I briefly mentioned this in my own Legacy thread, but it's turning into a bigger fiasco than initially it might have been so deserves it's own thread
It's a 2004 Subaru Legacy 2.0T Twinscroll, 5 Speed Manual, imported by Torque GT in 2019 with around 55k miles. I found it on eBay as a non-runner (It had a forged engine in 2021 or 2022) and took a chance on it hoping it was something simple, but naturally of course it wasn't.
It is however still only 65k miles, very clean body and great underneath. It came in as a Grade 4 import and it looks every part of that. The bodywork is flawless other than the usual faded paint on the rear spoiler
So off I go to collect it with a borrowed car transporter and a tow vehicle. Got the day-boat to Liverpool on Friday, collected the car from Birmingham on Friday evening around 2115, then a slow drive back up to Birkenhead where I slept in the boot, and brushed my teeth with toothpaste and a tin of 7-up after forgetting to get water for that
Onto the Day boat again on Saturday (Night boat was fully booked both Friday and Saturday evenings) and back home. The battery is flat on the silver car and I've made no attempt to start it.
Back home and pushed in place where it'll likely stay for a while. Battery charger put on to charge overnight.
The next day I came out and popped the bonnet and within minutes the cat was already at work diagnosing the issue. Unfortunately my trusty Chinese battery charger blew up during the overnight charge. Bummer. Battery is still dead (It was at 1.5v when I put it on charge and now it's 0.5v!)
Checked all the fluids, nothing concerning other than the oil is a bit low (Dangerous game in a Subaru that) so I topped it up, checked the timing belt was attached and got the jump leads on, but it didn't sound good. Definitely sounded of low compression. Also found the 1st lambda sensor unplugged which after checking with @bludgod turns out to be a common trick to get a barely running car to at least run. But it's beyond that at this stage,
Compression results were shocking. A health one should be 120psi or so per cylinder
Oh dear....
Anyway. I'm not defeated. Other than the goosed engine, the car is very clean with decent miles and deserves more than being imported from Japan and blown up twice to be broken for parts, so it'll be plan B. I've always wanted to build a stronger forged engine for my own car, so if the cylinder heads are still ok on this one, they can be used to build my engine using a new stronger block, then my old engine (Similar miles, very healthy and doesn't leak anything) can become the donor for this one
Oh, and that battery was completely dead too. I got another charger and within 30 minutes it was hot, gassing and sizzling. Took it off the charge and 4 hours later it was just as hot and still sizzling! Mobile travel heater anyone?
It's a 2004 Subaru Legacy 2.0T Twinscroll, 5 Speed Manual, imported by Torque GT in 2019 with around 55k miles. I found it on eBay as a non-runner (It had a forged engine in 2021 or 2022) and took a chance on it hoping it was something simple, but naturally of course it wasn't.
It is however still only 65k miles, very clean body and great underneath. It came in as a Grade 4 import and it looks every part of that. The bodywork is flawless other than the usual faded paint on the rear spoiler
So off I go to collect it with a borrowed car transporter and a tow vehicle. Got the day-boat to Liverpool on Friday, collected the car from Birmingham on Friday evening around 2115, then a slow drive back up to Birkenhead where I slept in the boot, and brushed my teeth with toothpaste and a tin of 7-up after forgetting to get water for that
Onto the Day boat again on Saturday (Night boat was fully booked both Friday and Saturday evenings) and back home. The battery is flat on the silver car and I've made no attempt to start it.
Back home and pushed in place where it'll likely stay for a while. Battery charger put on to charge overnight.
The next day I came out and popped the bonnet and within minutes the cat was already at work diagnosing the issue. Unfortunately my trusty Chinese battery charger blew up during the overnight charge. Bummer. Battery is still dead (It was at 1.5v when I put it on charge and now it's 0.5v!)
Checked all the fluids, nothing concerning other than the oil is a bit low (Dangerous game in a Subaru that) so I topped it up, checked the timing belt was attached and got the jump leads on, but it didn't sound good. Definitely sounded of low compression. Also found the 1st lambda sensor unplugged which after checking with @bludgod turns out to be a common trick to get a barely running car to at least run. But it's beyond that at this stage,
Compression results were shocking. A health one should be 120psi or so per cylinder
Oh dear....
Anyway. I'm not defeated. Other than the goosed engine, the car is very clean with decent miles and deserves more than being imported from Japan and blown up twice to be broken for parts, so it'll be plan B. I've always wanted to build a stronger forged engine for my own car, so if the cylinder heads are still ok on this one, they can be used to build my engine using a new stronger block, then my old engine (Similar miles, very healthy and doesn't leak anything) can become the donor for this one
Oh, and that battery was completely dead too. I got another charger and within 30 minutes it was hot, gassing and sizzling. Took it off the charge and 4 hours later it was just as hot and still sizzling! Mobile travel heater anyone?
