Time to change timing belt, wondering what else to change.

[greg412]

I have a 2007 Legacy 2.5L that is due for a timing belt change, I have never had a Subie before,and the set-up of these engines is new to me. 

I'm not doing the work myself,. I'm thinking of taking it to the Subaru dealer to have it done, since so many people say to use OEM parts. I guess their 

is a benefit to doing this, 

I was wondering, when changing the belt, aside from the water pump, and I heard the tensioner is a good idea, what else would be good preventive measures

for this vehicle. I just need some good advice because it's quite a bit of money, and I want to do what's best for longevity, I hope to get this car to 200,000 miles, 

I hope that is realistic. Thanks. 

[huffman142]

I'm not sure your mileage, but at 180k timing belt service on my 2006 Legacy, my mechanic definitely recommended tensioner/pulleys and front cam seals since they are already in there.  I change all belts when I do it.  Not very much more, but can save you a big headache if they break.   With proper maintenance, you'll definitely get to 200,000 and way past it probably.   We've run them close to 300,000 on the mail route, and the powertrain is still good when we stop, we've just beat the suspension to death at that point.  

[heartless]

ok, so here you say it is a 2007, in another thread you said 1997...which is it?

 

regardless of which, most of us will do a complete front service when doing timing belts - especially on one with an interference motor (which both '97 & '07 are)

Complete service includes: cam and crank seals, all idler pulleys, timing belt, waterpump & thermostat, and reseal of oil pump. depending on mileage, might want to add the tensioner in there as well as new radiator hoses.

[idosubaru]

Must:  Timing belt, tensioners, and all 3 pulleys. 

Gates kits on rockauto or amazon are only $120, they are inordinate and unnecessary from Subaru.

 

Second:  Water pump, camp seals, crank seal, reseal the oil pump

 

Water pumps rarely fail in that engine, the pulleys and tensioner are more likely to fail and shouldn't be skipped.

 

Subaru dealers are the worst place to get this job done.  Dealer prices are too high, they never replace all the pulleys because it's cost prohibitive.  You get 2 new parts and then leave 3 with 100,000 miles on them still in there, and they do fail.  Kind of a silly approach for an expensive job - one dealer I know charges $450, another $699 for the belt only.  Too much money not to do it right.

 

If you have a good non-dealer mechanic you trust, make sure they use a Gates kit (not a lower grade ebay kit) and a Subaru water pump gasket is a must - the aftermarket gaskets are flimsy cardboard material and the Subaru gaskets are robust stamped metal.  Huge difference.

 

The water pump gasket is the only thing that should be from Subaru on this job.  And the thermostat if you replace that.  But that's easily done at any time, it doesn't require timing belt removal so I don't include it on the list though it's often timed with the water pump since it has to be removed and coolant drained for water pump replacement.

[billrigsby]

I agree, TENSIONER AND THREE PULLEYS! 

Years ago I was not so wise and skipped those,

Car ended up stopped on I70 with ruined valves, 3 miles from DIA, and tickets to New Orleans!

 

Never will skimp again!

 

Must:  Timing belt, tensioners, and all 3 pulleys. 

Edited April 27, 2014 by billrigsby

[willwright]

This is one of those deals where another 100 bucks could save you thousands BT replacing / resealung everything there while your there. Could cost you thousands by not doing it, so I consider it very cheap insurance. Full timing set and new seals all the way , the labor to get there again is 3 times the costs of the parts to get there again to do it.

[huffman142]

I got the box set on Amazon that included the timing belt, all pulleys, tensioner, and water pump for around $150 for a 2006 Legacy.  It saved me over $150 than if I would have bought them at an auto parts store separately.