Tensioner broke, bent valves? 99 Outback

[subieman]

So I have a friend with a 99 outback with the DOHC EJ25. The tensioner bolt for the timing belt broke off the block, because of a shady mechanic that over torqued the bolt. The bolt threads can be saved, but how can I tell if the valves have been bent? Maybe with a compression tester? or fix the timing belt and try to start it?

 

Maybe I'll just throw a EJ22 in it and call it good.

 

Thanks for any input,

[idosubaru]

good chance there are bent valves. a leak down test can be done without reinstalling the belt.

 

or reinstall the belt and hope for the best. guess it could make things worse depending what went on in there though. if it stopped right away there might not be any more than bent valves. a friend of mine fixed one like that, just needed a couple valves replaced and was good to go. hate to mess up a good engine over just a head job.

 

the cost of a Phase II EJ22 is probably more than fixing this engine. and hey, you'll end up with new headgaskets!

[davebugs]

Do some extra checking before considering the 2.2 swap.

 

I've only done one 99 Forester but it was SOHC and the usual 2.2 swap wouldn't work due to the wiring. Perhaps your DOHC has the 3 clips at the engine/trans (like a 2.2 would) but the SOHC that I had only had 2 clips.

 

I've done a decent amount of 2.2 inplace of 2.5's in Outbacks but haven't done that swap in a Forester yet.

 

Dave

[subieman]

This car is in cherry shape except for the engine. I drive now a 96 outback with the OBD II EJ22 engine in it. The body is not as good as shape, so I was thinking I might be able to swap the 96 motor into the 99?

 

Gary, how would I go about doing a leak down test?

 

Thanks

[subieman]

Sorry that I can not help you, but I am new and having trouble posting threads, I have a 2000 forester that I believe needs a timing belt, is there any way I can know for sure? Rick

I believe the only way to know is to pull the timing belt cover. Its a pretty simple job to do. You just need to pull the two end covers to check both belts.

 

Good Luck

[davebugs]

Oops - sorry I read that as a Forester. In an OBW it should be easy. You may have some extra bolt holes left in the tranny (8) versus the 2.2's 4 bolt holes.

 

Look around here. It's been done plenty of times. Only issues are very minor. No PS hose bracket, sometimes charcoal canister & related hose issues.

 

I'd bet that some valves are bent in the 2.5 engine .

 

Dave

[mountaingoatgruff]

quick google search on a leak down test came back with this:

 

http://www.type2.com/library/engineg/leaktst.htm

 

if this were my engine, i'd just pull the heads. on an interference engine (like the DOHC EJ25) the valves and/or pistons can be damaged just by trying to put it in #1 tdc without the t-belt properly installed. if you go crankin it around without a t-belt on you may make things worse. also, does it have enough miles to warrant a head gasket job anyways? (apparently that'd be close to 100k or more.) you can bet you'll have to pull the heads to fix this anyways, do it now and save some hassle.

 

that's my .02

[davebugs]

I wouldn't recommend doing HG's with the engine in the car anyways.

 

I'd locate a 2.2. Pull the 2.5 and tear it down. Look at the heads and cylinders. Have the heads checked. If valves are bent you can decide whether to fix the heads or do the engine swap.

 

If the pistons show any signs of contact I swap engines - some folks see how far the indentation is. I figure anything that gets that hot and has that much pressure on it doesn't need any indentations that aren't factory.

 

Other folks here should chime in.

 

Dave

[john in KY]

Back in 68 a friend floated the valve train at 140 mph in his 3-week old Dodge Charger RT. Dealer pulled the heads and just installed new valves. The pistons had deep indentations but after the new valves were installed, that didn't seem to make any difference.

[idosubaru]

your 96 EJ22 will swap in place of the 99 DOHC EJ25 OBW engine.

 

the 96 EJ22 should be a single port exhaust so you'll also have to swap the exhaust manifold. but that's really simple because it all bolts up and swaps. you have to disconnect the engine side anyway so it's not even hardly any extra work.

 

the a/c and power steering will need to be contended with. it's very simple. it's all covered here, but basically just use whatever works.

 

like dave said the 99 will have 4 bolts instead of 8 that the 96 will have. just use the 4 existing holes, they will line up with 4 out of the 8.

 

a friend worked on an EJ25 that had a timing belt go. just needed two bent valves replaced, everything else was fine.

 

if it's an automatic make sure you know how to properly seat the torque converter, you don't want to be one of those guys coming back asking why their car won't go into gear (it'll need a new trans).

 

good luck.

[mountaingoatgruff]

i put a 92 EJ22 in a 96 OBW that had an EJ25 with bad hg's some months ago. its pretty straightforward once you get into it and gary already pretty much covered your compatability issues. i'd only add that you'll probably have to use all the accessory brackets from the 2.5 to bolt up the a/c comp and p/s pump and when i did it, i ran the 2.2 with the 2.5 harness and ecm. it had a cel for the egr system because the 2.2 was non-egr going into an egr-equipped car but your 96 2.2 probably has an egr and if so you should have no issues there. once it was done, the owner of the car didn't even notice the power loss going from the 2.5 to the 2.2 but he said he did notice a bit better highway mileage (which i think was mostly from the other maintenance stuff i did along with the swap). swapping in the 2.2 would be ridiculously cheaper than fixing the 2.5 if there's internal damage and you've already got your donor parts.