My 2.2 1995 Subie motor in my 98 Outback jumped timing. I was surprised this happened as entire timing belt kit changed in summer of 2019. Found the source of the problem to be threads in the block pulled out upon removal of " loose pulley" next to tension-er. I had never heard of this before. Fixed the problem using a helia-coil. Thank God the 95 Subie motor is non interference, or things could have been a lot worse.

Anyone else have this happen?

Almost. When I replaced the timing kit on our 95 RHD EJ22 a few years ago, while torqueing the pully bolts I noticed the bolt on the lower smooth pully did not tighten up, so I quit turning it. There is very little pressure on that pully so I let it as is and it is still ok. Next time I will have to use a helicoil.

Seen it. Not uncommon for the tensioner bolt to strip out, luckily that bolts into a separate part, not into the block. 

3 hours ago, Numbchux said:

Seen it. Not uncommon for the tensioner bolt to strip out, luckily that bolts into a separate part, not into the block. 

yup, had that issue on my 2002 Forester with the 251 - somebody had over-tightened one of the tensioner bolts and stripped it..  tracked down a new piece it connects to - swapped it out and golden. =) thank goodness, cause the 251 IS interference.

9 hours ago, Rooster2 said:

Anyone else have this happen?

Yep, seen and repaired noninterference and interference.  

Seen a pulley, not the tensioner, rip off the engine with a quarter sized chunk of the block *and threads* attached to the pulley bolt, so there’s no threads or metal left to use a helicoil.  Repaired that one too. 

Edited February 5, 20206 yr by idosubaru

Yes I've had it happen on motors that other have done a TB on.  

I have a few spare blocks that the parts bolt to.  As others have said, it bolts to the block and is easy to change out.

3 hours ago, lmdew said:

Yes I've had it happen on motors that other have done a TB on.  

Same here, seen it on Subaru’s with new or replacement timing kits. 

I usually stick with OEM for timing. 

Hi everyone...My EJ22 originally out of a ??, and currently in my 96 Legacy Outback snapped the timing belt tensioner pulley bolt off in the block. I'm looking at the time sert thread kit and was hoping one of you all may be able to lend me a hand with the specs on the bolt. The tensioner is the 2 piece operation with the pulley having a plate mounted on its backside which is the contact point for the 2nd piece, the hydraulic ram\press. Both pieces mount directly to the block. Thank you all very much for your time, any help is greatly appreciated.