WAWalker

Quote: Originally Posted by WAWalker '97 OB's did not come with 2.2L engines Quote: Originally Posted by WAWalker '97 OB's did not come with 2.2L engines. Wow, you guys are tuff:rolleyes: He said he had a line on a $500 '97 outback, with a 2.2L. Unless someone has already done the swap, the Outback did not come with a 2.2. Sorry I didn't ask if the Outback was in fact an Outback before posting.

On an DOHC 2.5L, dark, oily substance in the over flow bottle is a sure sing of head gaskets leaking. It is not really oil, it is a mix of carbon and unbrunt fuel from combustion leaking into the cooling system.

No gasket. Use either the Subaru gray sealant, or, I use "The Right Stuff".

Some of the plastic ones were white plastic. Yes they are universal.

Sounds like HG's. Combustion pushing antifreeze out of cooling system.

On an DOHC 2.5L, dark, oily substance in the over flow bottle is a sure sing of head gaskets leaking. It is not really oil, it is a mix of carbon and unbrunt fuel from combustion leaking into the cooling system.

'97 OB's did not come with 2.2L engines.

Just drive it! Good work, glad you got it fixed.

If you got the latest version steel plate you won't be able to use the screws from your old one.

I am not positive, but I think only 91-92 EJ22's had alloy plates. It wouldn't suprise me if your EJ18 has a plastic plate. And your '97 EJ22 will have the plastic one unless someone has already replaced it.

Sublute, I am glad you are getting to the bottom of this. And thank you for sharing what you have found. I think a lot of people would have been to embarased to admit a mistake and would have just went away leaving everyone hanging. Don't beat yourself up about this. Your not the first to make this mistake. As far as switching the cams with the engine in the car. Pull the battery and washer bottle. Pull the air cleaner box. You will have to pull the timing belt, cam sprockets, and probably the inner timing belt covers. This is a '96 so the lifters are hydrolic, if they fall out and get mixed up it is not the end of the world. When putting the lifters back in the exhaust side, get some grease that is sticky, Lucas Red and Tacky, or some type of water proof grease. A little of this on the lifters will keep them in place while you install the cam. Keep up the good work, and try to have fun doing it:)

Totaly irrelavant. I read nothing about wiring harnesses being swaped during the work done on this '96 OB. Swaping wirring harnesses would probably fall under electrical work anyway. I was not trying to tell anyone how to use a oscilloscope. I have no clue how to use that type of scope. I diagnose and repair Subaru's 5-6 days a week. I have invested in tools specificly made for this, and training to do so. I was questioning the approch, not your knowlage on using the tool. True. But from experiance, I have learned that the fastest way to a proper diagnosis is by starting with the basics, not the bizzar. There is no question in my mind that you and many others are WAY smarter than I. And I don't come to this fourm to get into pissing contests to try and prove that I know more than the next guy. As I said, I work on Subarus for a living, I come here in my spare time to try and help others who are not willing, or can not afford to pay someone like me to work on their car. And at the end of the day the satisfaction and/or money is in fixing the cars.

Now you have to replace the drivers side headlight to match the new shiny one:grin:

Very obvious difference between the plastic, alloy, and metal, you'll be able to tell no problem. They only used the alloy plates on the 2.2's for a couple of years before they went to plastic.

Next time you have a parts salesman pull your codes, get the actual code number from them. It will be a P0..., or P1... code. EGR valves rarely fail on Subarus. But I'm sure Auto Zone would love to sell you one.

Lost count a long time ago how many head gaskets I have replaced on customers cars but it has been a lot. 97-99 OB's 2.5L DOHC engines. Lowest milage ~80k Highest milage ~180k 2000 and newer 2.5L SOHC engines. Lowest milage ~35k Obviously sent to dealer for warranty replacement. Highest milage ~188k

