May 9, 201015 yr 2 questions: What needs to be replaced along with the timing belt? Anybody know a good mechanic in the Union County, NC area?
May 9, 201015 yr My recommendation is OEM Subaru belt and inspect the pulleys. But if you like to know and recognize it's a bit ambiguous: Pulleys should be inspected and any that are noisy or spin too freely replaced. Original pulleys have to make it 210,000 miles. Older Subaru engines with 60,000 mile intervals would be checked three times by that mileage. So err on the side of caution. Hard to say really without seeing the pulleys but yours is new enough that you shouldn't need many/any pulleys. The lower cogged idler is the most common to replace. The newer style timing tensioner is a bit less reliable than the older ones, but that's an expensive "maybe". Water pumps I often replace as preventative maintenance but the newer style are very robust and rarely fail. Expensive to replace it all, to gain a miniscule amount of protection since failure is rare. But if the price tag is worth the added reliability and protection you might want to replace some other things.
May 9, 201015 yr Subaru recomends replacing all pullies with a timing belt change. Very few of them last as many miles as was stated above, it is not worth the risk. Most the time they give up the ghost 30-40,000 miles later. replace the tensioner, same reason. replace the water pump as murphys law dictates it will leak after the TB change. Again they are designed for 105K so anything past that is free, but you have to dig into it like another timing belt. Bad grosgary, he skipped some parts. Cam seals. Main seal. Re-seal the oil pump. That will take care of sny future (and they will happen) oil leaks.
May 9, 201015 yr Subaru recomends replacing all pullies with a timing belt change. I wasn't aware of that, nipper. Can you cite a source?
May 9, 201015 yr Author Thank for the replies so far, people. I forgot one more question. What is the grace period on this job? My wife needs to take about a 1500-2000 mile trip this week. Bad idea to wait?
May 9, 201015 yr How far away from Richmond va are you? I can do the job for you and you and the little lady can have a day trip. The job doesn't take all that long. I can do it far cheaper than a dealer. PM me if you are interested. Mike
May 10, 201015 yr I wasn't aware of that, nipper. Can you cite a source? Yes. Well no now. Endwrench totally reworked thier site, and took down a lot of information, including that. You can search here and look at idlers that failed after a timing belt was done. If you dont do so be it, but it is cheap insurance, since the engine is already apart its easy to do. I always do, and never would tell a customer not to do it. Wow i really don't like what endwrench did to the site. So many ads for subaru parts. 80% of the old info is gone
May 10, 201015 yr Yeah I agree nip, it's a tough call to let them go another 100k and I rarely do. Odd you mention endwrench as Subaru dealers don't typically replace all the pulleys, folks post on here that dealers tell them not to replace water pumps/pulleys. Local dealer here charges $699 for only a timing belt change - add all that stuff and it's a $1,500 - $2,000 job. Ebay kits are around $200. I and others on here have always used the ebay kits with the exception of one where I only replaced one pulley because the rest were in excellent condition.
May 10, 201015 yr Yeah I agree nip, it's a tough call to let them go another 100k and I rarely do. Odd you mention endwrench as Subaru dealers don't typically replace all the pulleys, folks post on here that dealers tell them not to replace water pumps/pulleys. Local dealer here charges $699 for only a timing belt change - add all that stuff and it's a $1,500 - $2,000 job. Ebay kits are around $200. I and others on here have always used the ebay kits with the exception of one where I only replaced one pulley because the rest were in excellent condition. EEEK i have never paid more then 675.00 for all those parts and work, thats a freaking ripoff.
May 10, 201015 yr woah $675 from a Subaru dealer, that's a good price I'd believe for all OEM and labor. side note, i meant the dealer in Maryland charged $699, not sure what they charge here, but i'd guess about the same given prices on other work.
May 10, 201015 yr Author Holy smokes! For $600 - 700, I guarantee I can do it myself! What about the fudge-factor on the mileage?
