kmpdx

Hey Guys, So driving home car just diesels and quits running. Pretty sure that it is a fuel problem. Engine turns over but won't start. At the on position fuel pump goes vum-vum-vum-vum and near the dash there is click-click-click-click in sync and the lights on the dash click on and off. My thought are fuel pump, relay, injector or occlusion. Car has 1/2 tank of gas. Seems like the pump or injector would have given some signs of failure before? What do you guys think? Thanks, kmpdx

Hey guys, As the weather has gotten colder, my steering column seems to make noise when I first start it in the morning. It goes away after driving a while. It sounds like it is coming from under the dash. It is not really noisy but more like rubbing. It sounds like a bushing and my thought is that it is dry or shrinks when it gets colder. I am not super worried yet but would like to know what it is to be able to monitor and hopefully fix soon. Any ideas? Thanks, kmpdx

It is satisfying! I cannot believe the difference that the oil pump reseal made in performance. This car still needs stuff. I wish I could pull the motor and reseal the whole thing including head gaskets and check the valves. That really will probably never happen. I need to flush new brake fluid and probably replace the brakes. Would love to drain and fill the tranny and rear diff. Also, Would like to replace struts and bushings all around. Lol, I think brakes will be next.

First real stress test. Drove 300 miles to southern Oregon. I cannot BELIEVE the difference that the new seals on the oil pump made! The motor maintained real pressure for the first time since I bought it. Also no oil leaks on the front like before. No tick for now but I will have to see if that holds up after the oil breaks down a bit. I wish I had time to get in and do all the rest of the motor. Anyway, I am thinking this motor might go another 50k as is. Thanks to everybody for the advice and I am sure I will be back. Thanks, kmpdx

Sorry for the late reply. I was busy putting this thing back together! You are right, I had the cover slightly misaligned and ended up stripping the threads on the top and bottom. I used a thread repair kit for the auto parts store and it seems to be working fine. The hardest part was getting the right-angle drill to fit in that space. I had to cut the shank off the drill bit to make space. I did out the timing covers back on. Hope I don't regret it too soon. Thanks for all the great advise. Two things I learned in this. Paint can openers work great for removing seals. Like no effort, seal out in 15 seconds. To make a fast seal for the thermostat housing, Right Stuff Grey. I was struggling to get the seal and that stuff is not cheap but totally worth it

Hi guys, I am finally doing the front seals, timing belts, water pump, etc. Reassembling yesterday and the upper bolt on the passenger cam seal cover kept turning. I backed it out and there was a helicoil stuck to the bolt from a previous repair! I was careful but had I known I would have babied it more. Anyway, it still held a little torque (3 lbs maybe?) and I put blue threadlocker. I still need to get the belts on tomorrow and get it all back together. I am thinking even more of not putting the timing belt covers back on to keep an eye on the seal and all the new work. What do you guys think? should I attempt a different repair or just hope it stays together? The bolt tightened fine on the bottom and the design of the rear of the seal holder seems to offer support but there is a lot of vibration there I would think. Should I try another helicoil or some other adhesive? Maybe tap an M8 hole with an M8 bolt of the same length? Thanks, kmpdx

Both great answers. I feel like with this advice that I can get this done I will be doing this in July. Maybe it isn't the rear main. I will need to do more research to see. Thanks! kmpdx

Hey guys, My plan this summer is to change the timing belts and fron seals. I know that this is a good time to reseal the cam towers like in this video: The passenger side is leaking onto the exhaust. Really I could leave it but I feel like the job would feel incomplete. Also, I beleive the rear main seal is leaking too but would leave that for when the clutch needs replaced? Obviously, pulling the motor to reseal would be the best way to do this but is it possible to reseal with the motor in? Is ther any way to hold those cam towers in place in addition to grease like cable ties or something? Also I know that many users run the timing belts naked but I have a plan where I would make a cut screwhole to screwhole behind the crankshaft pulley to make it possible to have cover come off without removing pulley but still have access to the belts/seals in the future. Does that seem possible? Thanks, kmpdx

When mine was leaking it did look like the head but was a combination of the driver side intake seal and the oring on the pipe that plugs in above the water pump. It would run down all over the bottom which due to so much oil on everything made it hard to figure out where it was coming from.

