jj421

I'll be down there this evening, but it'll probably be too late to do anything, haha.

After sitting for two months, I finally did my engine swap! With only ~100 miles on the new engine, I decided to take her on a pretty easy easy trail! It was a good feeling to be back in the woods with the Soob again. Scraped the ground with the towing hitch. A lift would've helped, but nothing too bad: Probably about a 200 ft cliff straight down into a stream/creek: Uh oh! My first trail "damage." When I was backing down the hill in the first picture, I ripped off a fog light. Went back, found the light, and put it back on:

Glad you got it to work! Every time I close my hood, I have to move it a little bit. But in my opinion, it's worth it since I think the older grills look better than the new ones. It looks good on your Loyale! Whenever I park my car and I'm walking away, I always look back at my car 3-4 times. Each time, I take a glance at the grill, glad I bought it from the junkyard. Hopefully it'll be the same for you.

You're welcome! I didn't do any cutting of the grill at all. I just squeezed it under the hood release lever, zip tied it on, and slammed the hood down. Then, I have to, with the hood closed, move the grill around so it looks normal. Not sure how well that makes sense. It fits better since I've taken out my A/C condenser, but you should be able to just slam the hood shut on it and it'll work. I haven't had any problems with the fitment.

Black ones definitely work better. But again, I don't notice 'em, haha. They're deep enough into the grill that unless you keep your eyes at the level of the camera in the first picture, you can't see it. Also, cut the part of the zip tie that is unused, to make it look better, obviously.

That's what I thought. Running it without that gasket is just weird, but whatever. She hasn't smoked since the first day I started her. I did lose some coolant over the second day, but not a lot. I figured it's just bleeding itself out and pumping coolant in every hose. Now, she's holding a steady amount of coolant. Haven't noticed any overheating whatsoever. The temp gauge stays at about 1/4 of the way up, and climbs up to about 1/3 of the way when in traffic or climbing hills. Nothing out of the ordinary. I've put 100 miles on the engine so far, and she's been running great. Revved it up to 4500 RPM a couple of times. No real need to rev it any higher than that, but I might do so later this week. The best part is, she's solved my cold idle issue! Before, during a cold start, I had to rev it at 2000 RPM for 5-10 minutes or else she wouldn't idle. I replaced the IACV and CTS, but it didn't help. I thought it was electrical, but this new engine fixed that issue. Oh, and one thing I wanna say is, remember that wrench I lost inside the engine compartment earlier in this thread? Yeah, I couldn't find it when I had the engine out. I haven't heard it fall out on the road. That wrench is officially gone, and I have no clue where it went. Luckily it was a 5/16" wrench or some other stupid imperial size that I never use. That wrench won't be missed.

Alright, took some photos. It can be a small PITA getting the zip ties in there, but it only takes a couple minutes and looks fine. Here, on the outside, it looks normal. It looks like the grill is mounted properly. Unless you look closely for the zip ties, you won't see them: Then, here is the passenger side zip tie. Kinda hard to show it since it's hard to see there, but you can kinda see the hole that it's tied to. But again, that hole is a part of the headlight bucket. You won't be able to put a thru-bolt and nut in there, since the hole on the grill will not line up with that, unfortunately.

I have one of those grills on my Loyale. I put it in its place, and zip-tied it to my car. I have two zip ties in the two holes on the far left and right side of the grill. They are zip-tied to empty holes in the headlight assembly/bracket. It doesn't fit super tight, but that's good because if it was tight, you couldn't move the hood release lever thing to the left. The two holes in the grill are far back enough that you can't see the zip ties when looking at the car. Whenever I shut my hood, I have to move the grill up a little bit to have it sit straight, but it works. No drilling required. I can take photos if you want, although it's pretty simple.

