R2 Subaru Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 So I am doing my timing belt, water pump, cam seals and crank seal on my 98 ej2.2 Impreza w/ 184K and I have a few questions. 1. The driver side cam-seal is not leaking and looks great. Should I replace it while I am in there anyways? 2. I can't tell if the oil pump is leaking or not. There is a lot of crusty gunk on the bottom of it but not much on the face. The crank seal is wet but doesn't look to bad. I am going to do the seal... Somebody said it is way easier to take the pump off to get the crank seal out. So I should just do the pump seals anyways? 3. What the heck is up with the rear cam seal??? It looks like there is just one on the passenger side. My question is: can I use the same seal as on the front? What is it even for? Also the little cover has sealant all over it now, is that right? 4. Finally do I put sealant on the cam seals or the crank seal? I know I need it on the water pump and oil pump if I do it but how 'bout the cam seals or crank seal? Thoughts? Impressions? Anybody in the SF bay area like beer? Thanks in advance! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 if the car was loosing significant amounts of oil between oil changes, then definitely replace what you can. seapage is common and i'd replace it, the issue is more about getting on and degrading the timing belt or dripping al under the car and smoking after hitting the exhaust. if it's completely dry i would feel confident it's going to treat you right for the next 60,000 miles until the next timing belt change with little chance for any problems. but it also only takes a few minutes, so take your pick. the rear is an o-ring only, not the seal. the cam has an o-ring behind the cam cap housing as well as the seal. these o-rings are more prone to leakage than the seals in the EJ's i've worked on , so replace the o-rings if they're wet at all. the rear should not have any sealant on it, o-ring only. it's the same part number (same part) as the front cam o-rings. definitely no sealant on seals. a coat of grease on any surface that will contact the engine...outer engine and inner edge. install and you're golden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Ask yourself if you want to do this again in a month. Odds are all the seals are the same age, so very likely if they started leaking, its only a matter of time before they all do. Yes replace the pump seals. Subaru seals may last (at 60K changes) two timing belts, but rarely a third, as you can see by the leaks you have. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2 Subaru Posted March 28, 2007 Author Share Posted March 28, 2007 Hey thanks a lot guys! Its funny the cam seal that is leaking has sealant goop-ing out of it.. I think this car has been subject to a long series of quick pep-boy style repairs. So yeah I will replace all the seals while there and do the oil and water pump and t-stat too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2 Subaru Posted March 30, 2007 Author Share Posted March 30, 2007 So last night I pulled out the cam seals and where the leaking one seats the passenger side has a big gouge from a screw! I think the end wrench article suggests drilling holes in the seals and putting screws in to get some purchase on the seals 'doh! I wish I had a picture of it. It looks like the new seal won't do the job on its own. So short of replacing the head what do you think I should do? Tiny bit of sealant there? Just put the seal in and keep my fingers crossed? Some kind of JB Weld craziness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 Yah I accidentally scratched one of the surfaces for the cam seal. I just put a little permatex ultra grey on it and pounded the seal in. No leaks, but it wasn't much of a scratch. I wouldn't use JBweld unless absolutely necessary; the rtv can still be removed relatively easily - not so the jbweld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 Depends how big the gouge is. If it were mine, I'd try some good RTV on it and see what happens. While you're in there, what kind of shape is your tensioner in? How about the idler pulleys? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2 Subaru Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 Ok tiny bit of Rtv sounds good to me. The scratch isn't THAT bad. All the smooth pulleys look fine. The tensioner looks new. I am replacing the toothed pulley. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2 Subaru Posted April 15, 2007 Author Share Posted April 15, 2007 Ok follow-up! Finally finished my timing belt adventure! That was my first T-belt ( I think I have earned the right to call them T-belts! ) So got it on and fired it up and everything is good. I did the oil pump twice because I broke a bolt tightening it up. Big torque wrench not so good at the finer settings! But that was a blessing in disguise because I realized that I had forgotten to put the new O-ring in 'Doh! Water pump went on with out a hitch. Put in a new Subaru t-stat. Doing the cam-cover o-rings was kind of interesting. I lucked out and the O-rings came with my e-bay cam-seals. I did the rear one first and had to do it twice because the old o-ring was so dried out and compressed into the little cover that I thought it was part of the cover! I didn't realize it was supposed to come off until I did the other one. I used a piece of PVC pipe to seat the crank and cam seals with a couple of taps with a hammer. Getting the crank pulley off was a PITA. I hunted all over and finally found and bought a chainwrench to hold it steady as suggested in Haynes but when I got home the chain was too short by like a half an inch:eek: Classic! I did some digging here and on NASIOC and finally found out about the screw driver in the fly wheel trick. I almost tried to use a long breaker bar on the ground and then hit the starter to get it off but I was a little squeamish about that one. Getting the timing belt on was driving me up the wall until I realized I could put the belt on where I wanted it and then put on the idlers, duh! Also putting the belt on one cam pulley and vice gripping it in place (lightly!) was pretty darn helpful. I did end up taking the radiator out to do everything. I guess I didn't really need to but with my luck I could see my self tearing into the radiator while trying to get the cam gears off with a wrench on the bolt and one crammed into the gear spokes. And it was nice to have the extra space. in there. Well, I couldn't have done it without all the good info there is on this forum. So thanks everybody! Time for a brewski! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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