Hi everyone...I just had a quick question about taking out the timing belt to get to the oil pump...The haynes manuel says you need to put the engine at top dead center....is this procedure necessary and, if so, any advise on how to do this easily.....

 

My car is a 96' Legacy 2.5 DOHC.....thanks for any help I receive.

 

 

- Chris

You want the crank sprocket so the mark is at 12 o'clock. You can rotate the engine with the crank bolt once you have the TB exposed. In this position the two left side cams are opening valves. In this position, if they move when you take the belt off, they won't damage any internals. When replacing the belt, those two cams need to be rotated in the correct direction, again so as not to cause any interference inside.

It's the mark on the back of the gear tab not the arrow on the front of the gear. Lot's of folks mix these up.

The triangle mark is what you want lined up to remove the belt. The hashmark on the tooth is lined up for installation.