There was an intermittent squeak in the engine compartment of my daughter's 03 LL Bean, H-6 engine. I would normally investigate promptly, but I was busy and the plastic engine cover prevented an immediate look. Since I don't drive the car often and my daughter said the sqeak went away, we forgot about it. Anyway, the idler pulley seized and ate the belt yesterday reminding me that noises should be checked out before they cause problems. I always tell my kids to listen to their cars for warning noises and then I ignored this one!

The bad part is that the fried pulley also ruined the attached support bracket for the alternator and A/C compressor. Junk yards won't part this off a good engine so the only option was Subaru for about $115, luckily they stocked one. Perhaps I'm not the only idiot to create this situation!

A simple idler pulley replacement turned into quite a project, and I replaced the other pulley also, about $50 each at Subaru. AND, We're leaving the cover off the engine so we can more readily assess new noises.

Thanks for sharing, michaelbteam. It's a good reminder for all of us!

Isn't it remarkable that there was no valve or piston damage stemming from the broken belt?

Different belt.

 

You ought to find a U-pull-it yard. Much cheaper than a dealer.

This was the serpentine drive belt, not a timing belt, which the H-6 does not have anyway since it has a timing chain.

I have not seen any 2003 Outbacks in our local self service yards yet, in fact rarely any Outbacks at all. Plenty of older Legacies. I did not check to see if that bracket is on models other than the H-6. Would anyone know that?

All of the yards I called would not sell a bracket off their engines.

Every time I run across an H-6 serp belt tensioner/pulley thread, I chime in with:

 

- The H6 pulley bearings fail a bit earlier than the H4 ones do (seems that way to me, anyway)

 

- The bearings in the pulleys can be inexpensively replaced.

 

I have an '03 H6 with 115Kmiles, and figure I need to replace the bearings pretty soon.

 

Dave

The idler pulley bearing seized, ruined the pulley and bracket, ate the belt. there were 3 little bearings left melted in the housing. Now I know to pay closer attention.