jonathan909

My lingering suspicion (read: fear) has been that this connects to the crossover pipe, and that I missed it because it's one of the miserable things you have to attach while lowering the manifold (e.g. the coolant temp sensors). But (naturally) I was sure I got everything under there. If you're right, I should be able to peek under the TB just by taking the air box off. Will advise... [edit] Yup, that was it alright. I'd attached the driver's side hose but not this one on the passenger side of the TB. A million thank-yous, gentlemen.

No oil cooler on this motor.

Someone who does this all the time (like GD) would be able to answer, but I can't remember at the moment whether it's the front- or rear-most bearing. If someone previously said #1, that's as good an answer as any. And pulling the plug wire isn't going to affect whether that bearing is spinning loose. Regardless of whether the offending cylinder is firing, the others are going to drag that piston around. Doesn't take that long for this action to grind the crank out of usable spec, either (been there). So get a look at it asap. If you lift the engine just a little (at least, this is how it is in my '99 OBW) you can wiggle the pan out and at least get a peek up at the crank.

I just checked, and that's not it, though I see what you mean. I've had the engine in and out of this thing a few times, and haven't had to mess with anything at the firewall other than the heater hoses.

Captain Stupid here. We're all acquainted with the "spare parts" theory and don't panic when there's an extra nut or bolt leftover from a job. After a lengthy delay (caused by two car wrecks and a nasty cold winter spell) the EJ25D I pulled from my '99 OBW and rebuilt is back in place and things look pretty good. Except... for this rather distressing spare part. I've turned it over and run it (for just a few seconds because the rad isn't in yet), and it seems to be running smoothly, so I don't think it's a manifold/vacuum thing, which would be the most likely guess. Obviously I can't tell yet whether it's coolant-related. I'm freaking out.

There's no confusion about whether you need to split the block to get at all the rod bearings. You do.

Desktop. Mos def - clicking "Start new topic" takes me to the correct page, but clicking either the Subject or message body boxes delivers me directly to the paypal donation page. Since you've added the donation button directly above those two, might there be a problem with the donation link (tag) not being properly closed and the open link overriding those that follow? [edit] Hey - works now. Was that it?

Fair enough, but glass and stones aren't affected by UV the way plastics are. When I first used the Mothers kit, the results were good but I was disappointed in how short-lived the improvement was - seems like it wasn't more than a few months before the sunlight had fogged them again. So for my second go I wanted a kit with a "UV protectant", hence my choice of Meguiar's. That was in the fall; we'll see how they hold up. So although I can't (yet) actually produce proof of the long-term efficacy of the anti-UV coating, I wouldn't be dismissive of it as a "sealer" or a trivial cosmetic addition.

I was away for a few weeks and didn't know there was an outage. Best wishes for any recovery necessary. But I just tried to start a new thread, and I'm getting routed straight to paypal. Is this intentional? Is a donation required?

Okay, but keep in mind that I'm not a modder or a rodder - my present interest is in what I might use as a replacement in this 2010 WRX. As such, my firs thinking is "stock", since if I go ahead with it I'm more likely to sell than keep it. On the other hand, if this is a desirable combo for the performance crowd, perhaps I should consider it. [edit] Actually, here's a question: I may be able to get my hands on a crashed Forester that (according to the shock tower plate) has an EJ20GDX1NY engine. Might that be a candidate? If so, how much other stuff needs to be screwed with?

Are you telling me that an EJ207 is a drop-in replacement for an EJ255 and has no less power?

Is there a reason for me to be interested in the EJ20? I was just asking about the EJ25x.

Thanks for that - very helpful. Not as many blocks as the numeric designations suggest. If you happen to find the time to post a few pics showing the differences you described, I'm sure many (including me) would find them useful. One of the reasons I'm trying to get an understanding of this is that I may have a chance to pick up a 2010 WRX hatchback that the owner blew by doing his own oil change and not tightening the drain plug (no comment). He said that it has a 255, which fits with what you said. He didn't specify turbo, so I don't know what's up on that front - do they all have it? And I have no clue what this thing should be worth in its present state.

