July 22, 20169 yr I did a quick search, but I was looking for corroboration. I did a hybrid short block swap on this in November. 1995 2.2 block with 2000 2.5 SOHC heads and intake to match the 2000 outback. It's been running like a champ until now. It's low on power, hard to get to highway speeds, hard to start. But it still starts(after a couple tries) and runs ok. CEL came on, checked the codes. Came up with fuel trim on the odd side (cyls 1 &3). I did some searching and came up with the trouble being that the odd side jumped a tooth or two on the cam pulley. I pulled the cover off expecting to find it off a tooth, but instead I find funky wear on the crank pulley. Kind of like the belt has drag on it and is being pulled by the crank, so the even bank is correct, but the odd side is about a tooth behind. This would indicate a bad tensioner, in my mind. When I swapped the timing belt, pulleys and tensioner, I thought that I took my time when compressing the tensioner. I don't have a vise but I do have a 12 ton press. It went smoothly and I went slowly. Did I screw up the tensioner, went too fast or whatever, or it just decided to fail now? Please take a look at the pics and let me know your opinions.
July 22, 20169 yr does that system have a toothed idler? is it in good shape? sometimes things fail - maybe the tensioner is now bad or maybe a mount bolt has cracked???? have you done a tooth count?
July 22, 20169 yr Author does that system have a toothed idler? is it in good shape? sometimes things fail - maybe the tensioner is now bad or maybe a mount bolt has cracked???? have you done a tooth count? Not yet. Toothed idler next to waterpump seems to have some wear to it. Edited July 22, 20169 yr by Danno-swMI
July 22, 20169 yr seal looks cracked, but I was more concerned it may be very wobbly or even off-center. It's bearing was the worst one when I did my WRX TB - and there are on-line pics and experiences posted that indicate it is a real weak-spot. well, on the 2.5 DOHC anyway. anyway, hope you get it sorted-out.
July 22, 20169 yr Author seal looks cracked, but I was more concerned it may be very wobbly or even off-center. It's bearing was the worst one when I did my WRX TB - and there are on-line pics and experiences posted that indicate it is a real weak-spot. well, on the 2.5 DOHC anyway. anyway, hope you get it sorted-out. Looks like time for a TB, idlers AND tensioner
July 22, 20169 yr Never reuse old tensioner / idler pulleys is not worth the risk for the small replacement cost of these components. These are the things that fail 1st destroying the belt. / motor if interference Made the mistake of reusing toothed idler once ( even after subaru agents pressed in a new bearing into it for me) it seized stripping the new belt - 1 year and 7500 miles later. Thank goodness it was on an old EA82 (non interference motor) You learn from making mistakes like this. - perhaps bearing wrong type - damaged being pressed in. Edited July 23, 20169 yr by subnz
July 23, 20169 yr Author Never reuse old tensioner / idler pulleys is not worth the risk for the small replacement cost of these components. These are the things that fail 1st destroying the belt. / motor if interference Made the mistake of reusing toothed idler once ( even after subaru agents pressed in a new bearing into it for me) it seized stripping the new belt - 1 year and 7500 miles later. Thank goodness it was on an old EA82 (non interference motor) You learn from making mistakes like this. - perhaps bearing wrong type - damaged being pressed in. When I hybridized (sp?) , merged the engines, I re-used the timing components from the 2.5, since the belt was longer and already had the cam pulleys on the heads.(swapped the crank pulley). It had thrown the #1 rod through the top of the block. (WITHOUT touching the valves!!!) The other idlers and belt looked as if they had been replaced recently. Apparently the toothed idler wasn't among those that had been replaced or it's warranty just ran out.
July 23, 20169 yr Looks fine to me. P0170 is more likely to be caused by a vacuum leak or bad O2 sensor.
July 23, 20169 yr Author And more is revealed by the light of a new day... Looks like the tensioner is hitting the cover.
July 24, 20169 yr tensioner, and the belt - not a good sign at all. I am going to bet the threads for the tensioner mounting bolt are damaged/stripped... time for a new bracket, just like I had to do with my 02 Forester.. https://www.amazon.com/OEM-Subaru-tensioner-Bracket-13156AA052/dp/B00F57PVFW (edit - you will want 2 longer bolts for the upper mount for that bracket - they made the mounting ears thicker - i believe they are M10 - need 60mm long, 1.25 thread pitch) as well as a new tensioner... in fact, I would go so far as to get a whole new timing kit - pulleys, tensioner, waterpump, etc - and be done with it for a while Edited July 24, 20169 yr by heartless
October 3, 20169 yr Is there any good way to compress the tensioner when installed? If you put everything together but one sprocket is off a tooth and you need to loosen the belt to move that, there has to be a good way to do it. I've pried up slowly with a prybar until I can get the pin back in. It works and I've driven the car since, but I'm afraid that might damage the belt. Not a lot of room or good visibility with the radiator in place.
October 3, 20169 yr Yeah. Everything points to a failing tensioner and/or bracket. A gates timing kit for these cars is not that expensive. Cheap insurance vs a failed motor. As Heartless mentioned, inspect the aluminum bracket that the tensioner bolts to. If the threads have stripped, get a good replacement. (If you end up needing one, I know I have one or two around collecting dust.) Get it up to speed with new parts and it will be ready for another 80-100k
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