Fairtax4me Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 (edited) Decided I'm gonna sell my wagon, so on Tuesday I took out my Delta torque cams and swapped in a stock set. Swapped the rocker assembly as well because I didn't feel like taking the shims out. Took it for a drive and all was well. Drove it ~15 miles Wednesday and everything was fine. This afternoon left the house and heading out west of town, going up a long hill it starts to feel a little sluggish. Crest the hill and going down the other side I hear "the clatter". Start going up the next hill and it's waaaaay down on power, feels like it's misfiring, making a TON of racket, find the first safe spot to pull over and pop the hood. There's oil everywhere under the right valve cover, and I look close and see why. It's MOVING!!!! :eek: Apparently I didn't tighten the bolts that hold the rocker assembly to the head. Or I just didn't get them tight enough maybe. Not real sure, either way it almost ended in absolute complete catastrophic disaster. So anyway, I pop the valve cover off on the side of the road and tighten the bolts, back together, fire it up and it's misfiring. Pull plugs 1 and 3 and they are both wet with fuel but otherwise clean. Dried them with intake system cleaner popped back in still misfiring on one cylinder, flashing CEL and the code says it's number 1. Limp it down the road to a little better spot hoping the misfire clears up. Still misfiring when I get to a gravel parking lot about 2 miles down the road, pull the plug again and again it's wet. Clean it back in, start it up, no change. Right as I'm about to shut it off again the god of internal combustion parts the clouds, and the light shines down from car heaven upon the stricken Screwbaru. With one last cough it sputters and kicks then runs perfectly smooth like nothing ever happened. Misfire cured itself, maybe one of the valves was hanging open I dunno. Drove it the rest of the way to where I was going because it was closer than home. Then drove home later with no noises and no misfiring. My embarrassing story of the week. I hope the next person who owns this car has better car Ju-Ju than I do. It's fine when I do nothing, but every time I mess with it... Edited March 9, 2012 by Fairtax4me Got a day ahead of myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal_look_zero Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 On a slightly related note... are the cams for sale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Did it run low on oil and the lifters collapsed? I'm not seeing how a loose valvecover causes dead cylinders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Did it run low on oil and the lifters collapsed? I'm not seeing how a loose valvecover causes dead cylinders. Thread writer wrote "didn't tighten the bolts that hold the rocker assembly to the head." He had to remove valve cover to tighten the bolts. I hope this clears up this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unibrook Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 This was a heckuva entertaining thread! I love the reply asking if the cams are for sale! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 On a slightly related note... are the cams for sale? No. Not yet at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 when they came loose the lifters pumped up to max hight when you titend them up they held the valves open till they beld down takes a bitt the lifter has a one way check valve in it so the pump up very easy and bleed down very slowly shouldent hurt anything torque those bolts to 35lbs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccrinc Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 when they came loose the lifters pumped up to max hight when you titend them up they held the valves open till they beld down takes a bitt the lifter has a one way check valve in it so the pump up very easy and bleed down very slowly shouldent hurt anything torque those bolts to 35lbs Um, no. Torque rocker bolts to 15 ft. lbs. Valve cover bolts to just past hand tight, about 7 lbs. Believe me, I have built hundreds of these heads. I know the numbers by heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricearu Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Um, no. Torque rocker bolts to 15 ft. lbs. Valve cover bolts to just past hand tight, about 7 lbs. Believe me, I have built hundreds of these heads. I know the numbers by heart. he is right. 15lb/ft. just looked at my FSM the other night when we were putting clay's frankie together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 10, 2012 Author Share Posted March 10, 2012 Yeah I didn't think 35 was right. That's an awful lot for a little 10mm bolt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 ive done my share of heads who cares what the book says i go by what the robot in japan do's have you tried to take those bolts off when there factory touqed garentie you not 15 lbs iv'e never broke any and never had any come loose and i threw my torque wrench away cause it was a liar all my engines are personaly hand toruqed with a strait bar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricearu Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 ive done my share of heads who cares what the book says i go by what the robot in japan do's have you tried to take those bolts off when there factory touqed garentie you not 15 lbs iv'e never broke any and never had any come loose and i threw my torque wrench away cause it was a liar all my engines are personaly hand toruqed with a strait bar they torque them to 15. galvanic reaction makes them so hard to remove. that and 15+ years of heat cycling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 i call bull try and beak on i dare you hell try and strip one out good luck butt have one losen off good chance i use those bolts for alot of applacations and cant break them but on somting with as mutch load and vibrations your asking for it not being tight enuff oh well call me an over toruqer