Exhaust banging on modified cars - whats the point?

Lashout_UK said:
An EZ30 owner making jokes about K-series head gasket failure? Brave. Very brave.

:D
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Nothing wrong with EZ30 engines, they can outlive owners as long as they are serviced i suspect you never owned one and are confusing with the other 4 pot EJ lumps from Subaru. The MT facelift Subarus with EZ30R lumps have some tweaks also to the AVCS/AVLS timing with intake valve lift occurring @ 2,000 rpm and over 4k rpm its just wild.

The EZ30 only has 245hp from 3 litres and is very refiuned and unstressed, on tick over also it sounds much better than a clatterr bang diesel - I had the misfortune of having a Jetta diesel a few years back in Ireland on a hire car, ugh

 
ericmcn said:
Nothing wrong with EZ30 engines, they can outlove owners as long as they are serviced i suspect you never owned one and are confusing with the other 4 pot EJ lumps from Subaru.
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Nope, I've owned one – as have several of my associates. Somewhat predictably, all have done their head gaskets in. It's not an uncommon problem for the H6. I'm not saying it's an unreliable engine, by any stretch, but it does get painful quickly when they let go.

I didn't bother fixing mine, as a result; it wouldn't have been cost-effective as you'd have to do both sides (the timing cover is a right pain, too) and renewing the chains and tensioners would have made it even more expensive. If you were going in there, it'd only be worth it if you did the whole lot. Not worth it given the value of the car, in my instance, particularly given that you'd want to pull the engine to make it as easy as possible. Then you're into looking at the clutch and all the ancillaries. Wasn't going to go down that road...

The 2.0 EJs aren't bad on the head gasket front (mine racked up 171k and is still going, and that was a turbo), but the 2.5s can be a little more frail. A stretch too far, methinks. At least you don't have the H6 inlet manifold problems and the other two coil packs to deal with (and the rest), mind.

Can't argue with it sounding better than a diesel, though! :)
 
Replacing that car is quite difficult but i am veering towards a V8 - A Jag XF-R is a contender but then again I am thinking a more sedate Lexus LS460 is what is needed.
 
Lashout_UK said:
Nope, I've owned one – as have several of my associates. Predictably, all have done their head gaskets in. I didn't bother fixing mine; it wouldn't have been cost-effective as you'd have to do both sides (the timing cover is a right pain, too) and renewing the chains and tensioners would have made it even more expensive. If you were going in there, it'd only be worth it if you did the whole lot. Not worth it on a car costing a grand or so, in my instance.

The 2.0 EJs aren't bad on the head gasket front (mine racked up 171k and is still going, and that was a turbo), but the 2.5s can be a little more frail. A stretch too far, methinks.

Can't argue with it sounding better than a diesel, though! :)
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Thats surprising, HGs will go if they are not serviced - frequently, and I mean oil with high quality fully synthetic fluid - i change mine before 10k miles are up. Also coolant needs to be done of course, around 50k miles - get all that coolant out and replace.

Yours looked to be pre facelift, going by the grand cost.. this is one of the later engines - itself probably worth 2k or more 2nd hand and this is a 6MT manual which has a different code (EZ30DJGDGE, don't fancy spending $15k to partsouq...!)
but you are right a broken HG probably would mean a new engine as the costs will quickly mount

I suspect the HG failures are from lack of maintenance in many cases. If the cars are looked after they keep on delivering the goods.
 
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Acme said:
Wow a common failure which has something to do with maintenance and or parts failure, and NOT the number of cylinders? :eek:

Who woulda thunk it.
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Sure, but how many 4 cylinder cars have HG or Turbo failures that have been serviced correctly...a figure much higher than 6/8 cylinder cars is my guess - it doesn't take a scientist to figure out each cylinder actually fires less, meaning less wear over the life of the car = Engine will last longer, i.e. A 4 cylinder car would have to have to be ragged to keep up with a 6 or 8 cylinder car that itself is barely on walking pace.
 
ericmcn said:
Sure, but how many 4 cylinder cars have HG or Turbo failures that have been serviced correctly...a figure much higher than 6/8 cylinder cars is my guess - it doesn't take a scientist to figure out each cylinder actually fires less, meaning less wear over the life of the car = Engine will last longer, i.e. A 4 cylinder car would have to have to be ragged to keep up with a 6 or 8 cylinder car that itself is barely on walking pace.
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If you look at Toyota's 7MGTE straight 6, head gasket failure is pretty much guaranteed.
 
ericmcn said:
Sure, but how many 4 cylinder cars have HG or Turbo failures that have been serviced correctly...a figure much higher than 6/8 cylinder cars is my guess - it doesn't take a scientist to figure out each cylinder actually fires less, meaning less wear over the life of the car = Engine will last longer, i.e. A 4 cylinder car would have to have to be ragged to keep up with a 6 or 8 cylinder car that itself is barely on walking pace.
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Yes a higher figure. Because there are vastly more of them on the road.

Less wear per cylinder bore is your whole argument then basically?

Stop. :p
 
Acme said:
Yes a higher figure. Because there are vastly more of them on the road.

Less wear per cylinder bore is your whole argument then basically?

Stop. :p
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More cylinder means more torque, more torque = easier to overtake all the people dithering about clogging the roads also, since each cylinder has less displacement, the stroke will be shorter which means less wear. 6/8 Cylinder engine will also sound far better than any 4 pot can imagine, and pops and bangs through speakers in the cabin dont count.

So you can be continued to be amazed with the power of 4 cylinders (held up by wooden planks) but I will stick with large CC Engines and will get a 8 cylinder after the Subaru but not decided which one yet but it will be over 400hp and wont have a nasty turbo
 
I have a well tuned 2.0 4 cylinder Saab B204 that is over 25 years old that is still on its original head gasket and turbo at 196K. That runs 1.35 bar boost and makes around 270hp. It’s never been abused but it has also never had special treatment either. 12-15K annual oil changes as per the book for 18 of those years before my mileage dropped.

On topic, no exhaust pops or bangs that I’ve ever heard from it. It has a 3” turbo to mid section with sport cat exhaust before dropping back to 2.5”. I also tried it with a 2.5" decat for a while too.

My modern mini cooper s probably does it in sport mode which I never use.
 
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