98 Forester fix up completed

[Stewart DIBBS]

My wife and I drive a 2005 Impreza wagon. Recently I bought a 5-speed '98
Forester S with alloy wheels and 280,000 km for $1000, for my son, 19. The
main problem was that a previous owner had treated it an off-road vehicle,
not an all-road vehicle, and some of the 'maintenance' had been problematic.

- all four caliper slides were rusted solid.
- a rear brake caliper bracket bolt was snapped off with only 2mm of the
broken stub holding the caliper bracket in place.
- rear lower control arms bent from someone jacking the car.
- first exhaust flange welded (because the gasket was leaking...). why not
replace the gasket?
- gearbox exhaust support cracked, tack-welded and broken again. Taking the
support off and fixing it properly must have been too difficult.
- rusted under-floor box sections in the front wheel well and rear end of
the sill rails had been filled with expanding construction foam and covered
with fiberglass. The sill jack points were unusable because of this.
- inner rear shock towers and fuel filler cavity and filler neck rusted
because dirt not cleaned out after 'off road' trips.

On the plus side,
- the engine had been serviced with new head gaskets, and it ran perfectly.
- good paint and good interior despite the high mileage
- no wheel bearing issues
- good tires, clutch and no transmission problems

Now, most people would have scrapped this car because of the rust.
Fortunately, the rust was pretty localized (good Subaru rust proofing), and
while it took me three weekends to cut it out, fabricate some new box
sections, partial wheel well panels and rebuild it, the car is now solid,
and I can actually use the jack points on the sills. Thank goodness for
angle grinders and MIG welders.

- replaced the two rusted power steering tubes on the rack (a common problem
apparently)
- repaired the rusted fuel filler neck and filler cavity
- freed the tie rod lock nuts so the alignment can be done.
- replaced all rotors, calipers and pads.
- replaced the worn out and soggy (first replacement) KYB GR2's with new
GR2's and new strut insulators. The rear insulators were rusted out, and the
lower M14 mounting bolts needed a 4 foot lever to loosen them. They must
have been done up to over 200 ft-lbs instead of the needed 50-60. Both rear
bump rubbers (on the strut shaft) were broken.
- replaced a broken front spring. One had already been replaced, a likely
legacy of the 'off-roading'.
- replaced a stone-holed headlight with one from a wrecker.

The only remaining problem was a somewhat rough idle and an intermittent
misfire error on cylinder #3, which seems now to be solved by replacing the
ignition coil assembly with one from a wrecker. The engine now idles
noticeably smoother and the misfire has not returned.

My son now has a very solid and safe vehicle for about $2600. I have
impressed on him that he got all my labour free, and this would have doubled
price if he had to pay for it.

SD

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

My wife and I drive a 2005 Impreza wagon. Recently I  bought a 5-speed '98
Forester S with alloy wheels and 280,000 km for $1000, for my son, 19. The
main problem was that a previous owner had treated it an off-road vehicle,
not an all-road vehicle, and some of the 'maintenance' had been problematic.

- all four caliper slides were rusted solid.
- a rear brake caliper bracket bolt was snapped off with only 2mm of the
broken stub holding the caliper bracket in place.
- rear lower control arms bent from someone jacking the car.
- first exhaust flange welded (because the gasket was leaking...). why not
replace the gasket?
- gearbox exhaust support cracked, tack-welded and broken again. Taking the
support off and fixing it properly must have been too difficult.
- rusted under-floor box sections in the front wheel well and rear end of
the sill rails had been filled with expanding construction foam and covered
with fiberglass. The sill jack points were unusable because of this.
- inner rear shock towers and fuel filler cavity and filler neck rusted
because dirt not cleaned out after 'off road' trips.

On the plus side,
- the engine had been serviced with new head gaskets, and it ran perfectly.
- good paint and good interior despite the high mileage
- no wheel bearing issues
- good tires, clutch and no transmission problems

Now, most people would have scrapped this car because of the rust.
Fortunately, the rust was pretty localized (good Subaru rust proofing), and
while it took me three weekends to cut it out, fabricate some new box
sections, partial wheel well panels and rebuild it, the car is now solid,
and I can actually  use the jack points on the sills. Thank goodness for
angle grinders and MIG welders.

- replaced the two rusted power steering tubes on the rack (a common problem
apparently)
- repaired the rusted fuel filler neck and filler cavity
- freed the tie rod lock nuts so the alignment can be done.
- replaced all rotors, calipers and pads.
- replaced the worn out and soggy (first replacement) KYB GR2's with new
GR2's and new strut insulators. The rear insulators were rusted out, and the
lower M14 mounting bolts needed a 4 foot lever to loosen them. They must
have been done up to over 200 ft-lbs instead of the needed 50-60. Both rear
bump rubbers (on the strut shaft) were broken.
- replaced a broken front spring. One had already been replaced, a likely
legacy of the 'off-roading'.
- replaced a stone-holed headlight with one from a wrecker.

The only remaining problem was a somewhat rough idle and an intermittent
misfire error on cylinder #3, which seems now to be solved by replacing the
ignition coil assembly with one from a wrecker. The engine now idles
noticeably smoother and the misfire has not returned.

My son now has a very solid and safe vehicle for about $2600. I have
impressed on him that he got all my labour free, and this would have doubled
price if he had to pay for it.

SD

[D.Vader voice] Impressive [/D.Vader voice]

 

[Stewart DIBBS]

[D.Vader voice] Impressive [/D.Vader voice]

Oh the hubris of the Mechanisti: the beast conked out last night.

Checked for fuel pressure this morning: no problems there. It also fired
briefly, but sounds like its running on two cylinders. And the P0303 misfire
code is back immediately after I reset it and try to start.

