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97 Lego T belt

Featured Replies

The timing belt on my 97 Legacy Outback 2.5 slipped.  The previous owner misled me on the last time it was replaced.  Anyway, is there any method to assess if there was any valve damage without doing the belt first or popping the heads off for more money?  I can't do the work myself as it is in a shop some distance from me. 

Get all the marks lined up again with the old belt and turn the crank pulley by hand a few revolutions. If there doesn't seem to be anything hitting, start her up and see how she runs.

 

That's if the belt just slipped and didn't break

 

But whatever shop its in isn't handling this?

Miles on engine? Like GD stated, he has never seen one break. It is pretty basic. If you can follow instructions to make cup cakes you can follow instructions to make sure your car has the timing belt set up right and running right. Don't be afraid. Subaru made these cars as if a mechanic designed it. The more you know the  more you will see that it is easy to know if your mechanic really knows what he is talking about or if he is taking you for a ride. I had a girl friend that I taught about Subaru's and she would stub the guy at the parts store. 

If it only slipped a couple teeth you have a good chance. I fixed one for a guy who had installed the belt incorrectly off the arrow on the crank sprocket instead of the hash mark. Once I put it on correctly it ran great.

 

get it back together correctly and start her up.

Just pull the valve covers and check the valve lash. If any of them have a really big gap then the valve is bent and not closing. 

 

Valve lash is an often neglected maintenance item on that engine anyway so it should probably be done regardless of the belt slipping or not. Typically the #2 and #4 exhaust valve get tight and need to be reshimmed.

 

GD

Edited by GeneralDisorder

It's going to require work no matter how you slice it. 

 

installing a belt and cranking is the easiest.  you don't need to reinstall the cover or even the crank and accessory pulleys - use battery power or jump it off another car.  easy.  find someone with a used belt to borrow or post in the parts wanted section, someone might ship you one for next to nothing. 

Installing the belt is the easiest, unless you've got a video scope that you can look at the valves with through the spark plug holes. Just start it up before you put all the covers back on.

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