lstevens76

Have you ever had the rear separator plate replaced with a metal one? At over 200k miles (385k km) it's very possible that your separator plate is leaking and putting oil down on the clutch. Given a good incline, etc... that clutch is shuddering because of the oil causing it to slip. This could cause both problems.

I'll help make this more understandable. Every manufacturer/rebuilder has a "tolerance" point for failure, there are always going to be some. This could be .5% or even up to 20% depending on the company. This means you just ended up as part of that tolerance for failure rate. The manufacturer figures if only say 3% are returned with problems then they don't have an issue because they are still making money. This number can easily go up to 20% or even as high as 50% if those failures are occurring after 6 months regardless of warranty. The reasoning on this is based on the number of failures vrs returns on warranty. Even if a manufacturer offers a lifetime warranty but is only seeing a return rate of 3% after 6 months then they don't care if the failure rate is >50% in reality as long as they keep selling them. Then you have a lot of people who can't find receipts after 6 months, don't purchase at a store that has an order history, etc... so they can't warranty and just buy another one combined with those people who bought the car after it the part was changed or don't care about the warranty and just buy a replacement (possibly different brand). The point I'm making is that you are going to get failures on every product. If your one of that small amount that keeps receipts, etc... go get it warrantied and get a working one.

If your not in the rust belt that's a 30 minute to an hour job and $30 or less. It's not worth your life........

Go pick up your forester and run, not walk, to a different shop. I do mean run! I only checked the knock sensor: 1 hour labor OEM part should be under $100. They are DOUBLE CHARGING to do that knock sensor, let alone the rest of it.

A few things that catch my eye here: 1.) Misfire Codes - this means multiple misfires yet they say a sticky valve? That makes no sense because a sticky valve usually only be affects 1 cylinder, not multiple cylinders for misfires. 2.) You say the problem was from day one but you drove around a $4,000 engine without getting it diagnosed? 3.) No second opinion - most normal people who spend $4k on an engine then installation price would get a second opinion before blaming the engine. You waited way to long to get it diagnosed, then you don't get a second opinion, and finally you hop on here to bad mouth a company (disregard the fact that they are a member here it could have been any company). Then, to top that off you are immediately blaming the rebuilders and not the dealer. Maybe they misdiagnosed your original engine? Either create a separate post and ask for help diagnosing this or go get a second opinion. Either of these and I might have a little respect for you.

If you got that thing from the top you have smaller arms and hands than me, and possibly a smaller ratchet. I don't know, I couldn't get a single angle in there from the top with the transmission cooler lines there. I almost got to the point of pulling the cooler lines, but we finally found the right combination of swivels/extensions to get it done. Going back on was a whole hell of a lot easier!

And I drove it home tonight! It ran great, good power, temp gauge stayed right where it was supposed to. The power curve was really smooth and the power itself was better than it ever was before. Could easily get myself in trouble now. lol These pictures were about 3 hours before I drove it home. We still had to do the belts, intake duct, oil, coolant, and a few misc. bolts.

I have about 2 hours until I can go install it. Might do the fuel injector o-rings real quick since I have the time.

I've seen people swearing by Trans-x on other threads so you might read up on that first.

Not if it's an automatic. We had to use a 3/8 swivel along with a couple extensions.

And I'm finally putting it in tomorrow morning. Notice, it has timing covers now!

"3. CHECK CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR. 1) Remove camshaft position sensor. 2) Set the position (+) probe at sensor connector terminal No. 1, and set earth lead at terminal No. 2. 3) Check that a wave profile appears crossing a magnet near the pick-up coil of crankshaft position sensor." That's from the FSM for my '96 OBS for testing the cam position sensor, but you would need an oscilloscope to test it.

Take pictures, how far off were the timing marks?

That second set of pictures was after a multiple rotate.

Ok, belt is on, all idlers in place and the new tensioner. all the marks did line up when I put the belt on (belt marks) but now they are off by 1 or 2 teeth, but that appears to be consistent. I figure it shifted down at the water pump cogged idler. Just want to make sure this all looks right before I put the covers on and go put the engine in. First set of pictures: Second Set:

It could also be the oil was already there and the guard just hadn't been positioned correctly to drip it down. The two things could be completely unrelated. But on the same note have you checked your different oil?

It could be a leaky oil pan seal. If you hit hard enough to just "bump" the oil pan you could have broken a seal on one side or another if a bolt had come a little lose over time.

Just to add something here those Timing Cover backing plates are around $50 to $100 depending on where you look and honestly well worth it. You have to realize that any fluids that can get in there have the potential to affect 2 different sensors (cam and crank). Also, some fluids are not going to be nice to that timing belt and/or idlers (water = possible rust). Then add in that dirt and debris itself can cause problems. Likelihood of this? I don't know because my problem related to fluids occurred with no TB Covers in place, but my PS Pump was leaking severely enough that I believe an improperly secured cover could have easily let enough in to mess w/ my Cam sensor.

I'll post pictures later but the heads are now on. I misplaced one of the grommets for the timing cover back so I have to pick it up in the morning. The rest should go pretty quick though. Honestly I think I was scared of installing the heads, even though I shouldn't have been. If something is wrong it isn't likely in the install but either in my milling, etc... and I believe that was done well (at least it looked good to me when I checked it for flat). Now to the valve covers, dipstick, oil filler, etc... But I missed an o-ring on the oil pan so it has to be removed and resealed again. Loads of fun but at least I caught it before getting the engine in the car!

It's very possible that you have oil leaking from the front cam seals & crank seal. If this is the case your getting oil in the timing belt cover which can easily interfere with a cam sensor. The problem is if you pull the new cam sensor since it hasn't been starting you should be able to see a "little" bit of oil at least on it causing this issue. With my OBS the PS fluid would eventually drain off (since the cam sprocket was spinning) and run fine.

And this is why I go to Einstein's oilery (local company) where you never leave your vehicle while they do the oil change.

Your not stretching. I had cam sensor issues due to a power steering leak and no timing belt covers. Are you losing any oil? Any oil leakage around the timing covers?

Would Fujibond 1217b work for that or do I need to go pick up some Anaerobic sealer? And this engine has been resealed before. The oil pan was obviously Ultra-grey (not fuji bond) and it still had a little of the fuji under some of the ultra grey. The oil pump has obviously been resealed before as well (You can see the grey on the sealant without pulling it).

The question now is do I pull the oil pump and reseal it or leave it? That's what I'm trying to decide.

I understand how to use it. The description may have been not technical enough though. lol I'll go with the permatex and start putting the engine back together. Didn't want to have to do the RMS, but it looks like it will be getting done also.