I also note that the coolant is down perhaps 1 cm or less from where I last
recall it. There's been no evidence of burning coolant: no exhaust smoke of
any kind, no overheating, no spraying of coolant from the overflow bottle,
which has min level coolant in it.

My son who was driving it at the time said the engine just lost power
suddenly and would not start after he pulled over. When I got there about 20
mins later the temp gauge was normal, so there's no apparent overheating.
When the engine stopped it took 10 seconds or less, and what ever happened
was not related to fuel, as there is still plenty of fuel rail pressure.

Sure hope this is not the dreaded head gasket problem. The car was supposed
to have had both gaskets done quite recently (within 10K km), and there's
obviously been recent work done on the heads and exhaust gaskets. The timing
belt looks new and seems correctly tensioned.

Pulled the RHS plugs (and I thought the early BMC Mini's were hard to work
on) : front was gapped at .085", rear gapped at .065". ie worn out. Put in
some new Bosch plugs, and cleared the P0303 code. It still won't start, but
neither does it generate the P0303 either, so I'll say the new plugs fixed
that.

I'm at a loss at present as th why it won't start. If there was an engine
management sensor problem (e.g. crank angle sensor, TDC, knock sensor etc),
I'd expect that the ECU would set a code, but when I crank the engine, no
codes are thrown.

If it was a head gasket, I'd expect that the engine would probably run,
though roughly, at least for a while, but I'd also expect to see an ECU
code. Other (much older) cars I've owned blew head gaskets, but the process
was generally quite gradual, not in the space of 10 seconds.


I'll check the obvious: blown fuses.


Next steps:
check the timing belt tensioners
check the timing in case the belt has slipped a tooth


Any other suggestions?

SD

 

[johninky]

I would inspect the timing belt before anything else.

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

I would inspect the timing belt before anything else.

Yep, possible shift of cam timing on one side. Do i recall that if the
tensioner is bad, one side is more prone to this? Also, do I recall
you're supposed to wrench the crank around some specific number of
times after replacing the belt? If you don't, what happens???

You might try having someone crank the engine while holding a strip of
paper at the tailpipe. If it tries to be 'sucked in' it may mean
timing has slipped. This probably wouldn't detect one or 2 teeth
displacement but....?

anyway - I'm sure you'll get this sorted out soon.

 

[S]

Hi Stewart!

Next steps:
check the timing belt tensioners
check the timing in case the belt has slipped a tooth


Any other suggestions?

Well. the first thing will definitely be to check the timing belt
system. Take it all of the way apart, replace any idlers that aren't
perfect (seriously; if they feel even the slightest bit rough or loose
do _not_ re-install them), and put everything back together with the
proper orientation. The easiest way to get the harmonic balancer bolt
loose is with an air impact, but you will have to pull the radiator to
get enough room for the tool. I have fabricated a holder, and can send
fotos if that will help. There are other ways to do this as well; I'm
sure others here can offer some suggestions.
Then run a compression check; should come in at 150lb (at least), and
be even within 5 - 10lb across all four cylinders.
Check that the injectors are firing; use a mechanics stethoscope, and
listen for a distinct clicking as they open.
Use a timing light to verify that spark is happening on all four at
approximately the right time (if #1 is on time, the rest probably are
as well).
Once you have run thru these diagnostics, you will probably have found
why the engine isn't running. Write back, and we'll see if we can't
pin point it from there.

ByeBye! S.
Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[StephenH]

[D.Vader voice] Impressive [/D.Vader voice]

Oh the hubris of the Mechanisti: the beast conked out last night.

Checked for fuel pressure this morning: no problems there. It also fired
briefly, but sounds like its running on two cylinders. And the P0303 misfire
code is back immediately after I reset it and try to start.

I also note that the coolant is down perhaps 1 cm or less from where I last
recall it. There's been no evidence of burning coolant: no exhaust smoke of
any kind, no overheating, no spraying of coolant from the overflow bottle,
which has min level coolant in it.

My son who was driving it at the time said the engine just lost power
suddenly and would not start after he pulled over. When I got there about20
mins later the temp gauge was normal, so there's no apparent overheating.
When the engine stopped it took 10 seconds or less, and what ever happened
was not related to fuel, as there is still plenty of fuel rail pressure.

Sure hope this is not the dreaded head gasket problem. The car was supposed
to have had both gaskets done quite recently (within 10K km), and there's
obviously been recent work done on the heads and exhaust gaskets. The timing
belt looks new and seems correctly tensioned.

Pulled the RHS plugs (and I thought the early BMC Mini's were hard to work
on) : front was gapped at .085", rear gapped at .065". ie worn out. Put in
some new Bosch plugs, and cleared the P0303 code. It still won't start, but
neither does it generate the P0303 either, so I'll say the new plugs fixed
that.

I'm at a loss at present as th why it won't start. If there was an engine
management sensor problem (e.g. crank angle sensor, TDC, knock sensor etc),
I'd expect that the ECU would set a code, but when I crank the engine, no
codes are thrown.

If it was a head gasket, I'd expect that the engine would probably run,
though roughly, at least for a while, but I'd also expect to see an ECU
code. Other (much older) cars I've owned blew head gaskets, but the process
was generally quite gradual, not in the space of 10 seconds.

I'll check the obvious: blown fuses.

Next steps:
check the timing belt tensioners
check the timing in case the belt has slipped a tooth

Any other suggestions?

SD

your on the right track. I brace a 22 mm breaker bad against the frame
and bump the starter to break the crank loose.
Do not pull the belt off until you look at it, roll the engine over
until the crank is up (the keyway will be down. IF the cams line up
and the crank is off, then it jumped at the crank. there should be a
small plate over the crank pulley; this is suppose to help with that
kind of jump, and some techs don't put it back on.

I have a 1998 forester too.