I just bought a 2002 Forester L with 50,000 miles. It's in great shape but I don't know if the timing belt has ever been replaced. I think they're supposed to be replaced at 105K, but since it may be 14 years old, should I do it now. I only drive about 300 miles per week.

 

Also, should I replace the pulley assembly too or will they be ok because of the low miles?

 

I'm a Subaru newbie so please let me know if there's anything else I should look out for on the first gen Forester.

I would change it just for peace of mind. You're right, it's a 14 year old car... Imagine picking up a 14 year old rubberband and stretching it... You know that puppy will be as hard as a rock and will disintegrate in your hands. I know it's not exactly the same. But, it's the same theory. Old rubber deteriorates. Not only that but I assume the car sat for a while to have that low of miles, if a bearing sets in place for too long of time with tension applied to it, it can wear out. I will bet you that the tooth'd idler next to the water pump is starting to get loud.

Edited April 18, 20169 yr by wotdsm

I had a similar issue with my WRX, almost 9 years old, but under 60k miles.

 

I changed all the pulleys , kept the waterpump, kept the cam and crank seals. Ebay kit from, I think , mizumoauto. (may have been theautoexperts ? - I looked at several sources). I got a mitsuboshi belt in my kit. I would trust gates as well.

 

glad I did it. my toothed idler was very loose and wobbled a little. another pulley was very loose.

definitely replace the timing belt, pulleys, and tensioner (timing belt kit). 

the grease in the pulley bearings degrades so yes replace for certain. 

techincally you can regrease them or replace just the bearings, but very few people do that over just buying the relatively inexpensive kits.

 

water pump and cam/crank seals typically have few issues, won't cause engine issues or stranding, so they're much less alarming anyway. 

sometimes i do it all at once to be done for 100,000 miles but it's far from necessary and almost zero risk so largely personal preference at work. 

I second the gates recommendation. Haven't had a gates kit fail on me yet on 15 or so engines I've worked on. 

About a year and half ago, I bought almost the identical car, with 83K. The mechanic said 10 years or 100,000 miles. I bought the Gates kit from Amazon, as per the recommendations here.