Whitedog

Ah. I see that now. #10 is parts where the solenoid mounts to the body. I have a couple of starter shops in town to source parts. Hopefully I will remember to post up some numbers for others to work with.

the contacts and plate are not #14 and #17, but is it #10? I don't know and hope someone can help us with this.

Judging by the trees, I'm guessing you are in the Ponderosa Pines area. Great area out there, right close to all of the roads that lead out to everywhere and that's a great little car to have out there. Enjoy the weather this weekend and get that car out and about. One of my favorite areas is North of Pringle Falls, East side of the river. BTW, great project to work on with the old man and he seems like a hoot to work with.

Type of Wrenching: Professional, shadetree, internet What: Pro: John Deere construction, Shade: VW TDIs How long doing it: Pro: 20ish years, TDIs: 6 years Other skills: Welding, Failure analysis, inspection.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=332781 Silly people. They hate on anything that isn't a VW TDI.

250,000 miles long time? That's where we are right now.

Timing belt is intact and both cams are in the same position so I am very sure the timing isn't the problem. I didn't check compression because I didn't feel like it today. I did pull the dipstick... put it in, pulled it... hmm... add half a quart... AH! There it is, at least it on the dipstick now... (Please note that I haven't been working on this car in the past.) While I was adding oil, "smoke" was coming out the dipstick hole. HRM... When it's running, there is what I can only describe as a "chuffing" sound when I remove the oil fill cap or the dipstick. Do you think that is a symptom of a burnt valve? I also found a torn right, inner CV boot. What is the best course of action there? Boot, one end or whole axle? Hopefully I'll find some info on How To here.

Is it worth it to pull the starter solenoid apart and check the contacts, replacing them if needed? It looks pretty easy and since the car will start and stop quite often during the day, it got me thinking.

It works good just before an emissions test.

I have never tried either, only heard of toothpaste, then I wondered about the 1,000,001 uses for baking soda.

Yeah, the boss and I discussed it and we will just send them out. I like the idea though. Have you ever lapped with baking powder or toothpaste? That would be for an extra fine finish.

LOL! I am thinking of big, heavy, cast iron heads. I would bet a fully dressed SOHC head is maybe 20 Lbs? Yeah, that half inch guide tube and the engine rotated 90 Degrees will do fine. We have an engine stand NIB that still smells like Harbor Freight. Thanks for the reminder. Hi ho, hi ho...

Another question: I would like to (maybe) make a set of guide studs for the heads. How long and what thread would I need? Since they aren't TTY there aren't bunches of used ones floating around, so finding them would be a bit tougher than some bolts.

Hmm... I have an old countertop sitting in the garage that could work, I would just need to find some glass. GD, would you say this is doable on an EJ251 engine if all it needs is a little lapping of the valves? I guess if we can get the heads done outside for $100ish each, it may not be worth it the time and trouble. Is that a standard size sheet of paper? Also, did you just move the head back and forth, in circles or a "proper" figure 8 like you would lapping Detroit injectors parts?

OK, I was suggested to read about installing TCs correctly and it looks like good info as expected. The torque converter should be able to move back and forth and spin freely when the engine is bolted to the transmission. And Mike: I've heard there was alot of that in Richmond. Not that there's anything wrong with it for you or others.

Great, no TTY to worry about. So far I'm at about $1500 with my labor. Hopefully less if I can knock it out with no wasted time. And I am tempted to quote that last paragraph on the TDIClub. Some of those guys are rabid about their cars.

I imagined some kind of way to hold it in the Bell housing since we will need to roll the car outside so we can get other stuff in the shop. At least I'm hoping we can roll it. Are there any guesses on how much head work would cost? Also, are there any Torque To Yield bolts I will need to worry about? VWs are full of TTY bolts.

Is it stator, driveshaft, pump going in? I used to have troubles with TCs because I was afarid of them. Then I just did it and made sure the end result was right and got better. Sometimes you have to just look it in the eye and do it. It will be good to know that it's all the way in before stuffing the engine.

She was a Jack Russel. I miss her dearly.

So, back on track here... (I really need to stop hijacking my threads on car forums) Since there seems to be a lack of easily found, consolidated information on this I am hoping to get things together to help others if they find themselves in this situation. I'll start looking for pricing information and sources to get it all laid out. At least that's my goal.

