I have a 95 legacy which I will do a timing belt change. It's auto, so I will need to stick a screwdriver in the flywheel to tighten the crank bolt.

 

I've looked at all the utubes and Diy's. I see where to stick the screwdriver but it's unclear what's in the flywheel to hold it. Is it a slot or a hole in the flywheel? Some people say to position the screwdriver into the teeth, but that seems a bad idea!

I don't know about new gen but have done this in an old gen subie and there is a hole in the flywheel. Defiantly don't put it in the teeth, bad idea

Every time I have ever seen it done, or done it myself, I have used the teeth. never had an issue or heard of one with it being done that way.

Manual trans you can stick a screwdriver into the teeth of the flywheel, but it has to be a tough screwdriver or the end will just break off.

 

Auto trans is a little different setup, and is actually easier.

 

Stick screwdriver straight through hole, turn crankshaft until it slides into one of the various holes in the flywheel.

 

Don't forget to remove the screwdriver before attempting to start the engine.

I'm sure that there are lot of people on this board that have used the "screwdriver" method without any problems. On the other hand, there have been reports of the screwdriver tip breaking off while still inside the bell housing. Just last week, one poster forgot to remove the screwdriver BEFORE starting the engine. So, done properly the screwdriver method is unlikely to cause a problem. But if anything goes wrong you can find yourself really out of luck. If you can't rotate the flexplate you can't get to the flexplate bolts. If you can't get to the flexplate bolts you can't separate the tranny and engine. If you can't separate the engine and tranny you can't get to the screwdriver tip that is stopping the flexplate from rotating. That is a true nightmare catch 22. At that point I would probably just buy a new car.

 

I opted for the "piece of old accessory belt and chain wrench" method. At least you can see what is happening, and if anything breaks it's on the outside of the engine and easy to fix.

If you can't get to the flexplate bolts you can't separate the tranny and engine.

The engine and trans can be separated without removing the flexplate bolts. You have to pull the torque converter out still attached to the engine. It usually means you have to buy a new input seal for the transmission, and you get to re-seat the torque converter with no reference point.

The engine and trans can be separated without removing the flexplate bolts. You have to pull the torque converter out still attached to the engine. It usually means you have to buy a new input seal for the transmission, and you get to re-seat the torque converter with no reference point.

 

I'm glad that something can be done. But in all honesty, that's way more than this shade tree mechanic wants to get involved in. I wonder how much a dealership would charge for a job like this? There's a good chance that a dealership might not even take job like this.

 

My point is that with the chain wrench method you avoid even the slightest possibiltiy of this scenario.

Well I have the $5.95 harbor freight chain wrench [it works with a 1/2" breaker bar] so I could go the route of wrapping the crank pulley with an old belt and putting a chain wrench to hold it. So there are holes in the fly wheel! Braking off the tip of a screw driver would be kind of sad!

Well I have the $5.95 harbor freight chain wrench [it works with a 1/2" breaker bar] so I could go the route of wrapping the crank pulley with an old belt and putting a chain wrench to hold it. So there are holes in the fly wheel! Braking off the tip of a screw driver would be kind of sad!

 

Personaly I would try the chain wrench first

On autos, the pointy end of a tire iron through the inspection hole works perfectly well.

On autos, the pointy end of a tire iron through the inspection hole works perfectly well.

 

This works.

Well I have the $5.95 harbor freight chain wrench [it works with a 1/2" breaker bar] so I could go the route of wrapping the crank pulley with an old belt and putting a chain wrench to hold it. So there are holes in the fly wheel! Braking off the tip of a screw driver would be kind of sad!

 

If you have the tool, use the tool first

Only issue with using a chain wrench on the crank is that the outer section of the pulley may separate, but it's much easier to replace a harmonic balancer than it is to pull an engine and re-seat a torque converter.

 

I don't particularly like the screwdriver in the flywheel method, but it does work.