jamesm113

Yeah, I didn't experience anything sounding like a knock. But I'm glad I caught it before it got worse and while it was easy to repair. Took like 15 minutes with the motor on the stand. The oil leak turned out to be a lose cam cap bolt. I guess I missed that one. Torqued that one up and double checked the adjacent bolt, and no more leaks or other issues to report. Been using the car more and more around town, no hiccups. Hoping that the broken belt and bent valves will soon become a distant memory.

Yeah, I'd love to hear what others do as well. I wasn't able to push it in by hand or anything (I've read some accounts where people were able to push it in with their thumbs). Anyway, I finished putting the motor back in on Saturday, started bleeding the coolant over the weekend and today. Noticed a few random plumes of smoke, thought it might have just been left over crap on the exhaust from the rebuild. But no, there's a nice little leak right underneath the lower crossmember (right where you jack up the front). It looks like oil, seems to be coming from the camshaft cap RTV seal, dripping down the motor mount and onto the cross member. I used permatex ultra grey this time around as I couldn't find the 3M 08672 I used 4 years ago. It never ends

Been slacking, haven't worked on the subaru much. I did read somewhere last week that if you see any wet on the tensioner it's time to replace it. I saw a little bit of wetness and I don't have any record of it ever being replaced, so I went ahead and threw on a new Aisin replacement tensioner. Did the plugs and now the motor is ready to drop in. Still have some work to do on the body. I think the torque converter needs to be pushed in. Also, the CV boots were leaking as I used zip ties to clamp them on. I gonna do some cleanup of grease and oil, and then re-clamp the CV boots with the proper tool. Also, this piece fell of something during the engine removal. Anyone know what it's from?

That was from the junkyard motor I pulled... Basically took a $350 gamble to avoid having to do another rebuild... didn't pay off. Was hoping I coulda at least have used the heads, but the cam journals were shot. I ended up using the valves from the junkyard motor, everything else was from my original motor.

Valve stem seals were replaced 50k ago with OEM parts. Slipped guides - old cracked head a slipped exhaust valve guide, but that head was replaced. None of the valves had a slipped guide when I checked them this time around. Also noticed the two vent hoses from each valve cover were cracked and there was good amount of oily residue in the intake manifold. So I guess PCV... Thanks!

Also, related... if not for a bad PCV system, why would oil start blowing past the rings that badly in 50k?? What would cause the rings to be ruined so quickly?

Yeah, my PCV valve was also 50k old... I am replacing it with a new OEM PCV valve during this rebuild. Car history - bought the car with 145k. Noticed that it had a slight overheat condition going up hills, etc. I never allowed it to go past 3/4 of the way up the temp gauge (~230F), but have no idea what the PO did. While troubleshooting overheat condition, noticed HG's leaking oil externally. Thought I should do HG as perhaps it was related. Pulled motor and dropped the heads off. The machine shop reported the exhaust valves were shot (pitted) and the driver head was cracked on one cylinder between the valve seats and spark plug hole. Also replaced the piston rings per GD's advice. Replaced all driver head, exhaust valves, had valve job done, put the car back together, still was overheating. Ultimately, I figured out the overheat issue 500 miles after the rebuild by doing a thoroflush brand chemical flush and replacing the radiator with a denso radiator. I do not think the head gasket failure was contributing to overheating. Fast forward 4 years and 50k miles, the gates timing belt failed, 12 valves bent.... rebuild #2 Car was running great before the belt failure. No issues, just oil changes every 5k.

Rings were done 4 years/50k ago, per your advice. The motor is back together now and I was planning on dropping it in tomorrow. What causes the pistons to look black and wet?

Got around to testing the heads and assembling them this week. One of the intake valves was leaking when I did the acetone+compressed air test, so I took it back to the machine shop. He said something along the lines of if he had known I would be testing them after he was done, he woulda done things differently. He did say that once the motor "was fired up, they'd seal right up". He's kinda one of those old school guys, so I don't know. He has good reviews on Google & Yelp, and I've heard a few good things about him through my friends. He lapped the valve that was leaking, I took the head back home and reassembled the motor, using the Fel Pro MLS gasket kit. I did a leak down test, I was getting about 10-15% on every cylinder, which is higher than I would expect (I was getting 8-10% with the junkyard motor). So I guess I'll find out after I install the motor if he's right about things "sealing right up".

I will be.

Picked up the heads from the machine shop today. Shop said they are good to go!

Pistons, block seem to be in good shape. Think the OEM turbo HG was holding up well.

Photo of the carnage. All but 4 intake valves were bent. Junkyard valves seem to be in good shape, no pitting, some carbon deposits. Going to try lapping and testing to see if I can avoid a valve job at the machine shop.

We have Pick Your Parts here in southern california. Pick Your Part doesn't have any warranty in CA unless you purchase the extended one: https://www.lkqpickyourpart.com/yard-rules/warranty/ In other news, I just called around some machine shops and got quotes for head work... $400 seems to be the going rate for a valve job. Plus $75 a head for resurfacing.