No, I had quit following the situation. I did go back to the original thread, and read all of Sublute's posts. Seems that all the "numerous issues" being dealt with were mechanical. If there were any electrical issues I missed them. All I am trying to get at is that...............IF this car WAS running before the head gaskets were replaced, then MOST likely the sensors and ECU are going to still be in good working order NOW. Unless they, or their related wiring, were dropped or damaged in some way during engine R&R. If some how or another you determine that the injectors and/or plugs are not firing at the right time, but are in fact firing, were is this information going to lead you? That the ECU decided it doesn't want to perform after setting for X amount of time whith power disconected? Or are you going to look at the mechanical parts that were removed and replaced, that have everything to do with syncing the compression, fuel injection, and ignition? If you want to play with the O-scope to determine what ever it is you are trying to determine. 1) Figure out how to set up the scope to get a proper wave form of the crank signal. 2) Figure out how to set up the scope to get a proper wave form of the cam signal. 3) Figure out how to set up the scope to get a proper wave form of the injectors. 4) Figure out how to set up the scope to get a proper wave form of the the ignition primary trigger on each coil. 5) Back probe the connectors, and test each component seperatly to verify the integrity of said components. 5) If each component tests good...................ther is absolutly NO need to install dummy loads in thier place................then if you want start testing to see if every thing is in sync. 6) If something tests bad, diagnoise and repair.

Over thinking a diagnosis can make it impossible to get to the solution. Me thinks this problem is being WAY over thought. Do you still have the timing belt covers off? How many reluctors do you have on your crank sprocket? Pulling the valve covers to check that cams were properly installed will take very little time compaired to what you are attemting to do at this point. As said before, the car ran before. Most likely your electronics didn't go south while working on the engine. I don't want to say you did something wrong, but in the grand scheam of things it's not going to be a big deal to go back and check. Careful you don't let the magic smoke out of any of the magic boxes. FWIW

You can "back probe" the fuel injector conectors with a safety pin easily and safetly. With the corrosion problems on the east coast I would not recommend probing the wire. PS Yes, ignition timing stays fixed @ 10 deg. during a crank-no start (fuel supply interupted). Appears that the advance happens @ ~400 RPM (not sure what the ECU uses to determine when engine is actually running, I would ASSume crankshaft speed). Not that this is relavant at the moment.

I have to ask. Does the car have a full tank of gas? Did you buy chance get the fuel feed and return lines mixed up?

Is this an auto trans. or MT. Ignition timing specs: AT 20deg +/- 8 deg. MT 14 deg. +/- 8 deg. If it is an auto your dead on. I don't feel like disableing my car to check where the timing is while cranking. But on start up it advances 6 deg. More air, more fuel, more timing on a cold start IS perfectly normal. If I get board I might check to see what happens during a crank-no start. The car ran before. Check the basics. ECU's and sensors do not go bad just sitting there while your working on something eles. At least I've not seen it in the 10+ years of working on these cars.

Sorry, I should have read the whole post before offering the help. Ingnition timing advance on start up is normal. Compression is good. Cam timing is good. If the intake and exhaust cams were switched around, I would think your compression readings would show it. Haven't tried it so don't know for sure. If you are sure you have good fuel supply and good spark...................I would like to see the data stream for the ECM. See if you can get your hands of a scan tool.

If it was running before the work was done..................chances are you do not have a bad sensor, unless something was done to damage them while the work was being performed. It takes three things to make an engine run. Compression, fuel and spark. Sounds like you have fuel and spark. Check compression.

Latch on the gas door is broken. All the cars I've parted for this project have had broken latches on the gas door..........I tried to get it to stay shut for the pic but the hill was steaper than it looks:)

Cam seals YES! The cam seals have to be removed when doing a head gasket job. If you put the old seals back in you are asking for trouble. Seen 'em pop out and all the oil get pumped out, destroying the engine. (Dealer going cheap on a warranty job. They gave the customer $500 in store credit for their mistake. As if he were going to spend money with them again. ) If you are haveing the clutch replaced the flywheel should be resurfaced, so it will already be off. Only takes a few more minutes to replace the $12 rear main, and the plastic oil seperator plate should be replaced with a metal one or it will leak. Providing parts to a shop is not always a good idea, depends on the shop. The parts side of a profitable repair shop is a retail business, so if you are providing the parts they are loosing money. Some will just charge more labor to make up for the lose.