2007 Outback XT Engine swap Turbo to N/A?

[scallywag_ak]

2007 Outback XT with a rod knock due to previous turbo failure.  Is it possible to swap out the turbocharged engine with a naturally aspirated engine?   I imagine that wiring harness & ECM would have to be swapped also.  Anyone have any experience with this?

 

My reason for asking is that I purchased this car in December 2011, burned up and replaced turbo in October 2012,  now i have a rod knock.  I still owe a lot of money on this car, wife is now without a car to haul the kids & get to work.   Looking at options such as rebuilding off of a new short block & selling car,  purchasing a used engine from salvage & trying to sell car, or if possible converting car to non-turbo and keeping the car.   Any info or suggestions would be greatly apprecitated!

[Blue Whale]

A brand new EJ257 (or EJ255) short block sells for $2000.  Put that in with your new turbo and your existing heads, and you have pretty much a brand new turbo engine set-up.  That's not a bad thing at all.  Converting to NA wouldn't be simple, probably wouldn't cost less, and would make yor car much less desirable if you decide to sell it later.  As for a salvaged engine--for a turbo engine, that would be a major gamble since the maintenance history (think 3,750-mile synthetic oil changes) will be unknown.  The new short block isn't unreasonable.  You may be thinking "what next?" but with proper maintenance, there's no reason you wouldn't be able to make your (mostly) new engine last a long time.  My family has a 2005 OBXT with 188,000 miles; we bought it early last year knowing that the original owner had maintained it well, and it has no issues at all.  In fact, the turbo is original and oil consumption is still negligible (three or four ounces per oil change interval).  Nice power when desired, too.

 

If you would rather have the NA engine--and those do have the advantages of better gas mileage and a less rigorous oil change requirement, even if they are prone to more trouble with head gaskets--it probably makes sense to fix this car and sell it, and then buy the NA car to replace it.

[idosubaru]

are you sure it's rod knock? 

 

the timing tensioners can get weak and slap and they sound amazingly like rod knock.  they slap and you get a metal on metal sound which is muffled by the timing covers.  doesn't sound like you're that fortunate, but check to make sure.

 

don't know that turbo motors have piston slap but that's common and confusing to people in the EJ25 world.

 

what he said is probably where i'd head - probably better off fixing and selling.  at least the turbo models have great value.

 

non turbo engines have been turbo'ed before but gotta keep the boost really low.  and yes your turbo heads will bolt right up to the non-turbo block.  if any of the oil or coolant ports are in the block then you'll need to figure that out...i'm unsure where the EJ25T coolant and oil ports are.

 

don't forget to sell your turbo block when you're done - recoupe some of costs if you don't have to give it in for a core.

[scallywag_ak]

grossgary, timing tensioners were the first thing I checked as I am aware of that issue, not so lucky. I dumped the oil and cut apart the filter to find plenty of copper looking flakes, pretty sure it is a rod.

 

Blue Whale, I'm going to pull the engine out this weekend and pull it apart and see what I'm dealing with. Checked on a short block & the closest dealer has 2 in stock right now for $2137. Will most likely rebuild, sell car, and find a naturally aspirated for the family ride. I bought this car on a whim, (never a good idea), had I done my homework I never would have chose this for the wife's grocery getter! Bummer, because I really liked this car, and so did she.

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

[WoodsWagon]

If you rebuild it, why dump it for a n/a car? You'll be trading a car with an engine you know is fixed right for one of unknown history. Way more N/A engines are in a bad way than the turbo ones because the headgaskets leak and the coolant runs low. They will run low on coolant for a long time before they overheat enough for the driver to notice (if they actually do look at the temp gauge). This causes the tops of the cylinder bores to get hot because they are above the waterline, which leads to scoring on the two drivers side cylinder bores because the major thrust surface is the top side of the cylinder.

 

People chuck headgaskets in them and send it out the door with oil consumption and piston slap issues showing up shortly after. But the headgaskets are a known weak point so "just replaced the headgaskets" is a positive thing for the seller to note, right?

 

WIth the turbo engines, if you take the filter screens out of the turbo oil feed and avcs banjo bolts they will last a long time with no failures.

[idosubaru]

good job tracking down the issue via copper...bad, bad no doubt.

 

+1, if you fix it, address those screens, run synthetic and change the oil on time and you're golden.  those are great motors/vehicles.

[scallywag_ak]

Here is a link to the photo album I posted for this project:     http://s1350.photobucket.com/user/scallywag_ak/library/2007%20Subaru%20Outback%20XT?sort=6&page=1

[scallywag_ak]

The pictures of the Turbo are from back in October 2012 when I lost the turbo & replaced it with a new one.   The rest of the pictures & video are of the current project with the rod knock & metal in the oil.

I lost the turbo at 78,704 miles on the odometer.   Turbo was replaced, pulled oil pan off to inspect & found crud in the pan.  Cleaned out pan & resealed.  Ran car for 15 miles and changed the oil at 78,719 miles.   Next oil change was at 81,833 miles.   Now I encountered the current problem at 84,747 miles.