lostinthe202

'96 OBW 5spd 166k OK, so I've had some overheating issues that I've been chasing around. Very subtle and never flying up the gauge, just gradual ups with sudden downs upon sudden increase in RPM. There are lots of details, decisions, etc etc. that I won't bore you with. To make short work of the back story, I replaced the water pump and T-stat (both OEM) along with T-belt, seals, idlers, etc. When it came time to fill up the coolant, I went to undo the little bleeder screw thing on the passenger's side of the rad only to find it was busted. I was able to get it out (and back in sorta) but it def. didn't keep coolant from leaking through it after I was done refilling (with the heat on while on a slight incline) and something occurred to me. I'm pretty sure the water pump was failing as there was an awful squealing noise coming from the engine bay which was gone after reassembly and start up. All the pulley were free moving, quiet and had no play and while the water pump didn't make any noise when spun by hand, it did have a certain... lumpy quality when spun. Anyway, what occurred to me was whether it was possible for air to get sucked into the system through the broken bleeder screw? To step back to the symptoms for a second, the overheating would only begin to occur when I was pointed uphill, even a slight incline and the level would begin to rise even when the demands on the engine were not significantly increased if at all. I assumed that my system was marginal and that any increase in demand, however slight, was enough to cause the temp to rise. Furthermore, if it was a failing waterpump that wasn't spinning well, the sudden increase in rpm was getting the juices flowing so to speak and bringing the temp down in a hurry. BUT, if it were an air bubble, couldn't it have these same characteristics? Seems like it would since the system is supposed to be sealed up. So my subtle overheating problems could've been due to an air bubble trapped in the system and not a bad water pump. Any thoughts? I suppose I'll find out tomorrow on the way to work, but I'm interested in what you all have to say about it. This leads me to my next question which is how to go about this "burping" thing. Once I get another screw I'll go through the burping procedure again which from what I can tell simply involves being on a slight incline with the heat on adding coolant if the level drops and looking for air bubbles. Am I missing anything? Thanks! Will-

Sorry should've clarified, Ultra-Gray is what I put on, I'm asking after the availability of the anaerobic stuff. Thanks Will-

Hmm... it's tempting to think that whomever put the Ultra-gray on the engine Gloyale is referring to put on too much and had a oil filter issues as Proc suggests. But, I suppose it's one of those things that would suck to find out the hard way. I haven't put oil in the engine so all this really means is that I have to wait another 24 hours before I can put oil in, thus having to wait until next weekend to finish:mad: something I was trying to avoid. ah well, thems the breaks! Can I get this product at most auto parts chains? thanks! Will-

'96 OBW 2.2 166k Use or don't use? I suppose this is a pretty good example of too much information being a bad thing. For the last few weeks I've been reading like crazy thread after thread about timing belt replacement (among lots of other things) and found out the handy info about the oil pump o-ring and the back plate screws loosening up. So this weekend I finally had all the parts, info and time to tackle the job. I got as far as disassembly and removal of the oil and water pumps. I read in some post or another about using permatex ultra-gray on the oil pump when putting it back on, which is what I did. I quit for the day to let the stuff dry and this morning as I'm getting ready to get back out there I happened to read some post about how any gasket maker you use on an oil related part has to be anaerobic. Ultra-Gray says it's low odor (which it is for silicone) but does this mean I should pull the pump back off and get some different stuff lest my o2 sensor get a snoot full? As always, thanks!! Will-

Wow! Great find. Glad that worked out for you since you've had such rotten luck in the past. Will-

Like a charm... sorta. That is, it would've worked great but I used some kinda mystery metal for the two pegs. I knew it was steel, just not what kind of steel. Whatever it was turned out to be really brittle once welded as both pegs snapped off! Went back into work this morning and made two more pegs out of some known material and this time performed the hammer test on 'em:headbang: Now if only the seal puller tool had worked out as well. Nuthin' wrong with the handle part, but the part I made to pry under the seal was woefully inadequate. I'll have to figure something new for that one. Will-

Do you still have the oil you took out? if so you could measure how much is there. That's about all I have to offer. good luck! Will-

Good catch with the carfax, that could've been another disaster eh? We can assume you are running one on this new car right? Anytime the price is low you gotta wonder why. Especially if it's a trade in and he selling it low. Yikes, that car was in San Pablo? I don't know if you've ever been there but that place is shadyville. Good luck in San Jose! Will-

You could try getting under there and shaking things around to see if you have anything loose like a heat shield or the exhaust or something. What makes you think it's the drivetrain? Will-

Shouldn't he use a honing stone so as not to put file marks on the freshly machined surface? Not trying to be obnoxious. Genuine question:) Will-

Actually, I haven't bought anything for the clutch job yet. First priority is my failing water pump. The clutch will last a bit longer at the least. Yer right on this, I'll start a new thread about the clutch and the idle thing after I do some more searching. Sent you a PM about this and another non-subaru shop question you may be able to answer. Thanks, Will-

Absolutely. There are not a lot of use around the nation's capitol. I def. wasn't the most experienced person in shop when I applied for my job, in fact my boss later told me that the only reason he hired me was 'cause they had had their ad up for 4 months and I was ONLY person to apply!! Not many people in DC know which end of the cutter to use I s'pose:) Now here it is 1.5 years later and I'm running the place (yikes!!) OK, now on the flywheel. It occurs to me that I may be jumping the gun a little bit. Aside from the occasional shudder and the loud TO bearing (if that's what it is) my clutch is fine. Is the loud TO bearing something I can ignore or is it going to seize or explode or have some other nasty event? I've already got a stack of parts I've bought and a list of things to do on both my and with wife's car, so if I can wait until my clutch is actually slipping that would probably be good:clap: Thanks! Will-

The feature labeled "crucial step". Is this crucial because the same distance must be maintained between the PP mounting surface and the CP surface, ie what you take of one you have to take off the other? What about the cylindrical surface of that step that is perpendicular to the CP surface (the surface your black line from the "crucial step" label is pointing to) is this important in anyway. I suppose I'll be able to tell if it sees any action, but does it need to be trued as well? Thanks again for all your help, I'm not sure how things would've turned out if I didn't have someone to ask questions of!! Wish me luck, and as you've never seen an EJ flywheel, I'll be sure to take some pics! Will- p.s. nice box, it's still on my "to get" list. I'm still working out of a Craptsman P.O.S. !

