subaru FB25 engine interchange

From emailing with sfors, he never posted the solution but he had switched the coil pack plugs on the passenger side cylinders so they were firing at the wrong time.  He swapped plugs front to rear and everything was right with the world

Hi, Im about to tackle the same swap just trying to make sure I don't buy the wrong replacement.  My forester has "C" for the 6th digit, is this critical to match or will changing all the peripherals from the 2011 make a "different 6th digit" work. Also, mine is a manual. Does the replacement need to be from another manual? Reading this thread helped a lot, just don't want to make a mistake buying the new one.

Thanks in advance

I would like to thank patrick for starting this thread and doing the research on  this. I just finished doing just finished changing a 2013 legacy engine into a 2012 forester and i would like to add  to this. Aside from the parts swapped from bad forester engine to the legacy engine i had to swap the timing chain covers because the forester had a mounting boss for an idler pulley that was not on the legacy cover (doing this is quite easy). 

     The one thing that I could not find any information on is, are the crank shafts ror automatic transmission cars drilled for a pilot bearing for use in a manual transmission vehicle. Locating a engine from a manual transmission vehicle is a little more difficult. If someone has an auto trans engine sitting around could you measure the back of the crank shaft and list the diameter where the pilot bearing sits.   

But thanks again to patrick and everyone else who had input on this engine change over

In reply to Hotrod426 :

The pilot bearing presses into the flywheel, not the crankshaft.  So there should be no difference.

I did see that when i stripped the parts off the old motor, I guess i’m just used to the way gm,ford and chrysler did things way back. Thank you for responding.

In reply to Hotrod426 :

It does explain why the information is hard to find, at least!

I'm just finishing this swap and was wondering if someone could help me out!

I ordered a matching 2013 foz motor to put in my 2013 forester, but was sent an Impreza motor.

It took a lot of painstaking research and I wish I had this thread at the start of it all. I got a full refund and also got to keep the motor, so that was a score, but now I'm having some issues.

When I buttoned everything up, the motor started up fine and ran very smooth.

After about 10 minutes of idling, I revved the engine up and it died. 
 

Now I can't get it to start again. It'll fire and then cut out after a second or two. It's also now throwing codes for the coils a,b, and c primary and secondary circuits 

I swapped the coil boots and springs like recommended and can't seem to pinpoint why it's not starting now.

Does anybody have any advice or idea as to what could have happened?

For anybody who runs into the same issue I was having, the tone wheel had been installed incorrectly. So the engine was getting incorrect information about the crankshaft position. If anyone's interested, here's what it looked liked (it was supposed to be lined up in position B) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTSrRJU349c

I am having another issue now, where I'm getting misfire codes on all 4 cylinders. I forgot to swap over the spark plug boots, would this cause misfires in each cylinder? It's a 10 hour drive to go work on the car (long story) so I'm hoping to have the solution dialed in before I make the trek. Any help is much appreciated.

edit: turns out it was just a vacuum leak. But it also turns out the engine has rod knock, so there's that.

Hey everybody, in the process of this right now, what did you do with the sensor on the bottom of the engine by the oil pan? The 2011 does not have that sensor?

Just leave it in and let it unplugged, iirc it was for a low oil warning that the forester doesn't have.  

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

That's what I figured, if the 2011 had a low oil light, we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with...

Have a 2014 Legacy Engine sitting on an engine stand with a 2011 harness, sensors, and coils...getting ready to reinstall and hope for the best. 

Thank you for this thread!

In reply to Hpamer3 :

Ultimately, I had to swap the valve covers from my new engine and put the original forester ones on so that I could run forester coils in their stock setup with matching boots. Combining the two coils did not work for my application.
The engine runs like a top now.

After some more investigation, I believe the motor to be a 2016 of some sort (based on what I THINK is the date stamped on the injectors, if anybody can verify that).

I hope that helps someone, maybe somebody can help me figure out what motor I used, and this info can be added to some sort of database to make it easier for people in the future

The main differences are one trans bolt that didn't line up and I had to skip, a tube (egr?) connecting both sides of the case that is not on my newer motor, the flywheel, and some sensors that had to be swapped

Just wanted to reply with another success story. 2014 Legacy Engine swapped into a 2011 Forester. Over 4000 miles so far on the new engine. Thank you for the how-to!

Was talking with people at this weekend's rallycross and a mention was made of some guy who figured out how to use a newer engine in an older car...

Hello,

First off a HUGE THANK U to Patrick for being smart enough to figure this out and kind enough to share it with all of us.  People like you are priceless.

I'm looking into doing this same swap for a 2011 Forester I got stuck with that has a slightly blown head gasket.  It also has the infamous Cam Carrier oil leak, (you know the one that drips
oil directly onto the exhaust manifold and allows oily smoke directly into the cabin for the drivers displeasure).

Engine is already pulled.
After reviewing the repair manual I've decided I'm not at all anxious to pull this thing apart, do all the work necessary, then, after installation, discover that some spot of the sealant goo
did not go on just right leaving me with the same or a worse mess than I started with.

