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Can anyone tell me what happened?


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OK, I'm stumped, and I am hoping that the collective wisdom found on this board can give me some ideas as to what happened to my Sub (88 GL wagon). Here's the details - sorry if it gets kind of long.

My wife was driving the car the other day, 30-35 mph, when - in her words - there was a high pitched squeal, along with a sudden black cloud of smoke out the exhaust, and a dramatic loss of power. She limped off the road and parked it, then called me. I get there about 15 minutes later, find that there is a puddle of oil under the right front side of the engine (around the charcoal cannister, etc.). It has always had your normal oil leaks for a 150k motor, but this was a lot - maybe a pint. I top off the oil, then try to start it. It stumbles a few times, then keeps running, so I decide to try driving it home. It starts out feeling ok, but then there is a sudden loss of power - feels like fuel cutting out. Easing off on the gas and then gently accellerating works ok for about a mile, then it quits and won't restart. All the while oil pressure and temp were normal, no smoke, and no more oil loss. I tinker with it on the side of the road for about 10 minutes, and finally decide to crack the fuel line where it comes off the filter to check for flow. Of course, it was fine, so I put it back together and try to start it again. After a number of false starts (it would start and immediately die), it finally keeps going, and I start revving the crap out of it to see what happens. Guess what - it just keeps running stronger, just like normal. We start driving, and it is running great. I really pushed it, trying to make something happen, but it just ran great. 2 days later, still no repeat of the problem. So what do you all think? I haven't really looked at anything since, and I'm really not sure what to look for.

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did you guys forget it's a Subaru? it probably decided that stretch of road belonged to it and decided to mark it. lol... j/k. you should very thoroughly inspect it and try to find out exactly where all that oil came from. I don't have much experience with cars, that's the only advice I can give. I think, using my vast intellect, that it will happen again and this time not fix itself. that's what i think. it's late, i need sleep.

 

-jordan

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look and see where the motor is covvered with oil.... maybe check the valve cover vent, then pop the front timing cover off and see if theres oil in there... find where the oil came from and thats the win... is the hose on the valve cover cracked?

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I rule out cam seals being blown out. I've seen quite a few run with the seals popped all the way out.

 

Your PCV valve may have stuck on a turn and blew oil into the cylinders. what you described sounds like my car in the winter when my carb gets iced up.

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hmm.

I'd wonder if one of the timing belt idlers has an intermittent seize, and if during that seize, it caused some leakage from the cam seal?

pop the side timing belt covers and see if the belts are friction-glazed and see if there's oil leakage in there.

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good call. similar to what i suggested; the squeal is highly suspect.

The only other squeal I've ever heard from the front was in an electric fan that went bad... now THAT sounds horrible.

 

 

Just for S&G's, check the crank pulley - make sure its tight.
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Are you 100% sure it was oil? The reason I ask is you said it was by the carbon can. If your vapor recovery system malfunctions and gets saturated with fuel, then the engine is no longer burning vapors it's sucking raw fuel causing... black smoke and loss of power. It will also puke out the carbon saturated gas. (black) If you had standard Subaru residual oil leaks, it could be easily confused. As to the sqealing noise... coming from the canister itself. GM's did this a lot back in the 80's. Pull the carbon can and tip it upside down. No fuel should come out, if it does, replace it. Also check the lines for cracks and make sure they're not plugged. Also make sure your gas tank is venting properly. By rodding the crap out of it, you essentially burned off the excess fuel and it runs fine....until next time:eek:

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Well, I'm sure it was oil, because it's still there (inside the engine compartment, I mean). If it were fuel it would have evaporated by now. But what you say makes sense - I will check out the cannister later. And I suppose the oil could have come from the filler tube, but temp. was normal.

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