Got home, started her up, and she ran good and smokeless! Turned it off, cleaned up, added coolant, and started it up. She smoked a bit, but it went away. Put it in gear, it moved forward a bit, but then just stalled. I can move her forward a couple inches, but then it feels like something is stopping her from moving. I can't roll the car back to check. Any ideas? EDIT: Managed to get her out of the driveway and got her on the street! I guess my problem was the engine is misfiring, bad. I have very little power. I thought I had a misfire, and this confirmed it. I put in all new spark plug wires and a distributor cap, but I think they're wired wrong. The disty cap has the cylinder numbers on it, and I wired it up according to that. But obviously it's not working. When I put my foot down, it just pops over and over again. Maybe it's the disty timing. I moved the disty around it's brackets until it idled best, but it didn't help much. Besides the power issue, the only other thing I noticed is my power steering. Gonna add some fluid to it, but felt like crap. Good thing I'm converting to manual steering soon! It didn't overheat or blow out tons of smoke. Can't check the coolant level until the engine is cold, but we'll see. It idled, barely, but I think fixing the misfire will help that. EDIT #2: Here I am writing, officially finished with my first engine swap. The stupid disty cap lied, and mixed up cylinder two and four. A quick search on Google found this image: Using this, I swapped the two wires for cylinder #2 and #4, and the car ran amazing! She fired right up, smooth idle, FAST acceleration, and no popping or stumbling. My old plugs, wires, and cap were completely shot. My new plugs, wires, and cap make the car feel twice as fast! The exhaust is just as loud as before, since I didn't replace the exhaust gaskets (plus, one of the exhaust stud holes was stripped, so the exhaust couldn't go on right). I added some P/S fluid, as I was really low. Gonna take it out again to see if it helped. Otherwise, it is such a good feeling to be driving my Loyale again. Two months of driving automatics have bored me to death. I'll definitely be checking for fluid loss, and re tightening the bolts over the next few days. But all-in-all, for my first engine swap, I don't think I did too bad. Granted, EA82s aren't the most difficult thing to swap. Thanks guys for all your help! Still wondering if my old motor was bad, considering the toilet bowl gasket and whatnot. Oh well, I most likely won't go wrong with a 116K mile motor.

Hah, I got the best of both worlds. I've got an EA82 with SPFI, but I have manual windows. I believe only some '90 Loyales had manual windows. Later years had power windows. I've seen a handful of late-'80s DLs with SPFI and manual windows. The only thing I really have to say with this thread is, this is why I love manual windows (manual everything, for that matter). Less stuff to go wrong and generally outlasts any automatic feature. Manual steering outlasts power steering, manual trannies outlast auto trannies, manual windows/locks/mirrors/seats outlast power windows/locks/mirrors/seats.

