Timing belt went on my 2.5 legacy

[swami2806]

Well, doing between 45-50 in my '98 legacy w/2.5 on a two-lane road when I lost power and heard a whirring/winding sound. I knew from the sound what happened.

 

I pulled the cover back as much as I could standing on the side of the road and found the belt loose (broken or not unknown) , and what I think are chunks of plastic sprocket.

 

I did a search and read a few posts on these--learned that they're interference engines. Oh perfect:clap: . I read in a number of posts that I should put a new belt on and do a compression test to see if the valves are bent. Should I bother, since I was dong ~50 mph?? Am I right in assuming that the plastic sprocket(s) broke because the cam(s) suddenly stopped because of interference?? Never had this happen, but I didn't hear anything metallic, like pistons hitting valves or valves hitting each other, like I imagined I would if a belt ever went on me on an interference engine.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Edited June 7, 2010 by swami2806

[davebugs]

Worth a try - but not high odds.

 

It is interference. And usually something causes enough resistance for the cam sprocket to break so it's more than replacing the cam sprocket to begin with before worrying about the damage caused AFTER is decintegrated.

 

Hopefully others will chime in.

[forester2002s]

This has me worrying about my own 2.5.

How many miles on the odometer when this happened?

[horton316]

honestly i wouldnt even bother with the timing belt and trying it , imo i would pull the engine pull the heads and send them to a machine shop to have the valves done and head planed, a good oportunuty to replace the head gaskets that fail on a regular basis , and i believe the rec service interval is 60k but not positive, when ever i buy a subaru its the first place i go, timing belt water pump cam and crank seals just to be safe even on the 2.2 never want to get stuck

[swami2806]

This has me worrying about my own 2.5.

How many miles on the odometer when this happened?

 

202k on the odometer. Heads were redone when head gasket replaced b/c of failure at about 100K. Timing belt was changed then too. Changed timing belt again @ ~160k, so failed with ~40k on it (or something failed--haven't opened her up yet).

[bheinen74]

another reason to not like the ej25.

long live 89-94 ej22, and 95 ej22

 

 

that really suks, and it was a newer belt with miles.what a crappy thing to have happen someday subaru will go non-interference.

Edited June 8, 2010 by bheinen74

[afterbang]

another reason not to like the 2.5? ill safely make the assumption that the belt was not a genuine subaru timing belt if it failed at 40k. dohc 2.5s need replacement every 105k but i had mine done at around 85k just to be on the safe side.

 

i also own a 93 legacy and ill agree that my older subaru will probably outrun my 98 2.5L but i wouldn't say this dude's problem amounts to another reason not to get a phase 1. mines been great to me after i put about 2 grand into it!

[idosubaru]

this will be about old pulley bearings. that's the most common cause of timing belt failure. the pulleys don't have a 100% success rate at making 200,000 miles and nearly every timing belt job i do I replace at least one. It's usually the sprocket that's the worst, so that's my guess. ebay kits all the way - new pulleys.

 

bad news is, as you know, it's an interference engine. the good news though is that it's only bent valves, you shouldn't have any major damage - like to the heads themselves, or cylinder walls/pistons. so it's repairable within reason.

 

have the heads repaired or buy a known good set of used heads from someone. someone on here i think has a set for sale right now?

 

it's not all that hard to slap a belt on to try it out, but chances are small.

[swami2806]

Thanks Gary...what would the rough cost of a valve job be for that (98 2.5)? I can remove the heads and disassemble them. Thanks.

[John Newton]

My 97 2.5L OB is in the shop getting the heads pulled as I type. I had the same experience you did (going about 30mph). I had a shredded timing pulley and water pump wouldn't turn - don't know which happened first. But valves are bent on both sides. But no piston damage, which I'm told is rare. Getting HG replaced and other seals. I tried putting new timing belt/pulleys/water pump myself but still got no compression due to the valves. Should be about 2k. I'm told by the experts here that I should get another life out of the car with these repairs. There is someone here with heads for sale. Check 97 OB Advice thread...

[OB99W]

[...] Am I right in assuming that the plastic sprocket(s) broke because the cam(s) suddenly stopped because of interference?? [...]

Another possibility is that a cam seized.

