What did you do to your Outback today? V3

[KZJonny]

Engine is out. And man this thing is gross.

I can understand why they charge so much to do this job.

[KZJonny]

Although, for 260k kms, I’m happy with how the inside looks so far.

Guess my obsessive adherence to OCI’s is is working.

[KZJonny]

Soo.. like probably most of us, I regularly fall victim to the "while I'm in there" phenomenom. My original plan had been mainly to just R&R the heads, resurface them and do a valve adjustement. The basics for a head gasket replacement.

 

Now that I have them out and am cleaning them up, of course, I got to thinking about doing the valve stem seals, and lapping them, etc...

Thinking on it even more, I'm coming around to thinking it's not worth it. Aside from making a mess all over itself, the engine ran fine and wasn't showing any signs of burning oil. Combustion chambers are relatively clean, overall kilometers really aren't that high for an 18 year old car.

What would other do? I know this will depend a great deal, but I am thiking that for just my winter beater and an NA engine, it's easy enough to remove the rocker covers and suchlike and do the seals in the car in future if they're ever a problem. To the best of my knowledge they're really not a failure point on these things, and I'm kind of leaning towards leaving them until the next timing belt change in 80-100k kms or so, assuming the body and the rest of the car holds up that long....

[Febreze Mee]

I would stick with the original plan and just resurface, and adjust the valve lash. This is only a winter beater, and should perform for many more kilometers with just that. 

[KZJonny]

4 hours ago, Febreze Mee said:

I would stick with the original plan and just resurface, and adjust the valve lash. This is only a winter beater, and should perform for many more kilometers with just that. 

I love me some confirmation bias.

This my first time doing a head gasket job on an EJ, and while the next time will definitely go smoother/faster, I didn’t think I’d sink my whole weekend into it.

Not finishing the first side until 2130 on Saturday kind of made the decision for me. Close inspection show all the major seals are in good shape, and aside froM the head gaskets, no visible leaks anywhere, so I’m just installing the gasket into the laboriously hand refinished mating surfaces. Fingers crossed.

When the time comes to do the GT, I am 100% paying a machine shop to flatten the heads…

[kzr750r1]

Daughter drove off last week leaving a coolant puddle.

Had her inspect prior to restart if it's low or not. It was ok.

After inspecting it was a worm gear clamp I used for the hose to the killer B water pump snout.

Before inspection went ahead and ordered a new radiator and hood insulator.

Radiator arrived and it was the wrong variant. Didn't have the ATF loop for the transmission.

Will have it in hand later today to install on my terms or when this one splits. This will be #2 I've replaced since new.

Access port stopped working in the car. Discussed with Cobb and they think it's the cable. Well see once it arrives.

[KZJonny]

Thought I’d have just a little patching maybe to shore up the rear pinch weld that was a little soft.

Clearly not…. Very lucky to have a buddy parting out a 4th Gen, and the body is in decent shape. So….. I’ll try cutting this entire section out of the parts car and welding it in to my car.

I’m not great at Mig welding, but it looks like I am in for some practise at least.

Thanks rust belt!! I suppose I should check under the trim on the other side as well, but at least a quick poke around indicates it’s in better shape than this…

[xt2005bonbon]

wow, that's pretty bad.

[KZJonny]

Yup. All the damage was hidden under the plastic trim.

It really didn’t look so bad, but once I peeled all that off it revealed what you see.

Should have perhaps expected that, but also a warning to other OB owners that what looks alright might be worse than you suspect.

[kzr750r1]

ET said OW!

Access port down. First stab at a fix was a new cable suggestion to Cobb. It's likely headed to them after my next call to confirm NOPE not the fix.

Works fine connected to the PC. Just not in the car connected to OBD2.

[jonnyt88]

On 11/5/2023 at 11:59 AM, KZJonny said:

Thought I’d have just a little patching maybe to shore up the rear pinch weld that was a little soft.

Clearly not…. Very lucky to have a buddy parting out a 4th Gen, and the body is in decent shape. So….. I’ll try cutting this entire section out of the parts car and welding it in to my car.

I’m not great at Mig welding, but it looks like I am in for some practise at least.

Thanks rust belt!! I suppose I should check under the trim on the other side as well, but at least a quick poke around indicates it’s in better shape than this…

Oh geez.... I'm scared to see what mine looks like.  I have some rust on the fender lips where I trimmed the liner when she was dumped.  I need to get new liners and was going to coat it with POR while they are out.

as well as the hood, the roof,  and any other spots. 

I'm be scared to see what my rockers look like.  180k Central NY miles

Edited November 12, 2023 by jonnyt88

[KZJonny]

Winter tires repaired and on, fluids checked and topped.

The OB goes on the road for now, even with the giant rust holes (covered back up with the plastic trim for now). It's been a dependable car for so long, but every year it's also a bit of a dissapointment when I pull into the highway with the N/A + 4EAT combo. Haha!  Putting away the GT is hard.

