davebugs

Yea. Not only does it make it easier but little chance of damage. I couldn't believe I had waited so long to get one. Glad you thought it was worthwhile.

Wow. All the Subaru's I've done I never realized those holes in the side were there. Never needed them, but didn't even realize they were there. I've had to see them, amazing. Thanks for the pic.

Get other comments. When you pull the pin in the tensioner I think you'll be o.k. That crank splined piece should get pulled a smidge right when the slack gets taken up. Double check after you pull the pin. I usually then rotate the engine 2 complete revolutions then look at the marks again. The belt marks won't line up but you don't care as long as all 3 of the timing marks line up. I'm not likely to be online more this evening. Tax man tomorrow.

He's talking about something else. And I don't recall seeing what John is referring to on both sides giving access and too lazy to put on winter clothes and go up and actually look at an engine. DON'T STICK ANYTHING the whole way through the harmonic balancer. At the least you'll ruin the TB cover. You could also harm the belt, oil pump, etc. I know there is an access whole I believe I already mentioned. At the eng/trans behind the #3 intake where you put the torque converter bolts in for an automatic. Some folks stick a long screw driver, pry bar, etc in there. If you take that route I'd likely try and get a friend to hold it to make sure it doesn't slip as you apply serious torque onthe crank bolt.

Now that's a tough call. It's tighter than it was for sure. But you won't know if it's tight enough until it's too late (and the harmonic balancer starts wobbling). To see what happens I had some pics in one of my photo albums here about one that we fixed (had a friend help on that one with the welding and such). My first tool needed "tweaked" between uses as well because it would bend a little. Those ones I had the machine shop make seemed to work better due to no or little warpage. If you're friendly with your dealer perhaps you could borrow their wrench? Even if you had to leave a deposit? I could see that happenning before they would do the job themselves. Then again - it could be tight enough. Hard to tell from here. I use a longer breaker bar I believe or impact. The Snap-on BB I use can be used to loosen the crank bolt. By that I mean it barely reaches to the subframe over by the battery. And I'm 235 lbs. But I've never had one come loose. Tough call.

Still no location showing. We are still having Db issues. I have fixed those cranks. Removed engine, welded, dremel the notch, new key, new harmonic balancer, etc. Amazing what damage can be done by the unknowing. I don't look forward to fixing those. I buy the car figuring on putting a new engine in, if I can fix it then I'm ahead.

I've gone to Advance Auto's universal stuff for Suby's and most other cars. Looks like Mountain Dew. My local rediator shop uses it and recommends it. I have obtained the Subaru real stuff for Skip (who isn't on here much at all - enjoying his retirement and travels) and it was really pricey for his wife's car. You know - the dark green stuff - looks like pond scum.

Just take your time. No anti-seize from the factory (stupid!) even though dissimilar metals. I use anti seize and dielectric grease on the tops of the new plugs. Sometimes the plug wire boots can be a pain as well.

If you had your location (a real location - not something cute like "up the creek") a member may have had an extra bracket that you could have picked up. Could have been simpler and cheaper. Personally I often don't respond to folks that don't have a location. As long as you ignore arrows and look for dots and dashes you'll be fine. Don't forget to torque the crank bolt down real well!! I hope you're doing it all. Crank and cam seals, idlers, WP, etc while you're in there.

There will be a hash mark on the block. There will also be a hash mark on a little flange on the back of that cogged pulley(and that hash mark will align with the dot on the front of that cogged pulley). Match up the hash mark on the flange of the pulley with the hash mark on the block. Then the crank is done. Then you gotta do the cam sprockets and IGNORE THE ARROWS!! Just look for hash marks again on the sprockets and the timing cover.

Just looked at your pic. Your engine won't have that little metal cover just above the crank. You'll be able to see the hash mark back by the crank sensor as I mentioned. The mark on the front of the splined piece will likely be just a dot on yours. The cam sprockets often have arrows - IGNORE THEM if they are there.

NO ARROWS!!! Dots and dashes only. If you search around here there are some good writeups. Don't know if they salvaged any from endwrench for this procedure. A favorite of mine is for the 2.5 HG job search for "skipnospam" and it should have a link to a comcast link. It's for a DOHC but atleast you'll know to IGNORE THE ARROWS!!! Look fo rthe hask mark at the back of the splined piece on the end of the crank and match it up to the block back by the crank sensor. I psint them with white mail polish. There is also a small dot on the outside of that splined piece that is later covered by the harmonic balancer. NO ARROWS!!! IGNORE THEM!!! Don't concern yourself so much with the belt as much as making sure the crank marks and cam sprocket marks are dead on. Manuals and auto's timing belt procedure is the same.