[mdjdc]

Think this through. If the timing belt broke, there would no longer be any tension on the cam sprocket and therefore it couldn't shatter as a result of the broken belt. A much more likely scenario is that the cam seized and the cam sprocket shattered. You wil probably find that the belt is not broken. If that is the case, let me know as I have several of those heads sitting in my shed ready to be mounted to your block. Even if the heads were damaged due to a broken belt, a set of heads will be cheaper than rebuilding yours. If the cam seized, you won't be able to rehab the bad head.

 

I hope I am wrong, but I wanted to give you another repair option;

 

Where are you located exactly, the northeast is pretty big.

[davebugs]

Cam seizure is what I was referring to in post #2.

 

Other than that is sems to usually be an idler or the WP as has been pointed out. Every now and then a tensioner - especially the new style it seems.

 

I did sell one member here a plastic cam sprocket and he thought that was his only problem. I doubted it was and tried to explain why. Wish I could remember who it was and how they made out.

[mdjdc]

Dave:

 

I remember that post also and as I recall it did turn out to be a seized cam.

 

 

 

Cam seizure is what I was referring to in post #2.

 

Other than that is sems to usually be an idler or the WP as has been pointed out. Every now and then a tensioner - especially the new style it seems.

 

I did sell one member here a plastic cam sprocket and he thought that was his only problem. I doubted it was and tried to explain why. Wish I could remember who it was and how they made out.

[swami2806]

Thanks everyone. I still haven't taken the covers off, but it would explain why there was a breakdown after only 40k mi. on the belt.

 

mdjdc: I am in Connecticut.

[mdjdc]

Too bad you aren't closer. I'd be more than happy to fix the car for you and get you back on the road.

 

Good luck.

 

Mike

 

Thanks everyone. I still haven't taken the covers off, but it would explain why there was a breakdown after only 40k mi. on the belt.

 

mdjdc: I am in Connecticut.

[garthpro]

mike, where are you located exactly?

[mdjdc]

I'm in Richmond, VA.

 

Call me if you want to

 

804-393-0516

[The Dude]

2.5L DOHC engine, very possibly a siezed cam shaft. THe DOHC is known to have undersized oil passages in the heads. A small piece of RTV or other debris can clog them and starve the camshaft of oil. This problem often occurs after the engine has been worked on, and a piece of RTV clogs the oil passage.

[garthpro]

sounds like new engine time. anyone selling on here?

[mdjdc]

Again, I have a set of perfectly good heads that I can send to you and you can repair the engine that you have. Not that big a deal.

 

Let me know if you want them. They are complete with cams, valves and lifters.

 

Mike

 

 

 

sounds like new engine time. anyone selling on here?

[shsandoe]

I'm looking for some assistance with how often to replace my 1993 Subaru Legacy (station wagon) timing belt.

I replaced it at 170,000 in California, but the car originated from the east coast.  (I know there are varying lengths of time depending on origination of car / timing belt).  My car now has 230,000 miles (love this car!) and my mechanic says that I don't need to do anything until 270,000.  Can anyone help me out with this question??  Thanks!

[idosubaru]

the mechanic is thinking of Subarus of the last 10 years - they're all 105,000 miles.  yours is 60,000 miles. 

 

thing is, if you want a reliable vehicle it needs changed regardless of mileage in order to replace all the timing components.  that's why the original poster of this thread had a belt break at 40k - the belt was new but all the pulleys were old.

 

buy an ebay kit for $100 and it includes all new pulleys and the timing belt. 

 

i generally do everything else while i'm in there too - cam seals, cam orings, crank seal, reseal the oil pump, tighten the backing plate screws, and replace the water pump.  but if you're paying a mechanic to do it that'll be up to you and the wallet to discuss.  all of that stuff is really easy with the timing belt off and if any of it has problems in the future - the timing belt (and it's associated labor cost) will be done all over again.

 

so it would stink to spend $500 to replace a timing belt and then have to spend $500 to replace a $3 cam seal or $40 water pump in 6 months.  seals are only $15 and $40 or so for the water pump...no really much extra money or time to do it right.  most folks on here that do a lot of subaru stuff would do all of that.

 

then you're good until 300,000 which that engine can easily do if it's been well maintained.