returnofsid

Oh wow. Thank you so much for the quick response and quick diagnosis!! I'd heard there were two timing belts and wondered how I'd figure out which was bad!! So, with the motor in the car, what other items will I need to remove, to even get to the timing belt cover, and give myself enough room to work on it?

Hi all, Just found this forum and am very greatful ! I have a problem. We have a 89 Suburu DL wagon with a 1.8L motor. It up and died on me while driving. No backfire though. Now it sounds a bit funny when turning over, like it's turning over a tad bit too easy. I've had timing belts break on other vehicles and the sound was much more exaggerated than it is with this car. While doing some quick checks, I noticed that the distributor rotor is not turning when the motor turns over. No spark coming out of distributor, obviously. I'm thinking that it's a timing belt but am not at all sure. On other vehicles I've owned, the timing "view port" showed the crank, so you could easily see if the crank was turning. On this vehicle, it's totally different and I believe the "timing view port" shows the flywheel??? This will turn no matter what. Any suggestions on easy ways to diagnose the problem? Any suggestions on how I would go about changing the timing belt? The only work I've ever done on this vehicle was to replace the alternator and starter, both much easier than I expected!! Thanks in advance!!!