Mikey41a

Thanks for the tip on the PB Blaster now. That stuff works great as I learned when I replaced the rear struts on my 98 Outback last week. The knucklebolts were unbelievable pains in the butt. I ended up breaking a brand new 19' box end and the ratchet mechanism on my breaker bar but I got 'em off with multiple applications of the magic blaster. I was prepared to break or cut the nuts off if I had to because I had another set of bolts handy but I didn't have to.

By the way thanks for the help. I really do appreciate it. I'll report back what I find under the remaining timing belt covers this weekend.

I dont know if it matters as it pertains to damaged valves but the belt itself is not broken, feels nice and tight and actually is kind of new looking. Like maybe it was replaced just before I bought the car. Of course that is just what I can see behind the left timing belt cover until I can dig in on Saturday.

Will do to all of the above. I was actually planning to pull the other two timing covers off this weekend (family busyness "till then) using the "starter jog" technique and look things over. I think that Im going to have to pull the fans out first but I'm hoping to not have to mess with the radiator. I've never put one in or taken one out and I'd like to learn my way around that another day if possible.

Would it be unususl for it to show a symptom the week before the actual failure or does the system generally just upchuck all at once.

Copy that.

Oh wait, I see the one your looking at and scads of others too. Much more well presented on Ebay. Looks like most of them come with an actuater.

Thanks for the heads up. Dayco makes a few kits too, some pretty cheap, but I was alittle confused about what they come with. Specifically the actuater, some seem to have them, others do not. Is this really necessary or are the idlers, tensioner, belt and water pump enough ?

First post here but I have been loving this board for a few weeks now. I have a 97 Brighton that has always run wonderfully, temp. gauge never budged, ever, idles so quietly that I have forgot once at work and left it on. Super reliable car and of course I do very regular maintenence. My problem is that a few weeks ago I started it in the garage and its normaly quiet idle quickly developed a squeaking almost scraping sound that got worse for about 20 seconds and then, for the first time ever, the motor kind of gently just chugged to a stop. Of course this sounds a lot like a timing belt issue except that the car did the same exact thing, made the same alarming noise once about a week before this but the first time I jumped in and gave it a little gas and when the RPMs died down it smoothed out. It did not do this again until a week later when the car died. Now the car cranks like crazy but just wont catch and start. I've checked the following. It is getting gas past the fuel filter. It is getting spark. I pulled out the cranck position and camshaft sensorand cleaned them both up, they were pretty filthy. I did pop in new plugs and wires just in case (the old plugs looked pretty bad.). I removed one side of the timing belt cover (passenger side) and the belt seems tight and actually looks pretty new. I really do not know when any of this stuff was done on this car. I bought this car with 234,000 on it and currently it has 280,000 so I know it is is up there but it ran so well and at one point was my families only ride and we grew to love the car ( Its OK, laugh, I know it sounds silly ) that I would really like to keep it going. If I can get it running we would become a two Subaru family. we cant really afford a second car right now but I could spend a little on this.The motor sure did not run, up to this point, like it was tired or long in the tooth. Is it possible that it could be anything other than the timing belt ? Would it be worth the $200.00 plus for me to throw in a new timing belt kit just to find out if that is it and/or are my vaves smashed. Are the valves automatically toast even if it fails at idle ?? Insight from more experienced minds would be much appreciated.