biggman100

First im not sure if this would go in this section or not, but here goes. I bought a 99 legacy l last week dirt cheap, because it had sat in a field for about a year. It is a 2.2l car, automatic, with around 193k. After i got it home, i had to replace the IAC, and then once that was done, i found it had a constant mis-fire in cylinder #1, so i started checking things, and found both valve cover gaskets were leaking. I replaced the valve cover gaskets, as well as the tube seals, spark plugs(NGK), plug wires(Subaru OEM), and the misfire is still there. I found that the #1 cylinder is not firing at the coil at all, under any conditions. We actually drove it around at night with the #1 plug wire unhooked and the hood off, and didnt see a spark at all. My question is this, would a bad igniter cause only one cylinder to not fire, or should i only be concerned with replacing the coil? I have other issues to still fix on this car, and cant afford to throw a ton of money into buying the wrong parts, and there isnt any of these in the local yards for me to get parts from, unless the coil and igniter will work from the 2.5 cars as well. I took the covers off the timing belty today, and verified that the timing marks are right, and also verified there was no rust or dirt on the crank or cam triggers or sensors. I have also cleaned all the grounds i could find, as well as cleaned the bolts and corresponding contact points on the coil. Now i am just out of ideas for what it could be, so any help you guys could give me is greatly appreciated.

Sorry about that, i thought it had all my relevant info in my profile.

I have the metal tube, and pretty much all the parts from the old motor, but the head gaskets started to go and i kept driving it till it wouldnt run anymore, but at the time i also had two other subarus, so i didnt think breaking that one would be an issue till all of them broke in major ways around the same time.

But im also thinking of putting that bottom end in an older car, and when i can find one get the correct bottom end before march when inspection is due. The only reason i did any of this in the first place is because good '95 to '98 engines are hard to come by at any price anywhere hear me, and i needed the car driveable for at least the worst part of winter. Then around march ill see what i can find.

The only idea i have so far is swap the drivers side head for the one from an egr equipped car.

I live in New York, so the light has to be off for inspection. Im still working on options to get the light off.

I figured that out. I used the wrong mark on the crank gear, now thats all done, and it is running, but now im trying to figure out how to deal with an egr valve issue. Because the bottom end i used doesnt have the tube that connects to the left head, im getting an egr no flow code, so now im trying to figure out how to deal with that one.

Im not sure if this is where i should post this but here goes. I have a 1996 outback that had a 2.2l in it, the motor blew up so i replaced it with the shortblock from a 1994 legacy, and used the intake from the old motor. I was told i could either do that or just change all the wiring and sensors and keep the intake from the 94. I changed all the sensors from my old motor, replaced the timing belt and water pump. Now i can not get it to start. I have been through everything i can think of, rechecking the timing, checking for vacuum issues, spark, fuel, and still nothing. I dont have the old motor anymore to check, so i figured i would ask this question on here. Could the crank sprocket be different from the 94 to the 96? I dont have the old sprocket to compare the two either. The motor that blew up that was in the car was out of a 95 legacy, and i didnt have any issues with that one when i put it in three years ago, but i have also been told that there were some odd differences between the 92 to 94 and the 95 to 98 engines. Any help you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

The valve covers are gonna be off for awhile on my playtoy anyway, as i plan to have them powdercoated, if i can find someone around here reliable to do it. While im waiting for them to come back, im gonna put the new head gaskets, thermostat and gaskets, new cam seals and new front main seal in, and then after all that is done, it will probably sit on the stand awhile while im waiting on the other parts to come back. My playtoy doesnt need a new water pump or timing belt, as they were done about a month and a half ago at subaru. Too bad the head gaskets didnt go until after i had the other work done, but that is just my luck.

Since a lot of people on here and NASIOC have said you dont really need the tools to do the head gaskets, i think what i am going to do is my playtoy first (1998 legacy) and if that turns out right, then ill do my wifes cars, and if it doesnt, then ill see about getting the tools. I just got paranoid about damaging things after reading what endwrench and a few others said about it, since i have never done a DOHC subaru (and with what the shops want to charge, even if i pulled the motor and brought it to them, im stuck doing it myself). My specialty is eagle talon motors.

The first subaru timing belt i ever did, was on a 2.2 in a 1994 legacy, and i didnt know anything about the belt having marks on it that line up with the pulleys, i just put the belt on and made sure that the marks on the pulleys were right, put it back together, and drove it for another 100k, so now i dont even bother looking at the marks on the belt anymore.

They are all DOHC, but several sites i have been to list what appear to be two different versions of the same tool, all for DOHC engines, but one version listed says it is only for Phase 1, and the other is only for Phase 2, so maybe the sites i checked just dont know what they are talking about. Thsi site is a perfect example of what i mean, they list 4 different tools, all for DOHC engines. http://www.automotive-diagnostic-tools.com/category-s/99.htm If you check the link, the first and third tools are for what they call the phase 1 engine, and the second and fourth are for what they call the phase 2 engine. I called there service dept and that was one of the first questions they asked, was which engine was it. And SPX Kent Moore lists 4 different cam locking tools, two are for what they call Phase 1, and two are for what they call Phase 2.

I am getting ready to do head gaskets on 3 different 2.5l engines, and when i went looking for the tools to lock the cam gears, everyone keeps asking me if it is phase 1 or phase 2. How can i find out for sure which engines they are? The first one is a 1998 legacy Gt wagon that was built in august 1997, the second one is a 1998 legacy that was built in september of 1998, and the last one is a 1999 legacy, that was built in june of 1999. any help you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Heres another question that goes along with this whole thing. Im doing head gaskets on all 3 cars, not just the TB, and im wondering if i really need the tools for the cams since i have to take them off anyway.