May 10, 201015 yr What about the fudge-factor on the mileage? Personally, I wouldn't get paranoid about the mileage. The car's (probably) not going to go poof at 105,001 miles. It's just that no one's going to tell you everything will be just fine because . . . what if it did?!! Just my opinion.
May 11, 201015 yr Author Personally, I wouldn't get paranoid about the mileage. The car's (probably) not going to go poof at 105,001 miles.... Yep, made it past 105,000 this week without a problem. Just came in from changing the oil w/105,700. Guess I'm good to go for another 105K? 1) What torque value would youse guys suggest for the drain plug? I gave it 20 lb/ft. and 2)Did I put the washer on right with the flat side facing the plug?
May 11, 201015 yr Hehe. I'm sure 20 is good enough - I believe the book says either 30 or 33. Sounds right, rounded side goes into the pan.
May 11, 201015 yr You'll probably be fine, there's no way to quantify it though so it's sort of an impossible question to answer. Your statistical probability increase with every mile....for some people that's meaningless, others have low tolerance for surpassing threshholds, we can't tell you what kind of person you are! Statistically speaking you have a very low chance of failure. I never torque the drain plug, it's iron on iron...snug...snug, check...that's good.
May 11, 201015 yr folks post on here that dealers tell them not to replace water pumps/pulleys Why only do the job once when you can do it twice with more parts at three times the price LOL They're all filthy like that, every last one. Anyhow, I changed my belt at 200k and had an idler seize up at 217k, which wrecked the block and necessitated putting in a newer motor. I'd never do another belt without replacing the whole set of idlers, seals, tensioner, and water pump again; they're just so simple to do while you already have everything apart, and worth the peace of mind, not to mention keeping you from having to pay for the whole job again plus the parts that should have been done in the first place If you can't afford to do it right the first time, you certainly can't afford to do it twice.
May 11, 201015 yr Why only do the job once when you can do it twice with more parts at three times the price LOL They're all filthy like that, every last one.in their defense (which you'll rarely hear from me:lol:) if they recommend replacing the water pump, tensioner, etc they will start quoting $500 more for a timing belt job. most folks will go elsewhere or spread word about what "crooks" they are because they say they need more parts replaced than they actually do. the average person does not want stories or a quick lesson in mechanics. so they're kind of in a hard spot having one timing belt job for everyone. and since you're doing the work yourself they don't have anything to gain from you by having a timing belt protocol that's up to your standards. i actually agree with you and generally distrust dealers/mechanics. but realize that we're the oddity by wanting to keep a car well maintained beyond 200,000 miles and doing the work ourselves. the average consumer going to a dealer is not keeping cars very long and not doing the work themselves. they really have no idea about their car. so while i tend to distrust dealers i also realize the difficult position they're in.
May 12, 201015 yr Author How far away from Richmond va are you? I can do the job for you and you and the little lady can have a day trip. The job doesn't take all that long. I can do it far cheaper than a dealer. PM me if you are interested. Mike Mike, that is a compelling offer. Richmond is a little out of the way.
May 12, 201015 yr Author I am liking the discussion. These are the kinds of things I need to know about this car. I like to keep things a long time and maintain them correctly. The suby is my wife's car, so I like it to be in top condition. Haven't had to worry about this car until recently. Changed valve cover gaskets/spark plug seals after it oiled a spark plug boot. Needed a tune up anyway.
May 12, 201015 yr the average consumer going to a dealer is not keeping cars very long and not doing the work themselves. they really have no idea about their car Isn't that the damn truth LOL very well written points sir I certainly do as much as I can to give customers every option available, with the pros and cons of doing or not doing certain things. I always let them decide what they want to do after educating them as much as possible; I figure it's their money, they need to decide what they want to do with it. As long as I can give them as much info as possible to make that choice, I feel ok about whatever they want to do I know for sure when my replacement motor comes up for it's next belt change at 100k I'll be tossing in all new stuff so I don't have a repeat performance of a locked up idler
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