Hi,

I offered to help my brother get his Bugeye back on the road - it has been dry stored ( very dry ) for the last 7 years.




The brakes are back on now and I'm just tying to work out what to do to get the engine running. I had planned to swap out the fluids, new fuel filter and fresh fuel and replace the aux belts.
Does anyone have any advice for other things I should do before firing her up again ?

Thanks !

 

I would remove the crank sensor and turn it over for a bit to circulate some of the oil and build some pressure before firing it up

 

This is good advice and not something I would have thought to do - thanks !

 

Prob worth a few hand cranks first to make sure nothings seized

 

I'd pump out the old fuel from the tank and lines, add at least 20lt of new fuel. Install fresh fuel filter (after the fuel lines are pumped through)
Check in the airbox for signs of animal nesting, while your there put a new filter in it.
Visually check all wiring for signs of damage from rodents.
Take the plugs out and drop/spray some light oil into the bores (not loads, just enough to lube the rings)
Hand crank it over while the plugs are out and then drop a bit more oil in.
If the coolant looks brown then change it first.
If the oil looks thick and dark then change that before starting it too.

 

Would consider a new timing belt too.

 

Thats a very good point about the timing belt.
My H6 engine is chain driven so forgot about the pesky belt!

 

Luckily there seems to be no rodent problem in this garage as far as I can tell . I checked the airbox previously (and other likely places)and nothing has been eaten or other tell-tail signs . The timing belt probably does need replacement - good point . It was changed 13K before the car was laidup ( along with the pulleys / water pump ) , but 8 years on.... . The main crank pulley is very rusty so that will need to come out. Coolant looks OK but oil is definitely on the list - the level is very low which makes me a little concerned.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

The belt will have degraded over time and possibly gone brittle. Crank pulley will be the damper that you can see so wouldn't be terribly worried about that unless the groves where the auxiliary belt runs are knackered.

 

Here is the one of the visible pulleys - seems the rust has got in .... best lift all the cam belt covers and see what is going on.

 

That wouldn't worry me in the slightest change the timing belt then put those old belts back on and run it for a while to clean pulleys up then change the belts

 

Yep, I like that idea .

 

So, the good news is the car is now running. I still need to do the timing belt but it will idle OK after new plugs, air filter, engine oil / filter , and removing the old petrol (via the fuel pump access ) and adding some shell super unleaded. Oh, and figuring out the scorpion immobiliser. However I spotted a problem on the right-hand side of the engine . Anyone know which gaskets have failed here ?




Thanks !

 

I might be wrong, but my gut feeling says that its not a gasket failure but a problem with the PCV / oil vapour system.
That black cap and the pipe marked with a yellow 'N' are what allow pressure and oil vapour to escape the cam covers and it looks like the mess is centred around that.

The PCV system as a whole varies a bit from year to year but the PCV valve itself has always been prone to blocking up which causes excess pressure build up and oil consumption. They're dirt cheap and easy to replace so I'd start with that.

 

Thanks for the response. OK, that would line up with the fact that there was only 2.5 litres of oil in the car ( and very like to black tar ) , rather than the 4.5 I was expecting, so some oil loss has occured in the past.

PCV is under the intercooler - correct ? So This part

 

Yep thats the one.
Hope you're listening out for rod knock given that it was previously used with such a low oil level :/

 

Just had a look at a couple of impreza "rod knock" videos on youtube - very scary.

Thankfully, nothing like that going on.... all sounds well.

I have another change of oil on standby, so once the car run for enough time to warm up, I will dump it and the filter and replace with a fresh load (fully synthetic) . Hopefully this will get rid of any old oil and contaminants left .

 

What was the issue with the imobilizer and how did you resolve it? I'm having issues with mine.

 

So the car would power up but would not turn over. After a lot of chasing around with an multi-meter, the power to the starter was non-existent.

This is was the alarm fob ....


I found a random post on the web that told you how to reset the system ...

1) hold both buttons for 10 seconds until the LED on the fob stops flashing
2) press the larger button 3 times. Each time, the LED will flash once.

After that, the immobiliser fired up and the beeped / indicators flashed. And the starter worked !
Since then, the immobiliser works as it should.

 

So between lockdowns and my work, I have been working to get the WRX back on the road over at my brothers place . Yesterday, it came out of the garage for the first time in, well, nearly 8 years now. Some work still do but here is the car so far ....


I followed all the advice above and swapped out the cambelt, water pump, all fluids changed, PCV valve, it needed a new rad and we picked up a couple of STI bits as well.



So, I have a question , the engine management light is on and the OBD reader is showing this ....



I think the misfire might be caused by trying to start it on dead petrol ( it really didn't want to fire up ) , however, the other two seem related - did I forget to connect something ?

 

AFM/MAF are both those codes.

 

Thanks !