EJ22T crank pulley wobble (in a 93 legacy turbo)

[bituerbo]

I went to look at a 93' subaru legacy turbo (auto) in my area that's got 160,000km on her, however she has pretty much sat for the past 4 years or so, with maybe a small handful of start up and drives in that duration.

Now I took the car for a drive, and it seemed the car was SERIOUSLY lacking power in high-rpm's. barely wanted to accelerate when I put my foot down(and it kicked down a gear), although I could slowly accelerate to any normal speed around 100-110km/hr.

Now I pop the hood w/ the engine running to try and find the source of the problem, and notice the crank pulley has a 1/4" wobble to it, unsure if the pulley is warped, the bearing isn't properly in or what, as I was only looking at this car and not about to tear the poor guys car apart.

***Now my theory for the power loss is that crank pulley wobble at high rpm is causing belt slippage on alternator not providing uumph to the spark plugs resulting in no power in high rpms. In low rpms, the car pulls as it should. Does this sound like a logical conclusion to anyone else?

***Now my question is, would this crank pulley wobble have possibly done any harm to the rotating assembly? the car ran fine (minus the power deficit) and I have yet to perform a compression test on the car.

side note: oil level seemed REALLY high, well above both holes and the notch in the dip stick, halfway up the 'twist' in the stick.

Any help HUGELY appreciated.
Thanks - andrew

[realfinn]

From what I hear the Auto's like to fall on there face at about 5500 RPM. Might be part or what your seing. But you should be able to run the car without too much problem even without the alternator (assuming the battery has a good charge).

The loose pulley could be a result of a bad bearing (yikes) or it could be that the bolt in the front of the pulley is just loose.

If the engine oil is that high it can cause all sorts of problems. I wouldn't run an engine with the level that high. I would definitley bet that it could cause some significant power loss. As well as several other problems.

[Legacy777]

I'd suspect the main crank pulley bolt was not tightened properly, which is why you're seeing the wobble.

I'd pull the pulley off and inspect the crankshaft end for damage.

[n2x4]

My spare legacy had crank pulley wobble, and it wouldn't accelerate like you're describing.

I've been trying to diagnose the problem for a while, and I finally decided to pull the timing belt, and when I took off the pulley it revealed that the key mark on the pulley was shredded, so the pulley could spin since the key wasn't holding the pulley.

I went to the local subaru junkyard and asked for a crank pulley, and the lady wasn't surprised with what I wanted. They had a whole stack of spare pulleys, apparently this happens a lot. She was pretty confident that a new pulley would fix my problem.

They wanted like 40 bucks for a pulley, so I just ordered an aluminum pulley off ebay for the same price.

It should be here by the end of the week, so when I get it on, I'll let you know what happens. Just thought I'd give a heads up anyways.

[bituerbo]

My spare legacy had crank pulley wobble, and it wouldn't accelerate like you're describing.

I've been trying to diagnose the problem for a while, and I finally decided to pull the timing belt, and when I took off the pulley it revealed that the key mark on the pulley was shredded, so the pulley could spin since the key wasn't holding the pulley.

I went to the local subaru junkyard and asked for a crank pulley, and the lady wasn't surprised with what I wanted. They had a whole stack of spare pulleys, apparently this happens a lot. She was pretty confident that a new pulley would fix my problem.

They wanted like 40 bucks for a pulley, so I just ordered an aluminum pulley off ebay for the same price.

It should be here by the end of the week, so when I get it on, I'll let you know what happens. Just thought I'd give a heads up anyways.

BEAUTIFUL thanks soo much for your input guys and n2x4 if you could let me know if the new pulley fixes your problem I'd appreciate it.

Power loss happens at anything over 3.5 - 4k rpm... but that could also be due to high oil. On another forum someone stated that a headgasket failure was the possible culprit, flooding the oil pan with coolant pushing up oil levels (nasioc forum) but I'll do a compression test before I buy it. Good to know that stripped key thing is somewhat common, makes me a little more comfortable, however I won't know until I get it apart.

On the spot I attempted to tighten up the crank pulley bolt, however it seemed DAMN sturdy. The guy selling it refuses to admit there is anything wrong and won't budge on the price, despite it's small problems. Mechanica/body/suspension/brakes are all great.

