Seafoam in Brake Booster(P0304)

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

compression test now shows that cyl 4 has 115 psi, while others have 160. did a leak down and cyl 4 is leaking out of cyl 2, yet not the other way around! im lost and just going to rip the damn thing apart and see if its a gasket, timing, valves, and lastly cracked head.

 

efi tried telling me ngk plugs dont work in subarus and that the msd coil doesnt either and i should swap to amke sure, even though i TOLD them my compression in cyl 4 is bad and what the results of leakdown were.

 

leakdown: cyl 4 is 60% and cyl 2 is 30%

[ehsnils]

Before you rip it apart completely just check the valve clearance, or if you have hydraulic lifters they may be the culprit. No need to disassemble the engine more than necessary.

[johnegg]

compression check showed 168 on all cylinders, and the battery/alternator are running good. Honestly, what the hell could this be?

 

EFI says it might be a burnt valve or bad knock sensor. How do i check for burnt valve OTHER than a compression test(which i did all cylinders at 168.) Whats that dollar bill trick w/ exhaust?

 

compression test now shows that cyl 4 has 115 psi, while others have 160. did a leak down and cyl 4 is leaking out of cyl 2, yet not the other way around! im lost and just going to rip the damn thing apart and see if its a gasket, timing, valves, and lastly cracked head.

 

leakdown: cyl 4 is 60% and cyl 2 is 30%

 

i assume this is a ej25 97 - 99, with 128k miles.

 

either the first test was a fluke or the ''leak'' is getting worse.

 

did you adjust the valves when you had the heads off. this could cause a miss, as stated above. valves should be checked / adjusted at 105k, i hear. i tight exhaust vale clearance will cause a burnt valve. and for reasons i don't know it happens in #4 more than the others.

 

what brand of head gaskets did you use, subaru oem?? this could be the problem. there seem to be more recurring head gasket problems with non-subaru head gaskets.

 

valve or gasket, the engine will have to come out. you can do valve adjustments with the engine in the car, but when you unbolt the cam shafts, the buckets and shims tend to fall out and get confused. once they get mixed up you are starting from scratch.

 

i think the dealer is the only place to get the shims, but i don't really know.

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

im going through everything when taking it apart to make sure i for sure know the issue. I used felpro gaskets the first time around. I also do headgaskets with the engine in the car because i dont have a lift. Im going to leakdown test the valves on the whole car tomorow once i get timing belt off.

 

im also going to check valve clearances while im at it and if cyl4 is out of the ordinary, get shims and then leakdown test it again.

 

ill let you guys know, i will be real busy for the next few days with car/holiday stuff.

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

and by the way timing was not the issue(i redid timing about 5 times and leakdown came back the same.)

[kaz98gt]

Good luck, sounds like you'll have a lot on your plate. Nothing wrong with it though if you put most of your energy to it

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

checked valve clearances today and the exhaust valves on cyl 4 are .2mm-.03mm because a .04mm feeler gauge didnt fit and the other was at .2mm

[johnegg]

what is spec for the exhaust?

 

sound like you found the problem?

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

spec is .25 for exhaust!

[johnegg]

spec is .25 for exhaust!

 

wowsers.

 

hopefully the valves will pass the ''leakdown'' test.

 

do you have a plan yet? adjust the valves and test it ?

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

i will adjust valves because my intake valves are .15 which is .5 away from spec. and also adjust the exhaust valve clearances so their within spec. then im going to leakdown test it and see if it stopped.

 

plus cyl 2 has a exhaust valve at .1 - .15mm clearance, which is also out of the spec. so thats probably why it would leak down from cyl 4 to cyl 2 and its probably not a headgasket issue.

[johnegg]

sounds good, keep us informed. especially about the ''adjusting process''.

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

i should have taken the cam off to make sure it isnt a spring or collett that popped off instead, because then a shim thats properly spaced would also be very tight to the cam and wouldnt be any help.

