Completed my first timing belt replacement on 96 Legacy EJ22. When I look at the cam lines and notchs with the crank line and notch perfectly lined up, the right cam line and notch (looking from front of engine) is perfect. The left cam line however is just outside of alignment, just outside to the right of the notch. I used a OEM Subaru belt I got at the dealer. Is this imperfect alignment (slight variance) going to cause me problems.

Have you manually rotated the engine over 2 full revolutions?

 

Most of us do that then recheck alignment. Tensioner will have taken up slack, belt kinda "seated in" by doing the 2 revolutions w/breaker bar/ratchet, etc.

I have and it's just off a bit...the line is just outside of the notch. Is it possible my tensioner is bad. I checked it out and it has no oil leaking?

Another thing I forgot to say was I did replace the water pump however it is not a Subaru pump. Could this maybe explain my issue?

the tooth count for one side is something and 1/2. in other words, the other two marks are on a tooth, not a valley but one cam is in a valley. the question you need to ask is , if you adjusted it one tooth over would it be closer or farther away. if closer, then maybe try it. if farther away, then leave it be. it's probably fine.

 

the 2.2L is prety forgiving and yours will not have any damage if wrong or if it breaks.

 

i think you are good, lots of folks have ''seen'' this and are happy. give it a test drive. how does it run.?

I agree. Seems like I am a half a tooth off every time on one side or the other. It always works fine.

I found the specs for the timing belt tooth count for my 96 EJ22 40.5 to the right and 44 to the left. I have all my timing marks lined up and the count on the left is 41.5 which is what it was before I took it off. If I move it to 40.5 the cam timing mark on the left cam would be 1 tooth off to the inside of the notch. Whats more important the tooth count or the timing marks lined up perfectly?

The correct timing marks.

Counting teeth and lining up marks is tedious but I finally got the right tooth count and all timing marks at 12 oclock. Thank for all your help.

I'm looking for some assistance with how often to replace my 1993 Subaru Legacy (station wagon) timing belt.

I replaced it at 170,000 in California, but the car originated from the east coast.  (I know there are varying lengths of time depending on origination of car / timing belt).  My car now has 230,000 miles (love this car!) and my mechanic says that I don't need to do anything until 270,000.  Can anyone help me out with this question??  Thanks!

I'm looking for some assistance with how often to replace my 1993 Subaru Legacy (station wagon) timing belt.

I replaced it at 170,000 in California, but the car originated from the east coast.  (I know there are varying lengths of time depending on origination of car / timing belt).  My car now has 230,000 miles (love this car!) and my mechanic says that I don't need to do anything until 270,000.  Can anyone help me out with this question??  Thanks!

you only need to reply to or start one thread, not multiple times the same question in different threads.

 

yours is 60,000, subaru's of the past 10 years are 105,000 which is what your mechanic probably sees most of.  see the other thread of yours i replied to for more thorough information on having it done right.

correct, 60k for your timing belt interval.

 

BUT, you need to ask yourself, have the idlers ever been replaced?

 

it is rare for a timing belt failure to be caused by a belt ''busting''.

usually it is caused by an idler bearing failure.

and this may or may not cause a belt to shred and bust.