Yep, she died (05 subaru legacy)

Lousypirate

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Joined
Jun 9, 2009
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70
Location
Grand Rapids Michigan
Quit on me on my way home from work, had a good friend bring his trailer and pick me up... don't necessarily need help, just letting you guys know i'm still alive(and the first time i hooked up my computer to the internet since i got home from college, 3 weeks ago) we're suspecting fuel system problem... we pulled the fuel pump earlier tonight already, but i'm going to go through some of the electrical and see if i can't get it running by early afternoon tomorrow... if i can get it to move under it's own power, i'll milk it to the dealership and let them deal with it. (my grandpa did offer to pay anyways:raspberry:)

i'll update you with what happend when figure it out(or the dealer tells me). i'm a little pissed about the whole thing... becaues i was just slowing down to turn, and as i came to a complete stop, my car shut off. and then wouldn't start, it was trying to, but wouldn't. the fact that it does turn over makes me happy though.
 
From the little info you've given me I would suspect the timing belt has let go. The engine will still crank and try to fire but it will be very lumpy due to the valves not doing what they're supposed to do.
If its a 'quad cam' or 'twin over head cam' turbo then if the cam belt has gone there may be valve damage - which would then lead me to believe its something else as you've suggested.

Check two things:
1) Remove a cam cover and see if the cam belt is still in one piece doing what its supposed to do (turn the cams slower than the crankshaft).

2) Make sure all wiring connectors are plugged in properly and that they're not wet. It can take one loose or disconnected plug and the car will be hard to start or run like a dog with one leg...

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers

Bennie
 
Sorry to hear that Lousypirate.:sad: Hope your able to get it sorted out soon.

Is it possible that you ingested some water playing in the mud? Seems like you would have had issues sooner if you did, but another possibility.

If you didn't see it, we did wish you a Happy Birthday!!! while you were out.:)
 
Sorry to hear about your Suby mate.
Hope you have it up & going again really soon. :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
it looks like i did ingest a little bit of water, but that doesn't worry me.

so far i pulled the fuel pump, and then reinstalled it because i didn't feel like paying 300 dollars to have it not necessarily be the problem and i tore it apart to get to the fuel pump relay and that seemed to be okay. I took all of my air intake out and cleaned that whole thing including the MAF and sprayed some cleaner into the manifold. but, she started! it still runs pretty rough, so it's going to the dealer so they can check it out next week, i'm past due on the timing belt anyways so i'm getting that done, and having them do a diagnostics on my vehicle (need to tell them about the stuff that i don't care about[or care for them to fix]*coughexhaustcough*). so i'm driving my dad's 01 dodge dakota that definately needs some TLC. she'll get a good wash and a wax on sunday by me probably as a thanks to him for letting me take his ****ty truck so he can drive his brand new welding truck around :lol:.
 
Glad to hear its going at the very least! Proves its not a cambelt... Have you read the fault codes from the ECU? I've noticed my EJ ECU doesn't have an LED light on the side of it like the L series MPFI units do, so I presume the fault code is transmitted throught the dash 'check engine' light when plugged into test mode...

How did you injest the water? I think I may have missed a post of some outting you had just recently.

All the best with the dealer's doings, hope they don't kill your fun stuff fund ;)

Cheers

Bennie
 
How many miles on this car?

It doesnt take much water to do damage.

As an FYI the fuel pump is usually the last problem as to why a subaru wont start, as there is a long list of things to check before that.


Check the timing belt. Remove the plugs and crank the engine, see how much water comes out.


nipper
 
the water ingestion isn't the problem, that was ingested over 1k miles ago.

i think now that it might have been low oil pressure being a small problem and i may have had a slightly faulty oil filter (damn you NAPA). when i start it up it has a really bad knock for a few revs then it smooths right out until you gas it a little, lets say the 2.5k on the tach, then it comes back... so it's just going into the dealership to see what they have to say about it.
 
i believe i did, and it's just under 110 thousand miles on it.

update: changed the oil (which got pretty low, looks like the oil filter did come unscrewed a little bit spilling oil out of the system) so i changed it and it runs alot better at idle but when you rev it up a little you hear a really bad tick (sounds like lifter) so i'm just bringing it in tomorrow... hopefully get it back by the weekend...
 