But I was RIGHT there! Why did I fail again??? I just can't imagine a good reason why. I mean afterall, I started at #4! LOL! The next logical move is to #2. Sheesh, get out the flog and ashes for me while I beat myself up for it! Anyway, thanks for trying to keep my self esteem out of the gutter... I love you, man.

Thank you masters, Doggie is learning new tricks, contrary to the old saying. #1 is 150 PSi and #3 is 180 so that is the one I know is low. I don't know why I didn't check #2, so get the rolled up newspaper for me. So knowiung that, I am guessing that almost rules out the timing issue? Ugh... If I don't know the compression on #2 I don't know anything... OK, complete compression test to come. Since the engine needs to be tilted and since I don't have a fancy tilter, I use a 1/4 ton come-along on one hook and tilt that way. Works great for setting engines in the back of Jettas. (I should have had air springs in the back since I was flashed more than a supermodel at a rainjacket convention.) (OK, that was horrible. I should stop.) John, my thinking is that if the timing is off, I gotta pull the heads anyway and have them rebuilt, so why not just pull it, then check timing while it's easy? If it jumped, isn't it a sure thing that valves met pistons and liked being close so they kissed and got all bent out of shape over it. Since it's been to the moon, I can certainly justify the tensioner to the boss.

Hello all, I guess I can start this discussion on the engine that I get to work on, but first a bit about me. I am a mechanic, but all this spark stuff is out of my comfort zone since I am a diesel head. I spent 15 years as a John Deere construction mechanic and I have the painful pleasure of owning and working on my two VW TDIs. So what am I doing with a Subaru? I am now working for a company that has a custom engine in a Subaru. It is a 2.5, 2.5 litre 2003 Legacy. It's a 2.5, 2.5L because it has one dead hole and low compression on another hole, therefore it's only 2.5 cylinders... <crickets> So I have been doing a bit of studying and thanks to the locals I am pretty sure that after 245,000 miles of no valve adjustment (My guess) the #4 exhaust valve is burnt. I have learned that I will want to pull the engine for the repair, mounted on a stand. I have learned that this engine is a 2.5L Phase II, SOHC that could have the possible potential of maybe leaking coolant externally. I have learned that I will want to send the head to a compatent head shop, I'm not sure if they put them under grow lights, or what, so I'll find a good, local machine shop instead. I have learned that I will want to replace the timing belt SYSTEM. This will include the belt, water pump, seals, tensioner roller, other rollers (But I'm not sure which ones) and check the tensioner. I have learned about the timing marks and which ones to pay attention to and which to ignore. I have learned that there are some other things on the engine that I will want to pay attention to while it is out such as the oil pump cover bolts and a plastic piece under the flexplate as well as a couple other things I have in a PM from JohnCEgg. I have learned that if I can get to Portlandia, I should stop in and see Rick and give him some love for all the help he has provided. I have learned why there was oil around the spark plugs when I pulled them. I have learned that there are parts to get aftermarket and parts to get genuine Subaru though I don't know about the timing belt stuff and I need to start a list of that kind of stuff. I have learned that there isn't much information on how to with this engine. I have learned that this site ROCKS! I think that is the important stuff for now. R&R doesn't look difficult, but do I pull the intake system before pulling the engine? I'm unsure of how exactly to lift and pull; does it need to be tilted, or just jack up the trans and the motor mounts come out? yeah, i'm hazy on that part since I haven't looked too closely. Where to hook my hoist? I think I saw a loop on the back and maybe a braket near the alternator? Four bolts on the flex plate accessed from the top... Pull the radiator... Unbolt the AC compressor and set it aside... Protect the AC Condensor... Unfortunately since the boss also owns a 6.0 Ford Powersrtoke, I spend a lot of resources working on that so this probably won't happen until December. Plenty of time to line up my GO DUCKS! before then so hopefully I can use this thread to be sure I have it all together. Thanks for all the info and I'll check in here with the information I have so I can have it all here and people can check and correct what I find.

That's just crazy, installing the timing train off from TDC, LOL! but as long as everything is set at the same point off from TDC it works. That's good to know because I can imagine something coming up where I was trying to set things up using #1 at TDC and really making a mess of things. Learning things every day... :)

OK, I'm guessing by your User name, that the firing order is 1-3-4-2 which is something I was wondering about so thank you for that.