Thanks DaveT. I should have done basic troubleshooting before posting. All fixed now and better than before.

Harness wire is broken!

Harness wire is broken!

There is no power on the IAC harness... Going to try to figure that out first.

Hey guys, My car was surging when warming up and last time I fixed this by changing the IAC. I realized that when I took off the old IAC that it was dirty. It passed the tests so I think that probably that was the problem. So to clean the current valve I soaked it in some isopropyl. I left it in the sun a while to dry and then I put everything back together. The car would not start at first and then after cranking and giving a little gas it started. The CEL came on and stayed on regardless of reset battery. Engine is runnig a little rough and not sure what it does cold because it hasn't cooled down enough to see what the cold idle is. Do you think alcohol was still in the controller part of the IAC and burned it out? Or maybe it just needs more time to evaporate? Can't really think of what else it could be. Thanks, kmpdx

Yeah. In the process of trying to figure out what was wrong, I ended up changing the fuel filter, the wires, the cap and rotor, and the exhaust gaskets since I was there already. Not sure how long the muffler will last but this thing is running the best it has since I bought it!

This is what caused the resricted exhaust! A hairball in the muffler. Looks like part of the muffler collapsed inside and the fiberglass fibers ended up blocking the exhaust. Turns out that the rest of the system is fine and I am going to get a little more life out of this mufffler, too. I used a dollar tree broken broom handle with a short piece of wire poked through it so that I could hook the debris. Worked it out of there with motor running and all kinds of debris came out behind it. Thanks again Loyale Community! kmpdx

I finally changed the fuel filter. I was reluctant because the factory hose between the "in" part the screw was turned inside toward the master cylinder and not really accessible. I bought a ratcheting offset screwdriver which I had to grind like 80%of the bit down to get it short enough to fit in there. I spent at least 1.5 hours getting the f-ing screw and clamp out. But I did it! Turns out the fuel filter that was in there was backward! In the process, I noticed that the longest spark wire (1?) was not in good shape. I bought new NGK wires for less than $22. The motor is runnnig better than ever! I had seriously underestimated the importance of fully functioning spark wires. Changing this wire along along with the rest, fixed my high-idle problem! I had chased it and partially fixed it through a bunch of other crap, but I could never get it to idle below 1000 RPM for the most part. Fianlly since I bought it it is consistently idling near the correct 700 RPMs. I plan to create a post outlining this since around a year ago there were a few people interested in this exact same thing.

Uhhh, I just poked a light into the tailpipe and there is some sort of fiber material like 6 or 8" in. Looking online it seems like that any fiber would insulate a pipe. I am wondering if my muffler is collapsed inside and that is the problem?

IT IS RESRTICTED EXHAUST!!! Confirmed. I dropped the exhaust down. Fortunately the bolts came unscrewed (well the studs came with the nuts mostly). I took it out for a spin and it had power like never before. Maybe it has been partially restricted since I bought it. You guys weren't kidding about the noise. So now what do I do? How can I know if it is the front or back? Should I replace both or have a shop do a modification? I definitely can get both converters with a Y pipe for like $250 new and shipped. THANK YOU! kmpdx

It's because I am on campus housing and we are not really supposed to work on cars in the lot. That being said I have my jack and jack stands out there my truck and maybe I will sneak it in. To do the gauge I need a longer hose. Maybe I will get out there. I am also studying for an exam tomorrow morning but maybe I could use a break. I have the tools. I think you guys talked me into it. I'll be back...