Still, I've got a few kilometers on the new head gaskets and touched up heads, and she start and idles great, and maybe it's my imagination, but has a little more pep in her step with proper valve clearances again.... No leaking oil or coolant so far, and the temp gauge stays dead in the middle once warmed up, so I can at least have some confidence that I didn't unwittingly block off a coolant passage with the HGs or some other silly mistake.

[kzr750r1]

1) Had a bit of a scare the radiator was leaking. Daughter left the driveway with a pool of coolant under the car. Not much but enough to call her to do some prechecks before leaving school parking lot. Bought a new rad in the process anyway.

Found the worm gear I put on the hose to the water pump was leaking... But only after full cool down. After the car heat soaked it sealed up. Will change this radiator soon as it's around the same age that the last one started to leak. So this will be the third Rad for the car.

2) Cobb said they repaired my AP by replacing the board. Looks like they just transferred my code to a new one for 150 bucks +tax and put my old cover on it.

Haven't tested it yet in the car. Did peek at it in AP manager and my maps are there.

Car has been running pretty good but now I can get prepped to get back up to Snail for another tune. Curious how the current will react to the winter blend.

3) Madrig is returning my carbon hood scoop after repair next week. It was starting to flake resin after sitting in the elements since 2018 ish.

4) Still tempted to put new wheels and tires on the car. It's getting time for new tires. Plus I still have yet to put the OEM lower control arms back on.

I don't get to drive it much these days. Daughter has pretty much taken it over.

 

[xt2005bonbon]

Did your radiator begin leaking at the top seam?

[kzr750r1]

Top passenger for the last one. Yes.

Of course view obscured unless you take the snorkus off.

Drove it to SF and back yesterday. Filled it up. Had one odd stumble in the city. but all was ok.

Fuel trims were actively changing but not alarming numbers.

Just now daughter is saying DAM is flapping. Settled back to .875. Did dip to .5... Gahhhh.

Looks like were on winter blend now. Time to schedule another rip on the dyno and get this sorted.

Of course first check for any air leaks.

 

[xt2005bonbon]

I like that you don't give up on her.

[kzr750r1]

Too far down the rabbit hole to quite on it just yet.

Plus no fan of CVT. I still say the 5EAT has been the best transmission I've ever owned.

Even with it's quirks.

Girl has been saving her money. Time to understand how long her break from school is and see if M45 can take the car for an evaluation. Help me understand the rough cold running till heat soak.

Just have not found a smoking gun for this. GroupN motor mounts and RalliTec trans bushing stiffener in play it's NVH till heat soak. May consider putting the original motor mounts back on it it will help.

[xt2005bonbon]

Do you have TGV deletes? Have you been monitoring roughness per cylinder?

[kzr750r1]

No. Stock and original TGV. Will take a look at other monitor options. Was intrigued by the large swings in the A table. Usually adding but never over 5 and never at a -.

Just filled it back up again last night. Telling me the winter fuel blend is in play now.

Ran fine all summer. Very little to no drama after replacing the suspected bad brake booster and other stuff.

Edited December 8, 2023 by kzr750r1

[xt2005bonbon]

If your car was tuned in Summer, then in Winter it is possible it overboosts a little due to denser/colder air mass. You may want to keep an eye on boost target vs actual boost too.

In terms of fuel trims, mine don't swing much if at all between summer/winter.

[kzr750r1]

I'm saying they swing through out the drive. Mostly A swings through out the drive Normally adding or +. B a little swings +/-. C not so much and always - fuel on that monitor.

Just took it on a combo short highway/city loop to pick up some motorcycle parts.

Zero roughness in all cylinders. DAM was back to normal.

I'm not romping on it, yesterday boost looked all in good target range or below.

But will be asking the girl a few questions... I can net a much better average MPG than I'm seeing on the dash.

She didn't like the speed limited tune option I was given by Travis at Snail.

Edited December 8, 2023 by kzr750r1

[xt2005bonbon]

So, she like stomping on the skinny pedal then huh..

[kzr750r1]

I'm worse and remind her not to do as I do when she's with me. I'm a bad example.

[Febreze Mee]

I mounted my emblem to my block-off plate, since I cannot make up my mind about which of my grilles I want to put in, and how I want to put it in. For the winter, I think I'll run it without a grille. I also think I'm going to push the emblem outward with a bracket, to give a floating-like appearance, keeping within the dimensions it would be if it were mounted to a grille. 
 

I also put in new axle seals up front. 
 

[kzr750r1]

Found out the second revision of the last tune the car is happier now.

I may have been running an old map from 2019 ish.

Just ordered ANOTHER Company 23 wrench for the Fluidamper install. Waiting for the new belts to come in anyway.

This would be number four to primarily just live in the tool box for the rare occasions I need them...

Talking to my buddy last night over some adult sodas. Have hatched a plan to use the Bridgeport to shave off the lip on the timing belt cover. I was going to use other means but this would be much better control and cleaner in the end.

Still kick myself for needing to sell my Bridgeport several years back. They go for so much more now.

Once I get this fluidamper in this pig I'll get an appointment for the tuner to get this dialed in. I've made enough changes it would probably help in the long run.