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

well took the cams off today, same thing 60% leak down on cylinder 4. If its a bent/burnt valve wouldn't i have LARGER valve spacing versus no spacing at all? Anyways I didn't have time to take the head off today so I'm going to do that tomorrow and maybe take the head to get it tested somewhere. Also going to take all the valves out, reseat them all and make sure all the settings are set and done so that head doesnt have to come off for a very long time.

 

i am really at a loss of what it can be

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/CustomTrendzInc/Mobile%20Uploads/1222001248a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/CustomTrendzInc/Mobile%20Uploads/1222001248.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/CustomTrendzInc/Mobile%20Uploads/1222001249.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/CustomTrendzInc/Mobile%20Uploads/1222001249a.jpg

 

thats what i see today. Im going to take all the valves out, the exhaust valves seem burnt pretty bad. Then ill see whether or not im going to replace all 4 valves in cyl 4, 2, or if none. How are beck and arnley valves? Thats what advance auto sells. And no local dealerships have shims or valves :/. i might take some used valves from a local subie shop.

[johnegg]

i don't have your experience, but i would send the heads out and see if they hold pressure befrore i started pulling them apart. i hear you can test by puoring gas into them from above on a work bench.

 

the exhaust valves are weird, the clearance gets tighter as they wear. i don't know why, but they do. if #4 was hanging open that would explain your mis-fire. and a valve adjustment will correct it.

 

used valves are a good solution if you need them, assuming they can be made to fit / seal right. there are lots of folks with bad ej25 sitting around, buying used valves should be easy.

 

order new parts on line :

www.subarugenuineparts.com - my personal favorite, usualy cheaper after shipping

or

www.subarupartsforyou.com - good to identify part numbers and crossover fit.

 

did you drain the coolant before you pulled the head? you don't want coolant in the oil. change the oil before you run the engine. coolant will eat your bearings.

 

how did the gaskets look? i have a crappy monitor and i can't see all that much.

 

good luck.

[DOHCEJ22E1]

Gasket looks pretty decent except for the space between the bores.

You're in Hartford, right? There is a place called Motor Sports in the South End. The address is 654 Wethersfield Ave. The shop is in the back of the building. See those guys & ask if they have any heads that may be lying around. They're the cheapest guys in Hartford that deal with Subarus. They've been a good help with service/parts when I was up there.

 

Phone:860-296-9319

 

The techs look kinda' funky but they know what they're doing. If you go to the Subaru dealer in the North End in the Meadows, it will shrink your wallet.

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

i deal with nick from motor services inc all the time.

 

i had burned valve(looked like someone bit it off) and it was the one that had NO spacing. Im going to motor services inc to get 6 new headbolts(mine have been reused once, they are not tourque to yield bolts, and i just want to use bolts that have been used once by factory because free beats 60 bucks.) Also going to get a bunch of random shims from them and other misc parts. Then ill install them and reseat them(did it with the other ones i reused.) Only valves that were messed up was the one exhaust valve, but im replacing the one next to it too because the stem is covered in carbon.

 

also going to go to the dealership to get some coolant and a timing belt with marks.

 

lastly, i did not drain oil, only coolant is drained. But i will be draining oil(not filter, i installed that filter about 50 miles ago?)

 

here is what the valves looked like, left 2 are the cyl 2 valves, and right 2 are cyl 4 valves, the one alll the way to the right you can see if pretty messed up.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/CustomTrendzInc/Mobile%20Uploads/1222001827.jpg

 

are the white valves normal? I did run some seafoam not too long ago.

[DOHCEJ22E1]

That end one looks horrid, almost blue even. Grey intake valves are normal but those white ones probably did react to the seafoam.

 

I'd drain that oil filter too if you plan to re-use it.

You got those heads off quick. I thought I was fast!

