Author Topic: JohnnyCanucks JDM Foz (Read 22108 times)

Tremor · « **Reply #50 on:** October 31, 2014, 09:54:40 am »

On my WRX the tensioner on my timing belt was starting to go and made a very similar noise, I'd suggest checking that before being sure its a knock!

seat safety switch · « **Reply #51 on:** October 31, 2014, 10:35:23 am »

Ooooooooooooooof that sucks.

Good luck getting some recourse from the importer.

10secdream · « **Reply #52 on:** October 31, 2014, 10:47:15 am »

Not much you can really do unless there was some sort of inspection or guarantee.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #53 on:** October 31, 2014, 11:03:45 am »

Quote from: 10secdream on October 31, 2014, 10:47:15 am

Not much you can really do unless there was some sort of inspection or guarantee.

Quote from: seat safety switch on October 31, 2014, 10:35:23 am

Ooooooooooooooof that sucks.

Good luck getting some recourse from the importer.

The car was inspected by two mechanics - one in Japan and one Vancouver.

10secdream · « **Reply #54 on:** October 31, 2014, 11:13:09 am »

Such a bummer man

Dr Beans · « **Reply #55 on:** October 31, 2014, 11:55:17 am »

So I just talked with a guy who's built 100's of Subaru engines and he said, "I have seen 100's of subaru's that have the sounds of first stages on knocking for there whole life."

He watched all the videos and is still unsure. I'm going to send him a better one tomorrow night.

As of right now, I'm going to still do all the maintenance I had planned and then drive the uckfayer. If it blows I'll rebuild an engine or swap a new one in.

Stealthbombing · « **Reply #56 on:** October 31, 2014, 12:02:09 pm »

Quote from: Dr Beans on October 31, 2014, 11:55:17 am

So I just talked with a guy who's built 100's of Subaru engines and he said, "I have seen 100's of subaru's that have the sounds of first stages on knocking for there whole life."

He watched all the videos and is still unsure. I'm going to send him a better one tomorrow night.

As of right now, I'm going to still do all the maintenance I had planned and then drive the uckfayer. If it blows I'll rebuild an engine or swap a new one in.

eventually it will get to the point where its going to sound like this

then your uckfayed

Markkenko · « **Reply #57 on:** October 31, 2014, 01:04:33 pm »

That sucks to hear....

On a side note, my rex will either be up for part out, or for sale very soon. I'm finally making headway with insurance, so that's a big plus! Keep an eye out on the for sale section!

Dr Beans · « **Reply #58 on:** October 31, 2014, 03:05:44 pm »

I went and bought some 5W40 oil with STP additive.... maybe it will quiet things down for now.

10secdream · « **Reply #59 on:** October 31, 2014, 03:07:47 pm »

You better call dibs on that motor.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #60 on:** October 31, 2014, 03:13:54 pm »

Ha, I already sent him a PM

DiagTech · « **Reply #61 on:** October 31, 2014, 04:21:11 pm »

Very obvious rod knock... someone had some fun before you got it.

Down5hift · « **Reply #62 on:** October 31, 2014, 05:01:32 pm »

Quote from: Stealthbombing on October 31, 2014, 12:02:09 pm

eventually it will get to the point where its going to sound like this

then your uckfayed

That sounds just like my car.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #63 on:** October 31, 2014, 05:33:14 pm »

Well I just contacted tiger motor sports and am most likely going to buy an engine through them. JDM source doesn't have the right EJ20G I need. There was a compression difference from the ones that don't have a coil pack in the middle versus the ones that do, I believe its 8:1 and 9:1 respectively. Meaning that any old EJ20G won't do. Keep in mind my car is an auto and to my knowledge you can't reflash the auto ecu's to compensate for a different compression ratio.

I'm going to continue to drive on this engine until it really starts knocking. Then hopefully I'll have the one I order up to par and ready to drop in.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #64 on:** October 31, 2014, 05:33:53 pm »

Quote from: Curtis on October 31, 2014, 05:19:19 pm

Or someone redlined it like a Honda.

