Hole in my timing belt cover - bad?

[dcbpe]

About 7000 miles back, I changed my timing belt. Apparently when I reinstalled the AC tensioner bracket I forgot to tighten the pulley bolt.

 

I went under the hood yesterday to change a headlight, and found the AC belt shredded. It seems that the loose pulley caused the belt to wobble a bit, shredding the belt and, much more importantly, rubbing a pulley shaped line into the timing belt cover. The hole is about 1/3 the length of the pulley circumference and about 3/32 of an inch wide. Now, obviously a hole in the TB cover is bad. If it didn't need to be sealed, there wouldn't be any gaskets, right? The question is, how bad? I cleaned the area off and temporarily duct taped it. But I know duct tape won't handle the heat/moisture for very long.

 

Do I need to replace the cover ASAP, or can I wait a bit , or is there a tape I can use that could handle the heat? I figure as long as I can keep the hole waterproof I should be fine until the next scheduled timing belt change.

 

I'm looking for options short of spending another Saturday pulling the front of my car apart.

[Rooster2]

Yea, you are right. That hole needs to be sealed up. You don't want dirt to get behind that cover. If it were me, I would use something a little more permanent then duct tape. Suggest cleaning up the hole area, using rubbing alcohol to remove all traces of duct tape adhesive. Then, apply some J-B Weld "Kwik" product. I am looking at a package of the product right now........it is a two tube epoxy, label says bonds in 4 minutes. The stuff works great to provide a permanent repair.

[idosubaru]

GAH!! No, this is not a big deal. You know what, I don't even reinstall my timing belt covers because they're annoying. Saves me time at the next belt change and I can do a quick visual of the tensioner and all the pulleys. So I run "Naked".

 

Anyway, I'm not trying to start that discussion because it always turns into a pointless arm-chair opinionated circus. My point is that if I (and many other people) run without ANY covers, a hole is not going to matter.

 

That being said, epoxy a piece of plastic over the top. The two tubes in one epoxies are AMAZING. Clean the area thoroughly and seal it up.

 

If it's the side timing cover then that's easy to replace - three 10mm bolts and you're done. If it's the center then yeah just plug it and leave.

 

You have nothing to worry about with any of the above choices, so just chill out and plan on enjoying the snot out of your Saturday!!!

[dcbpe]

I thought of epoxy too, but was fearful it might ooze inside the cover before it cured. That's what brought me to tape.

 

@grossgary...no cover, balls out? Does that diminish belt life at all? I gotta say, after having only done the job once, getting that f-ing cover off was a real ***************. I did consider leaving it off, and then thought that a Civil Engineer should not try to second guess the Mechanical Engineers that designed the car.

 

Though, I'm rather proud of the plywood tool I made to hold the crank pulley stationary.

[idosubaru]

I thought of epoxy too, but was fearful it might ooze inside the cover before it cured.

Don't goop it on - just find a piece of plastic to use as a cover, and just enough epoxy to make it adhere in place on the edges of the "cover".

 

@grossgary...no cover, balls out?

yep, it's great. none of this:

getting that f-ing cover off was a real ***************.

 

Does that diminish belt life at all?

I only replace my engines every other month:rolleyes:. Seriously, let's not even venture down that road, this thread will turn useless in no time. Opinionated arm chair quarterbacks jump off the couch and spill their beer and wings in the process of yelling about this and act like they know what's best for everyone and no one else (even folks that have owned 30+ Subarus) has a clue. There's plenty of other threads to read all the different sides to that debacle, no need to do it all over again.

 

I did consider leaving it off, and then thought that a Civil Engineer should not try to second guess the Mechanical Engineers that designed the car.

Oh nice, an engineer! I'm an AE and have a few NASA birds floating around with code that I created. Maybe if my satellites start falling you can reinstall your belt covers .

