Tehnation Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 Did you document where the leaks were coming from each piston? Pull the cylinder head covers and look at the cams, its pretty easy to tell if the camshaft is hitting the bucket or not, if you can spin it back and forth that means the lobe is not touching bucket, when you feel tension on the camshaft while spinning it, that means the lobe is pushing on the bucket. Theres a reason they sell these motors a dime a dozen for 1k bucks! Could be fine with a hot motor and doing a compression test, but cold leakdown test is telling you whats gonna go in the near future! How much pressure can your air tank put out? I like to use 100 or so psi makes numbers easier... base 10, your tank has to be able to put out at least 110 or 115 psi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 I would spray oil through the spark plug hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehnation Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 Japan does things completely different from the US, low mileage cars are common and normal, doesn't mean someone wasn't beating the shit out of it lol! Every car in Japan is low mileage, thats why they have sooooooooooo many of them for sale in the states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 1, 2023 Author Share Posted March 1, 2023 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Tehnation said: Did you document where the leaks were coming from each piston? Pull the cylinder head covers and look at the cams, its pretty easy to tell if the camshaft is hitting the bucket or not, if you can spin it back and forth that means the lobe is not touching bucket, when you feel tension on the camshaft while spinning it, that means the lobe is pushing on the bucket. Theres a reason they sell these motors a dime a dozen for 1k bucks! Could be fine with a hot motor and doing a compression test, but cold leakdown test is telling you whats gonna go in the near future! How much pressure can your air tank put out? I like to use 100 or so psi makes numbers easier... base 10, your tank has to be able to put out at least 110 or 115 psi. Good idea, I have to remove the valve covers anyway. Yes, I documented everything.. some of the air was also coming out the PCV hole.. My little compressor can reach 125 psi.. I did all tests reaching 100psi on each cylinder. I'm ready to tackle this thing with whatever comes my way: new piston rings, valve seals, etc. just hoping is not worn out cylinder walls issue. There's only one problem, I don't have the JDM FSM for guidance/clearances.. this thing is a 2.0, not a 2.5, so the measurements inside the cylinders, pistons, etc. are all obviously different from the 2.5L. Edited March 1, 2023 by RumblyXT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 1, 2023 Author Share Posted March 1, 2023 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Tehnation said: Japan does things completely different from the US, low mileage cars are common and normal, doesn't mean someone wasn't beating the shit out of it lol! Every car in Japan is low mileage, thats why they have sooooooooooo many of them for sale in the states. Lesson learned.. Trying to upload some of the leak down test videos, forum says file is too big to upload.. Edited March 1, 2023 by RumblyXT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehnation Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 Slow it down there! You do not want to rebuild a 2.0 when you have a 2.5 that can be rebuilt! I don't remember what ur issue is but if its just a rod bearing, throw in a new crank and some fresh rings, maybe pistons cause ringlands suck ass, the route your thinking of going if that motor is a dud is not the right path! If your ready to rock and roll, why use subpar stuff? I'm assuming that motor was bought as is? That should tell you everything you need to know otherwise I would be packing that shit up and sending it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 1, 2023 Author Share Posted March 1, 2023 7 minutes ago, Tehnation said: Slow it down there! You do not want to rebuild a 2.0 when you have a 2.5 that can be rebuilt! I don't remember what ur issue is but if its just a rod bearing, throw in a new crank and some fresh rings, maybe pistons cause ringlands suck ass, the route your thinking of going if that motor is a dud is not the right path! If your ready to rock and roll, why use subpar stuff? I'm assuming that motor was bought as is? That should tell you everything you need to know otherwise I would be packing that shit up and sending it back. Yeah.. the seller has great ratings (JDM Orlando), but I only had 14 days to return it.. https://youtube.com/shorts/nx_3D5xgCqw?feature=share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehnation Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 I'm assuming most people didn't go the extra steps like you did, motor will still run with leaky valves and rings. Compression test measures the compression, while the leakdown pressurizes the system to let you know where your leaking, a leak doesnt mean you will have bad compression. I bet if all the 4th gen owners did a leakdown half would have a leak somewhere.... perfect engines are pretty rare, unless someone is rebuilding their motor every 50k miles, I doubt most would get away with leak down not showing leaks, its common cause valves wear and buildup carbon, piston rings wear down , things wear down etc, leakdown is for more hardcore builders imo, so don't let it scare you! If all the people in this thread alone did a proper leakdown I bet some wouldn't be to happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehnation Posted March 1, 2023 Share Posted March 1, 2023 Its more a matter of how much air is leaking which takes some experience to gauge whether its just normal wear or oh shit you got a problem. Most of the cars on the road would have crap results with a leakdown... no motor is bulletproof contrary to popular belief! And most motors can still run with crap compression, 1 dead cylinder, etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 1, 2023 Author Share Posted March 1, 2023 23 minutes ago, Tehnation said: I'm assuming most people didn't go the extra steps like you did, motor will still run with leaky valves and rings. Compression test measures the compression, while the leakdown pressurizes the system to let you know where your leaking, a leak doesnt mean you will have bad compression. I bet if all the 4th gen owners did a leakdown half would have a leak somewhere.... perfect engines are pretty rare, unless someone is rebuilding their motor every 50k miles, I doubt most would get away with leak down not showing leaks, its common cause valves wear and buildup carbon, piston rings wear down , things wear down etc, leakdown is for more hardcore builders imo, so don't let it scare you! If all the people in this thread alone did a proper leakdown I bet some wouldn't be to happy! Ok I see.. that's some relief. I thought this was a clear indication this motor was totally garbage. But yeah, cylinder# 4 was the worst of all. The other ones did hold pressure though, not at 93+%, as I was expecting after putting 100psi, but they did hold pressure and then it went down slowly. Motor is totally drained of oil mind you, so.. From the test today and based on what you just stated, then it's just number 4 that looked really bad in terms of holding pressure. I will try to repeat the leak test with better conditions, knowing what I know now. We'll see.