rae houghton

Yes that would be a marvelous suggestion. Unfortunately, the reason the other car won't pass the roadworthy test is that it has a lot of rust , AND every conceivable seal on the engine seems to be leaking oil. But your idea has merit. Thanks Any other thoughts on time to do this job with new parts?

as I am not a mechanic and getting on in age, (65) I am using this as an excuse to make enquiries with automotive shops as to the cost to do this repair. One fellow said they could do it (replace the timing belts in 3 hours for $400......... and another said he had to do all the pulleys and seal and waterpump and belts and new fan and alternator belts because he didn't want me coming back and saying I had another problem....'why didn't you fix that too , when you had the timing belt cover off?".....and you know ...hey, he is right...should do it all at the same time....but his quote of minimum 10 hours (at 1500-1700$) said to me that he was going to take the engine out OR he was simply ripping me off. I would like to try to do it myself, but as my leg is broken just now, getting in and around anything is a chore. .. and it is the only car we have, (1990 Subaru L-series wagon with a spare 1994 wreck for parts) and the wife needs it. I did manage to check the distributor shaft to see that it wasn't the gears that had been mashed and that was why the car had broken down on the highway. I did test the coil to make sure that didn't / wasn't the cause of the electrical problem as I had no spark (I had an extra working coil) Recently, I did manage to put a new fender on the car, whilst having the leg in a cast. (Now that was tricky) So getting on my knees under the car with my moon - boot will prove to be quite a chore. The belts in the 1994 were changed 1 1/2 years ago (20,000 km ago) on the tag inside the hood, and I did think of using them over again....but that does not seem wise, and no mechanic is probably going to want to use used gear....sensible. I wonder if they did the water pump too.? Just trying to get value out of this wreck I bought. Has already "just" paid for itself in tyres alone. Any thoughts on the time to do this job? pulleys, seal, water pump, timing belts, and fan / alternator belts ????

thank you both for your rapid replies. sincerely, Rae

Very helpful...Watched the videos over and over...but engine was out of the car. I was wondering if the engine has to come out of the car to do this repair? And can the crank shaft seal be replaced easily without taking the engine out? Any of the pulleys or tensioner a problem if engine is still in car? thanks Rae