 

Belt covers are nice, I'm not going to say that's wrong, it's a good idea. But I prefer the benefits of leaving them off. I run my cars for 200,000 miles and like to save time and be able to inspect pulleys/tensioners in 10 seconds any time I want. I find that more valuable than having the covers in place for my needs.

Edited September 9, 2009 by grossgary

[dcbpe]

Obviously the cover debate has been had...I'll search for old threads to entertain meself.

 

As for my "dilemma", I'm thinking epoxy and an old AOL CD-ROM might just do the trick.

 

Yup, I'm a Civ-E. I design targets for your NASA "satellites". Or, rather, I manage people that design targets while I'm actually on-line dicking around.

 

I just dabble with engine work when the economy is down, much to the chagrin of my former mechanic.

[Rooster2]

Epoxy is pretty thick, especially when it starts to set up. I wouldn't worry about much of it leaking inside the hole. Just smear it on with a plastic disposable silverware knife, and your done. Don't use a putty knife or regular knife, as the epoxy is difficult to remove from a knife.

[Bigbusa]

I missed out on the TB cover threads so... lemme say that I think running without a cover or with a faulty cover would be just asking for trouble.

 

Those covers are made to be as air/water tight as possible for a reason... to keep human extremities, kittens, squirrels, dust, water, oil and general engine goo away from the rollers, tensioner, belt, pulleys and oil seals.

 

When I installed my TB kit, I found a broken plastic cover too. I went to a local junkyard and got a used one. Spending all that time, money and effort installing all those brand new TB parts made me not want to go through the repair again anytime soon so I replaced the broken cover. Allowing dust and water to get on those moving parts is just asking for lesser parts longevity.

 

That'd be kinda like running your CV joints without their rubber boots!

Edited September 9, 2009 by Bigbusa

[idosubaru]

I missed out on the TB cover threads so... lemme say that I think running without a cover or with a faulty cover would be just asking for trouble.

That'd be kinda like running your CV joints without their rubber boots!

Don't make me so prophetic!!! The facts are that this "debate" has minuscule real world value.

 

That basically means your thoughts and zero real world experience are more valid than the experience of hundreds of thousands of miles by the many folks that have done this for years on this board.

 

The CV analogy is way off since there's lots of folks running without covers with no problems. It's almost comical if you consider how many folks, Subaru's, and miles are being driven like this.

 

This isn't about right and wrong. It's about choosing the option that's best for you.

Edited September 9, 2009 by grossgary

[89Ru]

Interesting thread. I just did belts on a car without the gasket on the bottom of the center cover, the only moisture issues I detected was surface rust on all the idlers. A bit of scotch brite took care of that in a hurry. Have to admit the idea of doing a 10 second idler and tooth inspection is attractive. Maybe hear a bad idler before it fails seized. Another thought is do the idlers run cooler without covers, and maybe run longer?

 

Back on topic, you could use ultra black gasket, that doesn't 'flow' as much like epoxy before it cures.

[idosubaru]

Another thought is do the idlers run cooler without covers, and maybe run longer?

nah, the idlers just loose grease over time, that's they're down fall. "air flow" isn't going to reduce that any significant amount.

[1-3-2-4]

I have one cover off on my TB cover (fell off someplace) so the passenger side cam is in the nude.. the reason why the cover came off was the screws for it just cracked the whole cover and I could not get the cam off to replace the cover.. when I pull the engine this winter I will get around to replacing it.

[Fairtax4me]

Those covers are made to be as air/water tight as possible for a reason... to keep human extremities, kittens, squirrels, dust, water, oil and general engine goo away from the rollers, tensioner, belt, pulleys and oil seals.

 

It's more for sticks and rocks than anything else. If oil/grease dirt and water were an issue the accessory drive belts would be covered too.

[idosubaru]

you could even debate that the covers are less reliable since they can come loose and rub into the timing belts if they fail or something hits or pushes them. theres more evidence for that, ive seen it happen, than all the emo reactionary arm chair commentators talking about things that dont actually happen...ha..ha.....aaaaaaahhhhn