Hi ALL!

Bought a 2001 GT Wgn Legacy with 153K miles on it a few weeks ago. I called SOA and gave them the VIN, it seems that most of it's life it was maintaned by a dealership, but they couldn't give me details. I did call that dealership, they couldn't offer up maintenance details either. Of course I'm trying to find out if the timing belt was changed or NOT! I've been looking around to find out if it's an interference engine or not, I've gotten different answers. I've got a buddy of mine who has a MOTORS timing belt book, it says that these are "Free Wheeling" engines. IE, NON interferance. I'm seeing here, that they are, what gives ?? How many miles does the belt need to be changed..... 105 K ?

HELP. SubeeTed

Interference.

yes interference.

Don;t let your buddy near your car. His book is wrong, and if he touches your car, he will ruin it.

Your friend needs a new book.

 

Or was looking at a 96 or earlier 2.2 engine.

 

Expensive thing to be wrong about this.

I was looking right at this MOTORS book also. It was the current one, right up to 2010. It says in print 2.5 SOHC, as being a "Free Wheeling " engine!

The book should be tossed in the trash or burned, it is wrong 100%

i wouldn't bother worrying about if the belt has been changed or not. at this point the pulleys are devoid of grease and can fail just as easily as the timing belt.

 

i'd plan a complete timing pulley replacement with the belt. even if the belt was replaced it is unlikely they replaced the pulleys and tensioner.

 

entire kits on ebay are only $160-$200 for belt, all the pulleys, and timing tensioner. do that and it's good until 250,000 miles for the next belt change.

 

you can also remove the drivers side timing cover to inspect the belt, it's only held in place by three 10mm bolts.

 

have the headgaskets been replaced?

I have never heard of an engine referred to as "Free-wheeling" so I used the googler.

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=free+wheeling+engine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

 

First result.

Yea - my VW TDI is cerainly interference too and you wouldn't think so by reading that link.

 

It my observations I'd think a blanket statement like anything made after 96/97 is LIKELY to be interference based on VW and Subaru experience mostly.

All Subaru engines made after '96 ARE interferance. Period.

 

GD

as i understand it, please correct me if i'm wrong, if you build a non-interference engine you are leaving potential energy output untapped.

 

in other words, you get more bang for your fuel buck with an interference engine. so in these economic and energy times, who is going to build a non-interference engine.?

Bite the bullet and change the timming belt, pullies, and tensioner. If you're not absolutely sure what was replaced at 105,000 miles on your car, you can not afford to take a risk. There are plenty of posts on this board where somebody bought a used Subaru and assumed that the belt and pullies had been replaced by the dealer or the previous owner. They were wrong, and now they're looking for advise on how to fix an engine with bent valves. BTW, $3,500 seems to be around the average cost to have a dealership repair an engine with bent valves. A small percentage of the time an engine that has lost timing is beyond repair and must be replaced.