crockettbrat

If you're in truckee and need cheap parts, the pick n pull in Sparks is subie heaven and Carson City rocks too. Welcome to the USMB. Daniel

Well I did the compression test and it looks bad. The battery isn't holding much of a charge, but all I could get was 60psi at all 4 cylinders driving the motor with my starter/ charger. It "cold" here in California today 50 something , and the engine wont start and is obviously cold, but seems extremely low. My fuel pump is working and I've got spark, so my theory about the alarm is wrong. I found an engine with 88k miles at a used japanese motor place in redding with the egr valve. 6 month warranty on the engine delivered for $700. I want to drive this thing to Colorado for Xmas, so I bought the engine and it will be here on Tuesday. I wish I could have spent less, but $500 for the car and $700 for a low mileage engine and some piece of mind works for me. Thanks to all for the help on this one. I'll keep you posted about the motor because I'll tear into it to see how bad it looks. Thanks, Daniel

Hey there: Read the stick just two posts up from this. Its got the whole write up for the swap. I have an 84 brat with the ej22 motor. Much more fun to drive! I would recommend getting a whole legacy and go from there. find the ea2ej pdf and read the whole thing. It will tell you everything you need to know. Good luck. Daniel

Hey all: Thanks for sticking with me on this! Yeah California is where I live and yes the yards charge ridiculous prices, but the good news is they wont be getting any of my $. Gnuman thanks for the offer of help. If its not obvious from my crockettbrat name, I live in Crockett which is just downstream from you on the Carquinez Straight, by Vallejo. You described the oil in the intake exactly right. I'll check the pvc valve. Another thought was swimming through my brain as I was waking up this morning and that is that this car has a "code alarm" keyless entry/car alarm. Its possible that the not starting is due to the alarm. I set off the alarm the other day and am not sure what model alarm I have, or how to reset it. I just unplugged the battery for a while and when I hooked it back up the alarm stopped going off and I armed and disarmed it with the keys. The car turns over fine with the key in the ignition, but I haven't gone any farther than that. Thanks, Daniel

wow! Thats fantastic. My brat is about to turn 200k and I'm hoping to get a pic of the odometer turning. Congrats. Daniel

No it wont start at all. I assume I'll be changing the engine and went hunting at the pick n pull today, and wanted to strangle the guy at a local wrecking yard when I asked if they had any OBDII subaru ej22 motors and he told me to speak english. The next yard had one with 80k for $1k, but we all know they can be had for cheaper. I bought my donor legacy for my brat ej swap with a big dent and 95k miles for $350 and sold enough parts off it to have everything I needed for the successful swap, and more than $350 back. I just really want this thing on the road fast and dont want to wait for a donor vehicle to show up, and go through the whole dismantling process again. Although it was fun taking a sawsall to the legacy in the end. I will do the compression test before I go any farther and see. Thanks for the info Nipper, much appreciated. I forgot I have a harbor freight leak down tester too. I've never used it, maybe I'll dig it up and see how it works too. Thanks for the direction. Daniel

Nice brat! I wish mine was that clean. Where do all these clean brats keep coming from? This is the third one in the last month or so! Right on! Daniel

I will of course change the oil. I'm trying to decide how to go about getting this car back on the road. I didn't personally overheat this vehicle, so I dont know what really happened to it, or how badly it was overheated. I am interested if anyone else who has overheated and blown head gaskets has had this burnt oil smell and if their engine was toast or if they successfully got it going with new gaskets and valve job. The woman I bought it from was told by her mechanic that it needed a $4000 new engine and that was her only route, so now helpful info there. If nobody has had this smell then I assume this thing got seriously cooked. I'll take heads off in the next day or so, but I'm worried about the rest of the motor and I'm not going to split the engine open. Anyway thanks all for any info. Daniel

Sorry I should have given more info. I hadn't had coffee when I posted this up earlier. I'm familiar with the grease on the y pipe smell from my brat. Thanks for the idea, but this is different. The oil in the engine smells burnt. Pull out the dip stick and take a whiff and its stinky. The axles look great and the engine and transmission and exhaust system look nice and clean. The engine wont start at this point because of blown head gaskets, and maybe other stuff:-\ ... so no heat is necessary for this stink, just the presence of the motor oil causes this burnt smell I'm really wondering if others who have over heated their vehicles had this burnt oil smell, or if this is a sign of an engine that was extremely,severely overheated. The vehicle is very clean and appears to have been well maintained and loved by its previous owner. Two owner car (dad and then his daughter) with owners manuals and original window sticker still in the glove box and oil change stickers. Very clean engine compartment, and lots of shiny metal parts and dealer prep marks still looking new, spotless brake fluid, ect. Anyway, I'm going to pull the heads and then decide what to do. Thanks all for any info about your overheated vehicles. Daniel

Hey all: So this 1998 impreza obs i bought the other day has a really strong burnt oil smell. I have another thread going about where to start on fixing it and I should have the engine out in the next day or so, but I'm wondering if others who have had head gaskets fail have had this nasty really strong burnt oil smell? The plastic airbox between the maf and the tps got some oil in it from the breather hose on the passenger side valve cover and it is seriously stinky. Stank up my whole shop. When I was initially trying to start the car the smell was pumping out very strong. Anyway probably going to end up replacing the engine with a cheap used one, but may also just clean up the heads if there is no visible damage and slap new gaskets in there and see what happens. Just wondering if anyone else has had this strong smell. I've actually never had a car overheat on me before, and this is the first time I've bought one dead, so hoping to learn from those with more experience in this department. Thanks, Daniel

Hey Gary: I'll pull the heads and see how they look. I live the the sf bay area and I bet machine shops here charged $12 for that service in the 1950's. I've got a local shop that I've worked with before so I'll get a price to have them check out and deck the head for me. Have you ever seen the green tint on sparkplugs before? I was thinking that the head gasket was leaking internally for a while to get this green tint on the plugs, or could that happen quickly? Anyhow, thanks for the idea. I do have time and would love it if I ended up with a great running, nice looking, less than $1000 impreza. Thanks again. Daniel ps- I also meant to ask about the really strong burnt oil smell. Is that common with head gasket/overheat? The burnt smell is really strong and the plastic airbox between the maf and the tps has a bit of oil in it and it stank up my shop. Thanks.

