93 Loyale wagon 3ATwith 135k,000 miles - may need water pump & timing belt & front seals - Is it worth it?

[Craigar]

I'm so grateful you guys are here who been around the block a few times. I bought a 93 Loyale 3ATwith about 110K miles, no rust about a year and a half ago replaced a few parts on it like the starter and alternator and it has been a great car ‎, To get it to pass CA smog I had to seal up some hoses and little cracks and replace a Little $50 Hitachi relay .  I also put nice new tires on it . I put 25,000 miles on it over the last year and a half = 135k now. The car drives like a dream fits my needs very well. No serious TOD, just slight sometimes when It's stone cold for about 1/2 minute. Of course it's only front wheel drive - which I like = less to go wrong & I live in L.A.

 

But now I think I might have a leaking water pump, but maybe not? Looking from underneath  it's coming from the water pump and I'm wondering if could be the hose this is going to it and if they're easy to get too because I can't see it easily ‎? But the hoses that we're going to the heater core they were pretty rotten, but the guy I bought it from has. paperwork for putting in a new radiator (2 years ago now) and those hoses , maybe they didn't replace the ones on the water pump ?  It doesn't seem to leak much at all when I'm driving but when I stop then it leaks for about a half a minute leaks (about one drop per second) then it stops but if I take off the radiator cap then it'll start leaking about 4 drops a second so must be vacuum preventing water from leaking when a bit of vacuum forms .  I tried to get an angle mirror  with a light in the gap between the pulley & housing but can't see anything definitive. Here's a link to a vid from underneath the car, when I loosen, then tighten the cap.

 

https://youtu.be/V4Y0xitJtwk

 

 

The motor seems to be good runs smooth, idles smooth has plenty of power for only being 90 horse .  I doubt if the timing belts ever been changed and it's leaking oil up front around the timing belt covers so a probably needs all that front oil seal stuff & timing belts  done and I took it to a pro Mechanic with an established shop who works on them and has been working on them since they came out in the 80s a good mechanic and to do the whole deal he wants $1000 (which he says is more than the cars worth over the phone) , includes cam tower & oil pump seals, Timing chain tensioners, idler - he says he'll do everything that should be done when  changing the timing belts - also assuming it's never had any service in that area   .  I'm 62 years old and I'm good at doing mechanical stuff but I really don't have a good space to do it - and it's getting hard for me to see especially when I go from light to dark or from dark to light . I read about guys saying it can be done in a few hours or maybe one or two days and I could probably do that out in front of my house on the street without too much flak from the neighbors .  Maybe should look for someone on the board that's in L.A. that does this kinda work without being as expensive as a shop but I don't even how to do that kind of a search ?  

 

And like GeneralDisorder suggests might just be better to get something that has an EJ and I see stuff that kinda looks cheap but I feel it's safest to get a noninterference engine and I don't want an early EJ25 because of all I've heard about it's blown head gaskets. I want something's got like 150K miles or less auto trannie, wagon for $2000  or less. I'm pondering a 1999 Impreza L for $1475 with 110,000 original miles an original owner sounds good but it's an interference engine I imagine, probably a EJ22 ?

 

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Craigar
more detail & link to a vid of leak

[DaveT]

I've never had timing belts or idlers go much past 60,000miles.  

There are 7 hoses in the cooling system.  They all age at the same rate, so any non obvious ones are long overdue. 

If you can get a waterpump, do that along with the belts, and drive it until something real or unavailable breaks.  Also depends on how much you are dependant on the car.  I run 2 so when one breaks, I have time to fix it.

[rdweninger]

If you pull the radiator, it makes the job relatively easy.   Timing belt, idlers, tensioners, cam seals and orings, waterpump and hoses.   Might be $200 in parts.   You can discard the timing belt covers ... just keep engine fluids off them.    Makes for easy inspection and future timing belt replacement.

[czny]

Check your PM inbox Craigar. Oil pump is on its way - ETA Saturday. You may be pleasantly surprised at the extras.

Good luck!

 

[alexbuoy]

Hey man i live in thousand oaks just north of los angeles county. if you need any work done definitely PM me and we can work something out. I say seals and tbelt/waterpump kit would be all you need. I know of a warehouse in alhambra that sells the tbelt/waterpump kit for about $150 iirc. all other seals shouldn’t be more than $50

[alexbuoy]

I just crunched some numbers on rockauto. for valve cover gasket, cam seals, t-belt and water pump total comes out to $175 shipped. and this is with quality parts gates and felpro. you could go cheaper if you wanted to save some $$

[Dee2]

135,000 isn't too bad if the engine has been running good.  There are several videos on youtube about doing these type of repairs.  Look them over and you can decide if doing repairs are within within your abilities.

I did them and I'm not a mechanic.  Mostly it just takes time if you haven't done them before.  You do need to have tools at hand.