engine possibly blown

[chappie]

Hello, I just aquired an 04 impreza outback sport recently. The owner did not do very much maintenance on it and the bearings in one of the idlers grenaded and it jumped time a bit. I changed the t-belt and pulleys but I fear it may have smashed some valves, it runs but still skips pretty bad. The #2 plug wire at the coil is shooting sparks out of it so I am just hoping that it desperately needs plugs and wires. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[RyanR]

I would replace the wire and see if that fixes the misfires, but otherwise you need valves at least. That's assuming your new belt is timed properly and it still misfires. You "probably" wont need a new motor, but it also may be cheaper to throw in a used one than rebuild the current one depending on your mechanical abilities.

 

[IBratmanI]

Where are you located?

 

[JoshP]

Unhook the plug wire and see if it runs differently.  If valves were bent you would hear it..

 

[IBratmanI]

  If valves were bent you would hear it..

Not always

 

[SUBARUDE]

Where are you located?

I assume he is in the Portland area and he pretty much stole the car lol

 

[Matt]

You can replace the belt. Time

It right and do a compression test and see whatcha get. New used heads are generally cheap. You don't always blow a hole in the piston.

 

[Chris]

If sparks are shooting out of something, make that stop. Trying to further diagnose is useless when you have a known problem. Fix all the known problems, and move on from there.

When I bought my car it ran shit. Turns out it had a bad spark plug, a bad wire, jumped time 2 teeth (probably bad mechanic? dunno), and a broken injector. Lots of things go together to make diagnosis hard, but replacing what you know is wrong will help.

 

[chappie]

Thanks guys, IBratmanI, I live in Standish but my car is in Auburn right now. The timing was definitely out more than two teeth. Im glad to hear that there is a possibility of saving the motor because I really was not feeling replacing it. Subarude, yes I did get it for a really good price haha

 

[Meyagi]

let me know if you need motor parts. im also in standish.

 

[chappie]

Badass thanks!!

 

[chappie]

So here is an update on the car, sorry it took so long. I removed the heads and found that on the passenger side head all of the valves were bent. Replaced all of those valves, cleaned both heads, did a valve job, and all that good stuff. Reinstalled the heads with new gaskets, put new plugs, wires, and a coil on it and started it up. It runs great aside from running at 4 grand, and its looks as though all of the vacuum lines are attached. Could i be missing something else? Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[JoshP]

ah 4 grand is normal for subarus bud...

couple random ideas - throttle cable too tight, intake manifold gaskets leaking, gas pedal stuck. 

 

[chappie]

Ya, I was guessing the intake gaskets too. They are the paper gaskets that I dont really care for, considering they were rubber gaskets in teh first place. But I was also a little nervous about the steel vacuum lines that are under the intake manifold itself. I would really like to get this thing on the road before the snow flies, so I can put my truck up and start working on that a little over the winter. Thanks for the input

 

[KamB]

Ya, I was guessing the intake gaskets too. They are the paper gaskets that I dont really care for, considering they were rubber gaskets in teh first place. But I was also a little nervous about the steel vacuum lines that are under the intake manifold itself. I would really like to get this thing on the road before the snow flies, so I can put my truck up and start working on that a little over the winter. Thanks for the input

I would doubt it's the gasket. Then again, I think my mechanic skills are decreasing since I bought a Subie I'm not doing motors in every 2 months...Vac leak should make it studder and idle like crap. Not idle way up. My ranger had one and it just idles terrible. Like the most aggressive cam you've ever heard x10. But as I said.. Its been awhile since I've done much of this...
I never even used gaskets on 2 of my motors Intakes if it makes u feel better. No leaks, pulled killer vac and ran awesome. Just threw some permatex copper on there

 

[Jamey]

Kam I can't lie you scare me a lil

 

[KamB]

Kam I can't lie you scare me a lil

Hahahah. The scariest part is that the ideas always work.

Chappie, let me know what it turns out to be. I'm curious now.

 

[chappie]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I might try some hi-tac on the gaskets first and see where that gets me. But if not I may get some OE style gaskets, and if that still doesn't work I may just try the copper permatex. Oh another question too, it has no coolant in it yet, I just started it to hear it run for the first time to see if it would just pop first thing or not. Would that have an affect the idle?

 

[CoupedUpSubie]

I do not believe that the coolant missing would have an effect on the idle but I highly recommend that it gets filled soon. I would lean towards a throttle issue. Reason being that if intake gaskets are leaking you will get more air and the engine will run lean. While this make raise the idle for a short time I don't see 4k resulting. Pull the intake tube off the throttle body and make sure the flap closes fully.