General chaos

back in december the alternator diodes went out on this alternator. and the brushes were alsp unevenly worn. i ordered new diodes and had then put in that day i got them. this was a very very easy job. i went ahead and ordered the brushes too. after i got the car going again. then before this crank pulley came loose. the battery was dying. and i took the car and the alternator off the car. to all four places in town. one of them said the diodes were bad again. the other places said they were good. at this time i put the new brushes in the alternator. and i then took off the negative battery cable and put a test light between the cable and the battery. the light came on. well the stupid sid emark lights/ position lights were on. so i turned those off. i think i bumped them while turning the key on. anyway i had no short after that. so i had a different battery. i put it in and the car was starting again without a jump start. then a few days later the crank pulley became loose. and now here i am . i know 8 volts doesnt sound good to me. i was unable to work on the car tonight. more urgent matters of making money had to be performed. it may be a few days before i get back to the car. the decision was made on sunday to let the car sit until we could get back to it. my other spare truck has a transmission problem. so i am going to concentrate on that starting tomorrow. but i may not do much tomorrow on the truck. and may have time to come back home before it gets too late and do some more testing on the elcetrical system. i did get to the library and looked at soem testing procedures ina mitchel manual which were basically copies of the subaru of america manual. but it was a 1992 book. and not a 93 book. it said to test the coil. i think they meant coil pack. but just from reading i am leaning towards a possible igniter problem. i am guessing really. it could be power before the igniter.

the center wire on the coil pack plug has no power at all at any time. i cant give an answer about the tach moving or not. my wife was turning the key whiel i was outside looking at the engine. i would try it now. but i had to use the battery in another car so she could go to work. and i have no other battery here right now. i will check that when she gets home though. thanks for the tip.

well i think it may be time to do a new thread. it is in time with the hash mark or stamped marks. the coil pack isnt getting anything to it. to let it spark.

when i took this photo all the timing marks were lined up. i then rolled the engine into this location to demonstrate what i was asking. if the liens had to exact. and if the green mark was a factory mistake. i did see earlier in this thread that one person showing a close up where his mark wasn't exact. but the white mark on the belt was lined up. i am not getting spark. i do not know why. there is no power or pulses going to the coil pack. if the crank and cam sensors have to be exact to fire the coil pack and create spark. then the belt must be stretched just a slight. not as shown in the picture. i have ordered a new belt just to eliminate this as a question. what i cant believe is why no one will even consider answering the question as to how to test for pulses to and from the sensors. or power to the coil pack. i have seen the wiring diagram from the coil pack to igniter and to the mpfi control box. there ia diode in the yellow wire and red/green also blue go to the igniter. i did not get time yet to check the igniter if power was coming or going to it. i did check fuse 16. the fuse is good. and has 8 volts of power with key off. that is as far as i have gotten.

ok. i am going to the library and look at the wiring diagrams. while i am gone i am going to ask this. even if the timing belt were on wrong i mean a little or alot. wouldnt the system still fire. even if it didnt start?

i had actually considered the cam sensor and the pulley not lining up exactly. because of the worn belt. now this pulley has a mark on it. i painted it white. there is also a green factory mark on it but it is off by a bit. what do yo uthink. should i line up with the green mark instead? if i would remember right. the green mark may have lined up better last year than the stamped mark i painted this year.

everything is all lined up. but i still have no spark. now what do i test? and what voltages and i looking for? 12 volts to the coil pack. from where. the crank angle sensor? all the teeth are on the crank gear. this car was running when parked to work on it. now nothing. i have wiggled plugs and i have no power getting to the coil pack when key on key off or when cranking the engine over.

i just let the tensioner off so the bel tis out there tigthening down as i type. it was pretty tight when i came inside just now. but i wanted to look at the diagrams one more tiem before i started doing anything else to it. so far this morning i have tore everything down. and degreased everything under there. i pulled the water pump too bcause it had slight leakage around the gasket area. the gasket was in good shape. i put silicoen between the gasket and block. i don't like doing that. but i did anyway to stop any more leaking. when i put the used belt back on i did roll the enigne slightly to compensate for a worn and stretched belt. not very much but just enough that it would roll into the right position when the belt tightened up. i did the same thing last year. and it worked. i am not sure what i did wrong yesterday. but it wasnt right. lets hope this works this time.

those are the marks i used. it moved on me somehow.

i tis out of time. both cam pulleys are right but the crank isnt. the adjuster must have moved the belt more after i put the cover back on. i thought i waited long enough. it all seemed tight.

