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2001 Outback Ltd engine noise

We just became owners of a 2001 outback ltd with a 2.5L 4cyl engine and automatic transmission. The car has somewhat high milage at 75000. My wife is concerned about some engine noise that is audible from inside the car, even when the engine is warmed up. At first I chalked this up to the piston-slap problem, but she keeps on hammering me with this issue, making me more paranoid.

Could there be some other cause of the noise in the engine, like maybe valve lash or something? It kinda sounds like it could be valve lash to me but I don't know enough about these engines to make a guess. It's kind of a tapping sound, and it does vary with RPM. However the noise is fairly slight and certainly can't be heard with the radio turned on. It's most noticeable at low RPMs, like when taking off at a green light.

Reply to
Crabby Gator
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Not to preclude you from taking this to a reputable Subaru dealer to have it checked out, but here what it could "possibly" be.

My 2002 OB was noiser and the engine harsher than other new cars, even when brand new. At first I thought that this was a defect, but after testing other Subaru's I found that it was perfectly normal for this vehicle for a couple of reasons.

  1. The fuel injection system on Subaru's seems to be rather noisy, especially when cold. You can hear the injectors opening and closing which will increase in speed comensurate with engine speed.

  1. The infamous piston slap does represent itself, but usually just when the engine is cold.

  2. The 2.5l engine is a bit harsher than most other 4cyl engines, and can seem louder. This is due to the boxer style of the engine, and the fact that this a pretty big bore 4 cyl engine.

Hope all works out well for you!

-Kurt

Crabby Gator wrote:

Reply to
Kurt C. Hack

My 02 OBW ltd had a similar problem. Subaru ended up relacing the timing chain tensioner.

As it was explained by to me by the tech: The tensioner is oil filled. The origninal either had a leak or didn't have enough oil in it (had air in it). When the engine was cold the tensioner left the chain loose until the air pressure built up enough to tighten the chain.

I had that repaired at 7k miles and its been trouble free since (47k miles).

This noise was so loud that I thought the engine sounded like it had a rod knocking. My wife called it the "cement mixer".

This may give your tech somewhere to start looking.

Reply to
Roy Shroyer

Thanks for the advice! Since I _am_ my tech, I will look in to that straight away.

CbG

"Roy Shroyer" wrote, in the most obfuscated way, the following:

Reply to
Crabby Gator

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