jonathan909

Ah, you're jumping to conclusions. He didn't specify which half he uses, did he?

Nyerk, nyerk, nyerk.

A peripheral comment, but take EXTREME CARE when using Scotchbrite anywhere near an engine and prepare to be absolutely scrupulous about cleaning afterward. The risk is the aluminum oxide particles that are bound into the plastic getting into places (like bearings) where you'd rather not have incredibly destructive abrasives. When I got a bunch of samples (for non-automotive use) from the local 3M rep last summer they included a number of warning sheets about it.

It's a subtle historical and linguistic distinction, but I'm standing by it: The Luddites - as in, those who were alive at the time and followers of Ned Ludd - had a specific objection to new technology that displaced workers. They were genuinely "technophobic" in that they feared the new technologies that would kill human jobs. A Luddite would be best described as a contemporary follower of what he thinks The Luddites believed, which has deformed in modern usage into encompassing anyone who is genuinely technophobic or rejects new technologies for reasons other than fear (note the distinction - I have a lot of trouble with the modern use of "-phobic" because it presumes knowledge of the subject's mental state e.g. is it proper to call someone a "homophobe" if he rejects gays not because he's actually afraid of them, but simply because he's a bigot? If we're to be consistent, why are Jew-haters referred to "anti-Semites" rather than Semitophobes?) or is just lazy and looking for an excuse to avoid learning how to work something new. And I won't touch "neo-" with a stick because nobody knows how to use it properly and it confuses just about everything it gets close to. For example, "neo-liberals" are pretty much the opposite of actual liberals and "neo-classical" is a term favoured by idiots who don't know anything about 20th century contemporary composition.

Confirmed: No such VIN marking on any of these blocks. I do still have (somewhere outside) the borken block from our late '02 Forester, which was a US production car i.e. MPH speedo instead of KM/H. When I get a chance I'll clean it off and look, just for yuks. As for the rods... I make mistakes, but rarely any this obvious. And how are rods measured? I don't get where the 79mm comes from.

I see the land you're talking about, but none of my blocks appear to have markings there. I'll give these a good cleaning to confirm, but I suspect that this is a US marking requirement and they don't do it with Canadian market engines.

Interesting revival of a really old (as in: Predating my owning any Subies by a lot of years) thread, and may come in handy as long as I still have my '99 OBW. But the term "chipboard" makes me a little crazy. There's no such thing - at least, not in electronics.

Awright, here's what I've got. Hoping Smart People (tm) can enlighten me. Pulled "new" block apart, with the pistons off felt a little play in rod 1 - maybe a couple of thou. Once I split it and yanked the caps, I could see that the bearing was just starting to come apart. I think I was lucky here, and that as soon as buddy detected a slight bottom end knock he didn't push it - he stopped and immediately pulled the engine. Will mic the crank over the weekend and confirm it's okay. But I'm really curious about the block diffs. This new one says "EJ25 304" in the casting. Where the halves mate at the top of the bell housing are the numbers 745578 (starboard) and 730865 (port) - I assume those are production serial numbers for the halves. Further over on the port side top (near the starter) is D408442, which I'd guess is the engine's serial number. Nothing that even remotely resembles a VIN. Is anything to be read from those numbers? Other than that, we've got different pistons and rods that are about .050 shorter than the '01 EJ251's. So I'm wondering: Not that I want to do this, but if I did, could I use my old pistons and rods (and heads) with the later block and crank? Or would there be little gotchas waiting to mess me up along the way?

Yes, just not about this, unless you can explain how this feature put people out of work.

Thanks, nice little hack. I don't think I'd go quite so far as to call it a work of "genius", though.

Ah, okay - obvious now looking back at the wikipedia page. So this is likely a 253. I'll check the VIN.

This has been a persistent problem with my '99 OBW for years. Every time I stopped and got out (after driving for a while) I'd get hit with that burning rubber smell. Couldn't figure it out, drove me nuts. Eventually I sussed that it was a leaky PS reservoir/pump that was pooling some fluid on the top of the block. Once the block heated, it'd begin to smell.

That's pretty much my plan - I was really looking for confirmation that the new crank would fit the old block, and which pistons are appropriate. Didn't break the rod, though - the bearing just spun and chewed the crank. I actually haven't gotten as far as measuring the rod to see if it's still usable. I'll be splitting the (new) block first thing tomorrow, and have reasonably high hopes that the crank is okay. As I said, I only have someone's Sharpie scribble to suggest there's a problem; so far I haven't detected any play between the crank and the pistons. I was planning to have the block tanked at a shop (rather than DIY cleaning) just because it's so much nicer to have a really clean substrate to build on. Bearings and rings, natch, and the belt and idler sprocket got replaced (during a head gasket job) with HQ parts only about 8 months before this bearing went, so they'll be reused.

