J
Jim Stewart
I have a '99 Legacy Outback with a 2.5l DOHC
engine and 85k miles. The front crankcase oil
seal had started leaking about a month ago,
pushing up the 100k timing belt change inter-
val to now.
Being a lazy person at heart, I decided that I
would change everything that might be a problem
as long as I had it apart. The shopping list
included plugs, fan belts, timing belt, crank
and cam oil seals, water pump, thermostat,
gaskets, timing belt tensioner, top timing
belt cover gasket, oil pump o-ring, Subaru
gasket sealer, fresh antifreeze and spark
plug anti-seize compound.
All Subaru parts were purchased from Jason at
Auburn Subaru. The parts came 2 days after I
ordered them, with a 25% discount, no sales
tax and very reasonable shipping.
I started on the project Friday a week ago. The
first issue was finding a loud squeak in the
fan belt area that had been driving my wife nuts.
Taking off the belts one at a time showed that
it was the aircon belt idler pulley. I took
it out, popped off the shields, cleaned out the
hardened grease and replaced it with fresh grease.
The squeak went away.
After the belts and fan were removed, the next
issue was the crank pulley. After trying a
bunch of different things, I fabricated a tool
to hold the pulley similar to the Subaru tool.
It's a plate with 4 pins that engage the 4 holes
in the pulley. The edge of the plate rests on
a vertical 4x4 that sits on the ground. The
crank nut came off with probably 200 ftlbs of
torque. I used my lathe and mill to make the
tool. Your mileage may vary. I plan the keep
the car for at least another 6 years so I felt
that making the tool was a reasonable investment.
After I got the pulley and belt covers off, it
became clear that I'd need more working room so
I started pulling off parts. I removed the
radiator, air filter box, battery, windshield
washer box, and the 2 little covers under the
car next to the fenders.
Next I removed the timing belt tensioner, oil
pump, timing belt idler pulleys (3) and water pump.
I checked the oil pump back plate and sure enough,
2 of the 5 screws were loose. I removed all of
them, cleaned them and their holes, applied Lock-
tite and reinstalled them. While I had the plate
out, I popped out the old seal and pressed in the
new one. I cleaned the RTV sealer from the mating
surfaces on the engine and the oil pump, applied
new sealer, put on the new o-ring holding it in
place with some grease and re-installed the oil
pump making sure to reconnect the crank position
sensor.
The water pump was trivial to replace, and
probably did not need replacing as the old
pump and thermostat looked like new.
Next, I removed the timing belt tensioner and
unpacked the new part. It was clear that the
tensioner that I received was for some other
Subaru, not the one I had, effectively ending
the job until I could get the right one.
A call to Jason on Monday got me the right
part on Tuesday and a UPS pickup slip to
return the wrong part.
The new tensioner installed with no problems,
just one bolt.
The next job was the camshaft seals, all 4
of them. The Subaru manual calls out a
special tool to keep the sprockets from
rotating while they are being removed. I
should have broken the bolts loose before
I removed the timing belt. In any case, the
sprockets on the driver's side did move
causing me much concern about damaging a
valve. When the mark on the crank sprocket
is aligned at 12 o'clock, the drivers side
camshafts are sitting with 4 of the valves
depressed, giving a hair-trigger nature to
the sprocket. The passenger side valves
are all closed and are not a concern as they
have no tendency to rotate.
I pried out the old seals and tapped the
new ones in with a tool that I made from
some thick-wall aluminium tubing.
Next, I replaced the sprockets and back
covers. I then installed the timing belt.
I decided to turn the engine over with a
breaker bar the make sure that everything
was free. There was a lot of resistance
when the crank sprocket mark was at 3
o'clock. This caused me a huge amount
of concern that I might have bent a valve
and that it was sticking up.
I stared at the engine for a long time,
pondering whether or not to pull the
driver's side head to look for damage.
I decided to pull the valve cover and
see if I could tell anything. I took
the cover off and felt the cups under
the cams as I turned the crank to 3
O'clock. I couldn't feel anything. Next
I removed the camshafts and cups, and
with my fingers lightly on the valve
stem ends, I turned the engine over.
I still couldn't feel anything. Com-
pression seemed to be fine as well. I
decided to put everything back together
and see if it would run. I noticed that
when I turned the engine over with an
ordinary 1/2" drive socket wrench, in-
stead of a breaker bar, the resistance
seemed to be reduced and the same for
3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, the 2 TDC
positions.
Anyway, after about 3 hours, I had the
new plugs installed, the timing belt
buttoned up, the fan belts on, the radiator
and fans back in, the air filter box
and battery installed.
I decided to refill the cooling system
with water until I knew whether or not
I'd be tearing it down again.
I was almost physically sick with worry as
I first jogged the engine with the ignition
switch. It turned over fine. I cranked it
and it caught right away. There was some
tapping as the oil started to flow, but it
disappeared quickly.
I drained the water and put in 50/50 anti-
freeze. I had changed the coolant before and
I anticipated the hassle of getting the air
out of the system. After about 30 minutes
of fiddling, the car was driveable.
I put about 150 miles on it today. No oil
leaks. The only issue is a squeek when the
aircon compressor comes on at high RPM. I'll
give it a few days to sort itself out before
I'll much with it.