From what i have heard from others and read from different sources, if you take the belt off and the cams move, it can damage the valves, even if the pistons arent anywhere near the valves. This is a direct quote from a pdf i downloaded from endwrench: If the intake and exhaust cams are allowed to get out of time in relation to one another, intake and exhaust valves will collide in the combustion chamber area. Intake valves in four-valve heads are necessarily small, and more easily damaged than similar components on two-valve engines. A collision between valves, even when the engine is not running (during a timing belt replacement for example), can cause valve damage. When the timing marks are in the proper position for belt replacement, several of the valves are either open or partially open. Removing the timing belt now will let the camshafts turn in a sudden and uncontrolled manner as the valve spring pressure causes the partially opened valves to slam shut. As these valves close, others will try to open. What can happen next? You guessed it — valve-to-valve interference. Before you can say ‘Oops,’ you could be looking at a few slightly tweaked valves. This is why i am looking for the tools to do the job right. I dont want to replace close to 800 dollars in parts (yes thats what it cost total for the parts for one of the engines, which was seriously misused and not taken care of very well), only to damage something internally and have to replace the engine.

Im not looking for the tools so that i can take the cam gears off, i am looking for it to lock the cams so they dont turn and damage anything when i take the belt off. I have been told that these engines can be damaged by the cams turning when you take the belt off.

I was just wondering if you guys could give any info on where to find a cam locking tool for the DOHC 2.5l. I have 3 different cars i have to do head gaskets on, and would prefer to buy the tool, than to make one on my own. Any help you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Has anyone ever used the ELMSCAN 5 USB ( http://www.scantool.net/elmscan-5-usb.html ) to connect to a 1996-2001 Subaru Legacy or Impreza. I have bought one of the cheap units on ebay, and that wouldnt connect, i also bought one from autozone for over $100, and that wouldnt connect either. The wierd part is both of the units i bought wouldnt work on any of my chryslers either. I have however had no problems connecting the handheld units and getting the codes that way, but what i am looking for is a unit i can plug into my laptop and get real time monitoring, which elmscan says there unit will do on any car made after 1996, but the others i bought said the same thing, and they only worked on GM and Ford. I greatly appreciate any advice you guys and girls can give me.

I have had subarus that have lasted well over 300k, as long as you do the routine maintenance. I currently have a 93 legacy wagon with 265k, a 94 legacy wagon with 302k, a 1998 legacy gt wagon with 225k, a 2002 legacy with 235k and a 2001 legacy wagon with 157k (my wifes, she babies it). All were bought by us used, but i am particular about doing the maintenance at least 500 miles before it is due, and except for the 98, which needs head gaskets again because i am, as my wife says, too rough with it, i havent had to do any major repairs to any of them. I also make it a habit to change the timing belts 10000 miles before the recommendation in the owners manual.

I just wanted to let everyone know its fixed and now i feel like an idiot. I was just goofing off trying different things, changed the #2 spark plug and wire and it runs perfect, who knew that a bad plug could cause that. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

The only diagram i have showing the wiring to the injectors doesnt have any pin #'s or what pins on the ecu plug correspond to what. It also doesnt have any wire colors listed, which is why i have been searching unsuccesfully to find a diagram with all the relevant info.

As a P.S. I have also replaced the water pump, timing belt, thermostat, flushed the radiator, replaced the clutch, and the heater core. One last question: is the ecu from a 1992 legacy 2wd wagon the same as the ecu in the legacy awd wagon.

I have a 1993 subaru legacy awd wagon with a 2.2l that has a bad #2 injector. It has the 5-speed manual transmission. I replaced a whole list of stuff for a bunch of reasons, but the biggest has been a new motor due to the old one blew from overheating. I have replaced the motor in this car twice in less than a month, one because it blew up, one because the one that i bought to replace the original had bad head gaskets, so now im on the third engine, only because it was cheaper for this engine than replacing the head gaskets in the other one. Now to my problem. I took it in and had it put on a scanner because it has no power and has a hard miss. The scanner came back and said a bad #2 injector. After replacing the injector it still ran the same, and after doing some serious checking i found that a couple of the metal lines on the intake were crushed plus a fuel line somehow got bent beyond repair, so I replaced the intake, along with the fuel rails and injectors, and all the metal lines on the intake, and the entire engine wiring harness, with the one off the engine with the blown head gaskets. The problem is still there. A dealer said change the ecu but would the ecu just all of a sudden stop working on just that one injector? Also i cant seem to find the ecu in that car, any ideas on where it might be. Before i pulled the motor that had the bad head gaskets it was running fine, it just had no heat and we traced it to bad head gaskets, and then i changed to this motor and now this problem shows up. One of the things i really need to find is a wiring diagram that will show which wires for that injector go where, and what color they are. I already bought a haynes manual but the wiring diagrams in that book arent that good. I also had the entire interior out to replace because before i bought this car someone used it for a dog house, or at least thats what it looked like because the interior was all chewed up. But after i put the interior in it it ran fine with the previous motor. My other question is if the timing belt is off one tooth on the #2 and #4 injector side could that cause just the #2 injector to stop working. Thank you all and any help given will be greatly appreciated.