Only difference is a honda would last another 200km.

lenglish · « **Reply #65 on:** October 31, 2014, 08:25:11 pm »

Sorry to hear man. You'd think one would be alright with such a low mileage forester, but I guess not.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

SnowBreeze · « **Reply #66 on:** November 02, 2014, 11:25:30 am »

That really sucks to hear man. I guess you called it from the start when you said your gonna start saving up for a new engine. Your importer should be able to do something for you thew.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #67 on:** November 02, 2014, 09:11:11 pm »

^ Oh the irony.

Well......

I guess I should probably address the import situation. Obviously this is a uckfaying ittshay situation, for both me and the importer. That said, the importer has been beyond helpful. He's called the inspectors who looked at the car, talked with engine builders, and had an engine builder contact me to talk about the engine. He even came over to my house to take a higher quality video to send to the engine builder. He asked me how I wanted the situation handled and did exactly what I asked for - I'd still use him as an importer in the future no questions asked. uckfaying awesome customer service. He asked to remain un-named so please don't PM to see who it is or post up his name in this thread if you already know.

Anyhow, back to the car.

I think we can all agree that the noise is the auto-tensioner, piston slap, or dreaded rod knock. Here's the Beans way of diagnosing this without buying a new engine right off the bat.

Step 1 - Take off the timing belt cover and inspect the auto-tensioner. The tensioners little rod that pushes against the block to provide tension can seize, and thus bounces off the block creating the knock sound. If it's failed you will see it bounce around at idle - if you pry in between the block and and the tensioner the noise should go away. Unfortunately it didn't.

Step 2 - uckfaying lose it because the simplest solution is now gone.

Step 3 - Take the oil filter off, cut it open and look for bearing material. If subaru bearings are anything like Honda bearings, the out most layer is made of babbitt and will not pick up with a magnet. Regardless, if you find any metal flakes in the filter you should be concerned. I still haven't done this step yet.

Step 4 - If there is no metal then that's good! If there's metal, your engine prison uckfayed you! No point doing this next step if there is metal in the filter. Drain oil and inspect it - shouldn't look metallic. Pull off the oil pan and inspect the inside. Again, you shouldn't see any metallic flakes. Pull off the oil pick-up and baffle plate. You can now see the end of rod caps - this is what will %100 guarantee if there is rod knock. Simply rotate the engine until you can grab each rod with your hand and see if there is up and down play. There should be some side to side play, but really no noticeable up and down play. If there's up and down play then you're uckfayed

Anyhow, I'm hoping to get around to this over the next couple of weeks.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #68 on:** November 05, 2014, 10:05:16 pm »

So I ended up buying an engine from JDM Source. It turns out they had a late EJ20G that they had just pulled out of a Forester and put in a container to ship over here. I figured it would be nice to have a back up engine just in case - I probably won't have to use it because Subaru's are more reliable than Honda's and never spin bearings. Just overly well engineered engines with a great timing maps that last for years without blowing up.

I also cut into the oil filter tonight, and it actually looked really good! I didn't find any metal flakes or bearing material. Only thing I found was a little piece of silicone. That said, I'll still be dropping the oil pan and taking off a rod cap to inspect the bearings.

I'm really hoping it's just piston slap - all the signs so far are pointing towards that.

coop3422 · « **Reply #69 on:** November 06, 2014, 11:10:52 am »

Quote from: Stealthbombing on October 31, 2014, 08:15:19 am

that sucks man, Subaru's love their oil but once they go a tad dry a rod comes loose really easily, its a shame because the rods are forged (in a ej257) not sure about the rest..

good luck

The v7 EJ207 has forged internals as well I believe. It's why I wanted to import one but they won't be available until next fall.

