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Rebuilding/Replacing My 01 EJ253


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Little background on my car

2001 Legacy GT Limited 5-Speed 103,XXX 2nd owner

 

I bought the car in 2014 with 87,455 on the clock. It had a seeping head gasket and pretty much nothing was ever done to the car but oil changes and small stuff. This is also my first car that I did a lot of work myself. My first subaru (02 outback) made me an enthusiast.

 

This was the first car I learned to drive stick on. The first 500 miles were the hardest probably cause the tires were shot. So I put 4 new cooper zeons on and brand new Borla Type- S muffler on it :cool:. Jeez that rumble. my god I fell in love with the car more than I already did. 200 Miles later the knock sensor goes. I ordered one and put it on myself. Fixed it. First time doing something other than filters,oil,battery and wipers.

 

(90,003k) had the headgaskets along with a ton of other things done by Prime Motoring here in NJ.

 

Fast forward 8 months later I started getting this knocking witch for a long time i figured was piston slap. This was a on and off problem, meaning it would go away and come back, up until now. It's back again

 

Here's a recent video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QjSfTPRf8M

 

Link to Knocking Thread Started 10/7/15 - http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/rod-knock-pistion-slapi-something-elsei-246022.html

 

My options are

New long block from Enginesus.com or Subaru

Used short block

Rebuild the one I have.

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I'll take a stab at it.

 

Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound like a problem deep in the block. More like an accessory failing, or maybe a cracked or burnt valve in the LHS head (since you said Cyl 2 -- I don't get that from the video). Get your stethoscope out again and, with a helper, go from one end to the other. Start at the exhaust if you need to (aftermarket, who knows...)

 

Subaru(s) make a lot of weird sounds. Sounds that are hard to isolate and hard to find posted on You Tube. Sometimes you get lucky and hit the part that is making that sound; it will be really obvious. Exhaust, manifolds, all around the heads, timing cover, top of block etc etc. If you find a 'maybe' then you haven't found the source.

 

The good news is that unlike most of us, you can flick the idle from the engine bay! The rest of us are all fly by wire and need a helper for this sort of thing.

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Just to be clear, you mean #2 AND #4 both? Not #2 or #4, one or the other?

 

It is potentially more interesting if you have to disable two cylinders to get it to go away. But it is equally interesting if pulling one or the other will result in the same problem. It's just that it could send us on different diagnostic paths, depending . . .

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When you pull the plug wire and the noise stops....that's a rod bearing in most cases, or there's something wrong in that cylinder.

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

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Trying to come up with something here . . .

What can be wrong with two adjacent cylinders, but goes away when one or the other is disabled??

 

Burnt valve -- you'd need at least two, one in each.

Rod problem -- ditto

HG leak between the two cylinders ?

 

Also, with all the above I would expect the sound should change when one cylinder is disabled, but not go away.

 

What about something in the exhaust stream? I'm not familiar with the exhaust routing for your model. Is there a cat under the left bank? Can you get under the shielding and get your 'scope on the LH exhaust manifold and related piping?

 

I had a cracked cat that rattled in the exhaust stream at low rpm. Sounded like something in the head or block. OTOH, the rattle went away as soon as rpm was raised, and that doesn't seem to be the case for you.

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