Okay so I lost the previous thread but I am still scratching my head on my fiances 1997 subaru legacy wagon.It is an L model and one night driving home from work it just died. It just shut off no lights no warning no rattles or anything it just cut out. The she restarted it and now it rattles and has trouble running. We haven't driven it so I don't have codes yet. It was throwing an evap code the day before the accident but I don't know if that means much. I also included an audio clip of the noise it makes when running.

This is the noise.

Voice00006.mp3

Timing belt jumped.

That's an interference engine. Fix the idler that went bad, hang a new belt on it and pray it doesn't have bent valves.

So I need a timing belt and an idler pulley?

If the belt was worn enough to jump then you need to do a full TB kit which includes the belt, water pump, and idler pulleys.

 

If it bent the valves you will either need to pull the heads and have them repaired or replace them with a used set.

Don't drive the car with this problem, or even running the motor with the timing off. Just more of a chance to bend the valves.

 

Check out timing belts, idlers, and water pump kits on e-bay. Prices are great, and quality is good. If not something you want to work on yourself, then prolly best to have the car towed to a garage, and have them do all the work.

So I need a timing belt and an idler pulley?

 

Just to give the motor a clean bill of health/test for bent valves yes. usually the idler pulley goes bad and takes the timing belt out with it. A cheap/used belt and idler pulley/sprocket will let you reset the timing and hopefully start the motor.

 

if you do that, and the motor is ok. It's advised to replace all the timing pulleys and tensioner (water pump is a good idea while your there and comes with many kits but is not as essential) as the bearings on the idlers wheels and tensioner will not usually outlive the sprocket by a very long time.

 

As mentioned, if there is valve damage, you're looking at a valve job for the heads, a used set of heads or a good used motor as options to fix it.

Okay so my fiances dad just recently pulled the power steering pump to replace all the seals and o rings. Could improper installation or a shoddy part have failed and cactused the timing belt?

Nah. He'd have no reason to access any of the timing stuff for that job. Power steering pump sits on top of the block. All the timing stuff is down in front.

If that power steering pump was leaking severely it could have escalated the failure of an already old timing belt.  On an old timing belt there is a good chance the seals on the cover are weak/failing.  If the pump was leaking it could have allowed ATF to get down on the belt which could easily have a caused a "slip" on a failing power steering pump.

 

The other thing is if that old power steering pump was leaking and it did get down there it could have gotten all over the camshaft sensor, causing problems.  

 

Things to think about............