jfm2112

Agreed. After owning dozens of cars, I became hooked on Subarus with an '88, '87' and an '86. Was a little disappointed with the '97, but it's the car I want. Whatever their price, their reputation makes it worthwhile. And if you like the car, it's certainly worth it to replace the engine with a CCR.

Tim, I assume this is a 2.5 DOHC. Would you mind revealing the out the door price, (you don't have to) and I guess this is a complete overhaul rather than new? I think a lot of us would be interested. Maybe too many. We might overwhelm CCR.

When I install the belt, the first mark is dotted lines. This goes on the crank at the timing mark. From there it goes to the upper sprocket on the drivers side. The next line lines up with the mark on the upper sprocket. Once you do this, there is still slack. If I count teeth, it is the correct number, (51 I think).Continuing around all sprockets everything goes on, and there is no slack between any other pulleys, All tooth counts work out fine. Install the tensioner, the slack is removed from the crank to the first sprocket, and both sprockets on that side move out of position.

It pulls both sprockets a few teeth off. I guess I can attempt to put them off the other direction, but then none of the lines on the belt will line up with the marks.

When installing a new timing belt, you run it around the crank, and over to the drivers side cam sprockets. After the belt is completely on, all the slack is between the crank and the intake sprocket on the drivers side. All teeth counted, everything is correct. When you put tension on the belt, it removes this slack, and pulls both intake and exhaust sprockets out of alignment. I've counted teeth 10 times, rerouted it 6 times, and the result is the same. As soon as tension is applied, it pulls that side out of whack. Any ideas?

My intention was not to bad-mouth K&N. As I said, I love K&N filters, but thought this one was the wrong approach. I assumed it was K&N because of the filter color, but it's very possible I am wrong. Regardless of the manufacturer, I am concerned that it is not supported, and draws hot air from under the hood, instead of cool air from inside the fender.

Some previous owner replaced the stock airbox with the cone type K&N. It is unsupported. Plus, with no airbox to direct cool air from inside the fender, won't this create some performance, gas mileage issues? Love K&N filters, but this one looks like the wrong approach. '97 outback wagon.

They're off! A combination of everything finally did it. Impact wrench on the intakes followed by chain wrench on the exhausts. Thanks for all the input guys. Red Loctite on the bolts. 60,000 miles and they appear to never have been off before. I'll go back together with blue.

Radiator is out. Unfortunately the condenser is still in the way. Got both off the right side now. Neither one off the left. Can't get the chain wrench around the sprockets because they are too close to one another. Protrusions on the cam are preventing me from getting a good bite on it. I'm thinking of building my own strap wrench with the old timing belt. Cams have been moved. No way to avoid it with all this wrestling. I'm bringing home a borescope from work to assess any potential damage. Boy, Subaru missed the mark with this 2.5 DOHC. I just wanted to fix a few leaking cam seals, and it's turned into a huge fiasco. Maybe I'll get the 2 L/H ones tonight.

I pulled the rocker covers and got a 1" wrench on the flats of the cam. Still can't break loose the bolt that holds the sprockets on. I'm using a 1/2" breaker bar with a short length of pipe. These things are way over-torqued from the factory. Started to twist the cam in the 1" wrench!!!!!! I'm running out of ideas. Maybe cut the timing belt to fit the diameter of the sprocket, and then put a chain vise grip on it. Any better ideas, I'd appreciate.

Can't get the bolts loose. I think I might have to reinstall the belt to get the bolts to break loose.

Having difficulty removing the cam sprockets on the '97 Outback wagon with 2.5 DOHC. Especially those on the drivers side where they're recessed in the sprocket. Any ideas on this one?

$1500 puts it in perspective. Thanks for listening to me whine. Cam seals leaked on the old Subarus, and I guess they leak on these too. Time to quit crying and get to work fixing it.

Standard???? At 60K? Drain and pull the radiator, so I can get an impact wrench on the crank pulley, tear apart the whole front end of the engine, just to change some lousy seals....every 60,000 miles? Boy, is that awful. Drove Subie's forever, but this looks like the end of the line. Sounds like planned maintenance by Subaru to keep their dealership shops rolling in the cash.

Drove older Subarus to death. The things just wouldn't die. Thought I'd upgrade to a '97 Outback with 60,000 miles. After 4 months of driving, the thing leaks oil like a sieve. At every stop, I'm enveloped in a cloud of oil smoke. What a pile of junk. Subaru ought to be ashamed at the lack of quality in these cars. It's leaking from somewhere around the cam pulleys. It's gonna get expensive. Might be better to trade it off.

Hey, thanks guys. At least I know not to run out and buy a Haynes manual. I'm slowly reassembling the dash while I ride my motorcycle to work. I'll keep looking for the darn thing, and in the meantime, I'll try to come up with a REAL wiring diagram. One fun thing about Soob's is finding other ones to put all the best parts on. That way, all previous Soobs live on in your future ones. John

Nope, it's not there either. The one I bought at the parts store is a black rectangle with 3 spade terminals on it. After everything I've done to this car over the years, I can't believe the crummy turn signals will be the end of it. The hazard switch literally fell apart when I removed the dash, and the heater control assembly is in pieces. I thought Soobs were the greatest car ever built till I started on this mess, and I've worked on dozens of cars. Chiltons can't even provide a print for any light system in the entire car? Flasher unit is so incredibly hidden, it can never be found? If it even exists? My Chiltons book does have a print for the Justy, and it just shows power directly to the switch, and directly from there to the lights. Unbelievable. Simply can't work that way IMHO. John

Searching for my turn signal flasher unit, I've torn half the dashboard apart. I can't get it all the way out due to the heater slide lever assembly. I'm tracing the wires from the switch, and I can't see where they go without removing the dash/instrument panel. Chiltons is no help, they don't even have a wiring print for this. It's a 1987 Wagon. Anyone know exactly where the flasher unit is? John