Fairtax4me

Well, the guy I spoke with on the phone told me they might also cover my cost to ship the parts back if I included a copy of the receipt for the shipping. That's a big ol' "might", so I guess I'll find out if he was just blowin' smoke up my rump roast in a week or so. The kit I bought apparently consists of a Gates belt (which leaves me wondering what the hell happened to Gates quality control) two GMB single roller bearing smooth idlers, one GMB double roller bearing cogged idler, one GMB double roller bearing tension idler, and a GMB water pump. The belt is "unbranded", apparently the cost is considerably less if the name is not on the belt for copyright reasons. I think there is a quality difference as well because I've used many Gates serpentine and V belts in the past and they always seemed to be better quality than this one. I am curious if anyone who has bought Gates' timing belt kit with their branded belt had any trouble with it being too tight.

Spoke with the folks at TIE today. They are going to give me a full refund. I found out they stock the OE NSK tensioner idler and cogged idler, and OE Koyo smooth idler, much cheaper than dealer prices, so I may see if I can get a deal on just the idler kit from them.

He's probably right. You have a slow leak somewhere and your refrigerant is escaping them system. The trick is to find the leak. If you have a UV light you can poke around under the hood one evening looking for bright yellow spots where the oil from the system will have leaked out with the refrigerant. Be sure to wear UV proof glasses though so you don't burn your retinas.

I bought a kit for a Toyota from them and it was all OE parts. Mitsuboshi belt, Koyo bearings, Aisin water pump. Worked and fit great. It was an Aisin assembled kit though. Btw Aisin is the maker of the Subaru OE belt tensioner, and I think Subaru OE water pumps as well.

If the cooling system has been serviced recently there may have been some air in the system that needed to be worked out. The cheap radiator cap didn't do you any favors as far as getting an idea for how much if any coolant the car may be loosing. Give it a few weeks and check the coolant level only in the morning when the car is cold. Top off the coolant level once more, then don't add any more coolant to the reservoir unless it gets well below the full line. Check the level every few days to see if the it drops back to near the bottom of the reservoir. It can help to make marks with tape or washable marker to keep track of where the level is each time you check it.

WRX = World Rally Cross It's Subarus rally based entry level performance version of the Impreza. The WRX STi is the powerhouse version of the Impreza, even though it's not legal in World Rally Cross racing series because the 2.5 engine is too big. (the newer ones at least) Go figure, eh? Check out Cars101.com for lots more info on current and past Subaru models. You'll probably be most interested in the archive section. Where performance is a concern, most of the Impreza sites (rs25, dirtyimpreza, nasioc) linked at the top of the page have more of a performance oriented group than what frequent this forum. Surely you'll find plenty of good information on those sites as well.

I'd say he probably replaced it with one he had laying in a pile of parts. Check the condition of the bushings on the steering rack. If oil gets on them (from leaks) they will expand and turn soft then fall apart. This leaves the rack "floating" in the mount brackets rather than secured to the chassis of the car. This will cause wandering, and some pretty funky chatter/clunk noises when turning sometimes.

Typically it doesn't drain back. The pump will in a sense hydro-lock with the engine off, and only a small amount if any will flow back into the pan. This assumes the Anti drain back valve in the filter is working correctly. But these are a very efficient design and do move quite a bit of volume.

$29 here but you'd have to pay shipping. http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdetail.php?partid=2601 I saw two on a car in the junkyard last weekend, but they were probably both broken, like the rest of the front of the car.

A neat video for how an eccentric gear oil pump works. http://www.motoetc.com/home/2010/03/eccentric-oil-pump/ To expand on that. This design needs to e closed in tightly on both sides in order for the pressure to build properly. The backing plate on the pump is what creates the "enclosure". So if it gets loose the oil will "bleed out" through the gap between the rotors and the backing plate. The "plate" is on the inside, and will not cause oil to leak externally. Oil being pushed out from behind the plate goes back into the crankcase. This is a potential issue on every EJ series engine. The screws on my pump were tight. But the expansion rates of the two different metals (aluminum and steel) that the pump is composed of, mixed with engine vibration, can cause the screws to loosen and back out.

Improper bleeding would be my first guess. Go to a hardware store and get a section of clear 3/16" id fuel hose from the lawnmower / weed eater section. It usually comes in a ~2 foot length in a pack. Pop the end of the hose over the bleeder screw, loop the other end over something up just higher than the caliper, the lower spring loop or something, then point the other end into a container to catch the fluid. Be sure the end of the hose hangs down lower than the bleeder screw. Open the screw no more than one full turn. This will help keep air from being sucked into the caliper through the screw threads. Pump the pedal a few times until fluid starts to come out of the open end, then you can watch gravity pull the fluid through the hose, and along with it any air bubbles that may be in the line. Watch for large bubbles, keep an eye on the fluid level in the reservoir, and pump the pedal a few times here and there to help move out the big bubbles. If no more bubbles appear, close the bleeder, and move to the next wheel.

DING DING!!! I think I would call it just the wrong damn one, but I think "incorrect" can fall into the "bad" category. I owe everyone here many many thanks for listening, responding, and encouragement. My ego was a complete wreck for a week because of all this. I really think I would have ended up putting another engine in the car, and then would have had the exact same problem afterwards.

If it's at a dealer, I'd steer clear of it. They got it at an auction and probably needed a couple tires to get it to pass safety inspection. The center transfer unit may be damaged, which isn't difficult to fix, but will be another $750 - $1000 at a Subaru dealer to have repaired. Probably $500 in parts to do the job yourself. Guessing this is an older wagon? Mid to late 90s? So they have a price tag of $4,995 to maybe $6,995 on it? Check craigslist. Quite often see wagons with plenty of work done (timing job, new brakes, tires, suspension parts) in the $3k- $5k range.

