wysubey

For my timing belt tension, I used a 2-pin spanner into the cam gear holes. Mine is 1 foot long. Left side you will pull from the underside outwards, right side from the top outwards. Using a luggage scale and a ratchet strap tied to a tree or other solid object you can pull at a right angle to the spanner to pull the proper tension on the cam sprockets. I didn't have a luggage scale, so I just put 17-19lb of water or rocks in a bucket over a pulley. Voilla- 19 lbs at 1 foot with no special tools. I initially did the Miles "close enough" hand tensions but I don't trust that, belt was flapping around too loose for my liking. Also, after checking my spark timing it was off, so I realized I was off 1 tooth on the crank sprocket. Because of the 1:2 ratio, it can be hard to notice that small difference. Re-check the spark timing because old stretched belts can cause it to be off compared to new belts and tensioners. Another mistake I made was to replace the 2 crank pulleys inverted which made the LH belt track too far inboard. Pushed the inner flange off the oil pump sprocket. JB weld has held so far. They're tough to tell the difference. +1 for open covers, I would have not been able to make these adjustments after the fact with them on. Timing belt is part of my normal weekly maintenance check now.

Hi all, 2005 outback auto trans with 180k, new to me. Great service records and babied by first owner. First start of the day doesn't catch for about 10 seconds if I turn the key directly to start. If I wait in the on position for a few seconds before starting, it will catch right away. Car runs great otherwise, new upstream o2 sensor, new plugs & wires, no CEL. Ideas? Fuel pump? Fuel pressure regulator? Live with it?

Been running good for a couple weeks now. Starts right up every time, and I re-tensioned the belts. Troubling development now though. When I took apart the oil pump, the inner ring that keeps the belt centered on pump sprocket was off. I put it back on and re-punched the sprocket to hold it tighter. Well... it didn't hold and now the belt is running too close to the block. It's completely on all sprockets besides the oil pump. The inner edge is running maybe 1-2mm off that sprocket. Not rubbing on anything, but it does catch the guard ring a bit. There's a tiny bit of fraying from that. Anyone have a source for OP sprocket? Or should I try to weld that ring on the sprocket? Really glad I kept the covers off to keep an eye on this! I think the low power is due to exhaust leak making the engine run rich at low RPMs.

Thanks all, successful operation here. Seems to have a bit less power than I remember, but it's idling smoother. I adjusted the spark timing to 20 degrees. How much pressure do you guys put on the tensioners? Just spring pressure and tighten the bolts, or do you apply hand pressure as well? Also, since the work, cold starts are not going until I disconnect and reconnect the battery. It clicks, but no crank. Warm re-starts are fine.

No covers it is! Just finished cleaning the oil pump, waiting on my caliper to get here to check the rotor dimensions. New shaft seal is in, as well as crankshaft seal. headed to town for fresh camshaft seal carrier O rings. Whats the torque spec for oil pump sprocket? Haynes book doesn't say. Has anyone used oil compatible RTV to backup mickey mouse gasket?

Car broke down before Christmas. Left timing belt tensioner threw its bearings and the belt skipped a few teeth. I ignored the squeaking too long. Previous TB replacement ~30k ago likely didn't replace tensioners. So, here I go on the re-seal odyssey. I have new cam & crank seals, idler sprocket, tensioners, timing belts, oil pump seals & water pump. Anyhow, there are a couple issues I want some feedback on. On the R side front of the engine by cylinder 1, there is some orange gunk at the head gasket joint. Any ideas what that is? No signs of HG failure from the rad cap or oil. The failed tensioner rubbed against the belt cover and wore it through. About 1" crescent. Should I worry about finding another cover? Duck tape to the rescue? Also, the R inner cover is a bit warped behind the cam sprocket and is rubbing slightly. Any other trouble areas to look at while I'm in there? Crossing my fingers the oil pump is OK.

Same thing happened to me last week. Just died coasting into town after driving fine for 30m. Checked all the easy things on the roadside and then pushed 50yards into gas station. Really good place to break, but its a bad time of year to not have a garage. Any suggestions for brands to buy or stay away from?

Success! The alternator was quite bad, tested only 10v at the store. They replaced it for free, very nice. New one charges right up to 14.2 and spins freely. Unfortunately the threads stripped on the lower mounting ear. The bolt was long enough so I just put a bolt on the backside. Pain to get to, but it works. Thanks Naru and Rampage.

Haha yeah it's not the cleanest setup! Just keeping the ol gal running until she rusts out.

Thanks Rampage! Very helpful diagram, I've been a bit fuzzy on what the pins on alternator actually do. So, I unplugged the 2pin connector. Alligator leads with a larger bulb to +12v. Still weak charging. At this point I'm taking the alt back for testing Monday or Tues. I'm getting 8v on the lamp wire at idle and less than 8amps from the alt, 12.5v at the battery with only headlights and HVAC fan on 2. Tired of futzing with this especially with the weather turned cold. I want my seat heater ASAP!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Yes, sounds like EGR. On mine, I determined that the solenoid was clogged and burned out and replaced it with OEM style. Check the impedance on it and see if it clicks nicely when you connect to 12v.

Ok, so I'll check into putting a bigger wattage bulb, or put a resistor in parallel with the bulb to reduce the impedance. The voltage drop of .1 for the replacement diode seems low enough, but its only a 1a rated rectifier diode. Should be enough, given that 12v to the L terminal is pulling 1a exactly. Is there a way to test the field winding without dismantling the alt? Unfortunately I traded in the original already.

