XT6 Engine Reseal. *PICS* *56K WaRnInG*

[NuclearBacon]

Hello to all!!!! Been a little while since I've been here. So heres the update. Originally I was going to sell my XT6 to my brother down in san deigo, so I could get my hands on a 2001 2.5 RS coupe. the car I've always wanted, and what started me on this subaru nuttery. So When my brother said he was interested, I took it upon myself to fix the little things that I didnt mind, but a new car owner might, especially my brother.

So I ordered valve cover gaskets, new brakes, clutch, rear and front main seals, oil pan gasket, spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, ect ect ect...

Well he can't buy the car. so I said SCREW it. And I'm doing it for myself now.

last week I pulled the grimy 22 year old engine out of the bay, where it's probably never seen the light of day (besides in gunma when it rolled down the assembly line) Today I cleaned it. hehehehehehe

I took a crap load of pics. They're basically in 4 stages.

Stage 1) The engine is dirty dirty, just pulled it out into the front yard

Stage 2) Sprayed it down with de-greaser, looks wet, still outfront

Stage 3) Semi-dry, semi clean, still outfront, but after pressure washed and degreased

Stage 4) IN THE GARAGE super clean, like after 4 hours with a flathead screwdriver and a rag, and paitence so I didnt marr the aluminum) ...as super clean as its going to get until I do more maintence.

So keep this in mind, because photobucket sucks, and put them in random order, even though I sorted them *harumph*

I thought it would be fun to post it, and show the horrible mess I made outfront of my house.

Enjoy

http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/dd329/nuclearbacon2008/Subaru/XT6/

and the slideshow: http://s528.photobucket.com/albums/dd329/nuclearbacon2008/Subaru/XT6/?albumview=slideshow

[Huck369]

Good work...
Make sure to clean up the engine bay before you drop it back in!

[NuclearBacon]

Definitly!!! i cant wait to go work on it, and not get freakin filthy disgusting. I'll take pics of it all

[mr.radon]

Man your valve cover gaskets look like they have not been replaced in a long time. How much oil were you leaking?
Harbor frieght sells little solvent sinks, great investment if you have a little shop space. Or go to good will and get large towels cheap. I use both methods to clean off engine parts. Also a cheap plastic 1" scraper works extremely well to get the layered stuff off the engine bay parts like the engine cradle and such.
If you have any questions on seals to replace and stuff like that just ask. And word of advice, if you replace the rear oil seal use an OEM one. I bought a couple off rock auto and another site as did a friend, both of our seals did not seat into the rear housing well enough. They slide forward allowing a lot of oil to pour out of the engine. Never had an issue with any other non-OEM seals like that before.

[NuclearBacon]

Man your valve cover gaskets look like they have not been replaced in a long time. How much oil were you leaking?

It was bad. Like,... BAD. it had gotten SO bad over the past month or so, it was the main thing to make me go, enough is enough! i'm doing it all! and when i got the car, it was so dirty, i couldnt tell where the leak was coming from. it looked like it was from the rear main seal. it was not.

Also a cheap plastic 1" scraper works extremely well to get the layered stuff off the engine bay parts like the engine cradle and such..

I was going to ask what would be a good tool for scraping all the crud off without marring the aluminum. plastic scraper. and it'll get the hard stuff? i'll look into it.

if you replace the rear oil seal use an OEM one. I bought a couple off rock auto and another site as did a friend, both of our seals did not seat into the rear housing well enough. They slide forward allowing a lot of oil to pour out of the engine. Never had an issue with any other non-OEM seals like that before.

GOOD TO KNOW as i sit with my rock auto purchased rear main seal i was going to use.... I'll get on ordering an OEM one right now.

THANK YOU! what a great post!

[SUBBYRU89]

Doesn't it seem that you get the best feelings by doing things for yourself? Maybe it's the whole accomplishment thing, but I know I get a tickle when I finish a task

[Huck369]

Doesn't it seem that you get the best feelings by doing things for yourself? Maybe it's the whole accomplishment thing, but I know I get a tickle when I finish a task

yeah, I get a "tickle" when I finish a task by myself too

[mr.radon]

Most of the stuff I found in the engine bay is not "rock hard" but kinds spongy. A plastic scraper works pretty good. I hold a bucket underneath and it gets the built up stuff off. I then use engine brit and a scrub brush to work it over followed by "good will" towels.
I the engine can also be scraped then cleaned. I usually hit the block with a wire wheel and buy some stiff plastic bristle and bronze brush.

Also, there is a neat trick to the rear main oil seal. You can make a mark to keep it from backing out. see the post:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5135&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=oil+seal&start=15

[Turbone]

I've cleaned some incredibly dirty engines, not all of them mine
I've used lots of stuff, but the purple degreaser I get from O'Reillys is pretty good.
Then I use a plastic putty knife for the thick caked on stuff and a plastic detail brush to scrub.
Then rinse with water and repeat. Once the majority of grease is gone, I use a wire wheel on my Makita.
I get some pretty good results.

[NuclearBacon]

Just cleaned the engine bay!!! same link!!!

Compare Before and After

[SubaruJawn]

A Clean Engine is a Happy engine.

you guys should see The Loyale's Loyale
almost looks NEW

and only if we could take out hearts out like that and clean it

[grossgary]

+1 on the OEM rear seal all the way.

[NuclearBacon]

So i just got the OEM seal in the mail today!!! happy saturday to me!!!! but i also have the rockauto one. So i'm going to take a number of measurements and also photos to prove why the oem seal is better then the rock auto one. Hopefully that'll "seal" the deal! hot diggity damn i'm clever. also mounted my go pro camera to the bumper of my car... took a quick pic to see alignment. neat

[austinXT6]

Nuke,

Nice job! Just like your valve cover gaskets, I've had other oil leaks fool me into thinking it was the rear seal too... turned out it was my cam seals. They're easy to replace when you do your timing belts, etc. But you're right, while you have the engine out you might as well replace it. Same w/ the oil pan gasket, since you'd have to at least jack the engine up to get to it's back bolts if the engine was still in the car.

Rob,

Wow - too bad you couldn't get those blocks shiny!

[NuclearBacon]

The next phase!!!!! I went through the bottom side of the engine, got the oil pan off, cleaned and painted it, got most of the gunk off the bottom of the engine, new rear main seal, took the access plate off and RTV Blue'd it instead of that gasket, and installed the newly machined flywheel. I was going to mount the clutch, but the pressure plate was too big. Curious what happens next

All pics can be seen Here. CLICK ME!









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