I am replacing Timing belts and Tensioners!

[Bandit987]

Alright here it goes, I just got the timing belt and tensioners kit off ebay. I found the Mile's fox wright up and it looks pretty simple. I was wondering if I need to replace the springs. I have taken the covers off and there is oil present, not sure where its coming from, wish I had a camera to take some pics to show.....

[idosubaru]

If you're leaking oil, just reseal the front of the engine while you're in there. With the belts off it's only another hour or two work and you've got seals good until the next timing belt change. You don't say what year/model but being old gen it's probably like 20 years old, hardly worth chancing it in my opinion.

 

Leakage points:

Crank seal

Oil pump - gasket, oring, and shaft seal

Cam seals and orings

 

I typically replace all of that at once with the first timing belt I do on an EA/ER vehicle. But you could just see which of those is leaking and reseal the crank, oil pump, or cams as needed.

 

I've never replaced the springs.

[john in KY]

I'll add a few more tips. Loosen the camshaft sprocket bolts before removing the timing belts. The bolts you will be working with are small and easily broken. Go easy on them. Been my experience the 3 most important gaskets to replace to stop leaks are the oil pump gasket and the O-rings behind the camshaft sprocket housings.

[idosubaru]

Come to think of it - I believe I've seen new springs for sale either at thepartsbin.com or rockauto.com if you want.

 

the crank seal is a real pain to replace, not much room to work with to press it in. the oil pump and cam seals/orings are easy.

[Bandit987]

Everything is going good, btw its an 87 Rx EA82t. Does the oil pump require timing? Only asking because my friend required it on his, but diff car....Also there seems to be nothing actually leaking inside the timing belt covers, looks like the teeth just broke off, replacing the tensioners, belts and idler. Thx for the info

[GeneralDisorder]

There is no timing on the oil pump.

 

Highly reccomend you replace the cam and crank seals and reseal the oil pump while you are in there. It's very little extra work or expense and with a turbo EA82 the seals are bound to be cooked by this age. It would be pretty silly not to do them.

 

GD

[Bandit987]

Back on the road , The engine I bought only had 40-70k miles, bought it from ebay with a 6 month warrenty. Didn't think that I need to replace the rest of the seals. Hope it doesn't bite me in the rump roast :-\. Thanks for all the info everything seems to be working great.

[kerandt]

Mind me asking what you had to pay?

[MilesFox]

if you leave the seals alone, do yourself a favor and leave off the timing belt covers. you will thank yourself next time you do seals or a water pump.

 

take the time now to remove all the pulleys and remove the inner timing belt covers behind them.

 

the cam seals are super easy, the cam retainer comes off the car, and you can change the seal on your work bench.

 

btw the pics in the article are from an 87 rx turbo

 

you do not have to replace the springs on the tensioners. they are just there to hold the tensioners in place until you lock them down. you can simply hold the tensioners tight by hand when you tighten them up. make sure you have all the slack out of the drive side of the belts before tightening them(top of belt on pass side, bottom of belt on driver side)

[The Dude Abides]

if you leave the seals alone, do yourself a favor and leave off the timing belt covers. you will thank yourself next time you do seals or a water pump.

 

take the time now to remove all the pulleys and remove the inner timing belt covers behind them.

 

the cam seals are super easy, the cam retainer comes off the car, and you can change the seal on your work bench.

 

btw the pics in the article are from an 87 rx turbo

 

you do not have to replace the springs on the tensioners. they are just there to hold the tensioners in place until you lock them down. you can simply hold the tensioners tight by hand when you tighten them up. make sure you have all the slack out of the drive side of the belts before tightening them(top of belt on pass side, bottom of belt on driver side)

 

I can understand why you remove them but i cant see how road grime and gunk would not get into the componenets and possibly sorten the life of them.

Edited March 25, 2010 by The Dude Abides

[Bandit987]

Mind me asking what you had to pay?

 

It was like 550 for the engine and 100 for shipping, ended up being like 675 total, the listing had it at 40-70k miles, with a 6 month warranty. Came with the harness,spider intake,turbo and ac pump. My friend told me I would need an different ecu to use the spider intake so I tossed it(guessing I shouldn't have done that....)I still have the harness it came with but I am using the intake and harness that was in the car when I bought it. The engine so far has been pretty good, I drive it a good amount going from yuba city to uc davis a lot. The only thing that I have had to change on it is the timing belts, tensioners, water pump(did that when I had the engine out of the car).

[kerandt]

Good deal. I'm actually replacing the timing belts, seals and oil pump right now for the first time. I opted to go with out the covers. I stay on the clean black top for the most part. Good luck on the project

[MilesFox]

I can understand why you remove them but i cant see how road grime and gunk would not get into the componenets and possibly sorten the life of them.

 

i just took the covers off my new-to-me 94 legacy. previous mechanic installed new timing belt and water pump, but not the seals. the belt was COATED in oil being covered up, where open covers would have leaked the oil to the ground instead of slinging it all over the belt.

 

i can see your point when it comes to moisture or road salts for the sake of the tensioner pulleys, though.

 

the only thing that gets me is people are afraid of the belts wearing prematurely with open covers, but, its obvious you can VISUALLY INSPECT the belts any time you are under the hood, and replace them in FIFTEEN MINUTES off the side of the road if they do let go.

[The Dude Abides]

Is it possible to cut the bottom out of the timeing covers and just zip tie the front ones on so you have some coverage.

[MilesFox]

if you have that idea, i would say cut out the middle of the cover below the crank pulley, so the cover can be lifted off around the pulley instead of having to remove the pulley. the oil pump sprocket will be exposed, but that is so tight a clearance nothing will get in there, and you still have the tensioner pulleys covered up. if anything is leaking inside, it will drip out of the bottom of the crank anyway.

 

you know, this is a good idea i haven't thought of before. its a good workaround to make a timing belt job easier next time without being caught naked:lol:

[The Dude Abides]

I would half to check out my timeing belts covers to even see how to do this but i have a pretty good view of my timeing belts via a huge hole on teh bottom of the covers.