'97 Forester EJ20 with EJ22 valves???

tommo · Post by **tommo** » Tue Jun 18, 2013 12:07 pm

Does anyone know anything about these forester EJ20 engines having EJ22 valves?

The whole story: 2 weeks ago I got the timing belt on my forester changed because it was about 7 years old (despite having only done 17000km). I was then on a trip last weekend and the check engine light came on and the car rolled to a halt... Turns out a piece of rubber had dislodged from the timing belt cover seal and got caught in the belt, causing one side to get thrown out of time. Upon internal inspection the valves were bent on one side of the engine, so I'm getting both heads done now. The head guy calls up my mechanic today and tells him the replacement valves they ordered don't match the old ones because the engine had EJ22 valves. Any ideas?

Moral of the story: if the timing belt cover seal looks like it needs replacing - REPLACE IT!

Point · Post by **Point** » Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:21 pm

wierd. I had a similar thing happen to my son's car, but it was the fan belt that shredded and went between the timing belt and the crank pulley. I put the timing back and it is still running fine. I was pretty sure that the early EJ motors were non-interference.

As far as the valves go, I'm not sure on the actual differences, but I do know that even though the heads look similar the rocker setup is different. The Lib EJ22 uses hydraulic lash adjusters, but the Forrie has roller cam followers

The motors did change mid '98 and afaik these are the interference motors. You can tell these (in the Forrie anyway) by the spark plug leads going through the rocker covers, not above them.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:51 pm

tommo wrote:Does anyone know anything about these forester EJ20 engines having EJ22 valves?

Dunno, but PM FROG with your VIN for part numbers/details. He can also do you a good deal on them too - he's great to deal with!

tommo wrote:The head guy calls up my mechanic today and tells him the replacement valves they ordered don't match the old ones because the engine had EJ22 valves. Any ideas?

Your engine could have needed new heads at some stage and a set of EJ22 heads were used as they were available at the time, they're all pretty much the same so no real issues bolting them up.

Point wrote:I was pretty sure that the early EJ motors were non-interference.

They are until somewhere in the Gen 2 Libertys I think - There's a bit of a grey area around what time they came in but from what I can gather I think it was sometime in 1995 that they hit the Australian market...

Point wrote:As far as the valves go, I'm not sure on the actual differences, but I do know that even though the heads look similar the rocker setup is different. The Lib EJ22 uses hydraulic lash adjusters, but the Forrie has roller cam followers

You'll find cam followers (aka roller rockers) on the EJ22 as well - I'm sure it follows the same thing as the interference EJ's as mentioned above.

Cheers

Bennie

tommo · Post by **tommo** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:46 pm

Hmmm, well thanks for the insight anyway guys. My understanding of engine internals dries up when you start talking about hydraulic lash adjusters and rocker cam followers. All I know is the car is running again and franken-engine seems A-OK.

I was pretty sure that the early EJ motors were non-interference.

The valves were definitely bent on the side that was thrown out of sync, so I gather this means it's an interference type engine?

Your engine could have needed new heads at some stage and a set of EJ22 heads were used as they were available at the time, they're all pretty much the same so no real issues bolting them up.

I didn't think any work had been done on the engine, as it's only done 120k. So the EJ22 valves remains a mystery. But good to know it's not anything to worry about.

Thanks

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 9:02 pm

tommo wrote:The valves were definitely bent on the side that was thrown out of sync, so I gather this means it's an interference type engine?

If your subi is only 7 years old it's definitely an interference engine - no two ways about it. The cross over phase was in the mid to late '90s AFAIK.

As for the EJ22 heads I've got nothing further that I can add.

Cheers

Bennie