Impreza Engine Replacement - Part 4
Part 4 of an N part series Trials and tribulations of pushing to complete this project
This is part 4 of a series, if you want to catch up: part 1 click here, part 2 click here, part 3 click here
It's weekend number 4 and the goal is to get the engine running. Ready? Go!
Step one of the day was to bolt the engine to the transmission. I wanted to make sure I followed the correct tightening pattern and torque specs so I printed out all the steps for installing the engine out of the factory service manual (FSM). In fact, this was so helpful, I don't know why I didn't do the same thing for taking the engine out. Learn from my mistake and buy/use a factory service manual when working on your car. It will save you many a headache and you will have a wonderful, in order, list of things to check off as you go.
The engine bolted together with no issues. The starter motor also went in very easily. Then I moved onto the exhaust. The engine came with 5 of 6 studs so I needed to pull the 6th from the old engine. I also needed 9 nuts, but the 9th was rusted to one of the studs I had pulled from the old engine. A little bit of heat and PB Blaster was all that I needed to free the nut. Exhaust was now installed. Then I took a look around the garage and noticed the exhaust gaskets.
Nothing like doing something twice! The exhaust gets installed a second time (this time with the gaskets) and I could move on to the next step. From there I connected the lines for cooling, fuel, and the vacuum for the brake booster. Then I got to make the engine start looking more complete by installing the accessories (A/C and Alternator). I figured this would also be a good time to fill the transmission since it was easily accessible.
Radiator and air duct are next on the checklist and went in with relative ease. Time to fill up with oil and coolant. Oil filled up, no problem. Coolant.... I forgot that I had bought pre-mix since I couldn't find full strength coolant from Subaru. By the time I realized my mistake I had diluted the coolant to something more like 33/66.
I've decided that I'll just run the engine for a bit with the coolant as is and then do a flush since I don't know the state of the coolant passages in the engine. It's a good enough story to make me feel less bad about this mistake. Moving on, we're very close to it being time to start this engine!
Get in the car, turn the key a few times to the run position to get fuel pressure built up and it's time to check for leaks. No leaks from the fuel injectors, but what is coming out from under the transmission? Gear oil. Turns out the passenger side axle had slipped out when I installed the engine and had been leaking gear oil after I filled it up. I figured if I lowered the car, the axle would slide back into place. This did not work at all and just accelerated the leak.
Fearing that I would have to take apart the transmission to fix this problem I started frantically looking through the FSM and YouTube videos. After realizing I could apply none of the techniques described without completely disassembling the axle/hub assembly I decided I would need to invent my own method. I just need to push the axle back in, how hard can this be? I unsuccessfully attempted: hitting the axle in with a mallet, resting socket extensions against the axle boot and hitting that with a mallet, hitting the axle nut with a mallet. Then I remembered seeing a guy using a crowbar to remove the axle from the transmission and wondered if I could somehow use this technique in reverse. I grabbed a pickle fork and it fit perfectly against the axle. Carefully applying some leverage against the exhaust I was able to hit the end of the pickle fork to get the axle to slip back in. THANK YOU PICKLE FORK!!!
Now we can really attempt to start this car. Get into the car, turn the key, nothing. No crank, just silence. This is very discouraging, but I figure it has to be something with the starter since the engine is not even turning over. One of the wires is loose on the starter motor so I tighten it up and try again. Once again, nothing. I'm at a loss, I know it has to be something with the electrical system so I hook up jumper cables from my Jeep to the battery and attempt number 3. Still nothing. "It HAS to be the starter, I'll take another look." Turns out I was correct, it was the starter. I missed connecting the ignition switch wire to the starter. This would have been another facepalm moment, but I was 100% certain that this was the problem and that the engine would start as soon as I turned the key this time. What else could be left?
After smoking out the garage (I'm pointing to an enormous smoke cloud at the end of the video), I was able to pull the car out of the garage under its own power!!! I took it around the block for a joy ride, of which it only made it halfway until it stalled out due to a low idle (typical of an ECU that has not had power for months). My brother brought his car around and we jumped it to get it back to the driveway. The engine replacement is complete. Now to get the car fully driveable, I need to replace the brakes and charge the battery and I will be able to use it as my daily driver once again.
To fully immerse yourself in my joy, you can listen to the song that I played after completing this project.
Thanks for following me along on this journey!