but my engines do not come loose ever and have seen alot of low tourqe specs in manuals that are diferent in the factory manuals and low toruqe wrenchs even my snapon one was out i belive that most of the subaru bolts are tourqe to yeild bolts when it comes to engine theese engines expand and contract alot and stuff moves i may do stuff different but there are hundreds of my engines on road and non died yet everything from ea71s to ef 1.2 ejs and eas they dont come back hell i'm not even going to knock on wood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 I'm much more worried about pulling the threads out of the head than the bolt breaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricearu Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Those fuji engineers that wrote the FSM's didn't know what they were talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarl Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 i call bull try and beak on i dare you hell try and strip one out good luck butt have one losen off good chance i use those bolts for alot of applacations and cant break them but on somting with as mutch load and vibrations your asking for it not being tight enuff oh well call me an over toruqer but my engines do not come loose ever and have seen alot of low tourqe specs in manuals that are diferent in the factory manuals and low toruqe wrenchs even my snapon one was out i belive that most of the subaru bolts are tourqe to yeild bolts when it comes to engine theese engines expand and contract alot and stuff moves i may do stuff different but there are hundreds of my engines on road and non died yet everything from ea71s to ef 1.2 ejs and eas they dont come back hell i'm not even going to knock on wood [,] (comma), [.] (period) and [Enter] are your friends. Don't ignore them Just sayin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 put my touque wrench on those bolts 98 impreza head tried 30 clicked tryed 35 clicked tryed 40 striped the aluiminum tried 38 clicked very fine line so 35 is a bitt high but 15 seems a bitt low anyway they strip at 38 ft lbs on the short bolt roler train the ej 2.2 turbo striped at 33 ft lbs call me wrong boys clicked at 32 ft lbs anyway [ i was wrong ] i will suck it up theres the limits boys ps had to wreak to good heads to find out but hey for the cause and hili coils are cheap i will hili coil those bolts and post the tourque spec after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccrinc Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 he is right. 15lb/ft. just looked at my FSM the other night when we were putting clay's frankie together. Not to be snarky, but it's "SHE is right". Signed, Emily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Setting the torque to just before bolts strip out is just dumb. Sorry, but it is. Torque specs are there not only to keep from stripping things out, but to keep them from warping. If you bolt something together with too much torque, you can warp the part. And make it hell for the next person who works on it to get it apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 yup thats why i phyiscaly checked when in doubt go and check i have 50 of theese heads so not a big deal i'll keep my specs to myself lol if i strip a bolt i hili coil it or just get anuther head. oh and if i could spell and use good grammer i whouldent be a subaru mecanic id be a school teacher all good fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnW Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 yup thats why i phyiscaly checked when in doubt go and check i have 50 of theese heads so not a big deal i'll keep my specs to myself lol if i strip a bolt i hili coil it or just get anuther head. oh and if i could spell and use good grammer i whouldent be a subaru mecanic id be a school teacher all good fun You have got to be kidding me. I hope I never work on a car that you have. That kind of logic is about as good as luck is. When in doubt, consult the forums or a Factory Service manual. 38?!?! I haven't built 10 percent of the ones that Emily has, and I have watched her build them. Hers, and mine, were all torqued by the book with no ill effects. I know-I used to work with her at CCR. I have a bachelors of science in Telecommunications (IT/Computers to most people), am earning my MBA, and was a dealer Master technician. I passed all the tests and I know what I am doing. Im also not against asking a question as I don't even begin to think I know it all. I too am running a Subaru specialty repair and parts shop here in Denver Colorado. Im not saying you aren't qualified but you scare me. Take a step back, slow down, and just type properly using punctuation. It makes your content look better. Today's mechanic is educated, and tomorrows will be even more. You don't need to be perfect here but at least give some effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivans imports Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 38 is were the bolt stirps out not where i tourqe it i tested the max 1 lb at a time till it striped to c how strong it was. To confirm my tourqe was wrong it was ok then whats the max now we know. Dosent mean i'm going to tourqe the crap out of evrything.I'm the only subaru shop in B.C as far as i know not my choice but it means evry subaru here comes to me.So thiss whould be why subaru people share info so if there is a mistake it gets caught i'll be the first to say i'm wrong fine thats part of the job.Dosent change the fact i have to do subaru head gaskets all day long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricearu Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Not to be snarky, but it's "SHE is right". Signed, Emily sorry ma'am. I am really supprised how much torque 15lbs is on a tiny bolt. the torque rating ls lots lower than it can handle due to heat expansion. that can stress a bolt to a higher torque number Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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