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Well the engine that was pulled from the Saab failed (or so I thought) and it was replaced. It was stopped as soon as the bottom end (or so I thought) rattling was present. I checked out the motor and found out the following.
One of the tension-or pulley bearings had seized and the bottom end noise I thought was failed rod bearings, was actually the bottom right geared tension pulley rattling around on its race, or whatever you want to call it. When I pulled the motor the belt was was little loose and somehow it stayed in time. I pulled the timing covers and there were ball bearings bouncing around and worn rubber from the outside of the belt rubbing everywhere. I gently pried the belt off the geared pulley and took a picture. I may have potentially bought a motor and swapped this out for no reason. Well see though.
Anyway, from what the interwebz says, and from certain hearsay, the SOHC from 2005 are interference motors (piston to valve). With the belt attached the motor turns and it has compression. Hmmm. I'm going to scope it out and check the pistons. Is there any way I can check the valves without pulling the head? Like do a leakdown, then maybe a compression test? I might do that and see where this goes. Worst comes to worst I can take the motor over to Turn-In-Concepts and have them do it professionally and give me receipts of the data.
Chances are it's effed (according to the synopsis) but if the information comes back good compression/leakdown I will do what I can to get a timing kit, w/ all new bearings and a new belt and possibly get this motor to someone that may need it. Does anyone here have a blown Linear that can't afford to replace? Maybe we could do a raffle for them? Possibly waive a delivery if they are close? Or maybe just sell it cheap. I'd like to pay back the commun for helping me out with my woes.
If the information comes back bad I will just salvage it and part out the harness, manifold, etc?
Pictures
Here's when I removed the timing cover for the first time on the old motor... hmmm, yep!
This is what happens when you don't get your timing components replaced when it's due... Learn from this!!!
Last edited by xxtokesxx (2012-04-24 08:43:26)
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A bent valve will certainly show up on a compression test. If one or more valves are bent, they won't seal, and compression will be low.
You'd need to do the timing belt to get a good test though.
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This is just one data point, so it may or may not be relevant, but I intentionally bought a short block with a spun bearing so that I could take it apart and see what it looked like. The thing was nearly impossible to turn over. I had to thread a few bolts into the crankshaft, and then use a breaker bar just to get to budge.
So if your motor was easy to turn over, that might indicate it wasn't damaged. But again, I've only ever worked with one damaged motor, so I really don't know what I'm talking about. 
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kornfeld wrote:
This is just one data point, so it may or may not be relevant, but I intentionally bought a short block with a spun bearing so that I could take it apart and see what it looked like. The thing was nearly impossible to turn over. I had to thread a few bolts into the crankshaft, and then use a breaker bar just to get to budge.
So if your motor was easy to turn over, that might indicate it wasn't damaged. But again, I've only ever worked with one damaged motor, so I really don't know what I'm talking about.
Not totally irrelevant! But here's another point... Rod bearing failure is pretty common on oil deprived motors... Usually they are designed to fail first. If the motor you bought was that hard to turn that bearing was not only spun, but it was so bad that it must have depleted the bearing altogether. The rod probably go so hot it expanded and/or got caught up in the crank!
I've had a rod bearing go in an older nissan I had... if they start to go you can usually hear a small tapping sound in the bottom end (which is the sound of the rod tapping the crank because of the newly acquired tolerance). Usually at this point you can still save things as long as the crank is not scored You can open up the bottom end and replace replace them pretty easily. i.e. the motor should turn pretty easy.
Here's a pic of when I was checking the verdict on a 200sx and putting new rod bearings in it.
lizzardo wrote:
A bent valve will certainly show up on a compression test. If one or more valves are bent, they won't seal, and compression will be low.
You'd need to do the timing belt to get a good test though.
Right... I wonder if a leakdown would be a better indication. Sucks I'll have to drop around $300 on a timing kit and belt just to test this. Do they sell just the single bearing/pulley that broke seperately? I could definitely buy a belt and that for now so I could get the test done.
