hey guys,i bought my soobie from jim(86subaru) it was rebuilt by miles and jim about a year ago,well today it died on me and wont restart,i had just changed the oil and filter(k & N)of course,last week i changed the coil,went from Accel to MSD,because the Accel was leaking oil,and it was giving me a miss,so i changed to magnacore wires while was at it,also changed fuel filter(purolator),jim and i have looked at it,jim doesnt think im getting any spark,but were also leaning towards the distributor,because with the cap off while cranking the rotor isnt even turning,shoundnt the rotor turn during cranking,so thats my problem,any help would be greatly appreciated thanx.

from your description i would bet its the drivers side timing belt...

Yep, exactly the same problem my 91 Loyale wagon had Friday. My son was on the way to football practice. When I got there to look at it I popped off the distributor cap and the rotor wasn't moving. Towed it home and changed the belts (The left belt was still whole, but had no teeth left on it at all. They were all laying in the bottom of the covers.

but were also leaning towards the distributor,because with the cap off while cranking the rotor isnt even turning,shoundnt the rotor turn during cranking,so thats my problem,any help would be greatly appreciated thanx.

 

Timing belt. Easy fix, no damage done. Gotta love a subaru:D

thanx guys,i told jim it sounded like iy wasnt getting good compression,miles changed the timingbelts 25k miles ago,guess i coulda got a bad one,ill check it out,thanx again

but there is still no spark , would a broken drivers side timing belt cause no spark , i changed the coil to oem , both miles and i put new timing belts on 25,000mi ago

Yes, Jim, the distributor side T-belt drives the cam which drives the distributor. If the distributor doesn't turn then your plugs will not get a spark. By the way, you can test the coil by making sure it has power to the +-side and touching the "-"-side to ground. Coil wire should produce a healthy spark.

 

But if that rotor isn't turning, the t-belt is the likely problem. I had a t-belt shred with less than 3k on it.

yes your right , been a long day ,heat must be getting to me

what jim's saying is,we tried to get spark at the top of the MSD coil and the stock coil and couldnt see any spark.could a broken TB cause this.

yes your right , been a long day ,heat must be getting to me

 

Had a belt break on me at 20K miles. New belts were put on it when I bought the car (86 wagon). I didn't know then about tightening the belts every 20K. When I replaced the belts, I saw the old ones were cheapo no-name belts. Put on factory ones. Now I tighten them every 10K, because even a little stetch retards ignition timing.

yo i am planning a trop back to indiana and ohio by the first week of september, to run after my parts. since i will be around i can come and fix the timing belt, have the part already and i will come down, and maybe go to columbus too

 

i should be around for a few days, the timing belts will take within 2-3 hours

what jim's saying is,we tried to get spark at the top of the MSD coil and the stock coil and couldnt see any spark.could a broken TB cause this.

 

Since the crank angle sensor is also in the distributor, the ECU will not see any pulses from it because the shaft in the disty is not turning. No pulses, no firing signal to the disty.

From your description, the drivers side timing belt is certainly the culprit. You most definitely want to replace the idler gear bearing as well. That's what took out my two month old t-belt I had installed when swapping out the engine of my 87 SPFI wagon (my second subie) seven years ago. The gear froze and took out the teeth as the belt was forced around it:mad:. And the bearing itself cost only a few bucks. I was smart and replace mine on Murphy the 87 T-Wag when I insalled the new(er) engine a few months ago. Too bad I forgot to replace the little coolant hose under the turbo.

 

PS. You know you're a Subie owner if you carry a spare set of timing belts in your car just in case. And you also know you're a Subie owner when one breaks and you don't worry about it 'cause you know it didn't damage your engine.

well took the access covers off today,drv.side 1st,and no belt,cant see it,so im like im gonna change both,so i take off the pass.side cover and that belt is also broken,im thinking when the drv.side broke it got caught in the pass.side and broke it.any other ideas,on how the pass.side also broke.

 

p.s. thanx miles if i dont get it done by then,im more then happy to let you help me lol

I would agree that one probably broke the other, but there is also the possibility of a foreign object. (And I don't mean a belt that say "Fabrique En Canada"!) Check things out, and you can probably reconstruct the sequence of events. Just make sure that you check all of the rotating parts for free movement.

will do north thanx

just checking,can i just buy normal timingbelts or do i need belts rated for the turbo.

Since the crank angle sensor is also in the distributor, the ECU will not see any pulses from it because the shaft in the disty is not turning. No pulses, no firing signal to the disty.

 

also from this the injector will not pules, and the fuel pump will not come on

all ea82 timing belts are the same between aspiration, see if you can find gates brand or subaru oem. anybelt will do, really, so long as anyone has them in stock! i would go to napa for them

 

here is the timing belt article

http://www.economysuperstar.com/milesfox/subaru/service/timingbelt.htm

all ea82 timing belts are the same between aspiration, see if you can find gates brand or subaru oem. anybelt will do, really, so long as anyone has them in stock! i would go to napa for them

 

here is the timing belt article

http://www.economysuperstar.com/milesfox/subaru/service/timingbelt.htm

 

thanx miles,i got the article from jim,he emailed it to me

last nite,i put your site in my favorites.

also from this the injector will not pules, and the fuel pump will not come on

 

the fuel pump starts then stops after 3-5 seconds.

the fuel pump starts then stops after 3-5 seconds.

Miles somewhat mistyped: Without the pulses the fuel pump will not STAY on; this is a safety precaution to prevent pumping high-pressure fuel while the engine is stopped (like, if you are upside down or your fuel line is severed...).

 

The pump should come on for a few seconds when you turn on the ignition switch, to precharge the system, regardless of the state of the distributor.

Miles somewhat mistyped: Without the pulses the fuel pump will not STAY on; this is a safety precaution to prevent pumping high-pressure fuel while the engine is stopped (like, if you are upside down or your fuel line is severed...).

 

The pump should come on for a few seconds when you turn on the ignition switch, to precharge the system, regardless of the state of the distributor.

 

gotcha,thanx north

well pulled the middle cover off today,and we figured out what happened,the drv.side tensioner pulley froze up,whats the easiest way to get it off,and whats chances of them having one at napa.

oh yeah,jim wants to know if tensioner pulley from a xt-4 is the same.