Howdy,

I am doing the Subaru-Vanagon engine swap, and have come across a surprise in the timing belt area. The engine is a 1997 2.5L from an Outback wagon. I've owned the Outback since it was new, and had not even planned to do any maintenance on the timing components because I replaced the belt and all the idlers somewhere around 30,000 miles ago. When I removed the covers to check out how things were fairing, I found rust on the belt. It seems to have come from the spots where the idlers were in contact with the belt while the engine was sitting. The tensioner pulley and the toothed idler seem to be the main culprits. The timing cover gasket doesn't seem to be damaged at all, so I can't figure out how the rust could have gotten there. Can humidity in the air cause this? The engine hasn't been run in maybe a month or so. Check out this photo. Note that I have rotated the belt, but you can see where the rust spots would line up.

yes humidity can cause that, they rust easily.

Yah, I saw that happen on my '00OBW while I had it apart in the garage this summer for timing belt work, though not as bad as your pics. If I dripped sweat or there was any condensation on on anything in there it had a little rust on it by the next morning.

I would probably just wipe it off as best you can with a clean rag, when you run the engine again, it should polish itself up real quick. Kind of like brake rotors...

 

Matt