Blown Head Gasket?

[Legacy Wagon]

I'll own up to that

[trevorno]

Not sure if your motor's back in yet, but I'd vote for machining the heads. I had an identical problem last winter, ended up pulling the motor and replacing every seal/gasket I could find. Machining heads cost me $65. Well spent insurance for not having to pull the engine again.

[jcatalanello]

Okay, so I just put the motor back in my legacy today. It has new oem head gaskets, timing everything and what not. I got it all back together, started it up, and now it has a slight knocking noise. Not sure where its coming from. Other wise it runs well. But I think the knocking is somethig to be concerned about. Nothing went wrong during instalation. The only thing I noticed was the the pasengers side cam had some play in it before I felt resistance. The driverside felt like there was spring pressure against the pulley, both ways you turned the sprocket, but the other would turn maybe 50 degrees before feeling the same tension. I don't know why I didnt look into it then. I guess I figured it was fine when I pulled it, so what could be wrong?.

Any thoughts at all? What could be causing the knocking?

[monkeyposeur]

Is it a knocking, or a ticking? When I rebuilt my 22T I thought that I was getting rod knock but it was just ticking from a collapsed HLA. Check out this youtube video I took before I knew what the problem was: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VckpQAChYs0&feature=plcp]Initial startup of 93 Subaru SS w/EJ22T after rebuild. - YouTube[/ame]

 

If it sounds like my video, it's not a major problem and can be remedied by swapping in a new HLA (simple job).

 

As long as your timing was lined up perfectly then the play you felt is pretty normal and a result of compression. In fact, removing the spark plugs when you do the timing makes it easier since any compression escapes.

[jcatalanello]

Hey, thanks for the response, but I can get you r video to play, it's just a blank box? And yeah, I did some reading yesterday, and others have mentioned similar things. I know nothing about HLAs thoug What's the first step? And how do I get this fixed?

[monkeyposeur]

Try copying and pasting this "http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VckpQAChYs0", without the quotes.

 

HLAs are your hydraulic lash adjusters. They are little hydraulic pistons that maintain proper valve clearance. New HLAs are about $8 or so. To replace them you remove the valve covers, then remove the rocker arm assembly. There is a proper sequence to remove the bolts. You will also need to bleed them. I posted the FSM procedure on page three of this thread: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/1998-legacy-2-2l-timing-jumped-engine-gone-help-replacement-192029.html?p=4057679

 

Here are some pictures that I posted in another thread: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/engine-clicking-fix-replace-kill-firei-191227.html

 

The FSM states that you can remove the valve covers and press on the rocker arm assembly and feel if they move to diagnose a collapsed HLA, but in my experience that isn't true, even when I had an HLA that was completely collapsed.

 

Another thing, there is a plastic panel underneath the car that flips down and gives you better access to the lower radiator

hoses. It also gives you more room to work when you do the valve covers, etc. I'm only saying this because I didn't know about it for a while, lol.

They

[jcatalanello]

Well monkeyposeur, I just want to say thank you. I did what you said, and the engine is back to normal. Started with the drivers side, and it took maybe an hour, and sounds MUCH, better, but there was still some ticking for the other side, so I did that one in like 20 min, and it sounds much better. Still a ticking light ticking, but I can live with it. The first side I did, almost every HLA was super squishy, and lots of air came out. Well it looks like I am back in business. No more bubbles in coolant. No leaky fluids or weird noises. Thanks so much to every one for their input. It was my first motor pull, under much less than ideal work condition, but I feel it went very well. Overall, it really wasn't that hard. It's a really simple motor. I like it a lot. Thanks again, and have a good one.

[monkeyposeur]

Cool! Glad I could help!

[swinters]

I just had the head gaskets done in my 92 Legacy. I have a guy that I use for Subaru work and is very reasonable (he used to be a dealer mechanic and does Subaru work on the side). I'm a retired mechanic and have a nice shop but prefer to pay him since he knows the ins and outs. In my case I spent about $800.00 in parts but I did a few extras while the engine was down. He did it in the car by pulling the motor mount bolts and jacking up the engine a bit. We had the heads tested and machined and while we had it apart did the major service stuff like new timing belt, all pulleys, water pump, thermostat, radiator cap, and plugs. Also spent the $100.00 for new head bolts. Some people say it's okay to reuse them but I think that's false economy. Over the years I've had to re-do a lot of people's work where they cut corners on things like that. Just got the car back on the road after sitting for 2 years and the engine's purring. Feels like I have a slight torque bind problem though. Might be related to sitting and will go away with a bit of driving though I'm seldom that lucky. Our granddaughter drove it until the head gasket blew and then she went into the Air Force so it has been a back burner project. Sure nice to have it going again!

[byuandy]

My 93 2.2: Got the AC off and pushed to the side without disconnecting refrigerant hoses or removing intake mani (just agreeing with MP). And I took out the heads without even lifting the engine. Just pulled filter housing, cannister, window washer tank and battery out. Then removed cover gaskets, then rocker assemblies. Loosen bolts to where they don't catch on crankcase threads, but leave bolts in the head (bottom ones won't come out until you get the head out).