I am wondering if there is anyway to keep my timing belt in place and still take the crank case off so I can peplace the darn O ring. Anyone got a trick so that I won't have to go spend more money I don't have re-timing this thing? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

let us know what year/engine you're working on.

 

there's no way to keep the timing belt in place to reseal the oil pump...if that's what you're doing, not sure by your description so i'm guessing.

 

just remove the belt, it's easy to reinstall. line up your timing marks when you remove it and then line them back up when you reinstall, they'll typically move a little bit but not much. install the lower passenger side pulley after the timing belt is in place, no need to install that one before the belt. this gives enough slack to install the belt.

it's not hard at all and there's lots of information on here to help. look up the Subaru endwrench article for precise timing belt installation.

 

proceed cautiously, which means only remove and install the belt with the marks lined up, if it's an interference engine (any 97 and up model essentially and all EJ25's). a couple or few teeth either way won't matter, so don't tweak out about that.

 

you haven't mentioned which engine so i'm not sure what oring you're talking about. crank case isn't a term i'm familiar with in terms of timing belts jobs. there's an oring behind the oil pump and an oring behind the cam caps (on some, not all, EJ motors).

sorry.... 91 legacy EJ22? and its the "O" ring that is near the crankshaft seal? It is for the oil pump I believe, I'm not to great with the names of things. (Behind the main center pulley/gear)

Timing belt drives the oil pump so you can't remove the pump without removing the belt. But it's super easy to time them - I do timing belts on SOHC engines all the time and it takes about 3 hours.

 

GD

sorry.... 91 legacy EJ22? and its the "O" ring that is near the crankshaft seal? It is for the oil pump I believe, I'm not to great with the names of things. (Behind the main center pulley/gear)

 

You'll end up replacing the crank seal and the oil pump Oring.

 

might as well do the cam seals and a timing belt.

 

Assumign the WP is in good shape you shouildn't have ot touch the front end for quite a while.

 

I forget if 2.2's that old have the larger, thin Orings on the drivers side front and passenger side rear of head. But that would be about the only thing left on the front to leak.

i'd plan on resealing the oil pump. kind of a crap job to just replace the oring. remove the oil pump:

 

clean it

tighten the rear backing plate screws - a dab of locktite for any that are loose (probably one or a couple).

install oring (i'd use one from Subaru)

replace crank seal on the front of the oil pump body

reseal the perimeter with sealant (supposed to be anaerobic but a lot of folks don't like the cost, but that's what i recommend)

install the pump don't overtigthen, the block is aluminum

 

install timing belt. early EJ stuff is easy, non interference, so just yank the belt off and line it back up to reinstall, not hard. everything you need to know is outlined on here, do some reading if you're hesitant about anything or need some tips.