Thanks gary for the reply. The woman was driving out of town to move to LA and she had the car towed 18 miles to the shop, so it couldn't have gone that far. She said her heater was working and then all of a sudden it stopped working and then a few miles later she over heated the car and it died. I will start looking for a new motor, but I'll pull this one and rip into to see what it looks like. Maybe I'll rebuild it and keep it as a spare. Thanks very much. Daniel

So it looks like the drain plug on the radiator fell apart. Its still there but the plastic threads are toast and the plug was just sitting loosely in the hole. I pulled the plugs on the passenger side and the front one has a green tint on the end of the plug and the back one had small droplets of moisture, so I'm assuming this means bad head gasket, probably on both sides. Here's a pic of the plug I dont know if the green will show up, but I've never seen green on a plug before. If this engine only needs head gaskets and water pump then great. What should I do next? Is there any definitive way to check the bottom end without ripping the whole engine apart? It turns over with no problem and sounds normal when I tried to start it. I got a big waft of burnt oil smell when I did that too. Any suggestions appreciated. I'm thinking I'll pull the motor and remove the heads and inspect them for damage. Daniel

12-03-2008 08:05 AM Suzam Re: Where to start on impreza fix? I'd check the oil and try to start it and see if the engine will run at all. Even without coolant you can run it for a minute or two without damage. Then you can make a decision on starting with just a radiator or more. Can you tell how it ran out of coolant? Hey there: I'll start looking at it after work, but its definitely still dripping coolant out of the bottom of the radiator, or somewhere near there. I take this as a good sign that the engine still has some coolant in it. The woman I bought it from said she tried to put in more water and it just spilled out the bottom. I haven't even looked at the hoses yet, but I will when I'm done with work today. I'm super cheap, so trust me, I'll go through it and try to get it running before I throw any money at it. So far I'm in $500. We'll see what happens. Daniel

Hey gary: Thanks for the info. I guess I'll try to start it and see what happens. I've got a water pump and timing belt kit for a 1993 ej22 on my shelf, would these parts fit on the 1998 ej22? Thanks for any info. Daniel

Another question: What year ej22 will be the most direct swap? Obviously 1998 impreza, but are other obdII ej22's from different model subarus a direct swap? Thanks for any info. Daniel

Hey all: I picked up an impreza last night for my wife. The woman I bought it from said it ran out of coolant and started clicking and died. So I assume it will need a new engine. No problem, but this person obviously doesn't know anything about vehicles. The radiator appears to have failed too. I was thinking of replacing the radiator and attempting to start the engine to see if it really is toast. Any reason not to do this? The head gaskets still look clean and dry so from the outside they still look good. I haven't had much time to look at much because I spent the evening getting it towed to my house. Any recommendations on where to start appreciated. I'll go to the junk yard today to look for an engine. I figure the swap will be the best/fastest fix and then I'll have a spare ej22 to rebuild and store for either this car or my brat. Here's a pic of the brat because I think all my old pics are gone. http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/crockettbrat/P1010245.jpg?t=1228317807 Thanks, Daniel

Thanks for the reply. I live in the sf bay area, so I'll try to find one locally. I'm sure pick n pull will have everything I need. Daniel

Hey all: I just picked up an impreza for my wife. It's got a blown motor, but other than that its nice and clean. Leather interior and pretty clean body. Do all subaru 5 lug wheels share the same bolt pattern? This thing has steel wheels with some fake covers to make them look like aluminum wheels. I'm looking to upgrade the wheels and am wondering what others have done. Do legacy gt wheels fit or maybe the more modern aluminum subaru wheels? Thanks. Now I've got to find a radiator and a motor. pics to come later Daniel

Nice trailer. That thing needs a parascope! Daniel

I've been having so much fun driving the ej powered brat that I went right past my usual 3k miles for an oil change. I just went past 5k miles and its running great. It didn't lose any oil during the first 5k miles, so I'm very happy! After the oil change it seems to run slightly better, so I'm going to put an oil change reminder on the windshield and try to pull my head out for next time. How often do you change your oil? I was impressed at how clean the oil was after 5k miles, but the brat definately seemed happier with the fresh oil, so I assume that the old oil wasn't lubricating the engine as well as the new oil. What oil are others running out there? I ran delo 15w40 because thats what I run in all my other vehicles and I like it. Daniel

Not sure if I can make it but I'd love to join in the fun! Also, I'll be in Tahoe City a bunch this ski season if there are any other winter gatherings up that way. Daniel

Hey there nu2brat: Welcome to the USMB! I replied to your post on the other site while this one was down. Your brat is great. You will find much help here! Daniel

Very nice brat! I'm jealous! Please dont tell us you got it cheap! Daniel

May be old stuff, but I just found it. I wish I could drive like that and that my brat body could fit on that car! Daniel http://video.kenblockracing.com/flash/small_player/preloader.swf?vendor_id=204&media_id=9183&bgcolor=FFFFFF&autoplay=0