A friend brought me this 99 Forester with 200K+ miles after it died with a bang.  It turned over too easy and no racket or fluids spilled or mixed.

Pulled the timing belt covers and the belt is nearly toothless -nothing is turning except the crank. It seems to have compression on whatever cycle the cams are currently.

Is it worth putting a belt on and seeing if it will run, or should I assume it needs valves or it's toast?

Valves are bent , but the short block is probably ok.

Hang a belt on it and see what it does. You just never know.

It's worth the 15 minutes to check just in case.

 

But otherwise, good block but heads need a valve job or you could put a set of used heads on there for a runner.

If you decide to let it go I'd be interested

Hang a belt on it and see what it does. You just never know.

 

+1.  usually the valves bend, but i've (or a friends car i was working on i should say) got lucky once.

It's worth the 15 minutes to check just in case.

 

But otherwise, good block but heads need a valve job or you could put a set of used heads on there for a runner.

Yea, prolly the valves are bad, since it is an interference motor. Pistons should be okay. It is only the valves that gets taken out.

Seriously people?  Put a belt on it and find out!

 

There is 50/50 chance with an interference motor that the valves are bent or are not bent.  Just because it is interference doesn't guarantee the valves bent, it just makes it a lot more likely.

 

Your not going to know until you put the crank at TDC, put a belt on it, and then try starting it.

80/20 valves bent. But, ya, I'd try it before I pulled it. It could happen.

Thanks for the replies! It is still here, should have kept a belt from one, I've done a couple. I am struggling to ask my friend to buy a belt and roll the dice, on what might be a bust. And he insists on paying me.

He has an OB that is going to need one, maybe if the Foz is bent, I can use the belt on that. Don't think he wants to drop a bunch of cash buying heads, or valves in this high mileage car -although the rest of it is in fair shape.

Any advice here would help -I don't know if I'm up for the tear down...

just through a belt on and try it.

Edited May 19, 201510 yr by sirtokesalot

200,000+  high milage ???  Just getting broke in. You could put a low mile jap takeout motor in instead, if the rest of the car is clean.

Ok I have an idea...

The same guy has a 01 Outback that will need a timing belt soon. I think I will get the kit and try the belt and tensioners on the Foz  and see what happens. If it runs, I'll go ahead and do the wp, etc., If not, (and He wants to cut his losses) -I can put the kit on the Outback instead. 

Does this sound feasible?

If it were me I would buy the full kit and install on the 01 outback. Then take the old belt and try it on the forester.

an EJ timing belt can be installed in 45 minutes, rip the covers off if you have too in the rust belt.

the timing covers, accesory belt and crank pulley don't even need reinstalled to start the engine.

hang the belt in 20 minutes and start it.

 

If it were me I would buy the full kit and install on the 01 outback. Then take the old belt and try it on the forester.

 

now that's a good idea.

 

someone on here woudl probably have an old belt they'd send you for $5 if needed.  i have one...though i'm traveling through like 8 states in the next week starting tomorrow...

I would like to go ahead and do the Outback, but the Foz is stuck in my garage and switching them would be a lot of work!

Well I guess if you gota you gota. Like gary said you just need to get the belt on , no need to cover everything back up or put acc. belts & pulleys on.  Line it up ,release the tensioner , roll the engine by hand. the first sign of bent valves will be if it doesn't want to turn over normally by hand.  If it rolls around two times at crank without hitting anything and your timing marks still line up ... then go turn the key and see if it starts. 

Edited May 22, 201510 yr by montana tom

Just thinking, because removing valve covers can be a pain, but if you wanted to do that instead .. if you have bent valves you will find loose rockers when they should be tight , and compressed springs that shouldn't be. 

Thanks Montana, I was struggling to figure out how to get the vc's off, plugs out or do a compression test on this thing- decided changing the belt is going to be the fastest way to know...

Can do a leak-down test if you have shop air.

If you decide to let it go I'd be interested

Stay tuned coma.

Waiting on the kit to see what happens. When I got the covers off I found the culprit. The cog idler bearings had become shrapnel and seized. There was a pile of teeth from the belt, although the belt was not broken.

Take pictures, how far off were the timing marks?

I could photo the marks, but the crank has spun many times, I don't think we could guess exactly when the cams stopped.

This belt is not going on with the marks aligned. When I try, the D side cam comes up way short and when I go to hook it in place, it spins past.

The old belt looks longer in comparison even though it's chewed up.

Is there a different version of the ej25 belt??

Well per rockauto it seems a '99 OBW and a '99 Forester w/ 2.5L H4 engines take different timing belts.

 

Gates TB for a '99 Forester will fit:

SAAB 9-2X 2005 SUBARU FORESTER (1999 - 2010) SUBARU IMPREZA (1999 - 2005) SUBARU IMPREZA 2.5I (2006 - 2011) SUBARU IMPREZA OUTBACK SPORT (2006 - 2011) SUBARU IMPREZA SPORT (2008 - 2011) SUBARU LEGACY (1999 - 2012) SUBARU OUTBACK (2000 - 2012)

Please refer to catalog for application details.

 

It could be an older EJ25D belt that you got which would be different.