 

Now that I think about it more, that worn area on the gasket (between the bores) looks a little like the worn areas of the gaskets from the Outback engine I tore apart to get it's heads. It too had overheating issues. Your worn spot doesn't look nearly as bad as the ones I found. I'm going to do a little more research but I'm getting the feeling that the areas between the bores are the 'hot spots' for all of those other overheating EJ25Ds out there.

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

that worn looking spot was left on the block and some on the head because the gasket stuck so well onto the whole surface of the block/head. I personally can tear apart the engine without cam tools(dohc) in about a days worth of work with lots of cigarette breaks. Putting it back together is also about 1-2 days. It gets pretty easy if you spend 2 months in it the first time!(i broke a headbolt, and had to find the right drill and tools to drill it out, then helicoil it)

[johnegg]

Now that I think about it more, that worn area on the gasket (between the bores) looks a little like the worn areas of the gaskets from the Outback engine I tore apart to get it's heads. It too had overheating issues. Your worn spot doesn't look nearly as bad as the ones I found. I'm going to do a little more research but I'm getting the feeling that the areas between the bores are the 'hot spots' for all of those other overheating EJ25Ds out there.

 

usually the internal gasket failure for 96 - 99 ej25 occurs on the low side, the side with the large oblong opening, between the cylinder and the water jacket. the gasket seal gives up and exhaust leaks into the coolant. but those gaskets have not been on long and were not overheating.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v371/CustomTrendzInc/Mobile%20Uploads/1222001249.jpg

[98sc00byGT]

ahh i remember the good old days when i rebuilt my engine and did all this haha it was so much fun (seriously it was). I put all new everything inside, bearings pistons rings bored out .20 over had heads redone because they were warped. I bought the car for 400 bucks and rebuilt engine and now shes sexy

[DOHCEJ22E1]

usually the internal gasket failure for 96 - 99 ej25 occurs on the low side, the side with the large oblong opening, between the cylinder and the water jacket. the gasket seal gives up and exhaust leaks into the coolant. but those gaskets have not been on long and were not overheating.

 

Thanks for the insight. Now I know exactly what I'm looking for the next time I rip apart another EJ25D. It was kind of difficult to get those gaskets off without them crumbling on me. Is it the material that the old gaskets were made of? They were like thick burnt paper. This one here seems to be a normal metallic gasket like the ones I've used for my EJ22. I know that the EJ25D I took apart had 87k miles on it. Reports say that they usually kick rocks at 120k. 87k is kinda' early, isn't it?

[johnegg]

some went bad at 60k, some are only going bad now at 220k. but under 100k seems low to me.

 

picture below has a leaking gasket and a new gasket. notice the discoloration in the area i mentioned, right side of gasket in pic.

 

also notice the differences in the ''tabs'' that will stick out at the corners and near the exhaust ports. they are different. the top corners have ''rectangular'' stamps in the corners, not holes. and the tabs at the exhaust are larger. this will help identify ''new subaru'' gaskets when car shopping. (these are both subaru gaskets by the way.)

 

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg240/johnceggleston/shop-pics-_1-040.jpg

[Custom Trendz Inc.]

i adjusted the valves today after getting new exhaust valves(used but got a valve job on them for 10 for 2.) Then the machanic(local subaru mechanic thats been around for like 50 years) told me when he adjusts valves he just trims a bit of metal off the end of the valve. So i did that and got it perfectly adjusted . I also reseated all the valves with valve grinding compound. Cleaned up the head, and now im waiting till saturday to start putting it back together.

 

Also bought new felpro gasket, header gaskets, intake gasket, oem subaru coolant, and new oil filter. I now just have to go to walmart to get oil saturday(castrol gtx high mileage, not even a bit gets burned.)

 

Cant wait to get it running, also got some osram night breaker h3 bulbs for my jdm fogs! cant wait for the led amber bulbs for my reflectors in the jdm bulb. Im going to wire them to be on, and blink when blinkers are on. If they are good ill order a bunch more (for my regular blinker.) If they suck, not much lost they were 2.50 shipped from HK!