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Cost for timing belt replacement


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Anybody know what the average rate would be for the replacement of a timing belt in my 98 Impreza Outback Sport 2.2 from the dealer? I just bought the car with 80k and I don't know if it was ever replaced so I really want it done. Also, should I get anything else taken care of while they are in there?

 

By the way, I love this car and I am quickly becoming a die-hard Subaru fan. Till now I was a strictly Chevy man but this car as made me have a big change of heart. :brow:

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Our 2.2 legacy was about $375 at the dealer and it included all new drive belts, a new water pump, cam seals, & oil seals etc.

 

You got a smoking deal. If you're just replacing the belt (no pullies or tensioners) you can probably get it done for under $500. But extra parts add up in a hurry. Better to buy a repair manual and do it yourself.

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, I have a similar question with a twist.

 

Brought my 2000 legacy L to a dealer for engine noise I suspected to be timing belt tensioner. Car under the 60mos/60000miles warranty. The dealership confirms bad tensioner and offers to replace the timing belt. I agree. However, the machanic quotes me $380-450 for the timing belt and possible 1-2 pulleys (tensioner covered by the warranty).

 

This sounds high since he probably needs to take the belt off anyhow during the tensioner replacement and the belt is only $59.95.

 

Is he trying to rip me of?

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OK, I have a similar question with a twist.

 

Brought my 2000 legacy L to a dealer for engine noise I suspected to be timing belt tensioner. Car under the 60mos/60000miles warranty. The dealership confirms bad tensioner and offers to replace the timing belt. I agree. However, the machanic quotes me $380-450 for the timing belt and possible 1-2 pulleys (tensioner covered by the warranty).

 

This sounds high since he probably needs to take the belt off anyhow during the tensioner replacement and the belt is only $59.95.

 

Is he trying to rip me of?

 

Yep, he's trying to rip you off. I know there's no way they would go for it, but you offer to bring in a new timing belt for him to use when he's putting everything back together. If he gives you the standard "we can't use parts we don't supply for xyz reson" then you should walk over to parts and ask for the price on a timing belt. If it's that much you should tow your car to a different dealer.

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<<Anybody know what the average rate would be for the replacement of a timing belt in my 98 Impreza Outback Sport 2.2 from the dealer?>>

 

dealer is usually around $500-$600

i do them for $250 at my shop. add about $60-70 for each tensioner or pulley you might need. if your car only has 80,000 you shouldn't need them yet. you might need new cam and crank seals too. its about a 2 hour job for us.

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you don't need new pullies, someone was confusing you and the other guy asking about timing belt pullies. he thought the original poster of this thread (with 80,000 mile OBS) was asking about the tensioners. but you were not, it was the Forrester guy or someone else asking about pullies. two different conversations, slightly confusing when trying to skim through the post. but tensioners are important, particularly on cars with interference motors (which yours has). if you have the money, the extra 100 or 200 for pulleys may be worth it considering a failed pulley can ruin the motor on these very reliable cars. 80,000 is very early for a tensioner to fail and by no means a *must do*. my 215,000 mile XT6 has some original pullies on it.

 

i would suggest having a good mechanic inspect the belt. you can remove a timing belt side cover in about 10 minutes and check the belt. IF IF IF the belt was replaced, it would have been done relatively recently and it would be very obvious that it was replaced, because noone would replace it at say....36,000 miles. if it was replaced it was probably done recently....at 60 or 70,000 miles or more and the writing and condition of the belt would be very new.

 

you're always good to go if you replace the belt.

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Regarding the pulleys:

 

 

The timing belt rides on several idler pulleys as well as the tensioner. It is possible for these idler pulleys to wear out. Last month when I changed my timing belt, I found that one of the idler pulleys did not smoothly spin on its bearing, while the rest were fine.

 

So it is possible you may need a new pulley, but normally that is not the case. I think I inadvertently damaged mine when I got too aggressive prying off the crankshaft pulley, and broke the plastic timing cover. Maybe I put some pressure on the pulley that caused it to fail?

 

Anyway, everything is fixed now.

 

Matt

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Yep, he's trying to rip you off. I know there's no way they would go for it, but you offer to bring in a new timing belt for him to use when he's putting everything back together. If he gives you the standard "we can't use parts we don't supply for xyz reson" then you should walk over to parts and ask for the price on a timing belt. If it's that much you should tow your car to a different dealer.

 

Thanks for the advice.

I had a talk to the service writer this AM. His estimate included timing belt, labor (2.2 hrs), pulley x3. Tensioner was “free” under warranty. The car has only 53000 miles. What a scam. I asked him to forget the timing belt and just replace the defective tensioner under warranty. He was so angry he put “customer refused to replace timing belt” in the service computer. What a jerk. Now I am worried that he will put a defective or used belt in. Can’t win with these stealers. The other dealership in the area (60 miles away) is very incompetent and once broke the engine cover while doing O2 sensor recall and refused to fix. Once the warranty is over, I will have to do all the services myself. Can’t trust them.

