What's the engine doing in this video???

[Trainrex]

Eh, as possible as it sounds, reliable is a word I don't see anywhere near that idea



Never pulled the plugs, had no need to...well probably could, but that wasn't the job at hand.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood your first post. I thought you guys had pulled the plugs.

The noise is very disturbing. It sounds like a rod knock. I have seen harness get reversed on engines which causes the timing on 2 cylinders to be waaaay off, and the end result is very unbalanced firing of the engine. You can actually make an engine knock if you feed it the correct misfire. I don't know if this is the case here, but I figured I would ask.

When you had the TMIC off, is there any chance you dropped anything in the throttle body? Were you missing any hardware?

When you took the uppipe loose the second time did the turbo spin free?

[Smeee]

I'm sorry, I misunderstood your first post. I thought you guys had pulled the plugs.

all good, good sir

The noise is very disturbing.

Indeed.

When you had the TMIC off, is there any chance you dropped anything in the throttle body?

HIGHLY unlikely b/c we didn't open the throttle body for anything nor pull it off.

Were you missing any hardware?

Nothing we weren't already missing before...it was a junkyard engine so he had a broken bracket on the DP and no heat shield.

When you took the uppipe loose the second time did the turbo spin free?

No clue ese...i didn't know that was something to inspect

I'm TOTALLY new to the boxer engine scene. as well as the world of boost

[Smeee]

In reviewing worst case scenarios, I'm having a hard time finding a replacement 'EJ205'.

Would this engine work:
Link to " EJ20 DOHC Engine only Subaru Impreza Single Turbo"




If not, what specifics do i need to look for?

[yamaha_rider619]

It's very reliable to do that, haven't had a problem. Cheaper than buying a new coil pack let alone a new engine

[Smeee]

It's very reliable to do that, haven't had a problem. Cheaper than buying a new coil pack let alone a new engine

well two things, a new coil pack wouldn't be a fix b/c its the plug on the wiring harness thats broke, not the coil and the new engine would only be needed if the plug wasn't the cause and some serious internal damage has taken place

[yamaha_rider619]

Like I said wire tie it, but it's your car. My passenger rear is like like.

[mangostick]

It really does sound hideous man.. to be honest the last engine I worked on that sounded like that had some serious issues.

So we know a few things, it ran after he put it back together.. while running normally it made a "bird scream" at high rpm (under boost).. or what I'd guess to be a high pitched but scratchy whistle/whine..

then wouldn't run at all. These are metered air cars, did you check all you're intake connections from turbo to throttle body? .. I'll bet one of them opened up or came loose and you have a massive air leak between the maf and throttle body. Check all of those, make sure they're tight and sealed and get back to us..

I doubt this has much to do with that coil issue though that could be a compounding problem and really should be fixed as well.

It really sounds like a clamp or coupler that let loose under boost allowing the air charge to escape all at once and the turbo to make the screaming noise. After that the ecu doesn't know how much air is incoming (due to leak) and cant modulate fuel input properly to get it to Idle/run.

[Smeee]

It really does sound hideous man.. to be honest the last engine I worked on that sounded like that had some serious issues.

So we know a few things, it ran after he put it back together.. while running normally it made a "bird scream" at high rpm (under boost).. or what I'd guess to be a high pitched but scratchy whistle/whine..

then wouldn't run at all. These are metered air cars, did you check all you're intake connections from turbo to throttle body? .. I'll bet one of them opened up or came loose and you have a massive air leak between the maf and throttle body. Check all of those, make sure they're tight and sealed and get back to us..

I doubt this has much to do with that coil issue though that could be a compounding problem and really should be fixed as well.

It really sounds like a clamp or coupler that let loose under boost allowing the air charge to escape all at once and the turbo to make the screaming noise. After that the ecu doesn't know how much air is incoming (due to leak) and cant modulate fuel input properly to get it to Idle/run.

The intake is something we didn't look to much into, i guess with the charge pipe(?) (intake -> turbo pipe), most of it is hidden and hard to get to. BUUUUUUUT, now that i think about it, that pipe isn't under boost right? I mean it's pre-turbo, right? That would narrow the leak to either the intercooler, y-pipe or coupler...right?

I think he said that when he pulled the intercooler after it happened, the Y-pipe wasn't clamped down all the way, so he tightened that up, we fixed the bpv gasket and still this nastyness in the video...I guess maybe we should check that charge pipe?

[mangostick]

Check everything between the maf and the throttle body.

Other than that, the noise its making isn't good.. I'd check cam timing next to make sure one of them didn't jump a tooth. (interference motor.. that would be very bad) .. and drop the oil pan to see if there are bits of metal in it.

[monsta121]

Why dont you hold the plug firmly in place on the coil pack and have someone start the car, or do what the other person said about the zip ties. Its not a permanent solution but at least you can test it and be sure that the engine noise is in fact due to the broken plug.

[Smeee]

Check everything between the maf and the throttle body.

Other than that, the noise its making isn't good.. I'd check cam timing next to make sure one of them didn't jump a tooth. (interference motor.. that would be very bad) .. and drop the oil pan to see if there are bits of metal in it.

k k. Is a belt jumping a tooth a common thing? and tomorrow we are going to change the oil, inspect the oil and cut into the filter to check that as well. Then after that zip tie the plug onto the coil if only to test it out and see if that isn't the source of all the madness.

Why dont you hold the plug firmly in place on the coil pack and have someone start the car, or do what the other person said about the zip ties. Its not a permanent solution but at least you can test it and be sure that the engine noise is in fact due to the broken plug.

^1st thing tomorrow morning. ^

[Smeee]

Well we drained the oil and although it was fairly new oil, it was incredibly black...but no metal that I saw. I started to cut into the oil filter only to realize that what was the point. By the time i cut through it i would have metal everywhere from cutting the filter, so i stopped.



...no different. Thinking maybe new engine...

Couldn't figure out how to check timing w/my timing light b/c of the coil packs and no plug wires...

[SD_GR]

I think the suggestion was more along the lines of removing the timing covers and checking the physical timing among the cam sprockets. If the belt has jumped the sprockets will not line up correctly.

[Smeee]

Yeah, here is the thing:

The more I look at it, the more certain I am that this engine at its core is no good. So my brother bought this car and on his 2hour drive home from where he bought it, it messed up, messed up bad. Diagnosis was 3 spun rod bearings, sooo they told him and charged him for a rebuilt/junk yard engine, buuuuuut this engine has form-a-gasket everywhere. The head gaskets, form-a-gasket, the intake mani, form-a-gasket, the bpv, form-a-gasket. Anyway, i really get the impression that they just rebuilt the busted engine from before. We are going to pull the cam cover and check all that when we have some time b/c it seems like you need to pull the radiator, etc. to get to it so, i dunno. the talk of buying a newer engine for 600 seems like a good idea to him, only b/c the more we dig into the one he has, the worse off it seems.

[mangostick]

The more I watch that vid.. the more I think you're quite sound in that line of thinking. ..

I'm starting to wonder if that bird scream you're brother n law heard was actually a bearing spinning. I've never heard one go like that but its very possible. I've blown lots of couplers off before and the turbo always makes this hideous screaming noise when the pressure lets loose really fast. That's what led me to make the suggestion of checking the intake tract.. but the loud clacking going on inside that mill is definitely not anything to do with a coupler.


When you get it back together with the new mill.. tear down the old one and get pics so we can see what caused the failure. Good info to be had whenever you can match symptoms with failure.