i decied to start from basics. spark and fuel. i know i have fuel i can smell it. but i have no spark coming out of the coil pack. i check the connection near where i pulled the plug out of the rear of the engine to see the torque converter. it was plugged in a wiggling it didnt help. so how do i determine if the coil pack is getting power. well how much power should be at the plug? and or if the coikl pack has suddenly went bad on me? should i be getting a full 12 volts coming into the coil pack?

still no start. i am going to take the covers off and look at it. those piston position marks. i am guessing they should point the way the diagram shows. even if i am half a tooth off this thing should fire up shouldnt it. after all there is no distributor. but just run sloppy? also i noticed theat the cam on the drivers side required a socket to tuen the pulley. but the passenger side was so loose my hand bumping it would move it out of place. i had to put it back in place twice. it didnt go very far. so it is where it is suppose to be at. could soem valves got bent and the cam is loose. or is there just no tension at this point when timing the engine.

the slices in the cam gears where aligned with the notches in the back cover. maybe it just isnt ready to start yet. maybe i dont have to take it back apart. let me mess with it again. it may have been sitting too long. it has started pulling that little trick on me lately. i could smell fuel when i got out.

93 legacy sedan 2.2 at awd. i removed the timing belt today. i rolled the engine over using the bolt on the drivers side timing gear. it didnt slip. it just turned the belt and everything. i knew to line up the notches on both cam gears so when i put the belt back it would be fine. this is the same thign i did last summer when i changed the water pump. ok so i have the belt off. and then i cant get the crank gear off. it didnt turn or even move in or out for me. so i put the belt back on. noting that the arrow on the crank gear was pointing sideways. now how it was pointing sideways i dont know. the car was running when it was parked in this parking stall. is it possible that the belt jumped when it shut off? the belt is very worn it has cracks in it. i dont have the cash to buy a new belt so i put it all back together and of course it wouldnt start. probably because the gear was pointing sideways. i know i should have pointed it back upwards. but i didnt because that is how it was to begin with. my only conclusion is that the belt must have jumped. after the tensioner got to full strength the belt seemed nice and tight. or is it possible i got it 180 out some how. that doesnt make sence though. i fit were 180 out the crank arrow would have been pointing downward not sideways.

the whole engine leaks. i am abosolutly positively not going to do anything about it. no way no how. i am not spending anymore money at all. if it blows up as soon as i restart the engine then good. i am not fixing oil leaks.

i have to do something with the key anyway. the pulley wont go over it. i tis beat up just enough that pulley keway wont go over the key. here is what i have gotten down to in the last 30 minutes.

my main concern was it being long enough. and i think it is by what the one i took from the junkyard looks like. i had posted pictures of the other one yesterday but i guess when the site went down it took the post with it. knowing what it looked like told me i can probably reuse this one and not worry about it. it looks better now that it is all cleaned up.

ok i'm not going to use locktite on it then. niether of the bolts had and trace os if on them. and i also read a thread about not using it on another site that said if it was used it could stay in there and next time if it the bolt was put back in with more locktite that it would build up and not give a true tightness either. i did know abou toiling the threads before torquing. i just need to make somethign to hold the balancer now. as far as the key i am going to reuse the key that is in there. i dont think it is damaged.

i really need a quick answer about the thread locker. this car has to be driven tomorrow morning.

i got a balancer off of a 1.8 impreza i thijnk it was. year unknown. it looks and fits exactly the same as the old one. do i use thread locker on the threads? red blue or green? i bought red but havent opened it yet. how tight is the balancer bolt suppose to be? impact tight? the key looks the same as the others at the junkyard. i did take one from a 95 2.2 legacy. it was sittign the same depth as the one i have now. it didnt look worn off. the impreza key looked longer than the other 2.2 legacys out there. i really dont want to take the timing belt off again. i forgot how to deal with that hydralic adjuster.

ii called the junkyard. they have a good balacner for 25.00. i will probably pull thier key while i am there. now i have to find a way to get to the junkyard.

great. i saw the pictures of the pulley in your profile pictures. mine is worn more than i thought. so my key needs to be replaced or pulled out more? or is my key correct? i just saw another engine the other day with a key exposed but i thought it looked the same as mine looked. since i dont have any way of gettign over to the junkyard today. i cant go look at it either.

finally a good picture.

sorry this is a 2.2 in a 93 legacy sedan. here are some pictures of it. By forman1 at 2011-03-29 By forman1 at 2011-03-29

how far out is the key in the keyway suppose to set out. is it suppose to set out all the way to the end of the crank? i am wonderign if mine has walked in or worn off.