Okay, morning came. Battery got fully charged, so I plugged it in and no luck. Still just a clicking noise. So I decided to try out the jumper cable method. Click click click. I thought, "Let's just double check and move the crank." Got my 7/8" socket on the crank pulley, and went to move it. It moved a fraction of a turn and then just stopped. I could hear what sounded like coolant fizzing on the driver side of the engine. I cannot turn the crank, at all. When I got the new engine, it moved freely. But now.... I'm afraid that that stupid, f&!@@#^ toilet bowl gasket allowed coolant into the intake manifold which hydrolocked the engine. So there goes my brand new engine and all the money I put towards it. EDIT: So I pulled the plugs, and found that cylinder #2 (driver; front) was full of coolant. Rotated the crank, and the compression shot/squirted the coolant out of the cylinder. So now the cylinder, as far as I can tell, is empty. The crank rotates fine now with the two driver side plugs out. Not sure how long that coolant was sitting in the cylinder, but hopefully it didn't do significant amounts of damage. I'm going to put the plugs back in, build up pressure, pull the plugs, squirt out any more coolant that appears, and repeat until I can rotate the crank with the plugs in. This makes me wonder, what was wrong with my old engine? Because when I found coolant in cylinder #4 on my old engine, it could've been because the stupid toilet bowl gasket let coolant into the engine. I think I replaced that small hose and the gasket at the same time, so I didn't isolate the hose to see if it was the problem. I could've fixed the problem by installing the new hose, but introduced a new problem by installing the gasket. Then when I pulled the plugs a couple days later, found the cylinder full of coolant and thought it was a cracked cylinder head. So maybe all along, it was just that small hose that was the problem. Granted, I love having a super low mileage engine with a new water pump, but it might've been unnecessary. But what was with the milky, oil-like substance that was on my radiator cap? Man, maybe it's just my early morning mind going crazy, but this problem is messing with my mind. I still don't think thing that the coolant has anything to do with the non-starting problem. But I could be wrong. It's just the clicking I hear sounds like it's coming from the ignition switch, not the starter. EDIT #2: Came back from the machine that hates me. Jeez, I always have bad luck with Subarus in the spring.... Put the plugs in (finger tight; only a couple threads down). Built up pressure in the cylinder(s) until the crank would no longer move. Pulled the plugs, and this time cylinder #4 was full of coolant. Squirted out the coolant using the crank, cleaned up, put the plugs in, and turned the crank some more. Compression built up until the crank could no longer move. Pulled the plugs, and this time cylinder #1 was full of coolant. Squirted out the coolant using the crank, put the plugs in, and turned the crank some more. With all four plugs in (again, finger tight, but enough to build pressure), I can now rotate the crank consistently without it seizing up. So I think I flushed all the coolant out of the engine. I pulled the plugs, and I think I'm going to let it air dry while I'm at school today. Yeah, I think coolant just got in through that toilet bowl gasket. I squirted out mass amounts of coolant, but the coolant level did not change under the radiator cap. Because of this, I don't think it's a cracked intake manifold. It only took a couple seconds/turns of the crank before the cylinder was full of coolant. And if it was a cracked intake manifold, the coolant level would go down in the radiator. Correct me if that's wrong. So, do you guys have an opinion on this at all? What should I do from here? Again, I was just going to let it air dry, put the plugs in this evening, rotate the crank, make sure it rotates fine, and try to start her again. What about my no-starting problem? Do you think it's related? EDIT #3: SHE STARTS AND RUNS! I guess I'm impatient, so I put the plugs in before going to school. Rotated the crank to make sure it was turning freely, and it was. Put in the key, and she cranked! Didn't start the first time, as I had to move the distributor around a bit. Eventually, I found a spot where she fired up after about 10 seconds of cranking. I'll probably have to adjust the disty a bit more, but she fired up! First thing I noticed was the solid stream of white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. There was smoke coming out of the engine bay too, but not as much. I'm assuming the engine is just burning off all the coolant, since it smelled like coolant. Any idea of how long I should run it for, to burn it all off? I'm not taking the car to school today, but I am going to sit and let it run for 10-15 minutes to let it burn everything off/out. Well, I'm glad to hear my car start up again. It's a nice sound, after it's been sitting for two months! Can't wait to drive it! I'm definitely glad to know that the no-starting problem was because of the coolant in the cylinders. But hopefully it can burn off all the coolant in the engine, so it's not spewing white smoke perpetually. One thing I also noticed is my alternator is charging high (well, higher than it ever has before). The only time I've seen this needle up this high is when my old alternator failed. I hope this one hasn't died during it's time sitting, considering it's practically new. The picture below was with every electronic turned off. When I turn everything on, it sits at about 13 volts. I'm glad to see I still have gas in the car too, haha. So, anyways, it was amazing to hear my engine start for the first time in a long time!!!

That gasket just confused me, haha. When I put it in, I saw the markings from an old gasket, but there wasn't an old gasket. I guess I just have to live without the gasket, haha. Two months ago, when these problems first showed up, I did replace both battery cables. So I have brand new cables in right now, which decreases the likelihood that the cables are the problem. But, I've been proven wrong before, so I'll try the jumper cable method tomorrow. Also, one thing to say is I checked and tightened (if necessary) all the ground wires I could find. I'm going to let my battery charge overnight. If it doesn't work, I'll try the jumper cable method. If that doesn't work, I'll use the brand new battery (one month old) that we put in the Explorer (if it fits in my battery tray). I kinda have a feeling that the problem is my battery, but my battery isn't that old/corroded. I'll try that other test too. Found out today that my multimeter is broken, so I can only use a test light. I meant to take apart my dash tonight to look at the ignition switch, but I'll do it tomorrow. The clicking noise sounds like it's coming from the ignition switch, not the starter. The annoying thing is, is when I get her started, I'm gonna have to deal with a bunch of things. Gotta adjust the distributor, bleed the cooling system, solve the problem with the starting, all while combating my cold idle problem (which means I have to rev it at 2000 RPM for 5-10 minutes before it'll idle on its own).

