Strange Service Question

[mrwitty_1]

This is a long shot but one never knows until you ask. I purchased a 96 OB Wagon 2.5 DOHC, it was a one owner from the search done with carfax and I feel from the looks of things that it has allways been serviced at a Subaru dealer, all filters and such are Subaru. The wagon has 110,000 miles and I was wondering about the timing belt replacement,without tearing it down to check, which if I did that I might as well replace. The question ....... is there a way to check with Subaru for a maintance record by VIN # ? This could save me from wondering....

[SuBrat84]

I think you would have to know what shop it was serviced at...

[skizix]

Well, you can register with my.subaru.com, which is Subaru's owner site. Your car will be id'd by VIN, indeed. If the timing belt was done at a dealer, or if the previous owner had registered there and recorded their maintenance, it'll show up. However, the timing belt may well have been done, and no record of it ever found it's way to Subaru's database (e.g. the prev owner might have done it themselves, or an independent shop could've, and if the owner never made note on the site...). So if it does not show up as having been done, you're no better off than you are are now, but if it does, you can be pretty confident that it actually was done.

 

So, not perfect, but exactly what you asked for. It's a decent idea to register there anyway, as you'll be informed of any recalls or technical service bulletins for your car (and some TSB's/recalls are VIN-specific, i.e. don't apply to the entire model-year or whatnot).

 

Otherwise, unfortunately, I don't think there's a way to see if it's been done just by looking, without doing 2/3 of the labor it would take to change it.

[nipper]

This is a long shot but one never knows until you ask. I purchased a 96 OB Wagon 2.5 DOHC, it was a one owner from the search done with carfax and I feel from the looks of things that it has allways been serviced at a Subaru dealer, all filters and such are Subaru. The wagon has 110,000 miles and I was wondering about the timing belt replacement,without tearing it down to check, which if I did that I might as well replace. The question ....... is there a way to check with Subaru for a maintance record by VIN # ? This could save me from wondering....

 

Remove the covers and inspect the belt. Look for cracks and freying at the edges. if it was a sooby maintained car either register at the website or take the vin to subaru and they can tell you.

 

nipper

[porcupine73]

Pulling the covers would be most certain way to check. I think you can get the LH cover off without pulling the crank pulley, then just rotate the crank with a socket and breaker bar on the crank pulley bolt and check the entire length of the belt.

 

I wouldn't wait too too long to check it out because if it hasn't been done it's due and being the DOHC the intake/exhaust valves can collide not only with the pistons but with each other as well.