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 3 hours ago, Tehnation said: Its more a matter of how much air is leaking which takes some experience to gauge whether its just normal wear or oh shit you got a problem. Most of the cars on the road would have crap results with a leakdown... no motor is bulletproof contrary to popular belief! And most motors can still run with crap compression, 1 dead cylinder, etc. I was wondering if I might have performed the test incorrectly.. The amount of air whooshing/leaking from #4 sounded more than bad/old piston rings (would leak slower), the air rushing out was more like ring land failure.. even though supposedly these motors are not known for that, due to having stronger pistons and they already come from factory with the so called cylinder 4 cooling mod.. but I guess it's possible on all these EJs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tehnation Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Did you get a chopstick or something and stick it in the spark plug hole to make sure the piston was at the top, ie furthest it can go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Tehnation said: Did you get a chopstick or something and stick it in the spark plug hole to make sure the piston was at the top, ie furthest it can go? There’s no need really.. with a flashlight, you can see the piston coming towards you or away, right through the spark plug hole. What I didn’t do for the test is hold the piston being tested at TDC. My father in law noticed the flexplate rotating in the back due to the air pressure. This is why I said, I’m not 100% sure I did it correctly. I’ll repeat the test after cleaning both intake/exhaust ports and then holding each piston at TDC respectively after having squirt some oil inside the cylinders and cycling the pistons to help with a better seal/more “accurate” reading, see how it goes.. This motor was probably seating for years, could significantly have influenced previous test results. Edited March 2, 2023 by RumblyXT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) I have excellent news! All cylinders leak down test results changed dramatically after spraying all the valves with CRC Intake Valve & Turbo Cleaner, rotating the gears while spraying the valves to seat them better and oiling all 4 piston rings. All cylinders/piston rings held pressure, even number 4! It leaked some, but still held pressure. Also, all cylinders were tested holding each piston at TDC individually. The valve cleaner and oiling the rings made all the difference.. I also rotated the crank several times before the test so the oil would get dispersed all throughout the rings evenly. Very happy! Thank you for all the tips guys. Edited March 2, 2023 by RumblyXT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) Looks like I have a good motor!! Goes to show how important it is to prep an engine that has been seating for so long before doing a leak down test in order to get more accurate results.. “accurate or precise?” Eh KZJohnny? Haha Edited March 2, 2023 by RumblyXT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KZJonny Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) Great news dude! Very happy to hear you got a good engine. Sometimes it's the little details that make all the difference. Also, maybe those rings were just sticking from having sat around for who knows how long.... Well, hopefully accurate, but if I were you, I'd settle for precise! Edited March 2, 2023 by KZJonny 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Good job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) Check valve clearance now. I know you don't have the FSM yet. But still, record the clearances and report. Remember to bring the pistons back half way in the cylinder chambers (by aligning the crank sprocket tick to the block tick). This way, you know you won't have the valves interfering with the pistons as you spin the cams for valve clearance check. Edited March 2, 2023 by xt2005bonbon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 1 hour ago, xt2005bonbon said: Check valve clearance now. I know you don't have the FSM yet. But still, record the clearances and report. Remember to bring the pistons back half way in the cylinder chambers (by aligning the crank sprocket tick to the block tick). This way, you know you won't have the valves interfering with the pistons as you spin the cams for valve clearance check. Oh yeah, that’s the first thing I did. Set the rectangular crank sprocket mark lined up with the one on the oil pump. Gears rotate freely without valves interference.. Valve clearance is next! I cannot find the jdm FSM online for the best of me, and I’m a pretty good digger online.. The thing is I think this engine was a Subaru Liberty GT in AU. Not sure if in Japan was also called Legacy GT as in the states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 2 hours ago, KZJonny said: Great news dude! Very happy to hear you got a good engine. Sometimes it's the little details that make all the difference. Also, maybe those rings were just sticking from having sat around for who knows how long.... Well, hopefully accurate, but if I were you, I'd settle for precise! Yes Sir.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) Left Head internals are looking mighty clean.. indicative of regular oil changes or indeed a low mileage motor.. Check out the head bolts.. they’re green! Edited March 2, 2023 by RumblyXT 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Yeah, these engines are really mint. I found some 2.0T subaru FSM here. You'd have to double check if one of the FSMs listed there is for dual AVCS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumblyXT Posted March 2, 2023 Author Share Posted March 2, 2023 (edited) 25 minutes ago, xt2005bonbon said: Yeah, these engines are really mint. I found some 2.0T subaru FSM here. You'd have to double check if one of the FSMs listed there is for dual AVCS. Great Directory.. I had been there before.. but all 2005 2006 MY only show 2.5L turbo engines, meaning US & Canada.. However, I just looked at a previous year just now, the 2004MY and it does show the 2.0L turbo in the specs and in English! I’m just not sure if 2004 and 2005 models had the same compatible engines and if it’s actually the specs referring to this 2005 motor I have.. Edited March 2, 2023 by RumblyXT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KZJonny Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 Most likely is. North America was behind by a year from most of the rest of the world for model releases. Does it specify BP/BL chassis code? If so, your should be golden. The 3rd Gen turbo Liberty/Legacies had EJ 201s? 204s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted March 2, 2023 Share Posted March 2, 2023 I found a 2005 2.0 turbo but for impreza. I did not check if it was a dual avcs engine. You can 'easily' check the engine layout and dual avcs stuff on that 'general description' page under the engine tab of the pdf (once you download the manual of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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