psychocandy

goes away once warmed up, only happens between 1K-2K rpm. seems to be coming from under the TB covers. any help?

OK, so my AC clutch is toast. I'm less concerned right now with having the AC running (r/r AC compressor in the future seems like the best option). I'm just wondering what the best thing to do for my car ('98 Outback Sport, EJ22) is right now. The sound is awful but pretty much only happens between about 1200-200 rpm. Can I just run the car as usual with the AC turned off? With a fried clutch, could I cause catastrophic damage to my car? What happens if it freezes? Will the belt just slip? Or will it keep trying to turn the compressor and burn something out? Should I just cut the AC compressor belt? That seems like the easiest and fastest option (besides, belts are cheap and it's raining right now, this'd take 5 minutes). It seems like the alternator and compressor both need to be in there for the belts to all be aligned properly. I removed the AC compressor from my old Saab and it looked much easier. It was mounted independently of pretty much anything so I removed it and just cut the belt off. For the EJ22, I gotta remove the alternator and belt to remove the compressor and belt, and it looks like I still need to keep the compressor in there to keep the alternator where it needs to be.

@GrossGary, old love those TB covers if you have them. Lemme see what I need (both driver side at least). @987... um, might need a visual on that method with the TB and piece of steel. my brain's not working it out right now.

'98 EJ22, 4EAT, Outback Sport, ~150k miles. I did my timing belt a few hundred miles ago. When I did, I noticed that I really needed to replace my TB covers. The plastic tabs holding the nuts on the top are broken. At any rate, I'd like to find some TB covers and replace them. I had no problem changing the TB, but I obviously didn't take the camshaft sprockets off b/c I didn't need to. To replace the rear TB covers, I'm pretty sure I need to take off those camshaft sprockets. 1) Will I need a special tool to hold the camshaft sprocket so I can break the bolt holding it on free. 2) Is the sprocket keyed in such a way that I don't have to worry about messing up the timing? I've taped the covers together at the front because I think that after a certain amount of vibration occurs, the covers can separate enough that one of them rubs against the TB. Another option, I've seen pictures of engines without TB covers. What do people think of that? Are the TB covers kind of a redundant safety, or are they pretty important?

damn, you got my hopes up. i let it idle in the dark. no arcing i could see.

That seems to be the most logical answer. I have a friend with the same engine, but she's at work 'til 1am. I really want to take the car over to her work and swap the coil pack jsut to see if that solves the problem. Even if they have the coil pack at Kragen/Napa/O'Reilly's, I'd kinda rather get it from a stealership or off the internet. But that means the car's outta commission 'til that arrives. What's conventional wisdom with these? Prices range from a scary $25 to almost $200. I don't want to cheap out, but I'm not the kind of person that believes the $200 part is automatically better.

no, here's the timeline: 1. got the CEL, went to shop and got the code from the tech (cyl 2 misfire), tech also cleared code (btw, Subies are popular around here, this guy works on a lot and says: has to be NGK plugs, but he's seen very little variance between wire sets and actually doesn't like NGK because "the ends fall off."). 2. ordered wires and bought NGK plugs. 3. drove it a bit (couple days) before r/r plugs & wires because it seemed intermittent, CEL did not come back on. 4. Amazon sent wrong wires, so I was gonna run out to O'Reilly's to pick up wires last night, but it started really bogging down and CEL went back on. 5. took MC to get "closest to OEM" wires from O'Reilly's. 5. did plugs & wires this morning, did not solve problem. 6. did some research on internet, went back out and tested for spark. 7. no spark from coil pack to cyl 1 leads. plenty of spark to cyl 2-3-4. so, if the CEL went on originally because of cyl 2, it was pretty intermittent and did not run particularly rough (barely noticeable, actually). btw, cyl 2 was the dirtiest of all the plugs removed. however, after having the code cleared, car ran as before. but then, it seems that one of the cyl just had complete misfire as of yesterday. I'm assuming this is cyl 1 and has something to do with the lack of spark from the coil pack. have not had a chance to scan for a code since originally having a tech pull & clear code.

odd that it would pop up right after changing plugs & wires, but I've worked on enough cars to know that coincidences always happen.

is that something that would develop after time? 'cuz this coil pack came with the engine, and it's only just started doing this. also, I have a friend with an OBD reader, will it tell me anything other than "cyl 1 misfire," which I already know, just need to diagnose. it seems to me that no matter what, there IS a problem with the coil pack first. if the Subie uses a "wasted spark," then cyl 1 should be getting a spark from the coil pack whenever cyl 3 is, correct? and cyl 3 is definitely firing.

here's the clicking sound and the lack of spark from the coil pack to cylinder 1. take my word that there is strong spark to 2-3-4 cylinders. also, pulled plug, looked pretty clean aside from being damp with gas. is there a way to embed? i'm on another forum that uses Vbulletin, we can do: video ID , but that didn't seem to work here.