Huge bump, and update. So, from all the previous posts, I was 90% sure of a cracked head. Over the past two months, I've been saving up for the parts and whatnot to fix her. Eventually, I had bought everything I needed. Contacted Subruise for help, and he offered a new engine that he had sitting in his garage. I figured it might just be easier to swap in a new motor, versus rebuilding my old one. Plus, the new longblock only had 116K miles on it, which is practically new. Today, he came over and helped install it. Four hours later, I had everything put back together. Subruise said to use RTV on the intake manifold gaskets, but the previous posts said that they were a dry install. I don't have any RTV, so I decided to install the new intake manifold gaskets dry. Also, keep in mind, I'm still using my old intake manifold. Just came back from adding some coolant in the car. At first, everything was going well. No leaks or anything. Then, I started to notice a wet spot near cylinder #4, which if you remember from previous posts, is the reason why I suspected a cracked head. I started paying close attention over there, and noticed it was coming out near the gasket. I tightened down the bolts even more than they were, and started pouring more coolant into the radiator. I noticed that coolant was still coming from that area. First thing that went into my mind: the gasket isn't sealing properly. Time to buy RTV. But then I felt the bottom of the intake manifold. The entire bottom of the intake manifold on the driver's side is wet with coolant. Passenger side is dry. So it looks like the coolant is leaking out of the throttle body area, and it's running down the bottom of the intake manifold. I look over there, and notice there is some coolant on the outside of the throttle body intake. Tighten down the bolts, which were surprisingly loose. Start pouring in more coolant. Same problem. So I decide to pull the spark plug in cylinder #4. Luckily, the spark plug well is empty and dry. So, what are your opinions? Again, I've got a new block, heads, etc., although my intake manifold is still original to my car. I still don't think my intake manifold is cracked, but I may be wrong. I believe I posted it, but I replaced the throttle body intake gasket (the "toilet bowl" gasket) back when I was originally diagnosing this problem. When I replaced that, there wasn't even an old gasket to replace there. So maybe with the gasket there, it provides enough clearance to let coolant out? The bolt in this picture has coolant on it: I should note that when I watched the coolant flowing out near the manifold gasket, it was flowing as almost as fast as it was going in the radiator. This leads me to believe that there is a prominent leak, not a hairline crack in the intake manifold. Maybe I'll try removing that toilet bowl gasket to see if it fixes it, but if you guys have any idea, that'd be great. EDIT: Okay, went out and removed the "toilet bowl" gasket. Seems to have fixed it. Wasn't leaking like it was. Coolant level is holding steady in the radiator. I'm going to let is sit for a few minutes and monitor any changes. Is it just me, or is this stupid? WITH a gasket, I leak coolant. WITHOUT a gasket, it works perfectly fine. That just doesn't "click" with me, haha. Oh well, if it works, it works. A previous owner might've messed with it. One of the previous owners disabled the A/C compressor and hill holder, so I wouldn't be surprised if s/he did something with this. EDIT #2: Removing the TBI gasket solved the leak. Coolant level is staying steady. Oil is full on the dipstick and the engine is ready to go. Plug in the battery, turn the key, click click click. Back to the exact same problem as before.... It cranks for a split second, then just clicks. Went to O'Reilly to have them charge my battery, but they were closed. So I bought an automatic charger from Fred Meyer and it's currently charging my battery. I charged it for two hours, tested it, and didn't seem to help much. Gonna try it tomorrow, after it's been sitting overnight on the charger.

My cone washer failed a while ago and stripped out my driver side hub. Took two weeks to get the parts because the dealership messed up on the shipping (but hey, I got 25% off ). I've tightened mine to 140 ft/lbs, and never had a problem. I don't think it hurts to over-torque it to 150, but I don't think it's necessary to go that much.

