Fairtax4me Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 (edited) It's out an on the stand, and I found my oil leak! It's not the rear main! It's the wrist pin access hole cover on the back of the block. Rear main is clean and dry, the only trace of oil on it looks like the oil I wiped on it when I installed it a couple months ago. So I'd suggest adding another rear engine seal to the list of things to replace if the engine/trans is removed and there is easy access. A little $2 O-ring. Subaru PN: 806931070 Otherwise everything has gone smooth up to this point. Other than being very hot and very humid. And of course the forecast for the next week is more of the same. Some other good news. Junkyard trip today, found a white Outback hood (scoop) in good shape. Got the headlights and corner lights off the same outback. And a really nice shiny, uncracked grille from a wrecked L wagon. The car had been rolled, every panel on it was dented or scratched in some way, the grille was perfect. Just need to find a drivers fender and a bumper cover now, and paint the mirrors, and the door moulding, and re-clear the wheels, and buff and wax it, and it'll look a lot nicer. Edited September 5, 2011 by Fairtax4me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Were the screws backed off? I've never seen one leak there, always at the breather plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 how much was it leaking? was it the entire reason for pulling the engine? i have an H6 trans i'm getting ready to install and i picked up that oring at the dealer (H6's don't have a rear separator plate). i wasn't 100% convinced of replacing it but with the trans already out it's easy enough so i will now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 8, 2011 Author Share Posted August 8, 2011 Screws are tight. I tried to crack them loose with a screwdriver and couldn't, so I waited on that. Gonna put my impact driver on it after I get the other work done. I would guess the O ring is dried out and brittle/cracked. It was leaking quite a bit. Very wet underneath. It had been dripping at a regular rate out of the bellhousing onto the Y pipe. Engine was pulled out to fix the oil leak, and to make it easier to put head gaskets on. I was pretty convinced it was the rear main since they have a history of failure after replacement. Didn't want to be riding around on that and have it blow out completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Otherwise everything has gone smooth up to this point. Other than being very hot and very humid. And of course the forecast for the next week is more of the same. I still can't decide if it's worse to pull an engine when it's 90* in my garage, or -10* in my garage... Done both. Both suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearlm30 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Thanks for that PN! It's out an on the stand, and I found my oil leak! It's not the rear main! It's the wrist pin access hole cover on the back of the block. Rear main is clean and dry, the only trace of oil on it looks like the oil I wiped on it when I installed it a couple months ago. So I'd suggest adding another rear engine seal to the list of things to replace if the engine/trans is removed and there is easy access. A little $2 O-ring. Subaru PN: 806931070 Otherwise everything has gone smooth up to this point. Other than being very hot and very humid. And of course the forecast for the next week is more of the same. Some other good news. Junkyard trip today, found a white Outback hood (scoop) in good shape. Got the headlights and corner lights off the same outback. And a really nice shiny, uncracked grille from a wrecked L wagon. The car had been rolled, every panel on it was dented or scratched in some way, the grille was perfect. Just need to find a drivers fender and a bumper cover now, and paint the mirrors, and the door moulding, and re-clear the wheels, and buff and wax it, and it'll look a lot nicer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 Thanks for that PN! You're welcome! Some pics of the progress! Ready to pull the engine. The culprit. I would have to guess this was due to a poorly maintained cooling system. Block side. This is the other side, the side that was replaced a few months ago. I removed the crossover pipe and one of the bolts nearly twisted off in the block. The entire length of the bolt was rusted. I can't even tell what kind of seal is supposed to be under the crossover pipe. They're both all crusty as hell. It's an O ring? I think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 As usual, this car has thrown yet another curveball at me. Here's the new headache. The head burned out under the compression ring. You can see it in the 4th pic above also. I have no hopes for it, it is really deep, but I'm going to swing by the machine shop sometime tomorrow and ask if they think it could be milled out. Even if it could be, I would need a really thick head gasket to make up for it. I'm just planning on having to grab a used head from the junkyard. The other nuisance... These crossover pipe Orings I don't think I can even get all the dried up coolant crud out of the channels. That's pretty much where it stands right now. I did get the cam installed in the other head, and it's ready to go back on the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 while you are at the yard looking for a head, consider a 90 - 94 block. they are cheap and if you find a good one you can throw away your ''crudded up block.'' swap a 95 driver side head on to a 90 - 94 block and you have a 95 engine. which head do you need, driver / egr or passenger side? i would seriously consider this. you keep finding faults with this engine, it may be time to punt, if you can find the right part for the right price. Q: 90 - 94, are the heads the same, can you strip down a driver side head and spin it around and mount it on the passenger side?