Hello,

I was wondering if anyone else shared this same concern or had the same problem?

I have a 2000 RS - 33,000miles - using Mobil 1 Synthetic.

Problem- My engine is noisy as hell- especially in the morning- it is a mechanical sound- really annoying! even at idle!

Please comment on this one1

Ciao,
John

There was a thread not to long ago about loudness at startup. My MY99 is almost unbearable at startup. If I'm not mistaken it boiled down to two things:
1) Something about the EJ25 heads makes the oild drain out of the lifters like mad, and the valve train makes an awful racket unitl they get rejuiced
2)SOmeone said that the piston rings tolerences were unusally sensitive to thermal expansion, and that they make a racket until they warm up and exapand to the right size.

hope this helps, and it seems there's no cure. Has anyone had any sucess in experimenting with oild additives or different wieght oils?

rj

mine makes this "tiki-tiki-tiki" sound when i accelerate, any input on that?!?

The accepted factory tolerance for valve lash is quite large-- going from memory it's something like .090" - .220" on intake. (If you have your service manual in your hand and want to correct me, please do so.)

Believe me when I say that's a big difference, and the clatter at idle would be considerably different.

The other possible causes of that type of noise are belt tensioners and piston slap. Any mechanic worth his salt armed with an automotive stethoscope should be able to localize the sound. Hell, an enthusiast should be able to do it-- although they might not know what to do about the sound, they should be able to tell where it's coming from.

Formula,

My dealer at one point gave me a form explaning that the 2.5 motors will make that kind of noise when cold, i dont think it was a SOA TSB, but i think they had a rash of people complaning about it.

I have to take MY99 in cause i keep getting a CE light that goes away, i'll see if they have anymore of the sheets and try and get one to post.

I would say don't worry about it for now, mine sounds like a 30yr old sewing machine!!

AaRoN

MY98 leg gt does it too. lotta clatter. subaru says its normal. had no probs at 24,000 miles

What brand of oil filter do you use with that Mobil 1? Some cheap brands allow more oil back into the filter and and oil pan through a crappy cardboard valve instead of keeping it up top. Most people seem to agree that Purolators are your best bet, and avoid Frams like the plague.

[This message has been edited by Bottom Feeder (edited November 03, 2000).]

The tiking sound is more than likely the lifters. One way you can get rid of it is when you have your valve cover gaskets replaced have them also take out the rocker arm assembly and clean everything. I am going to do this to my car tomarrow and will let you know how it works. I can also say that some of the 2.2 motors do that as well. It is pretty amazing how small a piece of dirt can be and still clog the air way, not letting the lifter pump up. Mine is not bad but noticeable. Hopefully it will be gone tomarrow afternoon.

Another note :

In the past with my VW using full synth my engine sounded terrible, if i switched to a "blend" it was better and if i used regular organic it sounded fine.

Why is this....well... full synth doesn't have the "padding" properities that reg. organic has. Thus everything banging together in the engine will be louder.

Subes tick like old sewing machines anyway, my bro'z old 87' gl wagon sounded the same as MY99, just a lot more BEAT.

So, next time the old is changed just give some regular organic a try (it's only 3k miles you have to run it) see what happens.

AaRoN

Well I just finished replacing my valve cover gaskets and I found out something new. Most of you probably allready know this but I didn't. I have a MY98 RS. I just found out that the DOHC engines have solid lifters and not hydrolic like the SOHC motors. So cleaning the valvetrain would not get rid of my ticking, it will allways tick. So that means that everyone with a 2.5 from 96-98 also needs to have the valves adjusted every 100,000 miles. One of the subaru specialists at work told me it is a 8-12 hour job. So everyone who has a DOHC EJ25 start saving your pennys for the 100k service.

Mine kind of sounds like a bus.

When I start my car in the morning, it sounds like it's ticking too. I believe that it is a combo of the lifters and the belts. After the engine warms up, it idles so quiet that I have to give it some revs at stop lights to make sure it's on!! Just one of those things. What I do, is when I start my car in the morning, let it run for like a minute, give it a couple of revs and it stops. Just my 2 cents http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smile.gif

man that's jacked!! mine is the total opposite, it's fine when i start, but during acceleration that's when it makes the noise, i heard it normal for evberyone else's situation, but what about mine?
thanks,
-matt-

Green Hornet: yes, your DOHC EJ25 has solid lifters. All of the DOHC ones did except the '96.

However you are mistaken about the SOHC. There are no lifters at all, the rocker arms ride directly on the valves. There is one rocker per intake valve and one per pair of exhaust.

Hey ColinL that is good to know. We have not gotten any 2.5s in for any major engine work since I have been working there. I'm starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to swap a SOHC 2.5 into mine later on. I dont know how much that would entail though. Obviously motor and ECU but what else I am not sure of. Oh well there is plenty of time for me to think about that. If I go that rout I can get the new MAP sensor as well, that would be sweet.

could be Piston slap as well.