I know, I read it first. That's where I got my guess about it being probably either a 253 or 255. But it's not a substitute for actual first-person knowledge and experience, hence my question.

Hey, guys... arising from the dead (of winter) here and trying to catch up. I got much less done in the time of cold+snow than expected. I'm trying to revive my girls' '01 Forester (EJ251). It ate the #1 rod bearing last summer and took out the crank. I just got ahold of what I'm guessing is an EJ253 or 255 - that's based on the guy it came from apparently having been into '08 or thereabouts Imprezas. If someone could explain how to tell the difference (or if it matters) I'd be appreciative. The goal is to either swap the crank from this new motor into mine (will it fit?), or just use this short block instead of my old one (after splitting the block and inspecting the bearings, of course). The new one has "bottom end knock" written on it, but I don't feel any slop or clunk while playing the crank. Regardless, I'm not about to just bolt it up and pray. Guidance? Thanks as always.

I'm trying to create an account in order to get at the files, but it's choking because I haven't filled in the "vehicle registration" field (because I have no idea what that means in Oz). What can I enter to make it happy? [edit] Oh, just a plate number. Can you give me an example that'll pass? [edit again] No worries, mate. Snarfed one from google images...

Thanks - I'll give it a look. What I'm hoping to find is a match in the colour codes - ECU connector and wires - with what we have.

First we're trying to go with the pieces we have; quite aware that a manifold swap may be in order if challenges are encountered. As far as "easy enough", if that were the case I wouldn't be asking. This was referred to me because the usual searches weren't turning up the right drawings.

For a JDM 2001 2.0 believed to have been in a Legacy? Situation is that a friend who does Subaru engine transplants into VW vans is in the middle of one, and actually having the correct drawing would significantly aid in merging the wiring harnesses.

Thanks - I didn't know why it was there on the MTs. (Obviously) the guide shouldn't (and didn't) touch the belt - I can pull some lulus, but not one that stupid. I suspect that the tensioner was getting sloppy and beginning to let the belt flap (hence the rubbing and wear), so I replaced it. Car happy again now. On the gaskets, I don't recall a specific warning, but I knew better and decided to experiment anyway, so I don't have a problem with taking my lumps.

Addendum to this thread: The other experiment I performed as part of the rebuild was with that little timing belt (guard? guide?) that's mounted just over the crank sprocket. Well, it's there in the EJ22s, but I've never seen one in an EJ25 - but the mounts are there in the castings for it. So I stuck one in. Another bad idea. When I opened the timing cover to begin the HG replacement, it was full of black rubber dust ground off the back side of the belt. That crap was also deposited on the idler rollers, and the idlers are discoloured, just like you'd expect with a piece of metal that had been severely overheated (though that's obviously not what happened here). I've ordered a new belt and won't be trying that trick again.

Would it be foolish to ask whether you have all that unpleasant spring-loaded hardware in place?

Thanks for the link. I think this is a better version of the manual I have, but it still - annoyingly - doesn't include a schematic of that bit of plumbing. I mean, the diagrams on 8-10 are swell for showing you where the pieces are, but do nothing to show how they're connected together. Can someone help break down this error? My primary concern is that the purge solenoid isn't the leaky part, as that's what's going to directly affect manifold vacuum. I'm not going to get terribly worked up if the reported leak is on the other side of that valve - that is, in the tank, filler neck, cannister, etc., because that's just going to result in slightly higher evaporative emissions and not impair performance. Of course, without a schematic showing - in detail - how the tank, cannister, etc., are plumbed together, it's hard to confirm that suspicion.

By coincidence, I'm getting this on both the '01 Forester and '01 H6 OBW. I can find lots on it in the OBW docs, but there isn't a diagram of the plumbing (only the wiring) in the Forester manual, from what I can see. Can anyone direct me to it? [edit] To clarify, I'm not looking for a manual. I'm looking for a specific diagram - the evaporative emissions plumbing schematic. Doesn't appear to be in the TSM.

Yes, but that's the security module - I'm interested in the keyless entry. That suggests it's somewhere around the stereo, though. And this one has the McIntosh stereo - dunno whether that affects the placement of any of the various modules.