T.J.

Indeed. I saved a couple hundred bucks on the installation alone, plus whatever it would have cost to get the problem diagnosed in the first place. $$$$ T.J.

SUCCESS! First off, a big thanks to everyone who read this thread in an attempt to help me out, whether or not you were able to contribute. It was very much appreciated. An the cookie goes to (drum roll)..... Cougar for suggesting on page 2 (in his first post!) that the cam timing may be off on one side of the engine. Nice call! Story: I finally got around to removing the timing belt cover last weekend and the first thing I noticed was a little piece of plastic that fell out as I removed it. It looked like it had been chewed up a bit. The next thing to jump out at me was the large hole in the timing belt that was almost half the width of the belt. Next I checked the timing and sure enough, the passenger side was off by 3 or 4 teeth. Great, problem found! At this point I decided I was going to take it in to richierich to have him fix it right and make sure there were no other associated problems. He is a member of this board, professional mechanic, and an all-around good guy. Two of my friends have had work done at his shop per my recommendation. However, I called him back because it occured to me that if my 1/2 timing belt snapped as I limped the car 20 or so miles to his shop it would probably ruin the engine. He not only confermed that it would be better for me to do it where it sat, but he even gave me some helpful tips on the procedure before letting me off of the phone. Thanks again Richie! Replacing the belt was very straight forward and went smoothly. As I was reassembling the cover I noticed a small piece of threaded aluminum embedded in the side of it! It turned out to be a part of one of the bolt holes for one of the upper timing belt cover bolts. Soooooo I have concluded that... Cliff notes: Previous owners got metal debris inside timing belt cover which eventually got into the teeth of the timing belt causeing it to skip on the passenger side cam gear. Said debris then burst through the timing belt and lodged itself in the timing belt cover. Mystery solved. I now have about 180 psi. of compression on all cylinders and the car is totally reassembled. I had to wait untill today to pick up the timing belt guide that was conspicuously missing the first time I removed the cover. I now have an idea of what to look formard to when I replace the t-belt on my Impreza, I have more tools than I did before and the Forester is once again purring like the lumpy Subaru it is.:burnout::burnout: Thanks again everyone, T.J. Here is a picture of the damaged belt and the debris that did it:

I drive in snow. It's one of the main reasons we drive Subarus. Again, I bought the car used but as far as I know everything has about 50,000 miles on it. Thanks, T.J.

Yeah. By the sound of it, it would be nice if it were the timing. I was just looking up how to tell if the timing is off. Will it be obvious when I can see the belt? Are there marks on the crank sprocket and cam sprockets? Really? Leaving the cover off wouldn't make it suseptable to debris? Thanks, T.J.

Thanks again for the help guys. I will look into checking the timing myself and go from there. T.J.

Edit: Ignore. I just put 2and2 together. Thanks, T.J.

Are those under the timing belt cover? It looks like I would need to remove the radiator to check those in which case I will get to see if the timing belt tensioner is loose. I don't have a garage or means of removing the engine. If it comes to that I will likely take it to a mechanic. T.J.

Big news! I think... Here are the results from the Vacuum guage: 50cmHg (or about 20in.Hg) steady vacuum on drivers side manifold measured from the brake cyl. hose. This is in the green zone on the guage, indicating "normal motor". 35-40cmHg (or about 13-16in.Hg) oscillating vacuum on the passenger side of the intake manifold measured from the fuel pressure regulator hose (smaller diameter). This is in the small red zone on the guage indicating "late ignition timing". Now for the compression guage (in psi) w/ plugs in: Cyl #1= 91 2= 180 3= 89 4= 200 W/ all plugs removed: Cyl #1= 80 2= 179 3= 89 4= 198 Both guages are pretty vague so all numbers are approximate. So the passenger side seems to have less vacuum and the needle oscillates w/ the rpm of the engine instead of being steady. I'm not sure if this is indicative of the problem or merely a result of the lack of compression and or combustion. The passenger side cylinders are indeed significantly down on compression. It is also a little odd that the #1 cylinder dropped about 10psi w/ all of the plugs removed while the other cylinders appeared to lose a couple psi or less. I performed all of the tests multiple times and the numbers were consistant. I can't speak to the accuracy of this guage but the results were repeatable. So maybe the loose timing belt theory has legs? Anything jump out at you guys? Thanks, T.J. OT: wOOt for getting advice from NY and AK. The internet rocks.

So, should I at least disconnect the plug wires so the engine doesn't start?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92697 and http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93547 Still need to go get them. Thanks, T.J.

Well, I pulled the big vacuum hose off at the brake cylinder. I started the car and could hear the air being drawn into the hose to the intake manifold. I could feel the vacuum w/ my finger over the hole in the end of the hose. I sprayed the end of the hose w/ our garden hose nozzle on the mist setting. I swear, the idle didn't change! :-\

Great. I will swing by Harbor Freight and look for a cheap compression guage as soon as possible. Then what? remove all of the plugs and use the starter to turn the engine a certain # of times w/ the guage pluged in to one of the cylinders at a time? OT, I was born in Fairbanks. Didn't spend enough time there to remember anything. I have heard some stories from my parents though. Later, T.J.

Ooooh. Do you think I could check this w/o removing the engine? Maybe just the radiator?

Thanks for the info ron. nipper, is a vacuum guage different from a compression guage? Same thing? Exactly. I'm sure the timing belt could effect one side of the engine like this, but the car was running great before this started. About a month ago it got 28mpg on a 380 mile road trip up Mt. Hood w/ the car fully loaded and a bike rack on top. I was impressed and took that as a sign that the engine was pretty healthy. No one has been in inside the engine to effect the timing belt location since we purchased it. Can it go out of adjustment? I was under the impression that if it went, it would just snap. T.J.

Yeah, I need to get a compression guage. Probably not untill payday though. The timing belt would be 50,000 miles old unless it has been replaced already. We bought the car at 40,000 miles. I have tomorrow off. I'll try the brake booster idea. Thanks. T.J.