Oh no pat has a subie!!!

You know, from back in the days when I had an old Chevy truck. I was told once that you can add a bit (half quart I think) of transmission fluid to the oil for the last few hundred miles or so before an oil change if you have some gummed up lifter, or a little peice of crap in there. Apparently the extra detergents that are in transmission fluid will help clean up the motor.

Might try doing some research, because I'm not 100% sure on the amounts and time frame. Its worth a try.

 
You could possibly be hearing a "valve tick". My outback had one cold, and ran rough cold, i adjusted the valves (super easy if you have a lift, or at least a warm place to work) and now it runs great cold and ticking better.

 
You could possibly be hearing a "valve tick". My outback had one cold, and ran rough cold, i adjusted the valves (super easy if you have a lift, or at least a warm place to work) and now it runs great cold and ticking better.
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well the problem is I can't do the work because of my back problem and have to get friends to do it... I would if I could pull the engine and reseal it and check everything but since I can't i just want to get an idea if this is normal or not.

Like I said the only thing that worries me is that when I pull the dip stick i can hear it thru that. It doesn't get louder with revs and infact over 3k it goes away and comes back low rpms (so I am assuming its nothing in the bottom end). It just did it when I started it now so it seems to be only on cold days (having owned it for about a week and it was fine on warm days).

It is either Lifter/knock from not enough fuel or bad fuel/ or piston slap... none of these are really an issue so as long as it doesn't get worse I will be happy.

I think the QUICK fix I am going to do is go back to the napa gold filter (like it had instead of the bosch I bought) and run 5w30 or 5w40 with lucas stabilizer, I am going to ask the guy what he ran in it. I will remove a quart before I change and run a quart of trans fluid before the change. I think its just the wrong oil for the motor. Which sucks because it is fresh but BETTER SAFE THEN SORRY. (gotta have my friend change the oil only a few days after he did both my cars and truck... not gonna be happy! lol

 
I agree, if it doesn't get worse or run rough wouldnt worry about it. I did find my piston slap in my subie is much quieter with synthetic oil(5w-30). I actually put a couple mobil 1 in with my reg mobil 5w-30. (normally i run only castrol but had free mobil 1 kicking around)

 
i'm pretty sure your 2.2 has hydraulic lash adjusters for the valves, so theres no adjusting to be done. you could see about detergents though, i've heard about doing similar things.

 
i'm pretty sure your 2.2 has hydraulic lash adjusters for the valves, so theres no adjusting to be done. you could see about detergents though, i've heard about doing similar things.
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Yeah its a lot quiter then the one you had... it did it tonight again for the first 10 mins of driving then it was quite after that and for my ride home. Its not in the same spot yours was... Detergents are good but dont want to go crazy and lift something and have it clog the oil pump (prob gonna have to pull the oil pan and clean it and check everything out).

I am positive the motor is fine I just wanted to ask around before dumping money into it and have the motor pop before I save the cash to do my swap ( either going to na-t this motor if I can get cheap donor car with 5speed and stuff/ or do the jdm ej20tt single turbo swap nissan r200 diff and welded center diff...

Gotta see how funds are looking but right now I have a little stashed but the Cannon 7d camera is calling my name...and I have wanted one for a while.

Monday I am gonna pull the trigger and start stocking up on basic mod parts to make it ride better... its got more body roll then a sack race at fat camp.

 
I was using the big blue jug of Napa 10w30 during the summer and 5w30 during the winter w/a Napa gold filter.
This was the car when I bought it @ 130,000 miles:

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Thanks man... Its gotta be the filter I used isn't letting enough pressure thru... I am switching it this week after I run some trans fluid thru the crankcase. Glad to see you joined up!

Any questions you have these guys will help you out with. The car is coming along pretty well... The body work is almost done. It cleaned up really well when I got it home. I could tell you took good care of it when I saw the napa gold filter and that all of the fluids were clean/fresh. (except the front diff that was low and was causing the shakes... just figured that yesterday when the shaking came back and I checked the dipstick, added amsoil 80w90 that was kicking around and it stopped it).

 
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so the motor stopped ticking... it did it for only a few days and now it runs perfect... pet about 1000 miles on it so far.

New parts...

Set of 16in 02 WRX wheels painted bronze

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Modded stock grill... waiting on emblem (pink stars badge) and my new yellow ion fog lights to put behind it (both are in the mail).

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do some research to see if the ecu plugs are the same from the jdm car to your car, plug the jdm ecu in and add the 5 wires for the BCS and map sensor

 
That was fast pat. Did you end up just sanding them down a bit?
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I soaked them in the bath tub and got someone to sand them down for me... Just wanted to get them on (fixed the spot with jb weld)...

I will prob just use these as winter wheels if I do get the swap. Trying to find one to get into it before march... but I am on a tight budget!

 
Here you go Pat..... maybe a glimpse into what it might look like (but not slammed)

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Pat, I think its really funny to see someone freak about a tick in a Subie engine the way I used to. I have seen so many old subies and they all do it. that's why people call it the Subaru Tick. They will do it from about 75,000mi thru death at around 250,000mi. Obviously this is some kind of terrible quality proplem if the car is not hitting at least 1 million miles before death, lol JK. My bet is that it is a sticky lifter or piston slap. Most likely piston slap, from what I have always understood about subies. I can offer you one trick that I have seen work twice on cars whos owners wanted to be rid of that ticking noise. My parents had a 92 Loyale with a 1.8 boxer and it ticked like antique clock running but about 100 times faster. It had about 180,000 miles. We decided to change the oil pump and the sound went away completely and boosted the oil pressure. I have since seen this work on a Legacy and an Impreza, Just food for thought.

 
Got the WRX wheels on... IT NEEDS TO BE LOWERED NOW!!! WAY TO HIGH FOR ME! (205 55 16 bridgestone Turanza EL42 RFT... hey they are free and almost new)

Also cut out the sides of the bumper for the new fog lights to go in.

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hella flush??? LOL

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