lebnjay

I just borrowed a 22mm from a friend as my set does not go up to 7/8th in standard. Now I just need to find time to get out there, it's too tempting to work on the car instead of getting all this ************ done and, well, graduating. lebnjay

I was also wondering this, not only is has the windshield on my subie been cracked pretty bad for quite a while, but the seal around the outside pulled away as well. Any of you get a bit of water dripping on your toes when it rains real good? hmm, wonder if they are related, seems like water dripping in happened before the windshield started losing it's outer seal. Also, to avoid cracking windshield, be careful when loading ten foot 2" steel pipe in your wagon. lebnjay

Thanks for that link 85Sub4WD, I had actually already found it from another one of your posts. Is the Factory Service Manual worth the extra money over one of the other service manuals like chiltons? Any other ideas on where to find one other than ebay, or are they not generally sold commercially? I think I might go down on Monday and see what he says, hopefully get my money back, but don't have much hope. Maybe I'll fix the timing belt beforehand. I may wait to go down to talk to him until after I fix it though, hopefully that receipt shows up, but I am not too hopeful . hmm, what to do thanks guys lebnjay

Skip, I realize that that it is not correct to have both marks pointing up at the same time. This is why I am saying that the mechanic installed the belts wrong! Now I just need to find a 22mm socket, the 22mm just had to be missing from my set. thanks again guys lebnjay

Wow, you guys were totally right. Instead of working on my thesis today I pulled the radiator and the timing belt covers. Lined up the lines on the flywheel and guess what, the little circle marks on the cam gears were both pointing down. Rotated everything 180 and yep, both pointing up with the lines lined up. So now I know that the mechanic lied to me. Either he was just lazy and lied to me, or he was trying to con me out of some extra cash and lied. He basically took $300 of mine for a failed timing belt install. I now figure he either could have accidently installed the timing belt wrong, saw it ran like crap, assumed it was an interference engine, assumed the valves were bent, then lied to me about how he had already taken it all apart to see that valves were bent. After I didn't give him $800 to fix the bend valves he asked for $300 to put everything back together and said that it might limp home on a couple cylinders. I was dumb, didn't know any better, and said sure whatever. I guess another option is that he was just trying to scam me out of whatever he could get, and after I didn't pay to fix the bent valves, he installed the timing belt wrong so it would run like crap to match his story. Then offered to buy it off me for a hundred or so. I hope it was the first and he was just lazy and a bit of an as$hole. Not really sure where I am going from here... After looking today I think I may not have a receipt from this guy, at the time I thought my subaru was finally dead and I guess either I did not get one, or did not glove box it like I do with all my other car receipts. At this point I am kind of excited to do the timing belt fix so I know how to do it in the future, and enjoy working on the car, I also have no way to get the car down to this mechanic's shop, not that I want him working on my car again anyways. I will probably go down there and confront him about this on Monday when they are open and see what he says. It would be sweet to get my money back, but I don't hold much hope. Don't think I stand on very firm ground without a receipt, especially cause it was almost a year ago, wonder what he will say. This especially sucks because not only am I out of $300 but this means I could have had a running car this last year, not a nice looking subaru slowly collecting dust. If I don't get any resolution from talking to him I suppose I could try going through the Better Business Bureau. What do you guys think would be the best course of action, or best way to approach the situation? Thank you so much for all your help, I am so excited to get this car running again and to start doing as much of the maintenance myself as I can. After reading a bunch of articles and threads on this site I am getting much more confidant with my ability to learn to work on this subaru myself. lebnjay

Wow, thanks for more helpful posts. Richierich, I will give what you suggested a try and see what I come up with. It would be awesome if this was all is wrong with my car. Man, I can't wait till the 28th of this month, thesis is due... then I am free. Right now I feel more like I am just banging my head against a wall, and have almost no free time (yet I manage to slack off by coming here). Hopefully I can get my car running by the time I am free to leave this place so I can escape. Thanks again guys. If anyone has any more to add to what others have said I would love to hear it. lebn

Now that I think about it, he did offer to buy the subaru from me for something like $100. Wow, wish I knew a decent mechanic around here (just moved here). As far as just the timing belts being installed incorrectly, could that make a car run as bad as mine did? Let's see, felt like I was running on one cylinder, it would jump around like crazy, had to keep my foot on the accelerator just about constantly to keep the revs up or it would die, had a max speed of about 20mph, extremely loud. Basically non-drivable, it literally would stop traffic it was so ridiculous. damn, if it was just fixing the timing belts that would be awesome. but he did take everything apart to see what the problem was, or at least he said he did. lebn

By the way, this is my first time here and you guys are amazingly fast. I had no idea this was such an awesome board, I imagine I have quite a bit to learn from here. lebn

Okay, I'll tell a bit more. When the timing belt initially broke I had the mechanic look a it. He got a ways into it, said the valves were bent, wanted $800 to do the complete job, had already replaced the timing belt. I told him I couldn't put that kind of money into it, he put things back together and it limped home, but just barely, it was the worst i have ever seen a car run. Now, it hasn't moved since it got home. Would the mechanic lie about the valves being bent? What would be in it for him? Especially since he knew that I was not going to put more money into the car than it was worth. It was a while ago, but I though he even told me it was an interference engine. Of course I believe you guys over him though. This is exactly why I would like to learn more about working on my car, so I can stop being yanked around by mechanics quite so much. thanks for the posts so far lebn

So I have a '87 GL wagon with 240k miles on it. Timing belt went out and now I have bent valves. Mechanic wanted $800 to fix, sadly the car isn't really worth that much, nor do I have it. So now the car has been sitting for several months. I am going to have some extra time this summer, and would love to learn a bit more about fixing cars. Think replacing bent valves, or putting a new engine in would be a manageable task for someone with moderate experience working on cars? I won't kid myself and say that I have a lot of experience, but wouldn't mind taking the time and learning. Biggest problem is lack of money. I'd love to see that subaru running again, she was an awesome car, all the miles have been in the family. I welcome any advice you guys have, anything really, from good resources to start learning more, what costs might be, what other options I have. How much does an older subaru engine go for, I would guess the $300-400 range for something used. Well, again, any help is appreciated. lebn