I asked this question in the recent frankenmotor thread but didn't get an answer, so I'd like to give it another shot. I get that these are engine (and not block) designations, but I find the discussions around them confusing. What are the differences (if any) between the various EJ25x blocks? How can one tell them apart, esp. from the outside? I'm trying to get a handle on this, and the wikipedia article isn't clear, though it suggests that the differences between some of these designations are in which pistons are used, and don't actually represent differences in the block casting, machining, or markings. Is there a better reference or FAQ around somewhere that breaks all this down?

Well, the conversation started with a discussion about oil pumps - about the last place where rust is an issue. I don't have a universal love for Allen heads - they get worse as they get smaller. I've used them all the way down to .030" (or maybe .035" - I'd have to check), and down there the engagement and torque are almost nonexistent. But up at these sizes they're tolerable, and preferable to "Philips", because at least a hexagon is always a hexagon. The problem with Philips is that they usually aren't - that is, there's a buttload of different heads that all look more or less like Philips, but the tooling doesn't interchange between them worth a d@mn, making every time you apply a driver to one a crap shoot as to whether it's gonna move or the head is gonna chew. To make matters worse, the sizings come in both imperial and metric, making it even harder to get the right driver. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Cruciform_drives Worst. Head. Ever.

Incidentally, I can't be the only person here filled with blind hate for the philips-variant screws used here and on the separator plate and wrist-pin port. I'm pretty well strapped with the right tools, but have never been able to avoid chewing up those heads. Bought a big bag of socket (allen) head screws as replacements and do so at every opportunity.

Mos def. Given the immediate circumstances, though (it's my wife's DD and the present weather isn't compatible with doing any more than absolutely necessary), I'll settle for "light not on". Besides, I need to get a fitting for my gauge. With any luck I won't need to find out anytime soon.

Gents, thanks for the input. I found I had a spare sender lying around, and all things considered, trying it involved the least time spent outside. Appears to have taken care of the problem. Now, to draining the excess oil... and giving the SO an education PDQ in how not to FSU.

I had to run it for a minute or so because she'd parked it in a bad spot (in front of the gas station's dumpsters) and it needed to be moved to where it could wait for a day. It's definitely the oil pressure light (which came on maybe 10 seconds after the engine started). And I didn't detect any obvious bad noises e.g. a spun bearing, so I have hope. I know where the sender is; I'm curious whether that's the only available port I can use for a diagnostic gauge, or whether there's another easily-accessible plug somewhere. But my larger question is about diagnosing the cause of the problem without risking (further) damage. How to proceed?

Thanks for the tip - though I'm desperate to brighten ours, I've been avoiding the hot aftermarket bulbs because of previous bad experiences with overpriced-and-ridiculously-short-lived ones. I'll give these a shot. For the plastic lens restoration, here's my two bits worth: I've used both the Mothers and Meguiar's kits, and the latter is vastly superior. Mothers gives you a couple of little teeny fingertip sanding pads; Meguiar's are much larger and come with a nice big handle. The Meguiar's buffing pad is fabric, where the Mothers is a foam ball that explodes if (when) you over-rev the drill. And the Meguiar's kit includes a bottle of UV protectant, absent in the Mothers kit. Given that they're at the same price point (about $30), there's no contest.

So I got the call from my wife last night during her commute home - her '98 Legacy DD's idiot light went on. Under the misapprehension that the light means "time to add some oil" and not "stop right g0dd@mn now", she continued to drive to the next convenient gas station, then dumped in a couple of overpriced litres without first checking the dipstick. She phoned me when that failed to turn off the light. (It's now very overfilled.) After I stopped yelling... I drove into the city and picked her up; there's a call in for a tow, which should be some time today - response times are rather long at -30 degrees. I've never had to debug low/absent oil pressure in one of these things, and could use a little guidance: How to go about it without risking (further) damage? And is there a convenient port where I can connect a (mechanical) gauge for diagnosis, or do I have to unscrew the existing sender? This is going to be hard enough with the low ambient temp, so I really want to make sure I don't screw up.

I'm not keeping up. I don't know what you mean by RDOT or "bridges", and "piston dome shape" suggests differences that aren't actually part of the block. Please clarify?

Cool. A couple of questions, svp? How does one distinguish the various 25x blocks? Casting, stamping, etc? And when you "shave" a head, how much is typically removed?

Okay, thanks. Guess I'm just going to have to trudge the yard to get a paint match.

Yeah, that was fun. Thanks to everyone for bearing with us. Next time we can start a fresh thread for this kind of wide-ranging blather.