bikesforme

Hi, I have just got a 1999 uk subaru impreza turbo 2000 AWD , its my first subaru and i no nothing about them, but what a great car.
I brought the car with a tapping noise which sounds like the tappets, i did alittle research on google and it seems that a lot of imprezas have the same problem, and nothing to worrie about. Surley the car should be quite on tick over, the bloke next door has a sti and i have not heard it on his.
The bloke said he had the car 7 months and has not done anything to it, so my first call was the flush the engine and put some good oil and filter in, hoping this might quiten it down.
I was told mobil 1 new life 0w-40 fully synthetic oil which i have now changed but has not solved the problem, the car has 99k on clock and had a new clutch and timing belt at 60k. I have got a new set of plugs to put in and 5lts of red antifreeze to change coolant, i changed the air filter which was all bent up in the middle.
The car has full service history up to 60k but i think it been unloved the last year. I need to no alittle more about the engine in my car,, its standard apart from exhaust. Is it a ohv or ohc, single or twin cam, is checking valve clearance and changing cam belt a easy job. If the belt snaps, will it do damage to engine, and what does AWD stand for. All veiws welcome.

CharlySkunkWeed

iTrader: (7)

AWD- All Wheel Drive

all the rest ? . . . . . .havent a clue.

blackvenom

Awd is all wheel drive, slighty different to 4x4.

Gambit

iTrader: (6)

0w40 is way way too thin on a classic

I run 15w50 mobil 1 motorsport since the day i got it, and thats with 88k on it, and now on 108k.

10w40 is the minimum grade you should be running

Gambit

iTrader: (6)

Also, if you use the search youll find plenty of answers to all your questions

bikesforme

Thats the oil halfords said i needed, they put my reg up on there system, castrol was showing 10w-40 but the best oil showing was the mobil 1 new life 0w-40 fully synthetic. Its not cheap oil.

madmarx

iTrader: (1)

Its too thin really mate. As said 10w/40 would be better. Doesnt matter how much the 0w oil is.

bikesforme

just been on mobil 1 website, put my reg in my engine is PT what ever that is. And thats the oil they list for my car , surley they must no what they are doing. Getting worried about this now, incase i am doing any damage.

zippy!

iTrader: (1)

drain it out mate and change it the people on here run subaru,s everyday and know from expierience what works best. i use 5w 30 in mine

bikesforme

I have sent a email to mobil 1, have not got £40 to throw down the road just like that, why list it for my car if its the wrong oil.

retarded

dude, get that oil out of the car immediately, you havent got £40 to waste on oil, how about £2000 when it goes pop. Not really likely to happen but it could if your ragging it. Like others have said 10W minimum, maybe 5W. In the service manuals it says 5W-30 preferred but if your running any mods the higher temps require the 40+ hence why some are running 50+ oils. Get on ebay theres hundreds of oils out there, like castrol magnatec 10-40 for under 20 quid and stay the **** away from halfords in the future.

if my post sounds a bit harsh its not meant to be, just to emphasise that you need to sort out that oil ASAP. You might even find with a semi synthetic oil of 10W or more your tappet noise goes away.

bikesforme

I have just phoned halfords headoffice and they say the oil is right for my car and if it does any damage to my car they will pay the bill if its down to the wrong oil, still waiting to hear from mobil.
I also phoned subaru surpport and they said in its day they use 5w or 10w oil, i just can not see how mobil would get it wrong, think i might change it for peace of mind.
I went to change the coolant today , i opened the drain plug and nothing came out, so i took bottom hose off and you would not beleave the dirty water that came out. I flushed it all through with a hose until it was all clear and clean water came out. Now its filled with red antifreeze .
I have a set of plugs to put in too, but how the hell do you get to them, just looking dont seem enough room.

