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+--- Thread: Help diagnosing Subaru (/showthread.php?tid=11473)
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - JustinG - 08-17-2017
Junk yard motor, sell, take the loss
Help diagnosing Subaru - ViPER1313 - 08-17-2017
I mean... judging from the original post... are you sure it was even burning coolant? Was the car losing coolant?
All of those pistons have a lot of carbon for a car that is burning coolant. Usually it will look really clean like
![[Image: IMG_2559.jpg]](https://s2.postimg.org/rhoze7ri1/IMG_2559.jpg)
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
JustinG Wrote:Junk yard motor, sell, take the lossNot an option. Lillie's first car andnits owned fully by the bank.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
ViPER1313 Wrote:I mean... judging from the original post... are you sure it was even burning coolant? Was the car losing coolant?Not sure at all... we only owned the thing for a week so don't have a measure of what it was or was not doing...
All of those pistons have a lot of carbon for a car that is burning coolant. Usually it will look really clean like
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - BLINGMW - 08-18-2017
Since you all went **HEADGASKET** before trying some easier stuff, what do the valves look like? Carbon buildup there would throw off compression. And I don't feel like I saw the compression #s that were so bad that it would prevent it from starting.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
BLINGMW Wrote:Since you all went **HEADGASKET** before trying some easier stuff, what do the valves look like? Carbon buildup there would throw off compression. And I don't feel like I saw the compression #s that were so bad that it would prevent it from starting.
Well I didn't jump to headgasket. We took it to a shop they gave us a diagnosis of head gasket. Told dealership we bought from they said let us take a look at it and also said head gaskets (and then offered to pay $1000 to fix it). So two shops said it was the head gasket.
I'm getting compression numbers tomorrow morning from the shop. It was so intermittent I have no clue what it was/is. Sometimes it'd start other times it wouldn't. Sometimes it would drive okay other times it would stall out while driving.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ViPER1313 - 08-18-2017
Yea.... that doesn't sound like a head gasket. If it was burning enough coolant to run like hell you would have seen a white cloud coming out the tailpipe everywhere you went.
When the HG on my Camry was leaking, it would run like hell for 10 seconds after I drove it for a bit, shut it down, let it sit and then restarted it (because a large amount of coolant was entering the cylinder as the car sat). Once it burned it off and cleared out it ran fine. And that car was consuming 1 gallon every 100 miles or so.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
ViPER1313 Wrote:Yea.... that doesn't sound like a head gasket. If it was burning enough coolant to run like hell you would have seen a white cloud coming out the tailpipe everywhere you went.
When the HG on my Camry was leaking, it would run like hell for 10 seconds after I drove it for a bit, shut it down, let it sit and then restarted it (because a large amount of coolant was entering the cylinder as the car sat). Once it burned it off and cleared out it ran fine. And that car was consuming 1 gallon every 100 miles or so.
Yeah I didn't believe that it was but given two shop diagnosis I was pushed to believe it. It sucks because I have no idea what it is or isn't doing since we had it for such a short time. If this was your car where would you start? Should o start putting the motor back together?
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - .RJ - 08-18-2017
From what I've read with the subaru HG failures the car can and will run OK and the failure isnt totally obvious like it would be on a car that doesnt have a normally problem with them and the failure is either catastrophic or the result of overheating. I'd ask the machine shop to check the heads for 'flatness' before breaking them down, if they need surfacing then take all the cams and what not off and have them decked and hot tanked. Reassmble with new gaskets and move on.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
Should I not get the head pressure tested as well? That's why he needed everything removed. Should I clean the pistons?
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - .RJ - 08-18-2017
the pressure testing wouldnt hurt. I dont think those heads have a history of cracking and it doesnt sound like it was overheated, unless maybe it was and the PO threw new gaskets in and didnt solve the problem but sounds unlikely.
I wouldnt bother cleaning the pistons.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
Welp guess I'm going to continue with what I was doing.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - .RJ - 08-18-2017
Did hte machine shop check if they were straight/flat?
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
^ No he said it would take him more time to check it than to just straighten them. Maybe I'll tell him to check them anyway?
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - JustinG - 08-18-2017
you can eyeball em to see if they are flat if you have a metal square or straight edge ruler you trust. It is by no means a replacement for a machine shop checking them, but would at least let you determine if anything was really bad.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - .RJ - 08-18-2017
ispoonwithmugen Wrote:^ No he said it would take him more time to check it than to just straighten them. Maybe I'll tell him to check them anyway?
Straight edge and feeler gauge ought to tell you if you need to dig further.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-18-2017
I'll check that off. Just got off the phone with him and he said these were the compression numbers:
1) 200psi
2) 200psi
3) 170psi
4) 178psi
Their reasoning for the HG or head compromised was that it was high and even between the 2 cylinders. He said since it isn't the head gasket that we should look at the head being warped or the exhaust valves bent.
HOWEVER, I'm looking at the cylinder and it appears that 1 and 2 are on two different sides of the car. Not sure how that would be a compromised head gasket since they aren't even touching/attached to each other. I hate to keep bothering the guy but I need these numbers. Am I reading these cylinders wrong?
PF: 1
PR: 3
DF: 2
DR: 4
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ViPER1313 - 08-18-2017
Those numbers are not bad enough to make the car run poorly. I'm not convinced this was anything internal of the engine at all.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - BLINGMW - 08-19-2017
ViPER1313 Wrote:Those numbers are not bad enough to make the car run poorly. I'm not convinced this was anything internal of the engine at all.
True. Those numbers aren't ideal, but they're fine for a DD. Was the leakdown similar? Not ideal but *ok*?
Something you might be able test without putting every back together.... Have you done a fuel pressure and flow test? Could be a dying fuel pump or clogged filter.
Re: Help diagnosing Subaru - ispoonwithmugen - 08-19-2017
^ill check that. Interestingly enough Navin put me in contact with a guy at MachV and he said the HG was failing. "#1 pic top right from cylinder to water jacket burn mark where it's leaking".