He wants $4,000 CAD even in it's current condition.

[AWD_addict]

That seems high, considering the crankshaft could be damaged where the pulley attaches.

[scuzzy]

My spare legacy had crank pulley wobble, and it wouldn't accelerate like you're describing.

I've been trying to diagnose the problem for a while, and I finally decided to pull the timing belt, and when I took off the pulley it revealed that the key mark on the pulley was shredded, so the pulley could spin since the key wasn't holding the pulley.

I went to the local subaru junkyard and asked for a crank pulley, and the lady wasn't surprised with what I wanted. They had a whole stack of spare pulleys, apparently this happens a lot. She was pretty confident that a new pulley would fix my problem.

They wanted like 40 bucks for a pulley, so I just ordered an aluminum pulley off ebay for the same price.

It should be here by the end of the week, so when I get it on, I'll let you know what happens. Just thought I'd give a heads up anyways.

BEAUTIFUL thanks soo much for your input guys and n2x4 if you could let me know if the new pulley fixes your problem I'd appreciate it.

Power loss happens at anything over 3.5 - 4k rpm... but that could also be due to high oil. On another forum someone stated that a headgasket failure was the possible culprit, flooding the oil pan with coolant pushing up oil levels (nasioc forum) but I'll do a compression test before I buy it. Good to know that stripped key thing is somewhat common, makes me a little more comfortable, however I won't know until I get it apart.

On the spot I attempted to tighten up the crank pulley bolt, however it seemed DAMN sturdy. The guy selling it refuses to admit there is anything wrong and won't budge on the price, despite it's small problems. Mechanica/body/suspension/brakes are all great.

He wants $4,000 CAD even in it's current condition.

"Seems" is an understatement in this case, that IS high, TOO high, considering that the entire engine could be trashed if the keyway is toast on the crankshaft (well, the crankshaft anyway, but locating one or buying one new may be prohibitive - and that's major engine work)

[bituerbo]

Well really leanient owner let me take the car today. Dumped the oil, topped her up with Castrol GTX. That freed up some power. Pulled the crank Pulley in his garage and inspected it, the key hole on the pulley AND the key on the timing crank gear are both shredded. Dealer part for the gear was $30 CAD and the pulley was around $170. (car owner will be installing parts tonight)

Couldn't find any trace of coolant in the oil when dumping, although coolant resevoir was bone dry (no rad cap?) although through pumping the coolant lines to and from the rad I could tell there was *some* coolant in the system. She didn't run hot but it was only around 15* Celcius today.

Compression tested the front cylinder on either bank, 120psi (a bit low in my books, and it took a few revolutions to get it up to 120, stayed at 90 for the first few strokes). Guy still wants around $4g's for it not too keen on budging - I'm thinking of walking on this one...

[93Leg-c]

Compression tested the front cylinder on either bank, 120psi (a bit low in my books, and it took a few revolutions to get it up to 120, stayed at 90 for the first few strokes). Guy still wants around $4g's for it not too keen on budging - I'm thinking of walking on this one...

FSM says compression should be 142-171 psi. Unless you've got an engine to install you're not going to be happy with that engine.

[bituerbo]

well that seals the deal.
Thanks for all the info and help guys.

If anyone wants his contact infor for parts or to buy the car as a whole, you can PM me. Car is located in Calgary, AB.

[realfinn]

Did you prop open the throttle when you did the compression test? It is a little bit lower than the FSM specifies. However, my compression test on a fresh built ej22t was 123-125 with a press in gage (this is the engine thats in my car [stock] and producing 140 whp). The important thing is that the engine compression is BALANCED. As for the floating at 90 psi...I don't trust a regular compression tester to tell me anything. A leak down test would prove more useful.

Also a vaccum gage hooked to the intake (in my opinion) is much more useful in diagnosing engine problems than a compression tester.

[subytech]

The proper way to do a compression test is with the throttle plate proped all the way open and with ALL the spark plugs removed.

[bituerbo]

Yep throttle plate was open and all plugs were d/c.

[Project_Legacy]

yea dood, walk away from that one...


that price is hella steep too... is he crazy??