Gambit

iTrader: (6)

you are also forgetting that your car has 100k mile on it. you'll soon know if 5w is also too thin as it'll burn it.

plugs can be done with short extensions just a bit tight for space!, remove the airbox & the waterbottle for better access

marcevs72

iTrader: (5)

dont take halfords saying they will pay for any damage if caused by oil...thats bollocks.check opie oils aka oilman on here and get some 10-40 in there.make sure you disconnect the crank sensor as well when starting after change to make sure oil pressure built up before proper starting as can do damage to shells.plugs are easy to do just takes a bit of time removing airbox and washer bottle.also do the fuel filter as can cause lean running if clogged up.i do the lot every 3.5k.also cambelt easy just get full kit including all pulleys and tensioner,try import car parts for gates belt and kit.brilliant service and good prices.can be done in under 2 hours with a tea break.
on a side note if you havnt got £40 to throw away on the right oil you probably have bought the wrong car as scoobies are not cheap to keep..
just ask advice on here before buyingparts etc as a lot of traders and tuners give good advice on here.

bikesforme

Thanks for all the advice, i went back to halfords and they gave me some mobil 2000 10w-40 semi oil plus £17 so all happy there now. Just put the oil in and i was quite shocked on how dirty the new oil was just after a few days even tho i flushed the engine before i did it before.
The tapping noise seems to be coming from drivers side underneath the coolant fill up bottle. Can you get a service manual for this car, i would like to do the cam belt, water pump, and check tappets.

marcevs72

iTrader: (5)

check the technical section on here for free download of manual.loads of space to do cambelt just take rad fans out.i wouldnt worry about the tapping.you might find its injector noise.my last 97 scoob had it.whilst the cambelt is of and your doing waterpump remove he oil pump and check the 5 screws that hold the back plate on as these come loose and let oil past the front crank seal which leads to bearing damage.just needs a new front crank seal which is only a couplequid from import car parts and is also an original subaru part.

bikesforme

Thanks for the advice again, do you no if my engine would be the sohc or dohc. Thanks

Gambit

iTrader: (6)

your car is a dohc. before setting out on all this maintenance i would recommend taking your car to someone who knows subaru's and let them diagnose what your 'tapping' is, and then decide whether to worry about it or not

bikesforme

The tapping noise is not too loud but louder then i would like. Is there anyone on this forum who could help , i live in the notts ,lincoln area but willing to travel within reason. The car seems to run fine.

Punk3rs

I just doing a engine rebuild on my 96 AWD Classic before the build i had the same issue but mine was getting bad, eased up a bit when warm but when cold was sounding a bit like i diesel. i found the source of this tapping was the hydrolic lifters (not really tappets but kind of) out of the 16 only 2 of them were still doning their job, not a hard issue to fix about 1 min on each one (clean them oil them check for excess play your good to go). the big issue for you would be i have my engine out and already had the cams out so was easy for me to pop them out and clean them. you'd be able to do it with the engine in the car pop the cam cover off, take the cam belt off and cams out. as you may have guessed though that's not a 5 min job.

Edit: i have 150k on my engine so this is the reason for my rebuild, the excess tapping and was due a cam belt change was the main reasons for the rebuild though.

bikesforme

Thanks for that advice, i just need a good workshop manual for my car, mine being a uk 1999 model. How do i find out what engine i have in my car, i have had a quick look at the download manual section but i dont have win rar and could not see one for 1999 model.
I do love this car and this is the car for me from now on, mine is standard apart from turbo timer,s/steel exhaust and a silly dump valve which not too keen on.

Gambit

iTrader: (6)

your engine is an EJ205

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

The car is actually a quad-cam, having two banks of two cylinders, horizontally opposed.
Each bank has twin cams, with sixteen valves in all.

I would get the car to a decent specialist to have the tapping diagnosed. It could be tappets, it could be piston slap, it could ALSO be the dreaded bottom end bearings starting to go

From Newark, Scoobyclinic is near, or nip down the A1 and off to Melton Mowbray for Carnetix.

bikesforme

Thanks for the advice, i will find out what it will cost to get my car checked out. With the last owner not doing anything for the last 7 month, i am hoping its just the tappet sticking.