wavekayaker Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Thought I would post up for some thoughts while I mull this over. The car is a 99 Outback, EJ25D, 5sp. I got it at 90,000 miles from a little old lady. At 127,000 (~ 4 months ago I pulled the engine to do timing and re-seal. The car was supposed to have a new clutch before I bought it. The car spent it's early years in New Hampshire, and as such, 4 of the six exhaust manifold bolts sheared off. So the heads went to the shop to get the bolts out and check for flatness. I ended up getting the valves lapped and new valve stem seals. The shop also lightly surfacing the heads. I bolted the engine together with new Subaru head gaskets following the FSM torque specs, adjusted the valves, resealed everything and put the engine back in. (the new clutch was just that, a new disk a PP. The pilot bearing was trashed, and the flywheel looked bad! Flywheel got resurfaced and pilot and throw out got replaced) The car started and ran geat! The first few tanks of gas I noticed that I was losing oil, bad. I was losing a quart every 600 miles or so. I thought one of the seals was in wrong and I would get around to it. Coolant level stayed constant. 4 months and 8000 miles later the car is still running great, mileage is 25 - 27 mixed driving. I didn't drive the car for a few days this weekend and went to drive it last night. It fired up for a second and didn't sound good and shut off. I cranked the engine over again and it cranked a little fast like it had low compression. I thought my missing oil might be in the timing belt area and the belt slipped, so I stopped and towed the car over to my garage. This morning I pulled the radiator and the coolant is amber colored. There isn't an oil sheen on it, but it doesn't look right. I pulled down the front of the engine and the timing looks good, dead on. I put the battery back in and after cranking over for a few seconds it started, but seemed to be running a little rough. It smoothed out a bit when I reved it ~ 3000 rpms, then it idled decent, but not perfect. I still wanted to know where my oil was going, so I pulled the engine the rest of the way out to check the rear seal and seperator plate. They looked good. I then used the compression gauge and turned the engine over by hand to get some informational readings (Should have done this before pulling the engine, I know) I got 45, 90, 40, 85. This was by hand, so they don't mean much, but the right bank is 1/2 of the left bank. Does it sound to you guys like the head gasket on the right side didn't seal well allowing oil into the coolant passages until something gave way last night, or I am reading something that's not there? Thanks for reading this! Sorry it's a bit long winded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Head gasket issues are generally identifiable on these by overheating, air pockets pushing coolant out of the reservoir, gooey black stuff in the radiator and reservoir. It can often be confirmed with a combustion gas test or block test. What was the condition of your park plugs? Did any look wet, covered in ash, black and oily? Did you look inside the plug holes at the crown of the piston? If so how did they look? Did you find that your oil loss was external? If it is internal it may be due to ring damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavekayaker Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 Head gasket issues are generally identifiable on these by overheating, air pockets pushing coolant out of the reservoir, gooey black stuff in the radiator and reservoir. It can often be confirmed with a combustion gas test or block test. What was the condition of your park plugs? Did any look wet, covered in ash, black and oily? Did you look inside the plug holes at the crown of the piston? If so how did they look? Did you find that your oil loss was external? If it is internal it may be due to ring damage. No overheating, coolant level stayed full and constant for 4 months, but was low ( not below the fins) when I pulled the cap to drain it this morning. Under the rad. cap is clean, and no pressure in the coolant bottle. Plugs look normal (grey, not ashy) No oil was hitting the concrete and no burned oil smells. Can was not burning oil noticably from the exhast (I had someone flolw me to look). I've been keeping a close eye on things because of the oil loss, this is the first time the engine performance has been affected. No codes were triggered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I don't think from your description that it's a head gasket issue. That much oil disappearing... you would have snot in the radiator and mayo in the crankcase if it was going into the cooling system. If there wasn't oil all over the engine, clear evidence of a leak, then it almost certainly is burning it. Bad rings sounds likely to me. Do a leakdown test, since the engine is out of the car that will be easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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