OK GD. It may be a few weeks before I can do that due to life factors. It is a Subaru cat so I guess the only thing to do is rule it out by dropping it. I apprecitae the direction that it just needs to be a little bit which makes it sound easier than I was thinking. Naru, I think that to get to the o2 sensor might be the same as just dropping the exhaust but perhaps it's not as hard as I think. I will do it in a couple of weeks. At 4000 RPMs the car does not accelerate anymore and will not return to acceleration until it gets below the upper limit RPMs. I thought that it was due to the exhaust but I suppose it could be something different. I thought that at 2000 RPM I should still see an increase in vacuum not a slight dip that stays slightly dipped. I thought at WOT is when vacuum drops to zero. The gauge I have does both vacuum and pressure So when I do try it if it becomes easier to get at the O2 than the exhaust perhaps I will try that route. subnz, I do not feel the exhaust like I would expect and like I said, when I started it cold on a cold day and it goes to high idle, there just is not the vapor or pressure that I would expect but perhaps I am reading too much into that. Burnt exhaust valves you say? Perhaps that is it. I will explore that path once I rule out the exhaust. My thought is to maybe take it to a muffler shop here in Ashland and just have them drop the exhaust if I cannot get to it to diagnose or rule out the exhaust once and for all or wait a few weeks. If it is not the exhaust I have a few other ideas of what it could be but will save that for a new post. Thanks, kmpdx

Thanks idosubaru, I am not able to drop the exhaust off currently to determine for sure but the lack of power and the vacuum test I did also point to exhaust as the possible problem. It does seem like not a lot of vapor is coming from the exhaust on a cold start on a cold day either. I know that unbolting the exhaust is the step I really need to take but I cannot at this moment. Once I can definitively diagnose it as exhaust then I will figure out what to do next. If it is ruled out I am going to start checking other things but this is the one I am focusing on first. Waiting to see what GD thinks about this, too. Thanks, kmpdx

Yes GD, Here are the other two posts that have brought me this far. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/166147-engine-will-not-rev-past-4000-rpms/ http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/166167-question-about-diagnosing-restricted-exhaust/ Yesterday when I drove it again it just wont rev past a certain point. Depending what gear I am in power maxes out at a certain RPM and really the fastest I can get is going is 35 or maybe 40 but it is hard to get there. It really never has the power I would expect from the start either. FWIW, I was keeping track of mileage and was getting around 21-22 mpg right before this happened. This power issue did happen on the freeway and at first I thought a broke a belt or that the fuel pump had gone bad but if it is resricted exhaust perhaps it finally resricted to the point of loising power? Like I said too, at cold start, on a cold day, I just didn't see or feel the vapor that I would expect even though that may not be the best diagnostic. I cannot drop the exhaust due to current space/tools available at the moment but may be able to in a few weeks. Thanks, kmpdx

So I finally had a day that I could troubleshoot. I got the vacuum meter hooked up and following some different videos I show that vacuum when warm is below 20 and that around 2000 RPMs it drops. Furthermore, when I started it on a cold day, so little vapor seemed to come out of the tailpipe. Also, the front catalytic convereter always smoked a little from oil but now that thing smokes like crazy making me think that it is even hotter than it was before. I know that's not the best indicator but does seem to fit too. So I am trying to figure out what to do. If I wait a few weeks, I can try to drop the exhaust and confirm it, then what? My sense tells me that it is the front catylitic converter. How would I confirm this? Get it apart and look through it? There is supposed to be a good muffler shop here in Ashland. Should I just take it to them and see if they can cut it out and weld in a replacement? Should I replace with a new front y/pipe catalytic converter purchased online? What do you guys think? Thanks, kmpdx

Hey Dave T. I did cut the wire and put a connector so that I could disconnect it the O2. My real issue is having time, space and tools to actually do the troubleshooting. I am going to try this weekend. I don't really have the tools I need here drop the exhaust. I think my next tests would be timing and compression to try to do some general rule out but may have to bite the bullet and take it to a local mechanic next week. Either way, I will report back here with any findings. Thanks, kmpdx