So, would I recommend a non-mechanic change
their own timing belt? Probably not. I may
have saved myself $300-$400 in labor, but I
ate up 2 weekends. I also have a spare car
I can drive.
engine and 85k miles. The front crankcase oil
seal had started leaking about a month ago,
pushing up the 100k timing belt change inter-
val to now.
Being a lazy person at heart, I decided that I
would change everything that might be a problem
as long as I had it apart. The shopping list
included plugs, fan belts, timing belt, crank
and cam oil seals, water pump, thermostat,
gaskets, timing belt tensioner, top timing
belt cover gasket, oil pump o-ring, Subaru
gasket sealer, fresh antifreeze and spark
plug anti-seize compound.
All Subaru parts were purchased from Jason at
Auburn Subaru. The parts came 2 days after I
ordered them, with a 25% discount, no sales
tax and very reasonable shipping.
I started on the project Friday a week ago. The
first issue was finding a loud squeak in the
fan belt area that had been driving my wife nuts.
Taking off the belts one at a time showed that
it was the aircon belt idler pulley. I took
it out, popped off the shields, cleaned out the
hardened grease and replaced it with fresh grease.
The squeak went away.
After the belts and fan were removed, the next
issue was the crank pulley. After trying a
bunch of different things, I fabricated a tool
to hold the pulley similar to the Subaru tool.
It's a plate with 4 pins that engage the 4 holes
in the pulley. The edge of the plate rests on
a vertical 4x4 that sits on the ground. The
crank nut came off with probably 200 ftlbs of
torque. I used my lathe and mill to make the
tool. Your mileage may vary. I plan the keep
the car for at least another 6 years so I felt
that making the tool was a reasonable investment.
After I got the pulley and belt covers off, it
became clear that I'd need more working room so
I started pulling off parts. I removed the
radiator, air filter box, battery, windshield
washer box, and the 2 little covers under the
car next to the fenders.
Next I removed the timing belt tensioner, oil
pump, timing belt idler pulleys (3) and water pump.
I checked the oil pump back plate and sure enough,
2 of the 5 screws were loose. I removed all of
them, cleaned them and their holes, applied Lock-
tite and reinstalled them. While I had the plate
out, I popped out the old seal and pressed in the
new one. I cleaned the RTV sealer from the mating
surfaces on the engine and the oil pump, applied
new sealer, put on the new o-ring holding it in
place with some grease and re-installed the oil
pump making sure to reconnect the crank position
sensor.
The water pump was trivial to replace, and
probably did not need replacing as the old
pump and thermostat looked like new.
Next, I removed the timing belt tensioner and
unpacked the new part. It was clear that the
tensioner that I received was for some other
Subaru, not the one I had, effectively ending
the job until I could get the right one.
A call to Jason on Monday got me the right
part on Tuesday and a UPS pickup slip to
return the wrong part.
The new tensioner installed with no problems,
just one bolt.
The next job was the camshaft seals, all 4
of them. The Subaru manual calls out a
special tool to keep the sprockets from
rotating while they are being removed. I
should have broken the bolts loose before
I removed the timing belt. In any case, the
sprockets on the driver's side did move
causing me much concern about damaging a
valve. When the mark on the crank sprocket
is aligned at 12 o'clock, the drivers side
camshafts are sitting with 4 of the valves
depressed, giving a hair-trigger nature to
the sprocket. The passenger side valves
are all closed and are not a concern as they
have no tendency to rotate.
I pried out the old seals and tapped the
new ones in with a tool that I made from
some thick-wall aluminium tubing.
Next, I replaced the sprockets and back
covers. I then installed the timing belt.
I decided to turn the engine over with a
breaker bar the make sure that everything
was free. There was a lot of resistance
when the crank sprocket mark was at 3
o'clock. This caused me a huge amount
of concern that I might have bent a valve
and that it was sticking up.
I stared at the engine for a long time,
pondering whether or not to pull the
driver's side head to look for damage.
I decided to pull the valve cover and
see if I could tell anything. I took
the cover off and felt the cups under
the cams as I turned the crank to 3
O'clock. I couldn't feel anything. Next
I removed the camshafts and cups, and
with my fingers lightly on the valve
stem ends, I turned the engine over.
I still couldn't feel anything. Com-
pression seemed to be fine as well. I
decided to put everything back together
and see if it would run. I noticed that
when I turned the engine over with an
ordinary 1/2" drive socket wrench, in-
stead of a breaker bar, the resistance
seemed to be reduced and the same for
3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, the 2 TDC
positions.
Anyway, after about 3 hours, I had the
new plugs installed, the timing belt
buttoned up, the fan belts on, the radiator
and fans back in, the air filter box
and battery installed.
I decided to refill the cooling system
with water until I knew whether or not
I'd be tearing it down again.
I was almost physically sick with worry as
I first jogged the engine with the ignition
switch. It turned over fine. I cranked it
and it caught right away. There was some
tapping as the oil started to flow, but it
disappeared quickly.
I drained the water and put in 50/50 anti-
freeze. I had changed the coolant before and
I anticipated the hassle of getting the air
out of the system. After about 30 minutes
of fiddling, the car was driveable.
I put about 150 miles on it today. No oil
leaks. The only issue is a squeek when the
aircon compressor comes on at high RPM. I'll
give it a few days to sort itself out before
I'll much with it.
So, would I recommend a non-mechanic change
their own timing belt? Probably not. I may
have saved myself $300-$400 in labor, but I
ate up 2 weekends. I also have a spare car
I can drive.