I've never used any marks on a timing belt. I've never even bothered to see if they were close. What I don't understand though, is why is there a difference in timing between a CA emission spec engine and a non-CA spec?

1.8. No. 2.0 is the standard turbo engine and typically is the easiest to come across with any real performance potential in the sense that you're looking for. The 1.8 was never built with forced induction AFAIK and as such it is not designed, nor able, to handle high HP application without serious modification. If you want "teh powah" with the least effort, look for an Impreza WRX turbo.

This belt is NOT a Mitsuboshi belt. Every Mitsuboshi I've ever installed had their logo clearly printed on the belt. Their belts are good quality that you can see and even feel in the material of the belt. I bought a Subaru belt today, installed it on the car with all of the old parts. The difference is night and day. With the "cheap" belt I had to persuade the tensioner bearing into place. With the Subaru belt the tensioner literally fell into place. No elbow grease, no force needed, I set it in place and put the bolt in. I started the car and what do you know... NO bearing noise. Nothing. Not even the worn out bearing sounds I had before. It wasn't even this quiet with the OLD belt! I'm going to call TIE tomorrow morning. I have to believe at this point that the belt they supplied was simply too short, and has caused damage to the new bearings and possibly to the new water pump as well. I'm playing with the idea of just buying OE bearings, or at least sourcing OE brand parts through an outlet besides the dealer. And I'll probably buy an OE water pump.

If that's new to you you have to check out his Gymkhana videos. Staged, but very cool.

I bought the kit from The Import Experts. The box says PCI, so I guess that's who assembled the kit. The bearings and water pump are GMB, not sure about who made the belt but it says made in USA. I think the bearings might have been fine had they not been subjected to the stress that the new belt was putting on them. The bearings seem to be probably mid-range quality, would last for the recommended 60k mile belt interval, but I don't think I would put much trust in them beyond that. I don't want to knock TIE, I've bought other kits from them for other vehicles and they were fine. I'm inclined now to stay away from PCI components though.

I can get a sound clip tomorrow if you want one. After conferring with a several professional mechanics today, among them one who has worked on Subaru's for at least a decade, the concensus among those more experienced than I, is that there is almost no reason an internal engine bearing (crankshaft/camshaft) would make this type of noise. The Subaru tech asked about belt tension, and wondered if the tensioner came out any after the pin was pulled. I hadn't paid any attention to this before, but even the brand new tensioner does not extend when the pin is pulled with the new belt installed. It is actually being compressed further when installed in accordance with the procedure outlined in the FSM. I can remove and re-insert the pin into the tensioner with literally no resistance. So in light of the new info I did something I hadn't yet tried... I installed the OLD belt. Throughout all the parts swapping, I had always used the NEW belt. I put the old belt on, old idlers, old tensioner, old water pump still on. Started up... No noise. New belt with old idlers and tensioner, noise was back. So I tried all the NEW parts again, Idlers, belt, tensioner, everything except the water pump, noise is there and much louder than with all the old idlers. New idlers with the old belt and old tensioner. Still noisy, but not nearly half as bad. These new idlers have about 1 hour of overall use on them at this point. I don't hear any noise when spun by hand. They are smooth and have resistance like new bearings should, but (this is where it gets interesting) they all have noticeable play when wiggled by hand. I removed them all to spin them by hand and also noticed one of the smooth faced idlers has a much higher initial resistance than any of the other idlers. At the same time I found bits of rubber from the new belt smudged all over both of the smooth idlers, and also bits stuck in the teeth of the cogged idler. So after nearly a week of diagnosis and parts swapping, I think I finally have a solid theory on this noise. The combination of the belt being too tight, and overall poor quality parts that may now be damaged because of the poor fitment of the belt. I can't prove that right away since I'll have to wait for the money to buy better quality parts. Oil pressure test results are good. 18-20psi warm idle ~700 rpm. 35-40 psi off idle ~1000 rpm. 70 psi at 3000 rpm. Seeing good oil pressure has certainly eased my mind of the idea of internal damage. I'm pretty sure now that I can drive the car with the old parts installed and not have to worry about the engine seizing and/or tossing a rod through the block. :cool:

From what I can tell F44 is going to be under the hood. Drivers side, on the firewall. Somewhere in the vicinity of the brake booster/drivers side strut tower. White color, 8 pins.

Try a new radiator cap, and Subaru OE thermostat. Air bubbles could left over from the coolant change working their way out of the system. If this were an older model I would be inclined to say head gasket, but the sohc 2.5 doesn't generally have the problem with head gaskets leaking internally. Subaru coolant conditioner is available at your local Subaru dealer. Subaru requires it's use in all 2.5L equipped models.

Yeah it's a lot of money for a piece of plastic with a ribbon cable in it. Subaru parts seem to be that way. The simple stuff is generally pretty cheap though.

Engine was taken out for badly leaking separator plate seal. It also got a rear main seal. Rear cam O-ring. Rear cam plug. Complete timing job; Belt, idlers, WP. Removed oil pump, replaced O-ring and front crank seal. Replaced leaking tensioner. Front cam seals. Front cam O-ring. Back together, back in the car, cranked with no spark for about 30 seconds to build oil pressure. Reconnected ignitor module, and fired right up. The noise was immediate upon starting.

Unhook the negative battery cable about ten minutes before you start and you will have no problems with the airbag. As far as junkyard parts... Legacy and Impreza use a lot of the same parts, but this one in particular it doesn't look like they share. This page appears to have the correct part number for your car and shows which models are equipped with that part. If you come up empty handed at the junkyard... http://www.subarupartsforyou.com/cp_partdetail.php?partid=9618 Pricey...

That was the first sign. I'm kinda surprised it lasted that long without other trouble.