Soobarooboo Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 I bought a 91 subaru legacy LS and she's been very good to me. the other day i was driving and a weird noise was coming from the engine. i opened it up and saw that the timing belt was coming off of the main pulley that is connected to the camshaft. so i started to take it to the repair shop down the street and when i got there the whole pulley came off. has anyone else had this problem or heard of this happening? i took off the pulley in the lot and it looks like it was chipped. as if it unscrewed itself. what is the average cost of this kind of repair? i love my subie, but i cant dump too, too much money into it. PLEASE HELP!!! ps. it has about 105,000 miles on it and i just got the oil changed and changed the spark plugs and air filter. the guy said my timing belt was fine when he looked at it :-\ (i think he was lying). thanx in advance for all ur help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted March 13, 2005 Share Posted March 13, 2005 Are you sure you're looking at the timing belt, and not the normal belts? The timing belt is hidden behind plastic covers. The pulley coming off isn't an uncommon thing...unfortunately. It's due to mechanics/people not torquing the pulley bolt correctly. It needs to be torqued to 110 ft/lbs at the least. I also apply locktite when I do mine. As for your problem. As long as the pulley did not damage the keyway of the crankshaft, you should be able to put a new key in, put the crank gear and timing belt back together, put a new pulley on, and be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soobarooboo Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 unless i'm going crazy, i didnt see a plastic cover on my engine. there are 2 belts one that drives the power steering & altenator and one that drives the AC compressor. is there another belt that i just do know about. also how does the H4 engine design compare to the inline-4 design? It would seem to work on the principles of a V engine. and last question, i've been hearing about the lightweight underdrive pulleys, do they really work the way they say they do? thanx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frag Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 unless i'm going crazy, i didnt see a plastic cover on my engine. there are 2 belts one that drives the power steering & altenator and one that drives the AC compressor. is there another belt that i just do know about. also how does the H4 engine design compare to the inline-4 design? It would seem to work on the principles of a V engine. and last question, i've been hearing about the lightweight underdrive pulleys, do they really work the way they say they do? thanx. The belts you are writing about are usually called «drive» belts. They drive the alt, p. steering and AC. If you look at the front of your engine, you will see a large black plastic cover (on the same plane as the radiator) going from one head to the other. Under that cover is the cam belt or timing belt. You also will find there the oil and water pumps, the belt tensionner, the cam sprockets and some idler pulleys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 You can see some pics of the covers and other such stuff here http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru/images/timingbelt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 The pulley coming off isn't an uncommon thing...unfortunately. It's due to mechanics/people not torquing the pulley bolt correctly. It needs to be torqued to 110 ft/lbs at the least. I also apply locktite when I do mine. In the recent past, I have seen both sides of this issue. On one car I was working on many of the bolts were not tightened correctly (well, at all, really) and the car was throwing one holy hissy fit with the CEL (the guy that bought it drove it home on what turned out to be two cyls, as the other two plugs were not even finger tight, and on one of them the plug wire was not connected). On the other engine that I was working on, the crank pulley was tightened way too much, and we had a heckuva time getting it off. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soobarooboo Posted March 17, 2005 Author Share Posted March 17, 2005 well not so good news update. the mechanic told my pops that the engine is all but shot to hell. he said the something about a key lock being messed up and the crankshaft pulley wont lock on. has neone heard of this happening? we are looking for a new engine, but it's hard to say if it will work out. would it be worth getting a new engine and if so what does an ej22 engine run in price range and where is a good place to look for these engines online? i dont want to get rid of her just yet cause i like the ol' gal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nug Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 If the crankshaft snout and keyway are not damaged, a new woodruff key and harmonic balancer will fix it. I've repaired one that had a chunk taken out of the keyway. Slathered everything with loctite 609 (?, dark green, locks gears onto shafts) and torqued it with a new bolt. Never moved again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svxpert Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 who was the last on to take the pulley off? it should be there problem to fix.where in nj are you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soobarooboo Posted March 17, 2005 Author Share Posted March 17, 2005 who was the last on to take the pulley off? it should be there problem to fix.where in nj are you? i dont know who the last person was to take it off. my guess is that it was prolly the original pulley. maybe time took its toll on the ol' gal. my car is in hamilton twp., right outside of trenton. If the crankshaft snout and keyway are not damaged, a new woodruff key and harmonic balancer will fix it. I've repaired one that had a chunk taken out of the keyway. Slathered everything with loctite 609 (?, dark green, locks gears onto shafts) and torqued it with a new bolt. Never moved again. i'm gonna check into that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet82 Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 One of my neighbors had the same problem. He couldn't get the pulley to stay on. It started chewing up everything... Welding was his solution! I talked with ShawnW about this... Apparently the factory service manuel is wrong on the torque specks! It takes big time torque to keep those babies on. If I recall it was about twice what the FSM said. Shawn also mentioned that it was not uncommon to see the pulleys welded on Glenn, 82 SubaruHummer 01 Forester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted March 18, 2005 Share Posted March 18, 2005 yeah fsm states 65 ft/lbs. You need at least 110 ft/lbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soobarooboo Posted March 18, 2005 Author Share Posted March 18, 2005 i'm guessin it would prolly be better to get a whole new engine. at least i know the engine would be ok. of course that all depends on price. i'm trying hardest not to part the ol' gal. anyone in jersey wanna make me an offer on a good engine. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 you should be able to find someone that can weld either the crankshalf, or damper, regrind the keyway and locktite it together. A real shop would prol'by never do this thou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Clark Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 I would also check into having a welder look at it. That engine may last for many more years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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