EJ22 seals

[Uberoo]

First of a two part question: I am working on a phase 1 EJ22 and there is a drain tube in the oil pan at the very back of the engine.It is sealed to the block with an O ring and then it drops down into the the bottom of the oil pan.What is the purpose of that tube and its seal?

 

2nd question, what is the best way to replace the front cam seals?I know how to get to their location but how do I physically get them out of the head without gouging or marring the aluminum?

 

Thanks in advance.This engine has 225K on it and it seems that every single seal on the thing was leaking.

 

EDIT: I am also a bit of a dunce and I took off all the pulleys and idlers to clean them/paint them and I am not sure the correct order of them.Anyone have a picture of the front of the engine without covers so I can figure out where they all go?

Edited July 28, 2013 by Uberoo

[heartless]

to remove the seals use a pick or similar to dig into the seal itself and yank it out - doesnt matter if you destroy the seal - it is getting replaced.

 

the idlers/pulleys "should' get replaced to avoid future premature failures. the cam pulleys dont need replacing, but the rest should be.

As for placement - the 2 smooth idlers go on the passenger side of the crank, the toothed one goes drivers side bottom - right next to water pump, and the cammed one drivers side top - adjusted by the tensioner - make sure the little tab on the back is in the correct position for the tensioner to push against.

 

on the cam pulleys, one of them has raised notches on the back - that one goes on the drivers side - the raised parts are what the cam sensor "reads" to determine cam position.

 

for actual pictures - find the ej22 timing belt article - or miles fox's youtube video for the same...

Edited July 28, 2013 by heartless

[ivans imports]

Make shure you replace the cam seal holder o ring and cam plug orings bad for leaking then you dont have to go back in later. The tube in oilpan is oil drainback I think the do thiss to prevent oil foaming up is not under preshure so o ring is ok

[heartless]

the o-ring on the tube inside the oil pan isnt a "necessary" change kind of thing, but if you are in there, it doesnt hurt  to do it - just find one that fits and be done with it.

 

for the dipstick tube, there are 2 o-rings, and for the oil fill tube, there is one large one that is VERY prone to leakage.

 

one of the best purchases I ever made from Harbor Freight was the o-ring assortments - got both the SAE & metric sets - they have proven to be quite useful for any o-rings under about an inch in diameter...

[Fairtax4me]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FPYW4K

I bought one of these several years ago and it has worked for almost every seal I've replaced since then. The exceptions were a timing cover seal on a Chevy 350 (ancient seal that was rusted into the steel cover), and a crappy after market front crank seal on my 95 wagon that was glued (yes glued) to the oil pump. Had to pull the pump to knock that one out.

I've done at least a half dozen other Subaru front crank seals without issue, it pops them right out.

 

The oring on the tube in the oil pan seals the drain tube from the oil separator. It's not a necessary replacement as it will just leak oil into the pan anyway, and its a fairly expensive seal from a dealer. I've just re-used the original whenever I've had an oil pan off.

[idosubaru]

if you're careful with a screw driver, it'll pry them out.  use a good one that doesn't bend.

 

you can drill a tiny hole in the face of the seal, install a self tapping sheet metal screw and pry on the screw.

 

a seal pulley like he mentioned above is going to be nice if you're going to do a few.

 

the brown Subaru seal material is better than the aftermarket with black seals like older gen stuff. 

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FPYW4K
I bought one of these several years ago and it has worked for almost every seal I've replaced since then.f.

does that work with the engine insitu?

[Fairtax4me]

Yes it works very well for low clearance seals. I bought it to use on my mothers 98 Camry 4 cyl that needed cam and crank seals. There was only about 3" of room between the cam seal and motor mount bracket on the strut tower, which made using a regular seal puller impossible. It also used close for seals, which don't leave much room between the shaft and metal seal housing for a prying tool such as a screwdriver or pick.

I did not want to risk gouging the camshaft, so went in search and found the Lisle tool, which works very well.

[Gloyale]

Make shure you replace the cam seal holder o ring and cam plug orings bad for leaking then you dont have to go back in later. The tube in oilpan is oil drainback I think the do thiss to prevent oil foaming up is not under preshure so o ring is ok

 

The tube in the oilpan is the bottom of the PCV vent area in the back of the crankcase.

 

If this O-ring leaks it can cause PCV issues.  Mostly sucking of oil through the PCV. It needs to be sealed so that the oil level covers the bottom of the tube, so that nothing can be sucked "up" the tube.  If it's not sealed, it affects the airflow in the rest of the PCV system.