<derp> Crank pulley's right in front of my face, not under the center TB cover. It's fine, no wobble. Pulled the plug wires off the coil pack while the car was running. STRONG spark (saw a video of some guy doing it with his bare hands, that's not smart, YOWZA!) at 2-3-4, no spark at 1 Swapped the wires at the coil pack for 1 and 3, same result. Is this like to mean a bad coil pack? Odd that there was supposedly a cylinder 2 misfire and now I'm just getting straight up no spark at cylinder 1. I was gonna pull the plugs and look at them, but I'm staring at an obvious problem here. I'm still under the impression that a bad coil would cause problems at two cylinders. What do you more experienced Subies tinkerers have to say about my no spark from only the cylinder 1 conductor? I also unplugged the MAF sensor while it was running. Engine died like it's supposed to. Engine has ~150k on it, new TB, water pump, pulleys. I have no idea when the valves were last checked TBH.

I'm also curious about some people claiming that sloppy time belt jobs will cause the crank bolt to not be torqued down tight enough and the timing will walk. I did my own TB, I used a torque wrench, so I doubt that's the problem. But what's the best way to check? Can I check this without taking the center timing belt cover off? don't I have to take the crank bolt out to do that? I suppose that'll guarantee putting the crank bolt back on at the appropriate tightness, but also seems kinda redundant.

I think only the early engines are non-interference. btw, what is the symptom of a wobbly crankshaft rotor? I'm having a misfire with a CEL that new plugs & wires did not fix.

ugh. what's the next step? 1998 Outback Sport (i.e. Impreza) with 2.2. i'm about to head over to O'Reilly's, but they don't rent OBD code readers and the cheapest one they carry is $120. I am noticing a ticking sound as well not like an exhaust leak (already dealt with one of those), kinda sounds like a loud watch. I took it in to a shop to have the code read. There was a cylinder 2 misfire code, I didn't ask my mechanic for more specifics, he works on a lot of Subies. I knew the plugs & wires were due for replacement anyway, so I just went ahead with that. Is there a way to test the coil pack? But wouldn't a coil pack problem affect 2 cylinders? not just 1?

first time doing it. kinda overthought it. here's what was easy: doing the timing belt. here's what made me want to blow up my car and cry and shoot things: 1) putting the water pump back in and trying to get the metal gasket to stay on. i ended up using some zip ties through a couple of the holes to get everything lined up, putting the bolts in the other holes, then clipping the zip ties pulling 'em through and putting the screws into the last couple holes. but i didn't think of this before spending over an hour trying to just line things up without the zip ties. 2) i used the method where i jammed a screwdriver into the back of the engine where it connects to the torque converter to loosen and tighten the crankshaft pulley nut. this was relatively easy. however, when i was buttoning everything back up, the little plastic cover that goes over the inspection hole almost fell into the torque converter. then when i got it out, it slid under the intake manifolds. several times. bloody knuckles, swearing, sore back ensued. the timing marks on the belt make it seem like you're always gonna be 1/2 a tooth off. i just went with it, turned the engine over a few times with my ratchet to make sure i didn't eff anything up and crossed my fingers. everything felt fine once i started it up!

yeah, i got a new water pump. so i guess i need a new gasket for the thermostat. oh well, i gotta get a white out/paint pen too. also, to clarify, that's a no on the TDC thing? just make sure all the other timing marks are lined up?

1. do I need to remove the thermostat housing to replace the water pump? my thermostat has been replaced recently, so i don't want to bother removing that and putting in a new gasket if i don't have to. 2. does it really matter if cylinder #1 is at TDC before starting the job (manual says to make sure cyl 1 is at TDC)? i'm thinking about it in my head, and as long as the timing marks are lined up and things don't move, i don't really see why it matters which cylinder is at TDC. thanks!

can anyone recommend a decent Subaru shop near the Oakland/Berkeley area? I do a lot of my own repairs, but there's some stuff beyond my scope. For example, my probably exhaust leak. I gots no welding skillz, brah. Seriously though, I've got a friend who loves his mechanic, but he's not a Subaru specialist (not that I'd need one for most repairs) and he's in East Oakland. Something near the Oakland/Berkeley border is probably the most convenient for me. Here's some shops I know about: Unitech, specializes in Japanese and knows Subies pretty well. Walsh Bros., they're mainly a Volvo shop, but have added Subarus to their repertoire Beyond Repair, dunno, I've had a friend recommend this place, but don't really know anything about it. Anyone have any experience with any of these shops? Or another shop that does them right? '98 Outback Sport, EJ22, 4EAT, btw.