Sucks to land something and have rod knock right away. I hope the importer takes care of you! Back when I had my 07, it had what I'm sure was piston slap, there wasn't a knock noise but it sounded different than any other vehicle I've owned, and lasted the 15k km I owned it without issue or CEL etc. I'm the type that hears every noise and it scares the itshay out of me, yet here I am shopping for another WRX so I can put the s2000 away for the winter lol. Hope yours is just piston slap.

10secdream · « **Reply #70 on:** November 06, 2014, 02:01:03 pm »

Quote from: Dr Beans on November 05, 2014, 10:05:16 pm

So I ended up buying an engine from JDM Source. It turns out they had a late EJ20G that they had just pulled out of a Forester and put in a container to ship over here. I figured it would be nice to have a back up engine just in case - I probably won't have to use it because Subaru's are more reliable than Honda's and never spin bearings. Just overly well engineered engines with a great timing maps that last for years without blowing up.

I also cut into the oil filter tonight, and it actually looked really good! I didn't find any metal flakes or bearing material. Only thing I found was a little piece of silicone. That said, I'll still be dropping the oil pan and taking off a rod cap to inspect the bearings.

I'm really hoping it's just piston slap - all the signs so far are pointing towards that.

That is promising news and you now have a backup engine when the Forester goes boom.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #71 on:** November 11, 2014, 05:41:05 pm »

So I found some time to work on my car in between accounting exams. Unfortunately my garage is full so I've resorted to on working on it on my driveway. Overall it's been great as there's lots of light, it's sunny, barely any wind, and extremely hot.

I managed to get the IC off, intake, pitch stop, and a couple other bolts that hang the engine up when you jack it up. I found out that Subaru continued their spree of great engineering with their IC design and how easy it is to take off.

Air filter was pretty dirty! Other side for reference.

State of the engine bay... I also put a bag over that MAF intake tube to make sure no itshay got in there.

I also talked with someone who has one of these engines apart right now and he sent me a close up pic of the oil pan. I noticed that yet again an amazing engineer decided that he would put the rod bolts on the inside of the rod (facing the bottom of the piston). Basically this means I can't pull off a rod cap and take a look at the bearing as I am only able to access only one of the bolts. Regardless, I still need to pull the pan off because it's leaking - while its off I still want to check the rod end play and run it out with a dial indicator for my person itshays and giggles and see how truly uckfayed I am.

Anyhow, I drained the oil and rigged up a ghetto filter to drain it through to see if I could catch anything.

Ermagerd.

Just kidding. The particles are matte black and malleable (despite the shininess to them in the picture - blame the oil and light). My guess is black RTV, seals material, or some random crud. Bearing material is shiny silver or copper if you're really uckfayed. Those black specs around the crud cluster are part of the paper towel. Hurray for rigorous quality control.

Hopefully I can get the pan off tomorrow.

One thing to note was that the oil was a bit reddish. I know that some oils like to change colour over time, but I'm still going to check the ATF fluid level tomorrow to make sure I'm not low on fluid.

10secdream · « **Reply #72 on:** November 11, 2014, 07:02:47 pm »

You realize I would let you borrow a side in my garage...

chico_kj_23 · « **Reply #73 on:** November 11, 2014, 07:57:28 pm »

Same here..

Speaking of excellent engineering, did you ever see the brilliant place they put oil filters on them civics.

Dr Beans · « **Reply #74 on:** November 11, 2014, 09:06:55 pm »

Quote from: chico_kj_23 on November 11, 2014, 07:57:28 pm

Same here..

Speaking of excellent engineering, did you ever see the brilliant place they put oil filters on them civics.

Haha, I'll eat my words when it comes to that. Still pisses me off every time I do and oil change and spend 15 min cleaning off all the oil from everywhere.

Quote from: 10secdream on November 11, 2014, 07:02:47 pm

You realize I would let you borrow a side in my garage...

Thanks for the offers guys but I have no idea how long the car will be in a non-running state. Figured I'd just suck it up and fix it on the driveway. Plus I have a plethora of tools at my house.