96 Legacy Wagon w/ Issues

[wentz912]

So, I bought a 96 BK this past Sunday and have since been trying to get it running. Car is a Brighton trim level, 5spd with 138,168 miles on the clock.

The story I got from the previous owner was it the daily thrasher/back and forth to school car for his two sons. Car at some point started making some knocking/ticking noise and eventually stopped running, to never start again. Said the engine would spin, but not catch or start.

So, timing belt replacement and off I go right? Not so much.

Got the car to my house, first off, battery and terminals are no good. Got those replaced with brand new components. Attempt to spin motor with starter. Nothing. Just a click at the starter, but no spin. Nuts. Leave that and proceed to check timing set.

Get the covers off, timing belt is in tact, cam pulleys still line up properly with the notches in the covers. Then I catch a "pop" noise as I manually rotate the engine via the crank pulley bolt. Dafuq?

Pay closer attention, and the bolt retaining the passenger side pulley to the camshaft is not keeping up with the pulley itself, get it broken loose and the hole for the alignment pin between the pulley and camshaft have both been damaged beyond repair.

Clearly, I need, at minimum a replacement camshaft and pulley for the right side. Already have the parts on the way, as well as a complete timing kit.

Was this damage enough to make the car stop running? Do I need to look deeper? I'd rather not pull the heads, etc. if I can avoid it.

[wentz912]

I feel like I should also add the following:

I'm not new to Subarus, or mechanicking in general, but this is my FIRST EJ as well as my first FI engine, so all the sensors and code throwing and all that is pretty foreign to me.

[wentz912]

Just had a HUGE brain spark. Could the pop/jump of the pulley/camshaft being buggered up cause a tripping of the knock sensor and kill the engine?!?!

[Okin DaVanh]

Had the same issue happen to my EJ22. Turned out to be cylinder 4 tapping the head after it skipped off a pulley/cog that went bad. Did the same thing you did. Replace timing belt and pulley and when we fired it up, it ran rough.... I mean VERY rough. Had to pull the motor and heads, sent them out and did a full service to the motor.

Not to say that is your problem, but your probably better off pulling the motor and doing the headgaskets etc... anyways. Wouldn't hurt and really isn't that difficult if you've done a timing belt to it.

[Wiscon_Mark]

The 96 isn't an interference motor, so you shouldn't have valvetrain damage, but you may need to make sure things are lined up before firing it up again.

[wentz912]

So, it would be you guys' recommendation to at least bust it down to a short block and see what else might have happened? I still haven't gotten the starter to spin the engine, should I see if that makes any odd noises before worrying about tearing it apart?

[Wiscon_Mark]

So, it would be you guys' recommendation to at least bust it down to a short block and see what else might have happened?

If you feel comfortable doing so (it sounds like you know your way around pretty well) then yes. If a cam was out of wack, the valves will be too and that could definitely cause misfiring. The EJ22s weren't known for having headgasket issues, but if you take the heads off too, you might as well replace 'em.

[wentz912]

I THINK I'm just going to put her back together and spin it, and see what happens. If it starts and runs, I win. If not, I haven't lost anything and basically have to build a motor anyway.

The only thing that is still seeming odd to me is why it shut down and didn't restart on the previous owner. Timing just got that far out of whack with the slipping cam?

[wentz912]

Well, finally got a picture snapped of what happens to an under-torqued cam!

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l17/wentz912/2012-10-08_11-55-23_897.jpg

And one of the whole turd.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/

[tnrknght]

WOW thats what my whole turd used to look like! (nah mine was way worse) Im going to be in the same position very soon with the pulley, only the keyway in my camshaft is damaged. Rather than cracking it open and replacing the camshaft Ill be dropping in a new motor. 240k and its running like a one-legged fish ( ._.)

What my turd looked like 6 months ago:
http://imageshack.us/a/img233/315/oldihg.jpg

What she looks like now:
http://imageshack.us/a/img707/702/newvjd.jpg

[wentz912]

That's awesome! Seems to be a lot of these white wagons around on the boards, haven't seen another out on the road yet. Will hopefully be spinning this old girl tomorrow morning.

[tnrknght]

Yea honestly I think I like the wagon more than a sedan, more you can do with them. You can drop it and autocross or lift it and rally and itll still look good. I think a lifted sedan wouldnt work as well imho.

Im planning on dropping in a 2.5 sohc as soon as the funds are available well see how it goes but Ill keep doing work as she is.

[wentz912]

Well, got her to spin after replacing my ground cables to the starter and the body from the battery. However, seems to be jumping time after I set it according to the 40/44.5 idea, and then turn her over. WTF am I doing wrong?

[tnrknght]

Its jumping time? could it have an issue perhaps the timing belt tensioner? My engine has 241k and honestly its slightly out of time, but its still running. I drive it every day.

[wentz912]

Got the timing set correctly. This time I remembered to pry the tensioner back to the left before snugging the bolts and pulling the pin. Runs beautifully now! Threw a code for misfire on cylinders 2&3 within a couple blocks of my house. Cleared them, filled it with premium, and going to throw new plugs and wires at it and see what happens.

Stay tuned for a build thread in the MR section!

[tnrknght]

Glad to hear you got it runnin. Yea my 3000gt had a bad tensioner and i made the mistake of not replacing it when i did my tbelt. Now after running under load the tensioner gave out and damaged the heads. Will be subscribing to mr thread!