Oh-Oh's, I Think I Broke It!

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by victorb

I thInk your belt slipped one or two inches that's why it caused misfires and cam timing abnormalities. Realign your crank pulley(usually there's an arrow pointing downwards pulley-block) and make sure to tighten your belt just right, I supposed you over tightened it as your tensioner was moving back and fourth pretty bad

For timing, the crank has a timing gear (which is not on the crank pulley btw) which has to be timing to a mark below the timing cover (which is the part behind the crank pulley). That has to be aligned along with the gears on the cams which have their own timing marks. Once the chain is on there and the chain tensioner is installed, that is good. Then other stuff gets installed, then the timing cover and eventually the oil seal and pulley, which fit a certain way into the crank. But again, the pulley and serpentine belt in no way affect timing on this engine.

[victorb]

I hope you are right. Lets see the real cause. That's what I believe thus, will leave my pulleys oem.

I double checked my cars awhile ago (86 & bmw), tensioner doesn't move that much, the video above was somewhat wild / crazy. Something is wrong

[LeeMaster]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

For timing, the crank has a timing gear (which is not on the crank pulley btw) which has to be timing to a mark below the timing cover (which is the part behind the crank pulley). That has to be aligned along with the gears on the cams which have their own timing marks. Once the chain is on there and the chain tensioner is installed, that is good. Then other stuff gets installed, then the timing cover and eventually the oil seal and pulley, which fit a certain way into the crank. But again, the pulley and serpentine belt in no way affect timing on this engine.

I never worked on timing chain before, but is there any possibility that when OP was installing the crank pulley he forced the timing chain to jump a tooth to cause timing to be off? I have worked on timing belt before on the older EJ18/22/25 and I have had my own share of jumping a tooth to cause timing to be off. And the symptoms are very extremely similar to what the OP is experiencing.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by victorb

I hope you are right. Lets see the real cause. That's what I believe thus, will leave my pulleys oem.

I double checked my cars awhile ago (86 & bmw), tensioner doesn't move that much, the video above was somewhat wild / crazy. Something is wrong

It's being exaggerated due to the misfire. The entine engine is moving and RPMs aren't stable. Mines move a LOT, not much less than his.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by LeeMaster

I never worked on timing chain before, but is there any possibility that when OP was installing the crank pulley he forced the timing chain to jump a tooth to cause timing to be off? I have worked on timing belt before on the older EJ18/22/25 and I have had my own share of jumping a tooth to cause timing to be off. And the symptoms are very extremely similar to what the OP is experiencing.

The tensioner won't be affected by the crank pulley removal. The thing to be careful with when doing the pulley is the oil seal behind it. If that gets pulled out and not reinstalled correctly the pulley will wobble badly, etc. Even that won't change timing on these. The pulley on these cars is used for two things: 1. To drive the serpentine belt and 2. The bolt holding the pulley in holds the oil seal in place.

[Chimpo]

Originally Posted by LeeMaster

I never worked on timing chain before, but is there any possibility that when OP was installing the crank pulley he forced the timing chain to jump a tooth to cause timing to be off? I have worked on timing belt before on the older EJ18/22/25 and I have had my own share of jumping a tooth to cause timing to be off. And the symptoms are very extremely similar to what the OP is experiencing.

Don't forget that the OP said the pulley has been installed since October. I would imagine this issue would have shown basically as soon as he turned the car on after install if somehow he managed to jump a tooth.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by dwx

Those codes on the other models with AVCS are almost always due to oiling issues. If you received one of those codes on the turbo model it usually meant your turbo or engine was due to be replaced shortly thereafter...

On the turbo cars (and I believe on our engines as well) there are screens in the banjo bolts which are there to help filter out stuff, but in general they ended up getting clogged or collapsing which causes low oil pressure and starvation. Not saying it's the case here, but Subaru started removing the screens in some bolts but not all of them and it's been a source of issues for a long time now.

Some folks have had bad oil filters which clogged and caused low oil pressure and these codes. How long has it been since you changed the oil? Do you have an oil pressure gauge? I would consider it mandatory for doing track days. White smoke and bad noises you could have valve damage because the AVCS system wasn't actuating correctly due to inconsistent oil pressure. As much as I hate to say it I see an engine teardown in your future. Best case maybe something wrong in the AVCS system causing the cam to be in the wrong position and that's what is causing it to run poorly.

The crank pulley and serpentine belt have nothing to do with the cams.

If oiling is the cause then I'm wondering if he's running 0W-20. I saw low pressures than concerned me with 0W-20 in general so I switched to 5W-30 which had good pressure.

[track_warrior]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

If oiling is the cause then I'm wondering if he's running 0W-20. I saw low pressures than concerned me with 0W-20 in general so I switched to 5W-30 which had good pressure.

Im using 5w-30 Mobil 1. The car is still misfiring constantly in idle and the weird thing is there is no check engine light but she smoked for a bit on startup. Going to the dealer tomorrow and hopefully they can figure it out. A friend in a local shop says subarus often crack pistons and he says my car seems to have the symptoms. Im not very mechanically savvy but i hope its nothing serious.

Some notes:

-My oil level has not dropped since Feb 1st, its still full.
-Coolant seems fine as well

[White64Goat]

Did you miss a shift and over-rev the engine?

[King Tut]

My guess is that your tuner tuned the AVCS very aggressively and for some reason some part of that system began having issues and has now failed. Could be oil pressure related since it occured at the track.

[FReSh]

Originally Posted by pcasso87

Im using 5w-30 Mobil 1, im still on the tune since im flashing back to oem tomorrow but i changed to the stock pulley and turned her on. The car is still misfiring constantly in idle and the weird thing is there is no check engine light but she smoked for a bit on startup. Going back to stock flash tomorrow and hopefully the dealer can figure it out. A friend in a local shop says subarus often crack pistons and he says my car seems to have the symptoms. Im not very mechanically savvy but i hope its nothing serious.

Some notes:

-My oil level has not dropped since Feb 1st, its still full.
-Coolant seems fine as well

If your oil level hasn't changed, I doubt it's a cracked piston. I'm not sure how much it is smoking, but it would probably smoke profusely and consume oil if the piston was cracked. Did you do a leakdown test? That will tell you for sure. This could be something as simple as a bad crank sensor or cam sensor telling it to fire at the wrong time or messing with the VVTI. It's hard to believe that one of those sensors could malfunction at 4100 miles though.

Hope you get it figured out and back to the track, down-time sucks!

[20valvewynn83]

Really guys the crank pulley does not effect timing the engine is spun with an internal chain and the crank position sensor is on the flywheel side. If anything one of the VVTI came gears are damaged. Maybe you are using thicker oil then recommended and debre is in your oil blocking the passages. Or like others said a tune issue is the cause not making timing adjustment when needed.

[FReSh]

From those CEL's I would check that bank-1 camshaft sensor.

[track_warrior]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

The cams are chain driven I'm guessing, driven off a gear on the crank. The serp belt isn't driving them for sure. The serp belt could not be installed at all and the car would start and run fine. The tensioner on these cars is always moving all over.

Napoleon, I got a code this weekend too. Car stumbled and picked up an ignition coil sec circuit fault. It cleared itself then came back later. Cleared itself again. All was normal before it happened?

Yup all was normal before it happened, its really a weird issue with the car. Im praying its not a cracked piston.

Originally Posted by White64Goat

Did you miss a shift and over-rev the engine?

Nope, i actually shift at 7.2k rpm's since there is really not much going on after that.