Hi,

 

I was looking under my '00 OBW, and noticed a hole where it looked like a bolt should be.

 

my two questions are;

 

1. What is(was) this bolt holding on? (I'm able to pull the cover its holding out about 3/4 in)

2. Should I be worried that it's missing, and exposing the innards to the elements?

 

thanks

 

Oh, that's the oil filter on the left... looking from the front of the wagon.

And yes, that's a ziptie holding it on...it was all i had at the moment.

 

looks like the timing cover bolts. there are alot of them and most older subaru's are missing at least one. a fair number of people on the older generation forum (including myself) are running without ANY timing covers, so i'd say you don't have anything to worry about by missing a bolt or two. if you don't like it, source a known good used part and have it replaced next time you have the timing belts, water pump or oil pump seals addressed (if that ever comes to pass that is...). the zip tie should work great actually. or if the threads are still in it and good get a bolt for it. the only issue is anything loose that has enough play to run into the belts or radiator fans, but that's ALOT of play so you won't have that problem.

 

good luck and have fun,

gary

... the only issue is anything loose that has enough play to run into the belts or radiator fans, but that's ALOT of play so you won't have that problem.

 

good luck and have fun,

gary

 

Thanks Gary,

 

the belt(s) were changed about 10K miles ago, so that might be where some stuff fell through the cracks. =)

 

Bryan

bryan,

no worries then, you're probably right. not that hard to loose a bolt or even crack the timing covers. the older/more brittle they get the worse that tends to be, yours being so new i wouldn't expect it but definitely not uncommon still.