I plan on doing the timing belt and water pump while I have everything off. Would it be best to remove everything then have my car towed to a machine shop to place a "woodrift" key into the crank? My harmonic balancer is screwed up too, should I get a new one to show the machine shop first? You guys are the greatest, I was afraid I was going to have to get a new motor! Do you have any clue as to what happened? I suspect that it was because I had put the belts on too tight, but that was 5 months ago.

The last guy probably didn't torque the crank nut correctly. This is a known issue with the engine. Some bad torque specs floating around too.

Call the machine shop and see what they prefer. I assume the fans and radiator will have to come out to give them room to work. Might save some money by having it ready for them. Call a friend with a pick-up to tow you for a six pack.

The problem is not limited to Subaru engines, I've heard of it happening on other cars, too. As SevenSisters said, it's because the the crank pulley bolt wasn't torqued properly.

For clarification, torque the crank pulley bolt to 110 ft-lbs. The FSM asks for 80 lb-fts I believe and that is incorrect.

Just had to replace my pulley, it came apart; the outer half that drives the accessory belts went into the timing belt cover and all the lights came on in the dash. Unlike what most are telling you the pulleys do go bad on Subaru's and it not the torque of the bolt when the pulley starts coming apart its no longer in balance and will give you problems. I replaced with an underdrive pulley that I got on ebay for $26; plus $15 S&H, it is a very light one from "Newbies2005". Also did the seal and O-ring for the oil pump,new drive sprocket for the timing belt,new timing belt and cover and new (shorter) accessory belts. If you are going to do this job remove the radiator first, a new one costs about $350. You can do all this by youself if your good with your hands and have some tools.

if it really is a harmonic balancer i wouldn't replace it with another one. the XT6's have them as well and they are stupid annoying. only gets worse over time. i'm getting a solid pulley made for $200 or less, so it can't ever *go bad* like a freaking harmonic balancer. i have 3 or 4 that are no good or out of round due to separation at the inner rubber ring. VERY annoying. if you can buy solid pulleys from aftermarket sources (which i bet you can), i'd definitely go that route myself after all the harmonic pulley problems i've had and know of others that have had as well.

Talking about the woodruff key, do you have a worn out groove in your crankshaft? There have been some instances of that here previously.