2.2L Engine Roar Please what is it?
 

I am wishing someone could tell from their experience about a noise I hear from the engine.

I am looking at a used Legacy and I don't want to get stuck. I have never seen this on a Subaru before and I thought some of you might be interested in this.

When the engine is cold it sounds fine.

After it warms up there is a consistent rumble noise. Kind of low frequency and sounding similar to a lot of air moving, sort of like a lions roar. At idle when its hot it is not real loud and as the engine speed picks up it get louder. When I took off the oil filler cap I could here the rumble roar inside the filler pipe. So it is inside the engine. Any ideas?

It is a 94 Legacy 2.2 with about 167k miles. It seems to run okay, has pick-up and has power. I took off the hose to PCV. The face of the PCV is all crapped up with black carbon. Looks like the PCV is clogged up a lot. The exhaust looks clean no smoke. The oil pan has the bottom pushed up and I just mention that.

The blow-by out of the crankcase I checked with the hose off the PCV. This seemed a little higher than other Subaru engines I have checked and the flow looked clean. The flow went away when the engine speed pick-up.

Take care of that SVX :)

John

Re: 2.2L Engine Roar Please what is it?
 

It sounds to me like what I got when changing to a header set on an Arrow I had......

Of course, it cleared up, once I had the Muffler installed. So, the point is???
I think you will find yourself with an Exhaust Leak, prior to the Muffler or the Cat. And it could very possibly be right up against the heads.

Let us know what you find.

Re: 2.2L Engine Roar Please what is it?
 

I was under the car and checked out the exhaust. I was very concerned that the noise was coming from a hole in the exhaust. I did find any feeling around with my hand for air and listening. To my surprize the noise was loader when the oil fill cap was taken off and I listened inside the engine.

Since I asked this question I have learned that it is most likely the rod bearings that are worn open. This due to the crunched oil pan and limited oil flow to the bearings or oil and air flow to the bearings. The oil pick-up pipe is most likely cracked or crimped.

Peace,

John