Hi All!

 

My 1992 Subaru Loyale Wagon died on me today while I was getting on the freeway. No warning it was just like I had turned the ignition off.

To help narrow down the cause, here's what's been done to it over the last 6 months.

 

New timing belts complete - August (covers still off - checked em look good)

New fuel pump - October

New Brakes/rotors - rear shoes - July

 

It was running great up until this point. Can hear fuel pump prime when attempting to start. Doesn't even sputter, just cranks and cranks. Could this be an electrical issue? If so where do I start to diagnose? As good as this car was running before the failure, logic tells me it must be something simple. (I hope)

Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

goatcheez

Make sure the ignition wires are all still connected.

 

I've seen timing belts appear ok, but have sheared teeth under one or both of the pulleys.

 

 

Try to narrow it down whether its a spark or fuel issue.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I've gotta do some more homework. It's colder than a buh-jeeb-eez here in central IL and I probably won't get to it til this weekend when I can warm up the garage. Just thought maybe there was a common problem that might be a good place to start. Still open to ideas. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!

 

goatcheez

Make sure all the fuses are good and check that the screw didn't fall out of the distributor rotor, etc.

 

Sounds electrical from your description. I would be looking for burnt fuses, fusible links, etc.

 

GD

Check the coil and main spark wire leading from it to the distributor. Don't know if yours falls in this category, but some Subs have a dumb design concerning the distributor and rotor. The rotor on my disty is held on with a very small screw. If the screw comes off, the rotor stops spinning, and the engine will just died. The good thing is that is a very easy fix. Just line up the rotor, put the screw back in, and away you go. Ask me how I know about this one.

I had a car die on me. I walked home, towedit there, and sat on it for months thinking i had a broken timing belt, and was too lazy to inspect it. It cam down to being forced to move the car, and only then did i bother to check the set screw, and there she be. If i would have though if that, i could have fixed it there off the side of the road to begin with.

Found it!! It WAS the timing belt, drivers side. I didn't see it until I got underneath the car. I just put new belts (whole kit with tensioners) on back in August. Looks like I got a bad belt out of the box. The t-belt covers are off, left 'em off after I did these the last time. Getting to it is easy.

Okay, so here's my question. Finding top dead center. I had help from a friend when I did these before. Gonna be doing this one on my own. So finding TDC and adjusting the timing is beyond my knowledge. Any advice or tips are always appreciated.

 

goatcheez

no need to find top dead center. just line up the drivers side cam and flywheel/flexplate mark, install timing belt. turn over motor and do the same on the passengers side. drivers and pasesngers sides are 180 degrees off.

 

if your belt broke, make sure there's no oil leak or one of the pulleys isn't seized.

Thanks! Still gonna have to do some research on the cam and flywheel markings. No oil leak. Gonna check pulley(s) tomorrow. So far I'm glad it's something simple (relatively speaking) and not an electrical issue I have to try to track down. I'll keep you posted....

 

goatcheez

And the great thing is, because it's an EA engine, the broken T belt did no damage.... except to your pride!

And the great thing is, because it's an EA engine, the broken T belt did no damage.... except to your pride!

 

And you have listed all the benefits of an ea82 :-\ But at least it's a time saving and money saving benefit, but it's still about the only benefit.

Gotta lov'em

http://www.economysuperstar.com/milesfox/subaru/service/timingbelt.htm

once you have all the belts on, and have the driver side cam facing up, rotate the crank till you see o deg mark and there you go( about a 3/4 rotation of the crank, the driver cam will be facing at 4 o'clock position, the passenger at 10

All fixed!! Thanks for all of your help! Even though I had put a new t-belt kit on her back in August, I decided to replace BOTH belts. Heck, their cheap enough. I checked the tensioners and pulleys everything seemed to be turning freely. So, as of right now, my diagnosis is just a bad belt. Went with a little more expensive brand this time too. So far so good.

 

goatcheez