So, being on a Subaru forum, we talk a lot about head gaskets. They're a big deal. But, I come from the motorcycle world. I apprenticed in a shop for a couple years. Anyway, we didn't really do head gaskets that often. But when we did, it was no big deal. Sure, most MC heads are easier to access than in a car. Hell, on a boxer (say, a BMW) engine like our Subies have, it's criminally easy to get to the heads. I've done countless BMW head gaskets. It's a simple common job. Never once did we have send the heads out to get milled flat. We never really worried about warpage. Considering how similar our Subaru engines to something like a modern BMW motorcycle engine. Our cars even have mechanical valve trains with shim adjusters like most motorcycles! So my question is, why is it so important on cars, when doing head work, to get the heads machined flat? And I know it's not just Subarus. My old Toyota's head gasket went bad years ago. It was a 4 banger, so taking the heads off wouldn't've been that huge a problem. But, when I talked to a shop about doing it, the cost of it (with the machining and everything) was so much it just wasn't worth it. Why is it that this is so important for car engines? Considering most MC engines are tuned for higher performance (relative to cars, anyway), how come its cars that are so much more sensitive? Serious question here. I'm really not much more than a shade tree mechanic, so I don't purport to know a whole lot. I'm just curious!

I figured, just wanted to check. I found a guy's walk-through for the TB job on his WRX. It looks pretty much the same, except I should have the old style tensioner, and the WRX has more idlers. Plus, we don't have the TB guides, do we? I was gonna do everything but the oil pump. I guess I might as well though. Not scoffing at the satisfaction of a job well done, I'm sure I'll actually sorta enjoy doing it. But I was TOTALLY prepared to have someone else do it for <$200. lol.

KEE-RIST! I was about to do the TB (plus replacing idlers, water pump, etc) myself when I read this. I'd easily pay someone $200 to do it for me. so I called around to a couple shops. Both estimates started at $1200!!! I love California, but sometimes I hate it too! p.s. I'm confident in my ability to do this job (have worked as a motorcycle tech), but I wanted to ask some advice. Is it really necessary to have the #1 cylinder at TDC (that's what my shop manual says, and I don't have a compression gauge, I could do the old stick a screwdriver down the spark plug hole trick, but if I don't have to...), or do i just need to have all the timing marks lined up?

soooo, I found out that the only real difference in the kits is the timing belt tensioner. the hydraulic tensioner was introduced in 1998. I'm not sure of the exact year of my engine. anyone know if there's a quick and easy way to determine (i.e. without taking the timing belt covers off) whether my engine requires the kit with the hydraulic tensioner or just the tensioner bearing?

I've got a '98 Subaru Outback Sport with an engine swap from an older Legacy (EJ22). it's developed a clicking sound that you only really hear when the engine is under load above ~1500 rpm. If I rev the engine in neutral, you don't really hear the clicking. but if the car is in gear and accelerating (or if I give it a little gas while I'm stepping on the brake), you can hear it pretty clearly. I thought it might be an exhaust leak at first, but it sounds more mechanical. It seems to only be coming from the passenger side, but it'a little hard to tell as I can't really get to the engine while I'm stepping on the brake and gassing it (I know, get a friend to help). Anyway, here are a few videos I've taken where maybe you can hear the sound. 1. under the passenger side of the engine while the car is idling. i'm concentrating on the exhaust area. you can sort of hear some clicking, but I'm pretty sure it's normal. 2. in the car, revving the engine with my foot on the brake. you can hear the clicking noise. 3. revving the engine while in neutral. you can hear some of that clicking right when you start to give it gas and again when the engine winds down. anyone got any ideas what the sound could be?

Hey all, I've had my Subaru for about a year, but I'm new to the board. I also lurk at Outback Forums and NASIOC, but I've got an older Outback Sport and was told this might be a better board for tips & tricks on those. Anyway, so my car: 1998 Outback Sport (Impreza based wagon), EJ22, 4EAT, ~150k miles a few months ago, I blew the engine on the way home from Death Valley and we had the engine swapped in Mammoth Lakes with a Legacy motor of similar age and mileage. I need to do the timing belt on this car, and I was about to order a kit when I ran across some trouble. I was going to order parts from MizumoAuto on ebay, but their parts wizard seems to imply that kits for the 1998 Outback Sport will not also fit a Legacy from 1997 or earlier. So, I'm not sure what kit to get. Apparently there was a slight change in the EJ22 for model year 1998? Is there an easy way that I can tell whether I have the earlier motor or the 1998 motor (which I assume carried on to the 1999?)? And how do I figure out which kit I should get! Cheers, and thanks in advance!