I've read and re-read everything posted here and I must say the info is phenomenal but there is one question I have that I could not seem to find an answer for.

I'm hoping someone smarter than I am might have the answer readily available as its on a topic I have little to no knowledge of.
It has to do with PZEV.

My 2011 forester has a PZEV badge.  The Vin is JF2SHABC...

Will I need to match the Vin A code to a new 2014 Legacy FB25 engine?  Would a B or C code work as well?
Forgive me I'm an old school mechanic and not up on what PZEV actually means.

I found this info on the Vin at the link below:
******************************************
http://www.cars101.com/subaru/vin2011.html

Position 6 - Engine types, varies by year. This can change yearly
Legacy/Outback U.S. : A- 2.5L,  B- 2.5L not PZEV, C- 2.5L PZEV, D- 3.6L, E- 3.6L, F- 2.5L turbo,

Not sure why mine is an A code when C is supposed to indicate PZEV

Can't really afford to make a $100 mistake.
Thanks in advance for any help or advise you may be able to provide.

In reply to Noggs :

I'm hoping to jump another year from Noggs 2014 swap to a 2015 Legacy motor swap into my 2012 Forester. Does anyone know if there were any major differences in accessories that would prevent this from working?  If I'm swapping all the (I tried spelling ancilliary three times and failed so....) related sensors and wiring harness to the forester's, providing I'm able to mount them ok, I'd think it should work unless there's a major change between '14 and '15 model year.

I welcome any

I swapped a 2015 engine into a 2011 Forester I'm having I believe the same issue I can't get my two check engine codes to disappear a p 2088 in a p2092.  Do i have to swap the harness?

In reply to fess522 :

Did you get it done, or find any information?  I have a 2013 Forester and would like to put a 2015 Legacy motor in it.

I have to hand it to you Subaru guys.  I liked the old ones - the 2.2 but since the 2.0 & 2.5 with the numerous issues I have given up on Subarus. I'll stick with my Hondas. I do still need to do something with our daughter's 06 Baja Turbo though, with it's numerous typical Subaru problems. 

In reply to Patrick :

Hi Patrick.  Thank you so much for sharing all of this information. I'm looking at doing a swap to replace my blown 2013.  I have a question. Do you know, is the block the same between 2014 and 2015,or if any surprises?

Thanks

Randy

In reply to rren3 :

Also following - bad motor in my 2013 Forester. Wondering if a 2015 motor would work

In reply to rren3 :

I did end up doing the '15 Legacy motor into my 2012 Forester.  Sorry for the delay. I put it on the back burner after swapping the motor in, the person I got it from couldn't find the title and I've been waiting for a couple of months to get the replacement. A lot of other life things got in the way around that time. She finally got it to me and I'll being getting back to working on it. 

You will want to swap the timing chain cover while the motor is out, since the '15 doesn't have the second idler pulley mount which is on the cover on the '12 Forester. I didn't pick up on that so I ended up going with a shorter belt and changed the routing so that the belt goes "under" the alternator.  I am getting a P0016 and p0018 (52B0 and 52B3 Proprietary codes) which is Crank and Cam Bank 1 and 2 failure.  I think I need to swap the crank sensor. I may have missed that when I swapped sensors.  Also, I believe it was the coolant temp sensor which was moved to a different location on the new motor, I had to lengthen the wire so it would reach.  It starts right up and runs ok, no missing but should run perfect once I resolve the two codes above.  I have other lights on, stability control, cruise control light flashing.  These went on the last time it ran right before the swap.  The fuel pump also went at the same time.  I'm wondering if the ECU got fried somehow, again prior to the swap. Got a new fuel pump from the boneyard and it fired right up. I'll update this with more info once I get this squared away.  Good luck if you haven't done the swap already. Let me know how it went if you did.

In reply to fess522 :

Following as well, so appreciate the updates. Did you buy your motor from LKQ? I was looking at motors with the Legacy filter, but a lot of images being shown are Outbacks. Im assuming they are showing what fits the 2015 legacy

Yes, bought it from LKQ.  It was a 2015 Legacy with 32,000 on it.  Outback is a sub-model of Legacy, Legacy Outback. I'm kind of new to the Subaru scene so I welcome any correction on any of this info from more knowledgeable Subie folks.

I didn't change the crank sensors since they are different.  The '15 sensor is thinner and longer.  Also in response to my previous post, I read that the lights for stability control, Brake and flashing Cruise come on by default when any DTC is set.  That's good. One less thing to have to track down and fix.  There is a Service Bulletin, 02-163-16R, which deals specifically with the P0016 and P0018 AVCS - cam and crank timing issue. That's what I'm looking at now.  Good luck.

In reply to Larry Lackey :

Hey Larry, I'm working through the same thing now.  Shopping for a 2013-14 legacy engine for my 2011 forester with an A vin.  This thread is loaded with tons of great info, but it seems no one has been able to answer the question about 6th digit vin interchange.  From my research it seems that if the 6th digit of the vin is an A, C, or H it should interchange, and same for B & G vins.  Can anyone confirm this?