1998 Legacy GT 2.5L

 

......Um ..... the timing belt lasts exactly 146,538 miles. Bought it used at around 80,000 miles. I don't know if it had the belt was changed before I owned it. Towed it home last night. I'll assess the carnage this weekend. The timing belt has been on the "to do" list for quite some time but had too much going on. Had to fix the torque bind first. Now I have something else to add to the list:

 

1.) Rebuild bottom end of pick-up truck engine, GM 5.7L...lost oil pressure last August...no time to work on it.

 

2.) Pull heads off of Legacy and see how many valves and pistons are wrecked. Inspect cylinder walls. Repair and reassemble.

 

Guess I need to pull a car out of the backyard and put it back on the road, whatdya think....the '89 Bronco or the '90 Saab 9KT??

I'd put the Saab(aru?) back on the road. Were Saabs Saab(aru's) back in '90? Anyway your valve checking job might be a little uglier as that's got the DOHC I'm guessing so valves might have smacked each other in addition to smacking the pistons.

I had about 115k on the one that I replaced a couple of weeks ago.

I do mine between 100,000 and 110,000 depedning upon funding and life at that point.

One thing that people tend to for get, time is just as bad as mileage on a timing belt. Subaru says 7 years, i would say anything over ten without an oil leak is due, 7 with an oil leak.

 

 

nipper

1998 Legacy GT 2.5L

 

......Um ..... the timing belt lasts exactly 146,538 miles. Bought it used at around 80,000 miles. I don't know if it had the belt was changed before I owned it. Towed it home last night. I'll assess the carnage this weekend. The timing belt has been on the "to do" list for quite some time but had too much going on. Had to fix the torque bind first. Now I have something else to add to the list:

 

1.) Rebuild bottom end of pick-up truck engine, GM 5.7L...lost oil pressure last August...no time to work on it.

 

2.) Pull heads off of Legacy and see how many valves and pistons are wrecked. Inspect cylinder walls. Repair and reassemble.

 

Guess I need to pull a car out of the backyard and put it back on the road, whatdya think....the '89 Bronco or the '90 Saab 9KT??

 

Bronco sounds cheaper to fix.

 

nipper

I jumped to a conclusion before getting the facts......first time for me. Before I went to the dealer to pick up the long list of parts that are required to do the job right, I pulled the passenger side cover off to witness the flacid, dead belt. To my surprise I was greeted by a taut, timing belt that was still on the sprockets. I had my wife bump it over and everything looked like it was turning. I wonder if the fuel pump died? My wife was driving the car when it died and she said it made a ticking sound before it stopped running. I plan on checking for fuel first and then the compression. Not sure why it won't start. I still plan on buying the belt, water pump, etc. but may wait until spring to change the belt.

I jumped to a conclusion before getting the facts......first time for me. Before I went to the dealer to pick up the long list of parts that are required to do the job right, I pulled the passenger side cover off to witness the flacid, dead belt. To my surprise I was greeted by a taut, timing belt that was still on the sprockets. I had my wife bump it over and everything looked like it was turning. I wonder if the fuel pump died? My wife was driving the car when it died and she said it made a ticking sound before it stopped running. I plan on checking for fuel first and then the compression. Not sure why it won't start. I still plan on buying the belt, water pump, etc. but may wait until spring to change the belt.

 

Check for spark first, its the easiest. Just pull a plug wire, and use an insulated (you want to avoid the OWOWOWOW factor) screwdriver.

 

 

nipper

(you want to avoid the OWOWOWOW factor)

 

nipper

come on nipper , tell me you don't enjoy watching someone dance around and hollering when checking for spark.

Quick update....all is not rosy in the Granite State. First thing I did was shoot a little ether in the intake to see if it would fire......no dice. I checked coil resistance and the primary was in spec but the secondary was low on both pairs. It's a Diamond coil and I was only getting 12K or so instead of 17.9K-24.5K. I hooked up a timing light to each plug wire and cranked it. Driver's side fired OK but passenger side was intermitent. Not the best way to test but it should have popped if it was firing. Pulled the plugs and put my compression tester on each cylinder and checked them dry. Driver's side was 120 and 150. Passenger side was zilch, zero....nada. The belt may have skipped teeth and screwed up the passenger side head. In any case somethings not right and I still need to do more work. Time to clean out the garage. I'll start a new thread.

Quick update....all is not rosy in the Granite State. First thing I did was shoot a little ether in the intake to see if it would fire......no dice. I checked coil resistance and the primary was in spec but the secondary was low on both pairs. It's a Diamond coil and I was only getting 12K or so instead of 17.9K-24.5K. I hooked up a timing light to each plug wire and cranked it. Driver's side fired OK but passenger side was intermitent. Not the best way to test but it should have popped if it was firing. Pulled the plugs and put my compression tester on each cylinder and checked them dry. Driver's side was 120 and 150. Passenger side was zilch, zero....nada. The belt may have skipped teeth and screwed up the passenger side head. In any case somethings not right and I still need to do more work. Time to clean out the garage. I'll start a new thread.

 

i was so hopping for owowowow

 

Sorry to hear that, but the compression numbers aint good at all.

 

Good luck

 

nipper

I have 109000 miles on my 2003 OBW. Hope to change it very soon.

I have 109000 miles on my 2003 OBW. Hope to change it very soon.

I finally changed it. 112838 miles on it. It looked like it still had some life left to it.

Not a 'roo, but I had a Yota corolla that had 210k mi. on the clock when the original belt let go.

 

 

Also a non-interference engine , so replaced the belt and got another 50k mi. before the cylinder no. 3 quit compressing. Clutch was bad, struts were bad ... gave it away and got another 'Roo.

I got 150k out of Pontiac once, never failed, but I traded it off. My friend took a chance with her Labaron and 170k it failed, engine went to the happy hunting ground.

My Forester I change faithfully every 100K!