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 Randy milled .002" off the head and the mark was gone. Not as deep as I thought it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted August 12, 2011 Share Posted August 12, 2011 Q: 90 - 94, are the heads the same, can you strip down a driver side head and spin it around and mount it on the passenger side?? Not unless you either rig some way to run the cam sprocket on the wrong end, or have the exhaust go out the hood... That would make for a really weird intake manifold. It would be like a mobius strip intake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 Actually the heads are nearly identical. With some drilling and tapping you could swap heads from left to right or vise versa with no trouble. Actually I think as it sits you could do what John said, and put a drivers side head on the passenger side if you wanted/needed to with no modification. Just swap the cam, rear cam plug, install a front cam seal, and plug the EGR port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 I found another problem. I took the driver side rocker shaft apart and found some scuffing on the side of one of the rockers. The spring washer that keeps the rockers pushed together is missing. Don't know if it broke and got washed down into the oil pan or what. So I'll have to dig up one of those now before I put the rocker shaft back together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-3-2-4 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 One question... 4th picture down why does that cylinder wall look funny? was that because of the cooling neglect? It's like a chunk of metal went away.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 (edited) I think it's a combination of light reflecting and coolant pooled in the bottom of the cylinder. But you're right it does look in the picture like its scooped out at the bottom. There is also a recess cut into the cylinder wall for one of the case half bolts on the outside of the cylinder if that's what you're talking about. One on the top left one on the bottom left. Edited August 14, 2011 by Fairtax4me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-3-2-4 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 I should show this thread to my aunt.. long story short her coolant was low and I noticed it needed to be flushed (she has a 95 ford taurus btw) so because it was low and the temp was climbing I added like 2 bottles worth to the car.. Anyways the idiot at the shell service station was like the car does not need to be flushed.. no $hit i just threw in 2 bottles which really diluted the whole system... she's never had the car flushed before.. I gave up trying to tell her... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 I can show you a better reason to flush the cooling system. Just look what it did to the heads here: http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/CadiLLacPimPin97/Random%20photography/IMG_0851.jpg That's pitting from corrosion. A fair amount of that came out with machining, which required taking off .004". But the stuff closest to the center of the pic was still very deep even after machining. Randy (the machinist) guessed it would take at least another .004", but probably more to get the rest out. To put that in perspective, that chunk I was so worried about came out with just taking .002" off. That makes the pitting about 4 times deeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-3-2-4 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Yeah I tried telling her.. the sad thing is the car has yet to hit 100K I told her to take it back and have them flush it but again fell on deaf ears... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 Delta sent me the wrong cams. I noticed holes in the face of the cam lobes while I was putting the driver side cam in the head. And I got to thinking I didn't see anything like that on my other cams. So I called and aksed. Turns out I ended up with a set of cams for a flat tappet rocker setup. I have roller rockers. So they're on the way back to WA. I sent mine along to get the regrind treatment so hopefully I get the same set back. Yay two more weeks (at least) before I can put my car back on the road! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 Looky what I found in my oil pan tonight! [/img] It's actually TWO halves of TWo spring washers from the rocker shaft assembly. They were stuck together until I picked it up and cleaned it off, then literally pried them apart. I get the feeling they've been down there floating around for a really long time. Now the question is, where did the other halves end up? I'll have to check over inside the block and pan really well to see if I can find them. Oil pan didn't appear to be leaking, but It's probably worth it to reseal it while it's easy to get to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-3-2-4 Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 hmmm... that piece looks pretty large Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Hopefully the other bit(s), are not lodged anywhere they will do harm. In better news, when you are done, your car will know it is in a good home, where it will be well taken care of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-3-2-4 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Got a question the belt tensioner pulley when set (pin not pulled) it should still be able to pivot right? I'm having an issue with mine I think.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 (edited) Got a question the belt tensioner pulley when set (pin not pulled) it should still be able to pivot right? I'm having an issue with mine I think.. Yes, the tensioner pulley should pivot freely when tightened all the way down. Otherwise the tensioner system could not work. Looks like the hole that the tensioner pulley threads into may be a bit messed up. Subaru sells that bracket for $40, Pick and Pull has it for $16. guess where I got mine. . . To be sure, you are using the sleeve that goes into the hole in the tensioner pulley, right? also, that sleeve is supposed to be free-moving in the tensioner pulley itself. When I took it out of the car, Mine was all bound up, and I had to push it out with a larger bolt so i could clean it up. if that sleeve (which is really a spacer) i9s bound up, the pulley will not pivot when tightened down. Edited August 21, 2011 by Gnuman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1-3-2-4 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Yes, the tensioner pulley should pivot freely when tightened all the way down. Otherwise the tensioner system could not work. Looks like the hole that the tensioner pulley threads into may be a bit messed up. Subaru sells that bracket for $40, Pick and Pull has it for $16. guess where I got mine. . . To be sure, you are using the sleeve that goes into the hole in the tensioner pulley, right? Any other way to get around it without having to use another bracket? I'm going to double check.. can I add washers or something? I gotta move the car today.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now