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<<Ok, in my continuing quest to list the parts for a timing belt job, why would I need to replace pulleys? So far I'm hearing: tensioner, water pump, crank seal, cam seal, timing belt, accessory belts.>>

 

I'll try my best to explain this post.

 

On most subaru engines that run a timing belt you will have 3 idler belt pulleys, and a tensioner assembly. the tensioner assembly consists of a tensioner and a adjuster. i took some time and labeled the 2.2 engine and its components so you could get a better grasp on whats behind those timing belt covers.

When i do a t/b job at my shop, i always spin the tensioner and pulleys to see if the bearing is holding up. it should spin smooth, not like the sound of a metal rollerskating wheel. that is the way you can tell if you need new ones. if you have any questions, please post. if you need a full size pic of the diagram, just email me, i had to shrink it to post it on here.

 

subarueast@yahoo.com

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Nice, thanks for the pics! I moonlight as an engineer in a machine shop, work with bearings a lot, can those pulley bearings be replaced? Or are pulleys cheap enough it's not worth it? I could even make some new pulleys, but not the toothed one.

 

 

What's the pin spanner for, looks like crank pulley?

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  • 5 years later...

I know this is an old thread but I thought I would post an update since I just had my timing belt replaced at my local Subaru dealership.

 

Last year I bought a Beautiful 1997 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport with the 2.2 Liter Engine. This car had 179,000 miles when I bought it for $1528 on eBay from a small car dealership that was a new member with zero feedback and a terrible eBay listing that had very bad photos which resulted in not many bids but the car is BEAUTIFUL and runs great. I've worried about the timing belt for the past Year so I decided to get it changed.

 

I had 186,775 miles when I took it in to have the belt changed.

 

My local Subaru Dealership replaced the Timing Belt (82.35) and the Tensioner (152.95) so parts were 235.30 and labor was 351.00 add in tax of 18.84 and a Hazardous materials disposal fee of 10.00 brought my grand total to $615.14.

 

The dealership told me that the water pump and thermostat looked fairly new along with the other idler bearings. They told me these items must have been replaced right before I bought the car and they had no idea why someone would replace these parts and NOT replace the timing belt + tensioner at the same time... My guess is the dealership I bought the car from only did what they HAD to do to make the car reliable for the eBay sell.

 

To me it's $$$ well spent because now I don't have to worry anymore and this Subaru is an Awesome car!! I love it so much I plan to drive it as long as I can, hopefully to 400,000 miles+!!

Edited by lotus777
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At the dealer I was at recently, they quoted me $300, but no replacement pulleys or water pump. It did include a through inspection of those components. That was for an EJ 25. I can't imagine it different for a 2.2.

 

The way dealerships work is they give you a quote for JUST the belt price + labor for installing the belt alone. It's usually a LOW amount to get you to agree to the work... If you press them for more info then they will often give you the REAL quote that includes the total cost of replacing the common parts they often find along with the belt replacement itself.

 

Once you agree to the low quote, the mechanic gets into the engine and they already have it taken apart (so you going to pay for the job anyway) they start inspecting every component and if anything from the tensioner to the water pump, idler bearings, etc. show any sign of wear (which of course they will after 80,000) then the service tech will call you and say "Hey, we were replacing the belt but we noticed your tensinor is bad and the water pump was bad and we need to replace those parts as well." At that point, what are you going to do?? Say NO?? If you do then they will begin to talk you into the service saying that they cannot guarantee the work unless you allow them to replace everything they find that needs replacing... bla bla bla

 

You will then be charged for each additional part itself + the labor charge to install that part and it adds up in a hurry.

 

In the end, you'll end up paying between $500 - $800 for the job by the time you are done.

 

Or you could take your car to the corner garage and have them only replace the belt for $300 and then 8,000 miles later something else will break and you'll need a new engine. This is why some people seem to have constant breakdowns, they take their cars to mechanics who don't fix everything at once, they only fix the parts you tell them to fix and then within a month something else breaks that SHOULD have been fixed with the previous repair.

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I've done this myself and documented it in a "Novice Guide for Novice's". I had never changed a timing belt, pulleys , seals, wp, oil pump seal, the tensioner was fine with 250,000 miles on it (whats called a "nose job") on a subaru before, now 2 years later its still running great. I saved probably from what i've seen cost's are, around 600 bucks doing it myself. Its not that difficult if you take your time and and follow the many many guides that are around. Search this site and your bound to save tons of money. This site is so full of info and if you DIY...you get more confidence and save lots of $$$.

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