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Stripped timing belt on ea 1.8L


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My wife's 92 L series wagon broke down and she wanted to tow it to the wreckers  :( . I'm trying to save the old girl (car not wife). Wifey said she was changing from 4th to 3rd gear when the motor died, no loud noises. In trying to diagnose the problem, before I began stripping the motor down, it turned over just wouldn't start. Had no spark, checked distributor- rotor button not spinning. Checked timing belts-left hand side (distributor side) not turning, pulled it down and discovered a stripped timing belt.  How much if any damage can this cause?  Any help or suggestions from similar experience gratefully appreciated :)  before I go wasting money on new timing belt kit. 

 

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I've striped the teeth of on one. Grabbed a set of belts from the auto parts store, put them on and drove it to work the next day. The EA82's are supposed to be a non-interference engine. ;)

  So my advice to you is read the write ups on doing the timing belts, pick up a timing belt set. When your done, you can hand her the keys back with a smile knowing that it's good for another 50k miles.  :D

 

Ed

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My belt broke nothing happened, don't get confused when you put the belts on.. line up the center of III on the fly wheel align the driverside cam dot upwards but give it a smige before because when ya let the tensioner go it will maybe over shoot it, rotate till ya get to the center of III driverside cam dot should pointing down at the other mark. Then align the passenger side cam dot up...release tensioner... rotate entire system until the flywheel is the center of the III and driverside should be up and passenger side down... connect the green plugs driverside by fuel filter and set your timing.. good to go... ;)

Edited by Len Dawg
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I've had more than a few break. Put on new belts, new idlers and tensioners, good to go. It's a non interference engine, so valves and pistons do not meet.

Yep, do as Dave T said. These cars are so easy to work on, and there is ton of info here. :) Let the wife know you may spend some time repairing it, and $60-$100 for timing belt/pulley kit(Ebay). Just not having a car payment and not paying a crap load for registration is golden for me. You cannot hurt these cars unless you abuse them..... maintenance is key, and they go everywhere!

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Buy a good quality kit, not the cheapest. Change every 50 to 60 k miles to be extra safe. Far cheaper the the timing belt service on the newer ones, even though the change interval is about double the miles. I only use oem for the ej and newer engines.

 

Number is thing to stay on top of is the cooling system. Checking level frequently, don't wait for the temperature gauge to tell you it's bad.

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Non-interference. No head damage. I've probably had a dozen or more EA82 timing belts break on me. Even drove one home with the passenger side belt broken. When I was delivering my blue lifted wagon to sell it, I had the driver's belt break, and I installed a new one on the side of the road in about 10 minutes (running without belt covers).

 

 

If the teeth are stripped off the belt, it's probably because the cogged idler seized. I've had that happen.

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Yeah , it's non interference so no damage.

 

Buy the good kit with pulleys and get another 100k out of it.

 

I know budgets can restrict what we "think" we should do , but really you should do it right and change all pulleys , water pump too if you hadn't had it done , and reseal or replace the oil pump.

While you are there you'd be foolish to not also change the front main seal (crank) and cam seals too.

 

It'll take you all day if you've never done this but with all the write ups here you might do it in half a day or less.

 

It's extremely painful to do any job and then realize shortly that you "should have done this or that while I was in that deep".

 

Reseal and good belts and pulleys.

Do NOT buy the bottom line crap from car parts wiz or and other cretin selling on eBay.

For non factory you would do great with Gates.

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I bet the lower cog wheel on the drivers side seized causing the teeth shredding. It is very close to the exhaust pipe. I had one seize before.  I fabbed up a heat shield when I put the new belts and new cog wheel on.

Edited by Rust
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You should be lucky & just need to replace the belt.

 

the belts are supposed to last 100 000km, but Subaru Oz got a large number of warranty claims when the cars were new of belts breaking at 80 000 or so, so the service interval was dropped to 75 000km.

 

watch out undoing the bolts for the cam covers. the captive "nuts" are only embedded in the rear plastic cover, so they tend to "spin" & therefore you can't undo the bolts. Soak them first.

also suggest undoing the aircon (you can unbolt it & swing it off to the side without undoing the lines) & alternator to give you room.

Remove the radiator also to give you clearance. 

 

As suggested, do the water pump while it's all apart.

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Chances are the outer covers will come off in pieces.  They are the ones that have steel bolts screwed into brass inserts in the rear covers, that get frozen in place.  The centre cover comes off easily, as it is screwed into the block, not brass inserts.

 

I like to reinstall the centre cover, as it helps keep sticks, snow, etc., from getting jammed into the belts.  The recommended change interval is 90,000 km (55,000 miles), but I find they don't last as long without the covers.  Change them at 75,000 km /45,000 miles, or else it will let your wife down again. 

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Directly from my 1986 factory service manual:  EA82 Timing belt replacement is due at 60 months or 60,000 miles, whichever is first.

Directly from my 1990 factory service manual:  EA82 Timing belt replacement is due at 52.5 months or 52,500 miles, whichever is first.

 

Somewhere a long while back, I came across a TSB about lowering the interval for the timing belts.


Which makes sense, because I have been driving EA82s since 1988 and never had a timing belt make it to 60,000miles.

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The owner's manual here in Canada specifies 90,000 km, which is 55,000 miles.  I have had them last 90,000 plus a bit, with covers on.  I have never had them last to 80,000 km without covers.  70- 75,000 is as much as I can get, it seems. 

 

But as the covers usually come off in pieces, they are hard to put back on.

 

And I prefer to run with the centre cover on, as it comes off easily, and helps keep oil, antifreeze, sticks, etc. out of the moving bits.

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