Tommymc Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 The back story: I have a 96 Legacy wagon with a EJ22 engine. It was a "spare car" for the kids to take to college. College is over and now it doesn't get run much. Last fall I was fixing it up to sell and it needed a muffler to get by inspection. The muffler shop talked me into the cheap route of welding in a generic muffler. I think it was from some model of Ford. Anyway it's smaller and a bit louder. Circumstances changed and I never sold the car it sat around all year and was only driven a couple of thousand miles. Now one of the kids wants it. I've been driving it for the last week and noticed that it's a lot noisier than it used to be. I'm pretty sure there's a rear wheel bearing going but there is also a lot of valve noise. At idle, it's just a ticking, but it gets a lot louder while driving, especially under load. I know that Subarus are known to have loud valves, but this seems over the top.....I just don't know. Anyway, I'm wondering if the muffler might have caused or be adding to this problem. It seemed to develop about the same time. Different backpressure? And then the decision of what to do with the car. Repairing a wheel bearing seems pointless if the engine is on it's way out. If swapping out the muffler would help, it might be a deciding factor. Any advice is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 it's just because it has been sitting. the 96 ej22 engine has HLAs, hydraulic lash adjuster, on the valves. they are ''adjusted '' with the engine oil pressure. if you drive it for a while they will, should, loosen up and adjust themselves and quiet down. you may be able to speed up the process by adding about 1/2 bottle of ''marvelous mystery oil'' to the engine oil and driving it. if you do this i would change the oil after they quiet down or in several hundred, maybe 1000, miles or so. you can drive the car a long time with a wheel bearing going bad so i would wait for the engine to settle down before i did that. how many miles? good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommymc Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 Thanks John. The mileage is a moving target as both the engine and tranny have been replaced. There's 230k on the clock but I think the engine has around 163k and the tranny has 150k. We bought the car with 70k and have had to replace several wheel bearings....more than any other car I've owned. I'll continue to drive the car for a while and see if she quiets down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 the 96 should have the old style tensioner but i've heard the new style tensioners (97-ish?) tick loudly before when they fail. maybe someone can verify the years. if you watch them, they also move in unison with the tick, but the timing covers need to be off to see that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 How many miles and when was the last time the timing belt was changed? Just wondering if it can be a tired TB idler/tensioner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommymc Posted September 26, 2011 Author Share Posted September 26, 2011 The engine has about 163k (going by the salvage yard figures) We had a new T-belt put on when we replaced the engine about 50k ago. Yes, I know that the belt is coming up on it's change interval at 60k.....just another cost to factor into things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 Did you do the TB and all the goodies or just the TB. And the TB interval is 106K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommymc Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 Long story...my daughter was driving the car when the water pump went. She was at school out of state but had a friend who's father was a service mgr at a Volvo dealership. He worked on the car after hours as a favor. After replacing the pump, he found that the engine ran poorly and had been damaged from the overheating. We ended up replacing the engine with a used one.....he swapped out the new water pump and replaced the TB. I'm pretty sure the replacement interval is 60k on this engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance.html Unless this is a turbo 105K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 If you need a good muffler I have a few. Shipped from CO so that will be a bit. Are you running 5w=30w? Make sure you do not have a FRAM filter as well. New Oil change and some operating time will quite down the lifters if that all it is. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommymc Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance.html Unless this is a turbo 105K I dunno nipper....Your link shows the 1990-1999 2.2L at 60k. BTW, I read that from 97 on, the EJ22 had solid valve adjusters. Since this is a used engine, I don't know for sure what year it is.....any way of telling? And would that make a difference? Update: I took it into a local shop that specialized in Subarus today, and they seemed to think it had solid adjusters. Also that the noise was loud but "normal". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 i'm pretty sure the 96 ej22 has HLAs. i know the 95 does. i swapped a 96 ej22 into a 97 GT, but i don't remember looking at the rockers. can any one confirm or deny? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I have a 96 w/ single port heads w/ HLAs. It's easy to tell. Three 10mm bolts and the rocker cover comes off. If there are screws on the ends of the rockers you have solid adjustable lifters. Get the VIN off the engine block and run it on Carfax or Autocheck. Just do the free check thing and it should tell you what year vehicle the engine came from. The VIN is engraved into the block on the lower passenger side of the bellhousing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I dunno nipper....Your link shows the 1990-1999 2.2L at 60k. BTW, I read that from 97 on, the EJ22 had solid valve adjusters. Since this is a used engine, I don't know for sure what year it is.....any way of telling? And would that make a difference? Update: I took it into a local shop that specialized in Subarus today, and they seemed to think it had solid adjusters. Also that the noise was loud but "normal". My fault read the wrong line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommymc Posted October 2, 2011 Author Share Posted October 2, 2011 I just did an oil change...Please educate me about the problem with Fram filters....I've used them on most of my cars when they're on sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21883344-Tech-Review-The-Long-Waited-FRAM-OIL-FILTER-REVIEW http://www.corolland.com/oil-filters.html http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/old_filters.shtml http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/opinions.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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