DoDo1975

Thanks for this writeup.

Its almost comical how easy this was when I think about all the times I have tried to do repairs on this car that should be simple and had me banging my head against the wall for hours.

Benny, Any way to discount shipping to Canada?

Need a couple OCVs for 2005 Subaru Legacy GT Limited

This was very useful. Helps give some confidence to those of us that aren't too familiar with mechanics.

One question, I have put all my injectors back in. Do I need to prime or do something to the coolant tank to remove air from in there. I assume not but just wanted to check.

OK, we have established that the engine must come out, no way around that.

Including taxes, duty and shipping it will cost me around $2300 dollars to purchase a short block

How long will it take to pull out and replace the piston once the engine is out. If I have cheap mechanic labour, this might make sense. Roughly $200 to hone the cylinder. Piston and rings are roughly $250.

Seems like I could save close to $1800 assuming that the diagnosis is correct.

If I am not keeping the vehicle, is this a better option?

If I am certain that the issue is related to rings and/or ringlands, can I not just replace the piston and rings?

If I plan on selling the car, do I really do $5k work to it? Can I replace a piston without removing the whole engine? It looks like I can access the crankshaft via the oil pan from below. Can I remove and replace a piston this way?

Not burning much oil, but the oil appears quite dark.

I got the results from the leakdown.

Dry test 95 psi

Wet test 120 psi

Leakdown 95 --> 35 psi

All normal in cylinder 2.

OK Thanks,

If I continue driving it do I risk damage to something I wouldn't be replacing anyway (ie I don't really care if I mess up the pistons or heads do I?).

Is there some known way of getting some $ back for the block that you tae out? Seems like shouldn't be too much work to fix this once the engine is all out. On that note, is there rebuilt blocks or not worth it?

That seems quite drastic, but I read a little bit and engines don't seem that expensive.

Do I risk any damage to my vehicle if I continue driving in its current state? If the block, pistons etc are going to be replaced in the future, can anything go wrong and damage something else?

Is there some way I can get something for my engine? Are there rebuilt ones out there?

I have had another leakdown test and now it appears as though something is drastically wrong. My # 4 cylinder seems to be leaking into the PCV, I haven't got the numbers from the shop but leakdown loss is greater than 30% in cylinder 4 and fine in the others. No sound from tailpipe or intake, but gurgle from pcv/oil.

What does this mean and what kind of repairs am I needing?

I have now had a leakdown and compression test and all was fine. All cylinders were 130-140 psi.

 

P0304 CEL Light has come back on. When the shop did the compression test, they said that the new injector that had been installed was leaking from the top, so they put a different one in. The car now runs and idles much better (though not perfect), but the code is still being thrown!!!

 

I have no idea where to go from here? If someone can suggest I would appreciate!

 

Thanks

I took my car in again, this time to the dealership. THey said I had only 95 psi compression in cylinder 4?? So one shop said compression was fine, the other said it wasn't. My question is is there a way for an intermittent compression problem that may mean that the valve is gummed up in some way, but not burnt? Is it possible to get away without a valve replacement, and just a seafoam treatment or something instead? Can I get this POS running well again without laying out $2k????

bad intake/exhaust valve? might be sticking-- i had the same problems you have but i drive an 07 with 100k miles. when you replaced your injectors did you use all new gaskets/orings? my misfire code for cylinder #4 hasnt come back yet since i have thrown in a new injector along with a new lower injector gasket.(this is because subaru didnt include one, bought it from friedbean) also seafoam will help those sticking valves.. my car runs a bit smoother. idles better. ( Take a look at you bpv and IC -- any cracks? ) watch my cel come back as soon as i hit submit reply.

 

Good luck

ANy tips on how to use the Seafoam? SHould I just put it in my fuel for a while, or treat the engine in some other way.

Update on my issues. 2005 Subaru Legacy GT ltd. To recount, I was having rough idle, and "lugging" at low RPMs (sub 3000) when accelerating. Seems OK when RPMs get past that. I am getting a misfire in #4 cylinder.

So far I have:

replaced injector

cleaned MAF/IAT

Replaced Air Filter

Swapped Coil Packs

Checked Blue Tee Vacuum Lines

Had compression check (all > 130)

Replaced the orange o-ring between the intake manifold and TGV

I really have no clue where to go next??? Any help is appreciated. Maybe I have been looking at the wrong cylinder. I am looking at the cylinder closest to the driver (rear of engine bay, drivers side in North America). I really don't know what else this could be?? HELP!!

Thanks Guys,

Just to confirm, this is the O-ring between the intake manifold and the intake manifold(lower), that is labelled number 23 on FU(H4DOTC)-3 of the vacation pics?

Is the intake manifold(lower) the same as TGV?

