So the belt was done I believe @ 90k the car now has 140k should I do the belt?

So the belt was done I believe @ 90k the car now has 140k should I do the belt?

 

early legacys had a timing belt schedule of 60k months / miles. so you have some time / miles yet. at some point they changed the belt design and the schedule to 105k months / miles. i don't really know when the change took place but i suspect it was later than 97, probably 99 with the introduction of the phase 2 2.2L engine.

 

but someone would have to confirm that.

 

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/subaru_maintenance.html#90-99maintenance

 

looks like it was in 2000, which makes no sense, the 99 lego 2.2L is the same as the 00 impreza 2.2L . it must have been easier to alter the schedule with the new decade.

 

unless you have a california car, their schedule was the 105k.

Edited September 2, 201015 yr by johnceggleston

I think its just a matter of what belt came on the car from the Factory.

Idle curiosity: Does anyone know for a fact that the "California" 105k belt really differs in design/composition from the old standard 60k one? :-\

at 10+ years old i would replace, but only in part because of the belt. get an ebay timing belt kit. the concern now is not just the belt itself but the age of the tensioner and pulleys which are known to fail as they age and loose grease. most of this age/vintage need replacing for another reliable 100,000 miles. the ebay kits (most of us on here use theimportexperts) are only $80 - $200 dollars, yours will almost certainly be the higher end of that because it's the new style tensioner (also the least reliable of the two, giving more confidence that replacement is a good option). done right you got all new timing belt, all new pulleys, new tensioner and i'd throw a new water pump on there too.

 

this is an interference engine, if the timing belt breaks it'll be very expensive to fix the bent valves that result. this is a tank of a motor, do this maintenance right and you've got another cheap 100,000 miles.

 

Idle curiosity: Does anyone know for a fact that the "California" 105k belt really differs in design/composition from the old standard 60k one? :-\

i've seen it talked about a lot and i don't think a definitive conclusion has ever been reached. there's nothing that says the way one company does it has to be the way they all do it either, meaning one company could theoretically supply two different parts and another could not. unlikely, it seems cost and supply prohibitive.

Idle curiosity: Does anyone know for a fact that the "California" 105k belt really differs in design/composition from the old standard 60k one? :-\

 

i have not compared the belts side by side, but 3 years ago when i was in advance auto trying to buy one, i didn't by the way, they had the fed belt in stock and the cal belt had to be ordered, guess which one was cheaper, the cal belt. go figure.

 

of course that might have been just that store.....

 

think about it this way, if they had just changed the specification on the belt and not redesigned it, once there was an interference ej22 there would have been a lot of bent valves if the belt would not go 105k. and if it would go 105k, why wait for cali to demand the longer life.

 

the cali demand probably precipitated the 105k belt in the ej25 world wide. why stock 2 belts?

i was in advance auto trying to buy one, i didn't by the way, they had the fed belt in stock and the cal belt had to be ordered, guess which one was cheaper, the cal belt. go figure.

 

sitll true.

 

dayco #95172 - 60k belt is $42, all but one store has it in stock.

dayco #95254 - 105k is $28, only one store has it in stock.

Edited September 2, 201015 yr by johnceggleston

Thanks for the observations guys. My theory is that they are the same belt, that Subaru "chanced it" (gave it a different part number to placate the Golden State officialdom) and ultimately found that the belts were just fine with the longer change interval!

 

Cynical maybe, but that's my .02!

Thanks for the observations guys. My theory is that they are the same belt, that Subaru "chanced it" (gave it a different part number to placate the Golden State officialdom) and ultimately found that the belts were just fine with the longer change interval!

 

Cynical maybe, but that's my .02!

 

they may have done that in 95 or whenever, but at some point dayco got different specs for the cali belt, or they would be doing the same thing, saving a few cents / dollars per belt.

the 2.2 in a NON-interference motor, but yeah I think I will just do the belt for ************s and giggles.

I've never done one myself on an EJ22, it should be fairly straight forward, probably 2 hrs of work?

New belt is a wise decision (whichever belt you use!!!)

 

EJ22 is quite straightforward and relatively easy, but you should probably allow more time so you can thoroughly check out the front end while you have it opened up: Tensioner & idlers, reseal oil pump, maybe cam & crank seals, water pump (?).

 

Lotsa' good write-ups on here, check out the links in johnceggleston's sig.

 

Good luck.

There's a lot of variability but i would plan on longer than 2 hours for your first time.

 

If you're only doing the belt and have no rust, 30-45 minutes if you're fast. First time doubtful though.

 

If you're replacing all the pulleys, water pump, and any wet seals, or resealing the oil pump then over 2 hours for sure.

 

With the timing belt off you have easy access to the oil pump, water pump, cam seals, and cam orings. Good time to address those while you're in there.

 

EJ water pumps dont' often fail but being over 10 years old and next belt coming at 200,000 I would install a new one.

 

But yeah it's fairly straight forward. Lots of excellent information on here and endwrench. I'd jsut print out the Subaru endwrench articles for your engines timing belt. There's links on this forum to them, johnceggleson has links in his sig i believe.

 

i could probably even burn you a CD of the FSM.

the 2.2 in a NON-interference motor, but yeah I think I will just do the belt for ************s and giggles.

Not after 96. 96 was the last year of the non interference stuff.