'97 EJ22 gutless after head swap
Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:04 pm
G'day,
So I'm a newbie seeking help. I have just helped a mate replace the passenger side head on his 1997 Liberty EJ22 SOHC 16 valve. Due to availability, the donor head actually came off a 1999 Liberty EJ22 which turned out to have solid lifters so we swapped the HLA assembly over from the old head and put the solid lifters to the side. Now, since starting her up again, she's very gutless below 2300rpm. At about 2300rpm, it almost clicks and becomes a lot better - but I suspect still not 100%.
It felt like the valve timing was out and we had just fitted a new timing belt kit at the same time so I have since checked the timing belt twice now and am quite certain that I have it fitted correctly but the engine is still gutless.
We transferred the HLA system over from the original head but did not change the cams over. Are the '97 and '99 EJ22 cams different? I know that compression was increased but my understanding was that this was done by means of different pistons. I would contact Subaru but they don't want to talk to me unless I have a VIN number which I do have for a 1997 Liberty but not for a 1999 Liberty to compare with.
There are no error codes whatsoever and the engine seems to run very reliably albeit slow. The plugs are brand new as well and have since not changed appearance much but have a very clean and white insulator, clean electrodes, and a small amount of black soot on the outside. There is a slight difference between the two heads and that is that the spark plugs from the passenger side head (the one that was replaced) have a slightly more tan tinge of colour on the insulator.
I did do a compression test and the passenger side cylinders read ~20PSI higher than the driver side but all cylinders were within spec (yes, I realise it's best for cylinders to not differ from each other so much).
Otherwise, is there something else that I should be looking at? I think I would probably see similar behaviour if the mixture was off. Unfortunately I do not have a spare MAF or O2 sensor to swap out. I did a test with the O2 sensor using a MAP gas torch and multimeter and it appeared to pass the test with flying colours. Does anyone know approximately what voltage their MAF reads when their EJ22 is at idle so I could compare?
Any help is appreciated. If I have left the wrong cam in the car, that's fine so long as I know what the problem is. At this stage, it's just frustrating not knowing and also not having an OBD2 port to interrogate sensors with.
Thanks!
Glen
PS. Not trying to complicate it all further, but the entire engine came out during the process which opens up a world of opportunities for us to have messed up so any other ideas that might explain the sudden gutless behaviour are welcome. I haven't leak tested the intake but I cannot see any disconnected/forgotten hoses anywhere!
So I'm a newbie seeking help. I have just helped a mate replace the passenger side head on his 1997 Liberty EJ22 SOHC 16 valve. Due to availability, the donor head actually came off a 1999 Liberty EJ22 which turned out to have solid lifters so we swapped the HLA assembly over from the old head and put the solid lifters to the side. Now, since starting her up again, she's very gutless below 2300rpm. At about 2300rpm, it almost clicks and becomes a lot better - but I suspect still not 100%.
It felt like the valve timing was out and we had just fitted a new timing belt kit at the same time so I have since checked the timing belt twice now and am quite certain that I have it fitted correctly but the engine is still gutless.
We transferred the HLA system over from the original head but did not change the cams over. Are the '97 and '99 EJ22 cams different? I know that compression was increased but my understanding was that this was done by means of different pistons. I would contact Subaru but they don't want to talk to me unless I have a VIN number which I do have for a 1997 Liberty but not for a 1999 Liberty to compare with.
There are no error codes whatsoever and the engine seems to run very reliably albeit slow. The plugs are brand new as well and have since not changed appearance much but have a very clean and white insulator, clean electrodes, and a small amount of black soot on the outside. There is a slight difference between the two heads and that is that the spark plugs from the passenger side head (the one that was replaced) have a slightly more tan tinge of colour on the insulator.
I did do a compression test and the passenger side cylinders read ~20PSI higher than the driver side but all cylinders were within spec (yes, I realise it's best for cylinders to not differ from each other so much).
Otherwise, is there something else that I should be looking at? I think I would probably see similar behaviour if the mixture was off. Unfortunately I do not have a spare MAF or O2 sensor to swap out. I did a test with the O2 sensor using a MAP gas torch and multimeter and it appeared to pass the test with flying colours. Does anyone know approximately what voltage their MAF reads when their EJ22 is at idle so I could compare?
Any help is appreciated. If I have left the wrong cam in the car, that's fine so long as I know what the problem is. At this stage, it's just frustrating not knowing and also not having an OBD2 port to interrogate sensors with.
Thanks!
Glen
PS. Not trying to complicate it all further, but the entire engine came out during the process which opens up a world of opportunities for us to have messed up so any other ideas that might explain the sudden gutless behaviour are welcome. I haven't leak tested the intake but I cannot see any disconnected/forgotten hoses anywhere!