I had replaced the idlers and WP during my HG job 4 years/50k ago. Used koyo smooth idlers and an NSK toothed idler. OEM water pump. NSK toothed idler wasn't roller blade bearing bad, but was a little spun out. Absolutely no wobble. All other bearings were in good shape. I had thought I had replaced the tensioner, but can't find the paperwork, so perhaps I didn't. It's an NTN and in good shape though. As far as the junkyard motor - it's a 2 hour drive each way to the junkyard with no traffic and there's normally some of the worst traffic on earth between me and the yard. Subarus that would fit my needs are very rare and I opted to not spend the extra $75 on the 60 day replacement warranty, so I'm stuck with the junkyard motor. Soo, yeah, it would be nice if I could at least use the valves from the junkyard motor

Photo of snapped belt

06 Outback 2.5i EJ253 SOHC AVLS, 200k miles. Did the HGs about 50-55k ago. Had to replace a cracked head, replace worn piston rings, and pitted exhaust valves. Compression test revealed 0 PSI on all cylinders. Since this is a high mileage car, I don't want to be throwing endless amounts of time, money and effort on it. I do want to get it back on the road though. 1st question- What causes the timing belt to snap? Belt was a Gates, had 70k and 6 years of use. Short of the factory 105k or 105 months spec. Belt has no obvious wear, missing teeth, cracks, etc. Just a snapped. All idlers, tensioner, and WP were replaced 50k ago and were in good shape. Engine turns over by hand now with a new belt installed, so I don't think anything is seized up. Is there anything I should be on the look out for or just chalk it up to a bad belt? 2nd question- I got a pick n pull motor last weekend. After bringing it home, I discovered it's got a bad rod bearing on #1. The valves appear to still seal well (10% on a leakdown test, ~75psi on a hand cranked compression test), but the cam journals are in pretty rough shape (pictured). What's the most cost effective approach here? Are those valves still good? Could I swap the valves over to my heads? Have a machine shop repair the cam journals? If I swap the valves over, should I pay the machine shop for another valve job or can I get good enough results if I lap them by hand?

I know 06-07 Outback and Legacy EJ253 non-turbo SOHC motors will drop right in. I know 05 won't work due as 06+ has AVLS. What about other forester motors? Or 08-09 Outback/Legacy motors? Heading to the pick n pull tomorrow morning. Hoping a wrecked 07 OB has a good motor, they also have an 08 outback that I could use as a backup.

I took another look at the old gaskets. There's some sort of number near the top/oval oil passageway. It appears it was put in the coating, and not stamped in the metal. It's faint, but 5414-11 or 5114-11 are possibilities.

I put in the OEM turbo MLS head gaskets - 11044AA642.

Wow. Up until now, I thought I was doing the first HG job on this car. They were single layer HG's, so I just assumed they were the originals. The PO owner had told me that the HG gaskets were never replaced. I don't have any service records indicating there was a HG replacement. The biggest repair I have on record is, the radiator was compromised and cross contaminated ATF and coolant. Both the rad and the transmission were replaced then (2010 and 75k). I'm impressed... For the life of me, I can't tell the difference between mine and the OEM single layer 11044AA633 gaskets. For the sake of completeness, I'm adding the remaining photos (the photo uploader was giving me trouble last night). EDIT: More photo uploader trouble..

So, I've only owned the car for ~8k (purchased at 145K, 153K now). I replaced the thermostat and rad cap as a troubleshooting step at 146K, the coolant was green and appeared to be in good/clean condition. During my period of ownership, the coolant was never low. There was always coolant up to the radiator neck, and the coolant level was always above the L mark in the coolant reservoir. The only symptoms of a bad HG was an external oil leak on the passenger side, above the oil filter. It's my understanding that this type of external oil leak is very common with the 05-09 SOHC EJ253's. The car never had bubbles in the coolant reservoir, never had oil in the coolant, coolant in the oil. It also passed a block test. There were never spikes of high temperatures. It would take a long, sustained hill (or towing up a slight grade) to get the temp to rise. Around town or unloaded highway driving would never cause an issue. Upon tear down, my untrained eye did not spot any paths between the water jacket and the combustion chamber. EDIT Add missing photos.

Ok, if 212F to 217F isn't a huge concern in terms of temperature... What temperature ranges are cause for concern? And what temperature means "pull-over immediately"? I only hit 228F (about 3/4 of the way up the temp gauge, near the gap in the white line), and sustained all that damage (rings, valves, cracked driver head, warped heads).

My Outback has caused me lots of headaches lately. It's been overheating going uphill and leaking oil from the passenger side head gasket, so I decided to do a head gasket job, and replace the water pump with an OEM while I was in there. That turned into a giant mess, with a cracked cylinder head, pitted exhaust valves, and bad piston oil rings. GD and others on this board had some great advice for me, so I'm hoping to hit the well one more time After finishing the head gasket/valve/new cylinder head job, it's still overheating. At least a number of things were ruled out (cracked head, pitted exhaust valves, head gasket, water pump). I suspect there's a clogged radiator so I ordered a denso replacement. But one other issue I have spotted is that the radiator fans stay off until 212F. At 212F, they kick onto the low speed. Then, at 217F, they kick onto high speed at 217F. Both are waaaay too late, in my humble opinion. The temperature gauge is above normal at 213F. If the temp is 212F, and the fans are on low speed, I can flip the A/C switch, and they kick on to high speed. So I don't think it's a fuse/relay issue. I think the signal itself is wrong. Perhaps there's a TSB or a reflash needed? Plain OM on the Subaru Outback forum had a good thread observing this behavior and a hypothesis to explaining this behavior, but not any solution...

Good tip on replacing the piston rings. The machine shop said the old oil rings were stuck on pretty good, so I'm glad I was given that advice! Another question for the experts here - which torque sequence is the best to use? 2006 EJ253 non-turbo SOHC, with the turbo MLS head gaskets (11044AA642).