I kind of agree with this. I have the factory roof rack on my EA82, but really only for looks. I've only used it once, to transport a 10 ft long piece of metal flashing (as you can see in the picture). I have my 40"x48" flatbed trailer from Harbor Freight (also in the picture) which has been more useful. Well, I haven't used it much besides transporting two transmissions, but I plan to use it for future camping. Gonna go to WCSS this year, and I plan to load up the trailer with all my camping stuff. I could probably fit everything on the roof rack, but it seems like too much of a hassle. Plus, with the trailer, I can just disconnect it and go. I don't have to take everything off the roof rack if I want to go somewhere. Ugh, I digress.

Pulled my EA82! First time ever pulling an engine, and I regret not doing so when I replaced my clutch/transmission a couple months ago. Would've been easier if I had an engine hoist, but whatever. With me, my sister, and a random stranger that was passing by on the street, we managed to pull the engine out by hand with minimal collateral damage. Oh, and yes, I know you don't have to take off the intake manifold, power steering pump, and whatever to pull the engine. I did that to reduce weight (so I can pull it by hand), reduce height, and because I'm transferring that stuff to my "new" longblock.

Well, when I replaced mine, I didn't even know of the connector. I just popped the clock out from the dash using a small screwdriver. Then I just cut the four wires from the old clock and spliced 'em to the wires on the new clock. It's been working ever since. Not necessarily the "clean" way to do it, but it only takes 15 minutes, maybe, and you don't have to take apart anything else.

"I love older Subarus. The early 2000 WRX..." Well, 2000 wasn't exactly my idea of an older Subaru, but I digress. That's an awesome BRZ! Based on his reactions, seems like it'd be a little frightening to put your foot down, haha. Like has been stated, lots of power and torque, lightweight, RWD. It's "an accident waiting to happen."

That's awesome! I like seeing the transformation over the years. Wish I could do something similar, but I don't have any kids, since I am still a kid.

I don't think this has been posted before, but I'm not 100% sure. Anyways, I thought it was cool, so here it is:

Okay, sorry, but I have not read about them. Like I've said earlier, I've done almost no work on the inside of an engine. I'm only 17 years old, so I don't have years and years of experience. So I've never done anything like a head and head gasket replacement. I've never done any reading of the sort, although I'm always open to reading. I guess I should've clarified when I mentioned the head gasket kit. I'm stupid, but not that stupid. I know they're not the best quality. I would not use the head gaskets from that kit. I'd use the FelPros like you mentioned (thanks for the part number, by the way). What I meant by that is all the other gaskets. It seems like that kit is overall a better financial deal than buying all the gaskets separately, sacrificing quality, of course. I guess I'll just get everything separate, since I'd prefer quality over quantity. A quick search on O'Reilly's website shows that the head gasket they sell matches that part number. Not sure if that is what comes in the kit, but buying it separately, you get a FelPro 9392 PT, and that's it. There are no more options.

Yeah, watch EricTheCarGuys video. I watched that one a while back, and he said aftermarket stereos can cause a draw of power. Not sure if our cars are subject to that or not. On another note, your door indicator works without the key in the ignition? For me, the key needs to be in the "on" position before it'll tell me which door is open. My dome light comes on no matter the key position.

Okay, I had a couple minutes today and took off the driver side valve cover. The gasket looks in great shape, so I don't think I had a leak there. Gonna buy a new dealership gasket. Is there a way to clean the cover? The outside case is completely covered in grease, probably from a ripped CV boot some time in the car's life. I would like to clean the grease off so it's nice and shiny on the outside. What about cleaning the inside? I would like to clean up any parts I remove, so good cleaning methods would be recommended. This repair is going much slower than I had hoped. But I have no money. Right now, my parts bill is about $100, which is not a lot, but I still need to buy textbooks for school. And that doesn't include the cylinder head, head gasket, exhaust gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, etc. What are your guy's opinions on those head gasket kits from O'Reilly?

Never seen any ABS components on junkyard EA82s before. Granted I've only seen a few '94s and '93s, but I haven't seen ABS. That'd be a neat add-on if you could install ABS from a Legacy, or another new-gen. I'd never do it, because I'm against ABS, but still.

I had a similar experience in my thread "Random Coolant Leak." Details are in that thread, but I ended up realizing one of my spark plug holes was full of coolant, leading to probably a cracked head. Of course I had a coolant leak, then the car wouldn't start, but something to put in the checklist for future experiences--pull spark plugs and check.