do it and it will be a good engine if done correctly, but it will cost more than replacing it . a used engine may have an unknown history, and that can be an issue, but a good used engine could be half the cost of a rebuild, maybe. a 2.2L replacement engine will be even cheaper.

and if the engine does have piston slap, as opposed to rod knock, you can drive forever with out a rebuild. piston slap is benign, harmless. it is a loud pain in the butt, but harmless none the less. you do need to identify the noise though.

a link below to pretty good info on engine noise. i suggest you buy a ''mechanics stethoscope'' ($3 at harbor freight or $10 at your local parts store) and try and track down the noise. rods, vs piston slap, vs timing belt tensioner. (the tensioners can let the belt slap around when they get old and tired and this can be mistaken for rod knock or internal engine noise.)

Engine Noise Diagnosis 101

let us know what you learn.
where are you located?

 

[Josh222]

There is more to rebuilding a motor than throwing some parts at it. If you do have rod knock then some of the crank rod journals are going to be damaged and you either going to have to get it machined if possible or replace the crank. Your also going to want to have the cylinders honed if your going to change the piston rings, not doing so is doing a half ass job!

With having a 99 you could have a phase 2 block with phase 1 dohc heads but I think it depends on the build date. You can tell by looking at how many bolts are holding the tranny to the motor 4 P1 vs 8 P2. Phase 1 2.5 N/A blocks had odd length rods with 48mm rod bearing journals and the thrust bearing on the #3 main journal. All Phase 2 blocks have the thrust bearing on the #5 main at the back of the motor and 52mm rod journal bearings.

Your also going to need specialty tools for rebuilding the engine such a ring grinder for setting the ring gap and plastigauge with a vernier to measure bearing tolerances. Assembly lube, seal drivers etc

 

[idosubaru]

engine rebuilds are rather extensive to do right. lots of machine shop work, etc, not really worth it on subarus.

do an Ej22 swap.

i have a 140,000 miles EJ25 from a friend that's never been overheated and needs headgaskets. replace the headgaskets yourself and call it done. if you're interested, PM or email me.

 

[beecho2]

Grossgary where are you located cause I need an ej25 for a 99 2.5L.. I'll be interested in the one you got

 

[upnorthguy]

See GG's info below his name for the post above (which more people should fill out in their profile to make answering questions easier)...he is in WV.

grossgary
Registered User

Join Date: May 2009
Location: WV