daninmissouri Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 First for some back story: I bought this car with a blown turbo for $2500, figured I'd spend $300 on a china-charger and flip it for a quick profit, but then I fell in love. Little did I know that a blown turbo would be the least of my problems. Ordered a vf40 on eBay, got sent a td04, returned it and ordered another vf40. This time it's actually a vf40 so I install it and start driving the car. Changed the oil, but did not drop the pan, or clean the banjo screens. Car seems to be leaking oil, but otherwise runs ok, after a few hundred miles I get a check engine light and a code related to the variable valve timing...do a little research and decide I need to clean out the screens in the banjo bolts, the two on the AVCS were gone, the one going to the turbo had some junk it, and I can't get to the one on the drivers side head without pulling the timing belt off so I leave it alone for the time being. Codes go away, but it's still leaking oil. Dripping off the back edge of the block, seems like a rear main seal to me, so I make plans to pull the tranny and replace the rear main, and while I'm in there, reseal the oil separator plate. Broke a sensor on the transmission pulling it out, but otherwise it goes ok....now I get the transmission out and things look a little weird. The oil separator plate, and the flex plate are new, the cap that you take off to remove the piston pin on number 3 is all scarred up, the transmission/engine does not have any dowel pins, the nose of the torque converter is galled. But I put the new rear main in, and reseal the oil separator plate with some permatex ultra grey. A couple days later I notice it's still leaking oil. Clean it all off and it looks like it's dripping off the back edge of the oil pan, so i jack the motor up and pull the pan, clean it off and seal it up, again with some ultra grey. Quite a bit of metal in the bottom of the pan, I chalked it up to the turbo. After I got it back together, it still has an oil leak. Some time passes here, I try to sell the car because I'm fed up with trying to fix the damn oil leak. Potential buyer asks about service history, have the head gaskets been done, so I call an acquaintance who is a service advisor at the subaru dealer in town and ask if they have any service history on the car.....turns out, they worked on it once, about 3 months before I bought it, for an oil leak. They replaced the rear main, flex plate, oil separator plate, and I believe turbo oil return. They determined that the crankshaft had excessive end play which caused the parts on the back to get chewed up, and was also causing the oil leak. They recommended a new short block or used engine. So I decided I couldn't sell the car knowing something that serious was wrong. I decided to pull the motor, hopefully replace a worn out thrust bearing and be on my way. I've put about 2k miles on the car, fighting an oil leak the whole time, and at some point in that short time, my new turbo has developed a pretty nasty rattle. Well I pulled the motor last tuesday and tore it down to the short block sunday. I threw it on a roll cart today to check the endplay, hoping to find the source of my oil leak....I found a couple of things: 1. The VIN on the engine does not match the car, and when I pulled a piston, it is actually an EJ257. The VIN belongs to an 05 LGT, (anybody have a carfax login and want to tell me how many miles were on that car when it was totaled?) 2. The crank only has .0025" of end play, not enough to cause the damage on the back of the motor, and not enough to cause the rear main seal to leak me thinks. 3. The crank appears to have rubbed on the block, almost machining away large swaths of aluminum. I had to leave the shop before I could investigate this too far, will post pictures tomorrow. So far, questions: a) Anybody have any guesses on the oil leak, the cause of the damage on the back or inside of the block? b) While the car is down, should I have the ebay turbo rebuilt, or buy a used OE turbo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daninmissouri Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 Damaged plate on back of motor I believe this is the reason the subaru dealer said it has excessive crank play, it looks like the flex plate rubbed the back of the block. They replaced the flex plate and oil separator plate but not this cover. Crank rubbing issue I was worried about after splitting the block and removing the crank it is obvious that this is machined from the factory and the crank was not in fact rubbing. Main bearings are trashed so are the rod bearings and the crank. So I'll be replacing all of that. After splitting the block it is still not obvious to me where the oil leak was coming from, which is disappointing since that's the whole reason I tore the motor down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightmaresmk Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Buy a new oem shortblock and don't waste your time on that block. it's cheaper and easier in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 PM JmP6889928 he's our go to guy for turbos for these guy's. Like said above, go buy a new ej257, have the heads rebuilt. Remove the filter from the front banjo bolt. Buy a new Oil Cooler, (yours is holding metal chips), new oil pump and pick up tube. That block may have a hairline crack in it. The passenger side valve cover is know to leak on these too. read my click here link for ideas and things you might want to do. If you do it right, the car will give you many happy miles. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 OH YEA, STOP BUYING JUNK OFF EBAY. Only buy from the few trusted vendors here. PM Underdog for prices and the parts you need, or http://www.AZPinstalls.com 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmoore5 Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Sounds like you have put a down payment on your EJ education. To minimize the tuition follow Max's advice. Welcome to the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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