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xxtokesxx wrote:
lizzardo wrote:
A bent valve will certainly show up on a compression test. If one or more valves are bent, they won't seal, and compression will be low.
You'd need to do the timing belt to get a good test though.Right... I wonder if a leakdown would be a better indication. Sucks I'll have to drop around $300 on a timing kit and belt just to test this. Do they sell just the single bearing/pulley that broke seperately? I could definitely buy a belt and that for now so I could get the test done.
I suppose you might be able to finagle a way to do a leakdown test without fixing the timing belt tensioner. It's been decades since I've done a leakdown test, but as I recall, it means getting the piston for each cylinder under test to be at TDC at the end of the compression cycle. If you can get that done for all cylinders, it might be easier than setting up with the starter motor for a compression test.
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lizzardo wrote:
xxtokesxx wrote:
lizzardo wrote:
A bent valve will certainly show up on a compression test. If one or more valves are bent, they won't seal, and compression will be low.
You'd need to do the timing belt to get a good test though.Right... I wonder if a leakdown would be a better indication. Sucks I'll have to drop around $300 on a timing kit and belt just to test this. Do they sell just the single bearing/pulley that broke seperately? I could definitely buy a belt and that for now so I could get the test done.
I suppose you might be able to finagle a way to do a leakdown test without fixing the timing belt tensioner. It's been decades since I've done a leakdown test, but as I recall, it means getting the piston for each cylinder under test to be at TDC at the end of the compression cycle. If you can get that done for all cylinders, it might be easier than setting up with the starter motor for a compression test.
Yeah, it's looking like I'm going to have to send it out for that. The only starter I got is in the car! lol I'll see what I can find on the bay.
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A leakdown test should be easy to do, turn the crank by hand to TDC on the cylinder you want, turn the cams to close the valves, and run the leakdown test. We use to do this on race engines, test leakdown with the timing belt off (the timing belt was taken off for other reasons.) It was pretty easy to turn everything by hand or with a socket and ratchet on the pulley bolts. Just be careful to not hit the valves with the pistons. On a boxer like this engine you can set 2 cylinders to TDC with the valves closed and all you'll need to do is move the tester. Just make sure to properly re-time everything when you are done.
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Going to take the old motor out to Turn-in concepts to get checked out next week it looks like to see what's good.
Does anyone on the forum need a motor, or is stranded and doesn't have enough money to pay for a new one? I'm going to see about getting a new timing kit put on if it checks out okay. I'll just scrap the heads and sell the shortblock, intake manifold, and harness to someone that needs it cheap.
LMK
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Finally got the timing kit in from shipment... New belt, and all new bearings. I know the water pump was changed on this motor so I'm going to leave it be. I'll maybe dip into this next week. Does anyone have a good procedure for getting the 9-2x timed up. I see the marks on the belt, but need to understand how I ensure the cam gears are lined up.
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Don't go by any marks on the belt. Go by the timing marks on the cam gears. There should be paint marks from the factory on the gears, too - there were on my Aero.
Use the Impreza factory service manual on this site for guidance.
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Coolio... Thanks! Haven't had too much time this week but I will check when I have some.
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I'm taking the engine to Turn In Concepts this week to get the new Belt Installed, the new idler gears & pullies installed, and to get a leak down test completed. After I get the information back, and the motor checks okay, I'll post the findings and then this motor will be up for sale for anyone who needs it.
Thanks again!
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Motor is getting leak down tested tomorrow... I dropped it off today at TiC.
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No word back yet. I'll try and call them today 
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AWESOME NEWS! I just got a call back from Clint at TiC and he told me the following:
EJ25 (2005 SOHC) Leakdown Test Numbers's are as follows
Cylinder #1 = 7%
Cylinder #2 = 6%
Cylinder #3 = 9%
Cylinder #4 = 6%
The are going to follow up with getting the new idler pulleys and bearing installed, including the new timing belt, and tensioner. (W/P Was serviced already) The motor should be ready to go by next week around this time.
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Looks like a nice n tight motor. I'd be happy to rock it in my car if it wasn't missing 2 cams and a turbo.
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