Coolant tank & knock sensor woe's

[legacy92ej22t]

This past Sunday while driving down to MD one of the nipples broke off on my coolant fill tank. Luckily I was just pulling in to my place when it really let loose. I was heading up Bonifant when suddenly the smell of coolant was overpowering. I looked at my gauges and was running pretty hot but short of the redline on the temprature gauge. I was only half a block from my house(thankfully) after a 3.5 hr drive. I coast in to my parking spot engulfed in a cloud of white. It was an absolute mess! Coolant sprayed all over my entire engine and engine bay. A very stressfull way to start the week I must say.

So I was debating wheather or not I wanted to do a jimmy-rig fix like I did before on the tank when a different nipple broke off or get a new one. I figured there was no way I would be able to find a used one and was pretty stressed out about spending a hundred dollars or more for a plastic piece of crap. I was thinking about doing the WRX coolant tank swap but didn't really have the time to figure out everything required to do it. So I called Brandywine and they actually had an EJ22T with 80k and the tank on it and they were willing to give it up for only $25 USD! Pretty damn good so I jumped on it. The tank is in really good shape so I'm pleased.

I get the new tank in and also changed my plugs at the same time(which looked good) and got the car running again. Now the new plugs helped with my rough idle a little and the acceleration smoothed out a bit, so I'm happy.

Then while test driving and getting my dinner I throw a CEL and the car instantly starts running really bad. I get home and pull my codes and I got a #22 knock sensor code. Crap. So I wait till the next day and called a local Suby dealer and they quote me $50 + tax for a new one! Wow, from what I remember reading about other people getting new knock sensors that's a pretty good deal.

So I go to get the part and I guess I went to a different dealer on the same road. This dealer wanted $67 for the sensor but when I said that another dealer quoted me $50 they immediately gave it to me at that price.

I go home to change it out and wow, what a bitch! The knock sensor is down in what has come to be known as the pit of dispair. So I get the old one out and it's cracked a little so I figure coolant got in it and made it crap out. I put the new one in and my car is running really good. I couldn't believe what a difference the new sensor made. I have zero hesitation. My car pulls smoother then it has in a long time.

It's probably a combination of the new sensor and new plugs but for you guys with chronic hesitation, a new knock sensor may be just what the doctor ordered.

What could have been a very expensive break down ended up only hitting me for $75+tax so I feel pretty lucky. I got a new knock sensor and another coolant tank. I'm going to try and fix the old tank too, so that I have a spare.

[boostjunkie]

Considering the knock sensor's located directly underneath the coolant tank I have a feeling there's just som coolant causing a short. Try to pull the sensor out and dry it off and then reinstall in the morning.

I'll be you won't have that code.

Take it from someone who's had a slew of electrical problems (one of them being the knock sensor).

[THAWA]

coolbeans. The pit of despair sucks hard. I was trying to screw somthing back on there and it just kept falling down, i was pissed. A needle nose plies helped a bit but it mustve fallen down there like 5-6 times. Anyway good to see that your car is running well again. This Brandywine, would they happen to have other parts from that ej22t for sale?

[boostjunkie]

Yeah, I might be in need of a coolant tank soon. Now that I don't have a cruise control, I might just use that bracket to be a new mounting point for the thing.

[legacy92ej22t]

Considering the knock sensor's located directly underneath the coolant tank I have a feeling there's just som coolant causing a short. Try to pull the sensor out and dry it off and then reinstall in the morning.

I'll be you won't have that code.

Take it from someone who's had a slew of electrical problems (one of them being the knock sensor).

Well I already put in the new one before I drove back to PA. I saved the old one though too. I was thinking the same thing, that the coolant caused a short, but when I saw that the plastic was cracked it made me wonder. There was also a spot on the wire where the jacket was cut. I may have done that with my grabber tool I was using though, I'm not sure. I guess if I ever have to replace it again I can try the old one first. It really seems that my car is running better with the new sensor though.

This Brandywine, would they happen to have other parts from that ej22t for sale?

I don't know what else, if anything, they'd be willing to part with. I called to see if they'd part with the knock sensor and they said no. The engine has 80k miles and they want $1,400 for it. That's with everything (including the turbo) but the coolant tank. I think that's a little high but it's there if anyone wants it.

[Tleg93]

Maybe it's time to acquire an ej22t. If I had a way to get the engine here I would think about getting it.

[evolutionmovement]

Trunk or wagon back with a friend or two to carry it.

Steve

[ciper]

Did you sand the block and the bottom of the sensor before installation?

[rsstiboy]

i put a rubber washer under my old one, damn those tappetts! NO TIMING RETARD FOR ME!! now i have the MY94 wrx motor with collets on the lifters i have no dramas at all, and I can adjust the knock sensitivity with my LINK engine management

[ciper]

So the sensor is still grounded through the bolt? Interesting. I bet a oil drain washer would be perfect.

[legacy92ej22t]

Did you sand the block and the bottom of the sensor before installation?