That's a great set of books. Lots of good info in there. Pick up a copy of the machinery's handbook and you're ready to rock. Yeah, those programs are getting harder and harder too find. It's a real shame. Nobody wants to learn how to do things for themselves anymore, it's all about "technology" so you can quickly and efficiently find somebody over the internet to do your work for you. I second Skip, you should absolutely do it. There's nothing like being able to make/fix/improve your own stuff! Will-

Naw, I imagine it will look much like a brake rotor surface only bigger eh? Would you say that a 166k flywheel def. should be trued? Does this extend clutch life, rid chatter, etc? The reason I ask is I only have that little sheldon lathe at home and I live 50 miles from work and my wife usually drives her car to work on the weekend, so it'll take a little planning to be able to have my car in pieces and be able to get into work to do that machining. Also, is the surface to be trued hardened in any way aside from whatever hardening from friction during use? How much should I take off, .075 like mentioned earlier or is that part of the performance mod? And lastly, the sanded surface. Can this be accomplished with 80 grit aluminum-oxide discs on an air sander or does it have to be some sort of oscillating sander? Nice machine, I thought that had the non-aerodynamic look of Clausing. I also like those little blue guys. It's too bad everybody has "discovered" them as they are great machines. My Sheldon is a 10" swing, about the size of your bigger blue one. It came out of a "mobile machine shop" from the 40's, a big box truck with a little machine shop in the back for use in the field. It's got a threading box of sorts, but it's kind of weird. It uses change gears, but it has a fine, medium, and course setting for each set of gears. Thanks! Will- Edit - Looks like you were posting some more pics while I was typing. That's a neat shot of the kubota's wheel of the ground! I had to move a Monarch EE in the shop here a few months back. That little sucker weighs 3600lbs!!!

Just watch out when you go looking for one. They're really popular right now (and for good reason as they are great machines) and one like Skip's (a fine example btw) with all the attachments and tooling can go for anywhere between $500-$1000 on Feebay. The ones to watch out for are the ones that don't come with any hardware/tooling/attachments. they'll want to sell them for just as much, but then you're stuck buying all that stuff which can run quite high. Also, check to see if it has a quick change gear box for threading. The higher end models had 'em, but the lower end models only had the change gears, sets of gears you have to change for different thread sizes, which usually get lost over the years. Keep your eyes open tho and you can find some good deals. I saw one like our hardinge go for $250 a few months back. You could do some real damage with a machine like that:grin: If you're really interested, and don't mind making a drive, I've got one I won't be taking with me to Cali which I'll let go for pretty cheap. If you're interested, PM me and I'll give you more details about it. Please elaborate. The feature I thought you were referring to as "the step" in the photo on page 2 got turned into 6 lbs of chips. Is there a step on the PP face too? Sorry again for my ignorance, I actually have very little idea what my flywheel looks like. Thanks!! Will-

Which part? The seal puller gizmo could be. There wasn't anything too serious going on there. The threaded parts of the "adjustable foot" turned out to be red herrings as I changed my design after I machined them so they are totally unnecessary. Knurling aluminum could be as long as you're not going for a really deep pattern. Those little lathes def. have their limitations but as long as you go slow and aren't taking too much material with each pass. BTW, I tried that vacuum test, pumped the brakes 10 times, held 'em and turned the car on. They sunk a ways but didn't go to the floor. Will-

I 2nd

Yeah it's a funny one. You can use any wheel to get a diamond pattern, but you can only use angled wheels to get a straight knurl. thassright! No, no I won't. Not much interested in any performance aside from the 300k+ kind;) On the contrary, I must balance these after turning.The factory balance is thrown off by removing so much weight. I use a SnapOn wheel balancer that I have made an adapter for. Yikes, well I won't be machining my own version of that tool anytime soon!! So is assume there is plenty of meat for me to take a pass or two without going too thin. Forgive my ignorance but I've never messed with a flywheel before. Thanks!! Will-

Don't know who made it. It doesn't have any markings on it other than "made in Switzerland" yesir. How do you know how much meat to take off? I assume that since you're turning you don't need to balance it afterwards, or if I do need to balance it, is there some way of doing that in an average shop? thanks! Will-

Got this little ditty that does a nice job of it What would a bad flywheel look like or will it be obvious? Is this a runout thing you could check with an indicator or something else? Thanks! Will-

Wow, definitely cheaper alright. Have you used these before? How long did they last? Thanks Will-

Ha! You ain't lyin'. Actually I work in a student shop at a university. The chuck featured in the pic is about to have it's taper cleaned up or replaced. It had a run in with "the human C&C", this professor who calls out numbers to his grad student who turns the handles. Quite funny to watch actually, but very hard on the tools. Bet you turned yourself a handlefor the seal puller and the shaft?, what! no knurling? Sorry Skip, my last pic didn't have the right... focus. Our biggest lathe has a 17" swing. How big is a 2.2 flywheel?

Unless it destroys your engine. Not saying it would, but hard to say it wouldn't. especially if it diesels for two minutes every time your shut it off. On the other hand, nothing ventured...

Why did you replace your flywheel? Just curious. Also, was this noise present before you did the work? Where did you get your parts? Thanks Will-