You need to check the rubber gasket seal where the plastic Intake manifold bolts on.

 

I was just talking to a couple of Subaru techs this week, one with 15-20 years experience and one with 8-12 years.

 

They both told me with my new motor to watch

it.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong but I think that is how you would check.

 

Other than that, I would think a leak down/ compression test would be in order.

 

 

I had intermittent misfires after about 112k and I did all the normal things mentioned. Funny thing was when I purchased a spare injector my misfire went away.

It was running perfect after that for a couple months or more and then all of a sudden I had misfires really bad below about 2k RPMs.

 

Did leak down and cylinder was holding 30 PSI.

 

Tore it down and valve seat/ valve was bad.

 

Seems that the turbo'd Subarus are prone to exhaust valve seats going bad, especially at high mileage over around 100K

 

My lower end was perfect, still had hone scratches and number four looked perfect as well.

 

A friend of mine had a head gasket leak at around 100K and he decided to just fix that. When the heads were pulled off and checked the exhaust valves were already out of spec.

 

He rebuilt the heads and put them back on the same short block (money constraints and no oil usage) and his motor is running fine with little to no consumption.

 

Same with mine, but I already had a built short block so I swapped it out.

 

Hope this helps

Which black intake were they referring to? The air intake before the air filter?

I had the compression/leak down which is why I am now at a loss for what to check. Everything so far seems to check out.

I have now:

replaced injector

cleaned MAF/IAT

Replaced Air Filter

Swapped Coil Packs

Checked Blue Tee Vacuum Lines

 

Still getting the #4 misfire code. Is there anything else I should check before I have it leakdown tested? Shoudl I investigate more vacuum lines? Would a vacuum line cause a misfire in only one cylinder? If so, any ideas on where to look?

 

Much Thanks

I have now had a leakdown and compression test and all was fine. All cylinders were 130-140 psi.

P0304 CEL Light has come back on. When the shop did the compression test, they said that the new injector that had been installed was leaking from the top, so they put a different one in. The car now runs and idles much better (though not perfect), but the code is still being thrown!!!

I have no idea where to go from here? If someone can suggest I would appreciate!

Thanks

I have now:

replaced injector

cleaned MAF/IAT

Replaced Air Filter

Swapped Coil Packs

Checked Blue Tee Vacuum Lines

Still getting the #4 misfire code. Is there anything else I should check before I have it leakdown tested? Shoudl I investigate more vacuum lines? Would a vacuum line cause a misfire in only one cylinder? If so, any ideas on where to look?

Much Thanks

Is there somewhere on this site with a good description of how to swap coil packs? Is it as simple as just unplugging, removing and plugging another in? Can I replace 4 with 2 or do i have to replace with 3? Can I test the plug wires somehow, other than swapping them?

Thanks

I have posted a little in this thread in the past, but I am going to start describing my problem from the beginning in hopes everything together elicits a eureka moment.

About 4 months ago, my car seemed to be running rougher, especially at idle and low rpm under load (going up hill). In addition, the fuel economy also was poor, about 15-20% worse than normal. No codes or anything, just seemed a little rough.

About 2 months ago, I had an oil change and during this change, they inspected many other parts of the car, including the air filter. The air filter was fairly dirty on the exposed side, so it was blown off with some air and put back in.

A day later, the car finally threw a code, 0304 cyclinder 4 misfire. The car over time began to run a little worse, but again only at low rpm and idle. Not close to stalling or anything.

A couple weeks ago, I replaced the fuel injector on number 4 and reset the code. After replacement, the car ran very poorly, almost stalling at idle for the first 10-20 minutes of driving, but gradually got better, until it purring like a kitten. Unfortunately, this only lasted a few days as it quickly moved into the poor running territory again and began to throw the 0304 code again.

Last weekend, I removed the MAF sensor and cleaned it, as well as changed the air filter. The same thing happened, when I reconnected the battery and started the car, it ran poorly, gradually getting better, running perfectly and then going downhill to poor again. This took about 1 day or 40 km of driving (5-6 engine start cycles).

I find it odd that after the ECU is reset the engine eventually "learns" to run really well, but then continues changing the inputs until it is running poorly, but this behaviour must be telling me something, I just don't know what it is.

I don't know where to go next, or what to make of the changing engine performance. If there was really something wrong with valves or cylinders I wouldn't think it would be able to run really well under any circumstances. Also, if there was a coil pack problem, wouldn't that also ensure that the car could not run well?

I am hoping someone can help tell me where I should look next.

Thanks

Cute!

Too bad that doesn't come up when I search the forums, but does in google

Thanks

I searched the forums for clean MAF, but nothing obvious popped up.

Is there an easy procedure ordescription of how to find, remove and clean the MAF on the site somewhere?