99 ej 25 - 00 ej 25

[gibsonsk]

Hey guys I am trying to figure this out, according to subaru and the salvage yards the 99 legacy outback awd is a single year enging application. Does anyone know what the differance is between 2000 and 1999?

99 is a legacy ob awd

donor car is a 2000 legacy gt awd

The 99 has a rod knock on start-up.

[johnceggleston]

The 99 has a rod knock on start-up.

 

please elaborate. it may be rod knock, but if it goes away or lessens after warm up it could be piston slap.

 

search piston slap and read up on it. i learned a lot about it when i bought a 97 OBW with "bad wrist pin, needs engine". that was 30k miles ago and i'm still driving it. check this: http://remanufactured-engines.com/page4.htm

 

what are the symptoms of your "rod knock"?

[bheinen74]

That era of ej25 engine has factory piston slap/rod knock, as well as normal headgasket failures. Its nothing to worry about, just the way Subaru built them and the components, quality of workmanship of that engine.

Have your headgaskets been replaced?

Are you saying the 00 engine does not have start up noise?

, cause i bet it does also and you are not gaining a whole lot by a motor swap. Run your ej25 with the startup noise until something fails, that is what most people do.

Edited April 21, 2010 by bheinen74

[Mike104]

To answer your original question the 99 OBW 2.5L is a DOHC Phase I engine and the 00 OBW 2.5L is a SOHC Phase II engine. IIRC the OBW 2.5L went to SOHC a model year later than the others (Forester, Impreza).

 

I'm with the other opinions above in that those generations of 2.5L engines do have piston slap when cold, usually goes away or is greatly reduced once the engine oil warms up.

[gibsonsk]

Thank you for answering my question it is not a plug and play situation and not worth the time to make fit. As for the knock issue it knocks for about 3 seconds until the oil filter primes up then goes away now that might be piston slap but i doubt it. Piston slap generally is a light high pitched sound this is rather deep and very short lived. BTW this car has seen some Neglect/abuse over the years. An OE filter will most likley make it sound good enough for the owner to put through and auction as he does not want to fork out the $$$ to fix. I tried to buy from him but he wants like 2k the way it is. too much for me to have to put a rod bearing in.

Again thanks for the help as far application as i did not have both motors in front of me. if anyone need any advice on forign cars i am a toyota pro and kia and hyundai master tech.

[johnceggleston]

I tried to buy from him but he wants like 2k the way it is. too much for me to have to put a rod bearing in.

 

 

keep an eye out, it will still be for sale in a month or 2 and he may take lees then.

 

i hope we didn't insult your intelligence by going off about piston slap. but we get questions here every day for things that have been diagnosed wrong by non-subaru drivers and mechanics.

 

welcome to the board, or as some toyota fanatics might say, welcome to "the dark side".

 

by the way, i'm no master mechanic, but 3 seconds of "noise" does not sound like rod knock to me.

[bheinen74]

It's quite possible the very first time they started the car at the factory it had piston slap on cold start. Seems that is the norm for 90% of the members with that engine.

If the noise goes away after it warms, no worries, seriously, its a Subaru thing

 

Make sure you have proper engine oil weight, and a proper (not FRAM crap) oil filter.

Drive it, it will get you point A to B.

[Mike104]

keep an eye out, it will still be for sale in a month or 2 and he may take less then.

 

I can't believe the prices around here (Cincinnati) people want for 95-02 Subaru's with blown engines or transmissions $2-4k (on craigslist).