its a EJ251, #2 sprocket spun the bearing on timing, the car just died.. total shut down, everything..anyways got it towed and it sat for a while but now I have a little extra time under the hood, got new timing idlers, timing belt, and put on a new water pump, so I guess my next step is a compression test??

Having a little trouble understanding what you're saying in this thread and another one recently.

 

You mean an idler failed?

 

Cam sprockets were o.k.?

 

Valve damage seems to be imminent. But you can always hope you're the one lucky guy.

 

I sell those plastic cam sprockets for the R side head and used idlers occasionally to folks thinking they are lucky. They need the cam sprocket anyways after they have the head fixed.

 

Usually it's the cogged idley by the WP that fails - but not always. I've seen the old single row bearing one on the bottom fail too.

 

 

Just don't recall anyone being lucky...

very high odds of having valve damage. but usually subaru's aren't catastrophic either. i've never seen one have more than a bent valve that needed replaced. no big deal compared to cylinder or piston damage, not much more than a head job which is easy on this generation of EJ25.

It was the toothed idler by the WP, the car shut down right away, then it sat till i could get at it.. so more than likely the heads need to come off?? would it be a waste of time to put it all back together and try to start it??

so more than likely the heads need to come off??

i know it's tempting to want to know for certain but that's impossible to know without diagnosing yourself. whether it's a 95 percent or 80 percent chance of valve damage...doesn't really matter, there's still no certainty without looking into it physically.

 

would it be a waste of time to put it all back together and try to start it??

no - timing belts are easy on subarus, not a waste of time at all. you don't have to button it all up and reinstall everything for testing purposes. get the belt hung and don't even install the covers, crank pulley, etc - just hang a belt and do a compression test - if it tests good - finish the job. if it doesn't it takes about 2 minutes to remove the belt, so you wasted less than 5 minutes time.

sounds like a plan, i guess we'll see what the compression test looks like, thanks for all the info..

So for the compression test its put to top dead center #1 then the 1/4 turn to #3.... or is it possible to leave the belt off and turn the right cam till all valves close on that side??? Or just crank the engine with the gauge hooked up leaving plugs out??

Edited June 2, 201114 yr by e2thewags