pulling EJ25 heads on 96 outback engine in car?

[jelly man]

I've got an EJ25 with mechanical problems. The engine only turns over 90 degrees even with the timing belt off and the cams released(valves shut). The outer electrode on spark plug #1 was smashed over the center electrode. I can only take off one torque converter bolt. I don't want to make a mess by taking the torque converter off with the engine. I'll have to take the heads off afterwards to recover the torque converter anyway. Is there enough room to remove the heads inside the engine compartment????

[mdjdc]

You will need to unbolt the motor mounts and jack up each side of the motor to get the clearance to get the bolts out. you will want to take the cams off and get the lifter buckets first so that you don't have them dropping on the ground.

 

It sounds like you have a bad rod and the block is toast. you will need to have the motor out no matter what unless you are trashing the car. There is no way that you are going to fix that block in the car unless you just have some trash i the cylinder, but then you should be able to go more than 90 degrees. Since you got the two bolts from up top, Jack up the engine and get the other two from under the engine. You can see them behind the oil pan if you look from the front of the engine. This will allow you to pull the engine and save you alot of headaches.

[MilesFox]

remove the pitch bar at the top of the trans, and jack up the engine by placing the jack under the front diff portion of the trans.

 

this will clear the framerails easier for you to try and pull the heads. plus, the motor will be in the position to come out of the car, if you go that far.

 

use an offset wrench on the TC bolts. if you remove the pitch bar bracket you can get in there with a short 12mm socket and brace it against the bellhousing to break the torque.

 

you can remove the top of the airbox, and the washer fluid reservoir for more clearance.

[jelly man]

Just pulled the right head. I didn't even remove the intake manifold just undid the 4 manifold bolts. Dropped real easy. Thought you might want to see the results. What would make a piston crack at speed? The valves were retained with keepers in place. The wrist pin is still free in the rod and the rod has an s bend. Thanks much for the advice!

[johnceggleston]

hydro-lock??

[mdjdc]

Looks like a classic case of oil starvation. The piston wasn't lubed enough and it locked under the stress of high revs and shattered. looks just like an ea 82 that a firend of mine ran with no oil, but he was an idiot and never checked the oil level. Locked up the motor on the highway at 70 mph.