Thats a thought. But the dealer's folks are gonna be a little miffed that they didn't get the job to do in the first place. Will have to remove the fans and tighten bolt. Probably won't want to by sighting liability issues. If nothing else I'd bet you're gonna have lots of wait time and enough $ tied up that it'd be worth buying the tool. Seriousely - they aren't gonna want to clean up someone else's work. Especially when they lost out on the $ of doing the job. Can't hurt to ask. Just don't see it as a real possibility.

There is a shifter release you can push with a screwdriver or pen on the console. I had trouble with linkage on one and NSS on another. I forget which was on which side of the transmission. IIR you gotta really get underneath the car (unless you have a lift).

A good tire shop will wire wheel the rim then put bead sealer on it when dealing with an alloy wheel that old. Also new valve stems are like a buck. I beleive you may be shooting yourself in the foot.

The headlight bulb holders used to melt with some regularity. Otherwise Cougar may chime in. He seems to have the knowledge/patience for this wireing stuff (just my observation).

The tool will be hard to make until you get the old one off - too hard to get the pins aligned to the holes. Yea I believe he did make it for 1/2" breaker bar. But you see the general idea. Those pins on this were actually machined on these at the end. Folks here didn't wanna spend 40 bucks plus shipping so I didn't have more than a few made. If you can get by with 2 or 3 pins they'll be easier to line up.

Here is a link to the tool. If this doesn't work try and figure out how to get to my photo album here. These pics are for a 2.2 tool. The only 2.5 tool I had made has a long handle welded to it. I had a few of these 2.2 one made figuring they were easier to mail. You can try a screwdriver or similar stuck into the litlte window (where you installed the Torque Converter bolts into. ANy way you look at it the fans are probably gonna have to come back out. Sme folks clain to use allen wrenches and cobble something together. That approach just wasn't for me. Not even with the engine out, and nu way with the engine in there. I probably do 150-200 lbs on mine. Subaru has a tool with a handle - I wanna say 200 bucks. I sold a few of these for 40. I don't know if I still have the original prototype made with an old jack handle, a large washer, then pins welded. The pins needed "customized" after each use. If you don't come up with a good solution let me know. I'll look again. I think this is my last tool so I don't wanna sell it, but we may be able to work something out for you to use it. I knew were this was then I started to clean up. It never made it to the upper garage and hung back up. That was 6 months ago. Now I'm buried in tax stuff - meet with the accountant wed. An attempt at the photo album section with the tool. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/album.php?albumid=169

Not tight enough for me. I use an impact while the engine is out and/or a breaker bar and a tool to hold the harmonic balancer that I had made (I used to have a few to sell but think I've misplaced them all - both sizes). No way I'd run that much with the final tightening being a rubber mallet. After that harmonic balances comes loose, wobbles, keyway chews up the crank and harmonic balancer it's not fun to fix.

Great to be done with something. And do it properly. What brand of belt in the kit? Did you get and use the Lisle seal puller? Make sure you got the crank bolt good and tight. Congratulations on doing it yourself.

Well, you'll certainly have receipts now! Use a paint stick and put the time and mileage somewhere. I usually put it on the intake since covers are plastic. Dealers almost never recommend or do the idlers. Because of the cost I believe - customers woul dhave sticker shock. They expect those parts to go 200k. Most of us use a good quality aftermarket kit and replace the idlers every TB change along with other stuff. I believe last quote we had here was like 500-600 bucks for the idlers and tensioner from the dealer. Hopefully someone local sees this and can loan you a used one so you can determine your status. I can send you one for shipping costs on monday but that hardly makes sense. Worst case just order a whole kit because you'll be needing it.

That's the main thing. Coolant bottle yuk. New WP/Thermostat and rad cap - like they are starting to chase the problem.

And we have been having database issuse for a week so be patient with the site.

Sucks. Out of curiosity who did the timing belt at 100k? That's probably the most common failure. Perhaps some one is local and can loan for a used cogged idler to try and simply reinstall that belt so that you can check compression. A lot of us get our idler kits from theimportexperts or mizumuto auto (or something like that). And replace them every timing belt change. So you should probably consider that. And we install OEM seals(crank, cam, WP). Perhaps you were very lucky.

GG if we do something on the timing belt and you're still looking for idlers let me know. I can dig through my pile and find some of the better ones. I don't believe i have an extra cogged one right now. Let me know ASAP if you'd like a new one and I'll order a "custom" kit on monday and add it.