Lousypirate said:
i believe i did, and it's just under 110 thousand miles on it.

update: changed the oil (which got pretty low, looks like the oil filter did come unscrewed a little bit spilling oil out of the system) so i changed it and it runs alot better at idle but when you rev it up a little you hear a really bad tick (sounds like lifter) so i'm just bringing it in tomorrow... hopefully get it back by the weekend...
Click to expand...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but so far everything you have said has pointed to one thing.

a bad connecting rod bearing.



nipper
 
nipper's right, to my dismay.

bad connecting rod bearing... looks like my daily driver has turned into my project car for the next month or two. going to price out short blocks and rebuilt engines and used engines and see how much it is going to cost me... and talk to my grandpa about what i'm going to do... he was gonna give me money to pay the bill... but 5300 is ridiculous (that's the v8 + straight axle swap i've been dreaming about, literally.

so i'll probably end up doing all the work myself and then i'll know my motor inside and out, which is good. wish me luck... hopefully my gramps will toss me the keys to the good ol' chevy 1 ton dually with the manual and granny low in the back lot... which has been sitting there for the last year... and it runs :ebiggrin::p
 
Your options:

a 2.2 from the same year, bullitproof slight loss of power.

a 2.5 which is known for weak or bad HG's (well 20% of them).

i love the 2.5's.

With either engine you should replace the timing belt, tune it up, vlave cover gaskets, the seperator plate, new water pump, replace cam seals and main seals, reseal the oil pump.

On a 2.5 Also replace the HG and do a valve job.

Do the above and no matter which you pick, you will get a long life out of them. Try to find a donor from a car that was in anything but a front end impact.

good luck.

nipper
 
i still plan on at least checking out the crank and valvetrain by pulling the oil pan and valve cover gaskets, if it's salvageable i'm considering rebuilding it myself (good experience, going to school to be an engineer, gearhead, don't know if there needs to be any more info to explain it) but if it is salvageable it's looking at some forged pistons that should get the compression up a little more and probably a camshaft upgrade to have a more powerful 2.5 motor with good seals, bearings, and gaskets (AND AN ADAPTER FOR OIL TEMP AND PRESSURE... probably will do that either way and get this nice little cubby pod :P)

if the motor is completely toast it'll get a used 2.5 motor with some upgrades depending on price for the motor... if the valvetrain is okay but the block is toast i'll probably get my hands on a shortblock... need to talk to my dad and grandpa and get their approval before doing this because if i am rebuilding i'll have to buy myself a cheap vehicle (probably 1k dollar truck for a parts truck and a hunting/fishing/beating around town rig) while i work on my car in my spare time.

I'm hoping the actual damage is minimal and i can get the experience in rebuilding a motor which will help me in the long run for both engineering and my own love and desire for cars.

at least my girlfriend understands :P, she know's i love that car almost as much as her :lol: and she wants to see more power out of it as well :lildevil:

how much horsepower do you think would be seen from bumping from the stock 10.2 compression ratio (i believe that is right?) to an 11.2 setup with a set of hotter cams.... would run midgrade or premium then.
 
Lousypirate said:
at least my girlfriend understands :P, she know's i love that car almost as much as her :lol: and she wants to see more power out of it as well :lildevil:
Click to expand...
What can I say, you are truly blessed. :)

Good luck with whichever option you take in getting your Subi back on the road. :)

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
The 2.5 was designed at its very limits. you can put a hotter cam in it, but I wouldnt raise compression.

On the other hand the 2.2 has lots and lots of room to build it up and get more power out of it.


nipper
 
nipper said:
The 2.5 was designed at its very limits. you can put a hotter cam in it, but I wouldnt raise compression.

On the other hand the 2.2 has lots and lots of room to build it up and get more power out of it.
Click to expand...

I didn't know about the 2.5's being at the design limits of the EJ - but it makes sense. If you go a hotter cam you'd have to get the ECU re-mapped to get it all to work properly.

The EJ22 - I'd love to build one some time with an EJ25 crank to effectively stroke the EJ22. I reckon it'd be good for some more low down torque and higher compression. That'd be a good start :twisted:

Cheers

Bennie
 
Well, after talking to lots of people and my grandpa talking to lots of people, it seems like my best choice is to swap a used motor in. i'm going to talk to my dad who comes home from vacation tomorrow either sun or mon about it and figure out what we want to do.

if i do get a used motor, i would like to not have to give them my old one (so i can have an intent to rebuild or build up however i want whenever i have spare time and either swap it back into the subie or into something else... dune buggy :P)

I think with good head gaskets and maybe a slight valve job with some porting of the heads you wouldn't have to worry about it and it would create some more power but it would be amplified with the hotter cam...

i'm not opposed to swapping a new motor in, but whatever happens, i want to do it myself (because i'm stubborn like my dad and grandpa) and i don't want to pay 800 dollars to swap a motor :raspberry:

depending on how much i get the motor for, i'll probably look for some outback suspension and maybe do my stereo so i can use an mp3 player and have the potential for maybe a small sub in the trunk... as long as the car is down i might as well... but this is all depending on money situation...

the thought did cross my mind for a small block chevy with some straight axles off of a jeep or something :P... yeah yeah i'm nuts, whatever :P. when you have access to a complete welding shop (and by that i mean dad/grandpa own it and they gave you all of the keys and passwords) your mind really goes wild :biggrin:
 
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