Hmm...no. Was I supposed to? I've never heard that. It was completely shiney clean under the old one. I took about a half an hour and cleaned the entire pit of dispair with rags and got even the surrounding area pretty clean so I'm very sure it's making a good connection. Do you think that that isn't good enough?

[ciper]

Its probably fine, but just like the grounding mod helps sensors I always sand down the mating surfaces on sensors.

[legacy92ej22t]

Right on, cool. In the future I may just do that too to be sure.

[vrg3]

Wow. You did get pretty lucky after the initial bad luck though.

It's weird with that bottle -- the nipples seem to snap off if you look at them funny, but the rest of the bottle is tough as the EJ22T. I was trying to figure out a way to exploit that... too bad the plastic doesn't hold threads well. Epoxying a brass barb onto it, I guess, would be the strongest way to go... beaded hose barbs would be easier on both the hose and the bottle than the typical tapered hose barbs you get.

[legacy92ej22t]

Wow. You did get pretty lucky after the initial bad luck though.

Ya, how 'bout it.


This is from an old thread where I explained how I fixed my tank the last time it broke. I'm going to do this same thing to the new broken nipple on my old one that's not in the car anymore so I'll have a spare if the new one breaks:

Ok, I'll let you guys in on the $2.99 fix.

I had one of my nipples break off (that sounds bad) and what my friend and I did to fix it was this. We broke off the remaining brittle plastic where the nipple used to be and sanded it flush with the outside of the tank.

We then took a coat hanger and went in through the cap and fished it out the hole where the nipple used to be. Then we took a hollow piece of all thread that was about the same diameter as the hole and put a rubber washer, flat washer and back-up nut on the side that would stay in the tank. Then we fished it through to the hole using the hanger to guide it. Once we got it near the hole I used some needle nose to work it through the hole ( I used them on the inside of the all thread by opening them up to hold the all thread and guide it through). Then we put another rubber washer, flat washer and nut on the outside and tightened it down.

Now because the outside diameter of the nipple was larger then the inside diameter of the nipple, the all thread had a smaller outside diameter then the old nipple. This caused it to be a little too small for the stock coolant line. What we did was take a smaller hose, cut it to the length of the all thread that was on the outside of the tank and slid it on. Then we slid the coolant line over the all thread with the smaller hose as a gasket and tightened it down.

The whole job took 2 of us about 1.5 hrs. A lot of that was trial and error though. I could probably do it again in about 45 min..

I've driven all winter and about 6k miles like this without a single drip of coolant lost. It's also the line that my Saab intercooler puts pressure on, so it's nice and strong.

[minoru]

Questions....what nipple did you have broken?
And where did you find the whole thread

hollow piece of all thread that was about the same diameter

[legacy92ej22t]

Questions....what nipple did you have broken?
And where did you find the whole thread

hollow piece of all thread that was about the same diameter

Wow, sorry, I just noticed this post.

The all thread can be found in the lighting department of most hardware stores or at a lamp shop. It's very common.

Here's a pic of the tank once fixed. It's the one closest to the camera with the clamp.



Sorry it took so long for me to reply but I hope this helps.

[legacy92ej22t]

Oh and the smaller one at the top of that picture, that you can't see the clamp on, is the one that broke recently. I'm going to fix the same way too so I have a spare tank.

[minoru]

It is helpfull....unfortunately mine it's broken by the cap. The niple on top. I couldn't fit an all thread becouse u can't close the cap then. I found an aluminum piece with 2 diferent outside diameters. One barelly fited in the tank...but the other one was perfect for the hose. So that piece did the trick. I put a lot of epoxy. Unfortunately u cann't find a temperature resistant epoxy...or glue and to be hard at the same time. The temperature resistant one is flexible...and not strong enough. So...the niple didn't stick there for long.
If I understood wright u have to fix the top one to???? After u do it...tell us how:)

Thx for all the help

[vrg3]

Matt, if you're talking about fixing the small nipple on the back (not the small one coming off the radiator cap), be sure you don't lose the check-valve functionality that the stock setup has. Stuff (mostly air) is only meant to flow into the bottle through that nipple, not back out.

[legacy92ej22t]

Hmm...thanks Vikash, I did not know that. Well, I'm glad I have my new one because that makes it a wee bit more difficult.

[vrg3]

It's possible that the check valve mechanism isn't actually part of the nipple; I forget how it works.

Even if you lose the check valve functionality you should be able to just put a check valve in the hose somewhere between the radiator burp area and that nipple. It'd probably be cheaper to make one with a few parts from the hardware store than to try to buy one.

[legacy92ej22t]

Right on, cool. It might be a while 'till I do it though. It's at the end of a pretty long list. Lol

[BAC5.2]

You mean Brandywine had something!?

Jesus, I tried getting the front coils from a 79 F150 (for a Jeep budget lift I was going to do on my bosses XJ), and they were all kinds of messed up. Searched the computer, let me scrounge the yard, they didn't have JACK.

[evolutionmovement]

Could the stock nipples be drilled and tapped to hold one of those threaded lamp parts as a reinforcement before it breaks or is the hole the wrong size?

Steve