+1 for DaveT and CTS issues. One of the first things Dave helped me with. Didn't realize the codes blink without test mode.

So I put 4oz of Seafoam in the oil, and it made quite a difference! Could tell almost immediately when the stuff made it to the offending HLA, since then it only ticks for less than 5 seconds on really cold starts.

Oh! Long flashes are the first digit, short flashes are the second.

Congrats on finding a 1 owner Loyale! Thats totally sweet. Mine is all rusty but I still love it and it runs great. To read CEL codes, yes you plug in the green connectors. Then you have to take off the panel directly under the steering wheel to get a visual on the ECM. There's a little hole on the top that you can see a red LED which flashes your code. Kinda a pain in the butt to get your head in there to read it. Here's a paste of Loyale CEL codes. Not sure where I found this but it has proven accurate for my rig. 88 and later models with Single-Point Fuel Injection 11 Crank angle sensor or circuit 12 Starter switch or circuit 13 Crank angle sensor or circuit 14 Fuel injector – abnormal output 21 Coolant temperature or circuit 23 Air flow meter or circuit 24 Air control valve or circuit 31 Throttle sensor or circuit 32 Oxygen sensor or circuit 33 Vehicle Speed Sensor or circuit 34 EGR solenoid or circuit 35 Purge control solenoid or circuit 42 Idle switch or circuit 45 Kick-down control relay or circuit 51 Neutral switch continuously in the on position 55 EGR temperature sensor or circuit 61 Parking switch or circuit So far, I've had codes 34, 32, and 21. All fixed now without too much trouble or cost, except wrenching the extremely stuck O2 sensor out. As for RPMs, those can change quite a bit depending on the engine temp. If its below freezing and I drive right away without any warm up, the first couple stop signs it will idle as high as 2k. Once it's warmed up, the spec is 700rpm for idle with the test mode connectors and no accessories.

Starting at the battery, here's a fuse holder connected to Postitive with a 7.5 or 10 amp fuse. This fan draws 6.6amps. Then, at the center of the radiator is the relay, with that positive wire connected to the common terminal which is green on this socket. Make sure to get a >10 amp rated relay. Black coming up from fan goes to chassis ground. Blue wire from fan connects to Normally Open terminal. Then the coil wires keep going to the right side of rad and connect to... The existing radiator fan wires. When the factory fan kicks on, it energizes the coil on relay, which switches on power to the add on fan.

Ground to the engine & alternator is good 0.1ohm

'94 EA82 Loyale. Removed alternator due to bearings failing. I drove it for a couple days while charging it at home. Installed the new Carquest reman alt, I have these lights on while running: charge, brake fluid & parking brake. Voltage isn't getting above 12.5 and alternator is putting out less than 10amps even at 3k rpm. When I pull fuse #9 (charging), all of these lights go out, obviously still not charging. Parking brake light behaves properly with the ebrake handle. Replaced all the warning bulbs. Replaced the diode in the LH warning lights cluster. Been reading this thread about alternator issues. Battery 12.6v. Voltages on the "L" connector are as follows. Engine off, key on: Blk/wht 12.5v, wht/red 1.05v. At the charge light: 12.2v, after charge light 1.17v, after diode, 1.07. If I disconnect the L connector from Alt and jump the wht/red pin directly to +12v, it charges just fine. Less than 1a running through that jumper so I'm not too concerned about that for a few minutes. Seems the end result of that thread was that the replacement alternators need >3v to charge. Ideas?

Sure, here's the one I got. The mounting is tricky though. I used the included pieces that go through the rad... kinda bungs up some of the fins and the ties are junk. I would try to do something better if I was doing it again.

I removed the mech fan and installed a 12" generic electric fan from Amazon. Ran all summer with a/c and no issues. Wired it with a relay switched from the factory electric fan on the R side of rad. Super happy and it seems to have a little more pep.

Thanks all. Gonna take it easy this winter, lots of warm up time. And then when it gets nice in spring I'll do the timing belts and oil pump reseal. How quickly does the ticking damage lifters? Is a few minutes every couple days that bad?

Been reading around about the common lifter TOD on these engines. Here's my observations & hypothesis. Cold first start doesn't always tick. But if I rev above 2.5k while cold that usually starts ticking. Yesterday I ran it less than 5min to re-park, and noticed the oil bubbles on dipstick. Once warmed up, no ticking this engine purrs nicely. I daily drive this car 90+ miles on my commute at 60mph and it has plenty of power, never gets too hot even passing at WOT and A/C running. Didn't tick at all this summer, I bet the colder weather is a factor. Recent work: coolant flush with water and filled with Xerex Asian 50/50 coolant. Added block heater. Oil change with Amazon synthetic blend 10w30 less than 1000mi ago. Replaced thermostat, rad hoses, heater hoses and rad cap. Spark plugs, wires, disty rotor & cap. I haven't touched the fuel system besides the filter. Timing belt was done at 148k, currently 174k on the clock. May be 10+ years on the belt as this car sat quite a bit with the previous 2 owners based on the label. Theory: the oil pump seals are going/gone and so the pump aerates the oil until it gets up to temp and seals seat. Any oil additives I could consider? I've used at-205 re-seal with good results for oil leaks.

Nobody? Ok I understand no one wants to say anything about safety items like this. All advice is taken with a grain of salt, and no single source will be taken as gospel.