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how hard is it to change timing belt tensioner 2002 OBW?


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Michael;   Put your radiator in and get coolant in . Did you confirm that your engine had slipped time before starting the tensioner replacement ? Was the motor  ticking the same way since your hg replacement or has it changed since your tensioner repair ?  You said the motor runs "better"..... is it shaking a little ?  Rough idle maybe ?  These motors can make some odd noises even when running well but I have some doubts about yours .  

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The motor does run better.  Though I just ran it for 20 secs.  Before I replaced the tensioner I barely made it home.  It would die and had a "rattle" at low rpm.   That sound is gone and just my suspected piston slap. I'm going to get the radiator on and top off my coolant.  I assume there's a tranny fluid cooler line too.  I plugged those 1/4 lines with ear plugs but when I ran it it looked like 2 qts came out in 20 secs.

 

thanks 

 

Mike

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Bad news.  The car is back together…not running right.  Might have found my real problem.  That HG job I had done two months ago must have issues.  I've got coolant pooling on top of the heads on the pass. side.  The tick is loud enough to be a knock, and I think it's coming from the back pass cylinder. 

 

My friend from a suby dealership did the HG job and didn't get the heads machined.  The two of them said they don't do that at the dealership.    


I used multilayer felpro gasket set.  

 

I've been smelling coolant ever since the job.  It running rough and dies after a dive in the rpms.

 

Any ideas?

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Mike ;  If your timing belt did slip you may have  bent a valve ...It is an interference motor... would explain your clicking noise and rough running . coolant on top of the heads is probably something other than head gaskets . As far as machining the heads , I haven't personally seen one that "HAD"  to be done.   Your earlier post on gorilla glueing a flywheel tooth .... were you joking ?  It might stay attached till the starter touches it but thats it. Get your friend at the dealer to see if its his HG job gone bad and if so maybe they need to fix it. Where did you use a felpro multilayer gasket set on a timing belt job anyway ? Or are you referring to the dealer who should have used subaru HG's . Smelling coolant after repair work is BAD ... should have been back at the shop the next day !

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I don't think my timing belt slipped.  There was no sensor code and the lines looked good before I pulled the timing belt.  The "tooth" I repaired was just the plastic shield cover for the access hole.  It didn't seat just right since one of the tooth or better word is clips was missing.

I will see what my friend says about the HG job. I had been telling him about smelling coolant and looked but didn't see nothing till today.

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Good on the timing belt, and the "tooth" that was a plastic plug. Coolant could be coming from upper hose or throttle body preheat hoses ,or even the water manifold on the block. Have the shop check their work. Why is it running rough ? You might want to do a quick compression test to confirm that the compression is equal in all 4 cylinders.  Still no codes ?

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Hey Tom,

 

You mentioned a bent valve.  When I was doing the timing belt, I noticed the passenger side cam gear moved pretty freely while the driver side had a compression to it.  I started with the middle mark in the 12 o'clock position per the directions.  Would that free wheeling cam gear show a problem?  

 

I'll check for codes.

 

Compression test would help me a lot.

Mike

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I did have some codes but none relating to timing.

 

I've always got the p0420 and p0420pd (caty eff. below 95% or not)

but I did have p0122 and p1700.  I forgot to clip back in the throttle sensor till after I started it.  

 

Should i post a link to a video to listen to the sound?  

 

I hope to have a stealership "buddy" listen to it this week.  I might tow it to a local shop for a comp. test.

 

Michael

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