1997 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT Sedan timing issues

[straecat]

hello,

 

A few days ago my water pump went out on my 1997 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT Sedan. I grabbed my (not so handy) Haynes manual and went about changing out the waterpump and other items that deep in the motor. Now after about 6 hours of work, the enging is back together, coolant has been readded, and everything is put backed together nicely ( didnt even have any leftover bolts, or nuts). Now here is where it gets interesting, before removing the timing belt, I had found the TDC of the motor, but somewhere along the line the motor got out of time, like I said I put everything back together, and when I started it up, the dang thing ran (idled) very rough, under 800 rpm's. Now when I pushed on the gas pedal, the dang engine can not get over 2k RPM's ( which has never been a problem in the past). After being confronted with the current dilema of out of time, I reffered to my (not so handy) Haynes manual about how to adjust the timing in the car. This is what Haynes has to say " IGNITION TIMING IS CONTROLLED BY THE ELECTRONIC CONTROL MODULE (ECM) AND IS NOT ADJUSTABLE ON THE MODELS COVERED BY THIS MANUAL. THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE IS ONLY A CHECK OF THE FUNCTION OF THE TIMING CONTROL SYSTEM." Now the great people at Haynes go through the steps to find how "well" your engine is timed, but then they mention this "IF THE NOTCH ON THE CRANKSHAFT PULLEY IS NOT ALLIGNED WITH THE CORRECT MARK ON THE TIMING TAB, THEN THE IGNITION TIMING CONTROL SYSTEM IS MALFUNCTIONING. THE PROBLEM COULD BE A MALFUNCTIONING CRANKSHAFT OR CAMSHAFT SENSOR, IGNITER, OR ECM." whew, now after using the timing light to confirm my timing is way the hell off, the (not so handy) Haynes manual does not tell me what marks, or anything on adjusting this problem. Oh, by the way everything on the engine was working fine except the waterpump. I have read my Subaru Owners manual and they tell me to look under the hood for the correct or desired timing marks, and what not. lol now after a glint of hope i look under the hood, and it tells me that the engine does not need to be re-timed, or re-adjusted, ( like it does this automatically?). Any way, any help would be great on resolving this issue. Also, on all the vehicles that i have done timing on, its a simple task of advancing or retreating the distributor or points to adjust the timing. however, this vehicle is distrubor less, so I guess my questions are: " how do i adjust my timing?" What degree marks does the notch on the crankshaft pulley have to line up with?"

 

Thank you all for your time any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Gnuman]

Illustration 6.31b at the top of page 2A-11 may be of some use to you.

 

the timing marks that you ar looking for are on the crankshaft pully, and the four camshaft pulleys, as well as on the timing belt itself. Section 6 in the engines section itself should be of major use to you. It sounds like something jiggled or otherwise did not line up correctly when reinstalling the timing belt. . .

[WAWalker]

Well they have changed the endwrech web site up since I was last there. I believe there is a write up on replacing the 2.5 timing belt somwere on that site.

 

First you should not have had the engine at top dead center when R&Ring the timing belt. If the timing belt was not installed properly the cam timing is off not the ignition timing. The '97-'99 DOHC 2.5L engine is an interferance engine, so hopfully you won't have any bent valves. You will need to take it apart and properly install the timing belt. And don't turn the cams at the same time with the timing belt off, this can cause bent valves due to valve to valve conntact.

 

If it still runs poorly with the cams in time, you will need to do a leak down test to check for bent valves.