IDK about the EJ25 engine being trash. They had weak head gaskets in the earlier years. They wouldn't lock up from bearing faliure unless you cooked the engine first.. The bearings are pretty much the same as the EJ20's.. I have a 230k mile EJ251 that I'm trying to kill and I can't... I have a JDM EJ205 and trans just waiting to go in in october, but sooner if the engine 'pops'

To answer your question. Your engine has AVCS so that limits engines you can use.. JDM/EDM dropped the SOHC engines after about 2005 so you won't find a SOHC 2.0L WITH AVCS. The newest EJ20 SOHC would be about 2004 engines or so ( EJ203 ).. Your ONLY chance for a 2.0L engine in your '09 is an EJ204 or variant. They are a DOHC 2.0L with high compression ( you will need 91-93 octane ). They DO have AVCS and ~probably~ could be made to work, but your '09 is also CAN BUS so it's a total guess if your ECU will actually run it since it will KNOW it's not right

 

Well I've read that with the newer foresters, subaru installed main bearings that were weak. and incredibly weaker on the engines that had turbos. I've read lots of articles where people are having their engines lock up at 30,000 miles to around 100,000 miles. So, the only engine you're saying I can install is the EJ25?

 

Yes, only swap without any issues.. Nothing on a main bearing that could be 'weak'. Beyond the coating or something being defective. I guess they could have installed defective bearings but I have not heard anything about it.

Your best bet is to get a short block from Subaru. Cost is usually around $1,900 for one. Put that back in your car with your cylinder heads. If anything was actually defective in your engine, it will have been corrected in the replacement

 

Well I tore the engine apart after it locked up on the high way, there was a tiny shard of one of the main bearings in the motor and glitter everywhere. So the motor was scrapped. A mechanic rebuilt the motor (I specialize in hondas, not subarus) and after 1,500 miles the motor died from aggressive piston slap. so all motor internals that I have are trash and I only have a budget of $2,500 to get this thing rolling.

 

Where are you located? Elbonia?

I'd like some links to these posts about engines locking up at 30k miles. Sounds like BS to me.

I worked at a Subaru dealer for over a year, and the only engine that I ever saw that was locked up was run without oil, and it was from a 2005.

I've owned 5 Subaru vehicles with EJ series engines. EJ22, EJ25D, EJ252, and EJ251, as well as an EJ205. I'm going to tell you right now, I'd rather have an EJ25D over an EJ205. You want an engine that needs a rebuild for sure around 150k miles? That's the EJ205. Valves go out of spec, and the heads like to crack and become useless.

My EJ205 had 190k on it when the bank repoed it. It ran, but #4 cylinder was junk.

My EJ25D had 190k on it when I traded it in for the WRX. It ran strong, no problems what-so-ever, and it never needed headgaskets when I owned it (from 80k to 190k).

My EJ252 was a decent engine. It had 180k on it when I traded it in for the Legacy with the EJ25D. Gutless, but ran well.

And the EJ251 is junk. 2005 and it has 130k on it, but the engine was rebuilt at 88k due to HG failure.

If you are chunking engines in 20k or 30k or 2k of putting them in, then you are either using crap components, driving like a moron, using olive oil in your crank case, you live in a place that sees -100*F to 90*F temperature swings daily, or your engine builder is a jerk and hates you. I'd suggest you stick with Hondas.