stv555

Anybody know the official line on cambelt replacement on a 99 UK Turbo......owners manual and timing belt replacement schedules show 60k or three years.

I am booking mine in for its 45k service and the dealer is saying that the belt needs renewal...I am not convinced by their keeness to unload my wallet to the tune of a couple of hundred quid.This is a Subaru not Ford or a Vauxhall.

I am prepared to err on the side of cautions and replace it myself since I have done it before - its not a black art.

nickwrx

I've heard that your suppose to change it at 45,000 , and was wondering have you change the cambelt on a scoob before ,because apparently it's a bit of a pig to change.
If you have change it before could you give me any advice on timing mark's and the tension of the belt as my need's changing as well, but as i have a wrx, subaru won't touch me and have had a quote for £350. thanx

nick.

barge

45K is the best time.

better safe than sorry.
I got all my belts replaced at 46K.
Unless you are goood with spanners get a garage to do it.

Scooby Sport did mine, & I saw the amount of work on another car to do it, most of the front feeds to be dismantled.

Mark Coleman

funny you should say this - my old WRX93 had 105,000kms stamped under bonnet as cam belt change.

I Think it has something to do with the climate differences.

Julian

Happen to have the service schedule for a UK MY99 with me and it's definitely 45,000 Miles.

Julian.

nickwrx

Barge, how much did scobby sport charge to fit the cambelt ? thanx
nick.

MTR

Nickwrx,
The belt is a piece of cake to swap.
The tensioner is spring loaded, and simply needs to be locked by inserting a small pin/drill/allen key or similar in the hole you will see, to stop it extending when you remove it.
Once the tensioner is off, fuully compress it and refit the pin, to hold it closed, for refit.

Another tip, before you remove the belt, whilst the engine is set at TDC, use two pairs of mole wrenches to clamp VERY GENTLY, the two sets of cam sprockets together, to stop them rotating when you remove the belt. The valve springs will push the cam lobes and turn the cams otherwise.

Refit belt, tensioner, remove pin on tensioner, job done.
Obviously you will need to refit covers, front pulley, alternator, radiator (2 bolts and jubilee clips) etc

It really is very straight forward, and the belt tension is set by the tensioner, NOT YOU, so ther is nothing to worry about, regarding too tight or loose etc.

Before you start the job, put your car in fifth gear, handbrake on, and make sure you can undoe and remove the crank pulley retaining bolt.
If you cannot get this undone, you can't do the job.

Cheers MTR

stv555

Thanks MTR for beating me to it...hope it was of help to Nick....I was going to say that I have replaced the belt on a Legacy 4Cam...so it should not be very different except that there is a bit more room.

My manual states 60k...strange also it states 30k for plug change. I checked mine at 15k and they were perfect...quick clean and a minor regap, another 15k of trouble free running...since I am running nearly 17psi this is pretty encouraging. Replaced them at 30k and kept the old ones as emergency spares.

Kermit

A few things..

One, the tensioner is damped... so dont go and suddenly squeeze it.. let it compress over a period of minutes...

I would never-ever clamp the cam wheels together!

refit the belt.. and release the tensioner...before releasing the cam wheels..

Check all the idler wheels and bearings...the timing marks on the belts dont always line up perfectly with the wheels... if unsure count the teeth.

Check all the small bolts are tight (the ones that hold the cam belt cover).

Now might be a good time to increase the oil pressure relief valve...to increase the oil pressure by a bar. (can only be done once the timing belt is off).

J.

ps - Ooops...didnt see the above post.. lol

nd555

Other useful tips .... these from the US Haynes for the 4 cam legacy ...

When you remove the tensioner compress it very slowly i.e. over about 5 mins .. a bit at a time in a vice worked for me .. then refit loosly until the belt is on.

To easily remove and refit the belt (after removing the tensioner) take off the idler pulley ... about mid way down the belt run on the left hand side / bottom (when viewed from the front .. this just gives enough play to easily slip the belt on/off.

To refit ... put the belt on .. check all timing marks .. the belt should have alignment marks painted on. Refit the lower idler pulley .. then check timing marks again.(if the tensioner has mounting holes that are oval - EJ20G has) push the tensioner against the belt and tighten its mounting bolts ... then pull out the pin to let the tensioner take up the rest of the slack. Thats it ... I also changed the tensioner pulley as it was getting noisy (good advice from Firefox to check all pulleys for wear!)

YorkshireSimon

Scooby Newbie here.....

Seems as though there is plenty of techy know-how here on this subject.

I have an MY00 9 months old now. Just had 30,000 mile service (yes, I know, a hell of a lot of miles already). Whilst in the dealer, I had them look into an engine knocking noise which I have had from around 20,000 miles. Only knocked when cold for first few minutes of running (very noisy, sounded like a tank).

My initial thoughts were that the old piston slap problem had recurred in my motor. Dealer elminated this after day. They had the car for 3 days and in the end they have replaced the Cam Belt, Tensioner and I think adjuster (need to confirm all this with Service Manager, this was info from Service Receptionist).

I now have two questions..

1) Does it sound right that a problem with the Cam assembly would cause an engine knocking sound but disappear when engine warmed up?

2) I think I may have been mislead by the 4-Cam speak into thinking that there were more than one Cam belt. It looks like, from the above posts that there is only one Cam belt. If this is the case, I should not need this doing in 15,000 miles, which I gather I am the luckiest scooby owner around?

Any comments would be much appreciated.

Thanx YorkshireSimon

PS. My 30,000 service was pretty damn expensive, not least because I needed new front brake pads. So my credit card could use a rest on the 45,000 service

Jim Dunleavy

You're quite correct regarding the 60k replacement interval for the later models, apparently they have a revised tensioner assembly and a better grade of belt.

firefox

I'm not sure about a better grade of belt??

But the tensioner design did change...Both still have a few issues.. One design has the pully built into the tensior arm, which can fail...you have to purchase the complete mechanism..


J.

stv555

Jim....will contact you directly....glad to know that my brain is not going to mush.

Jim Dunleavy

If my memory serves me correctly the belt is wider.

stv555

It is very important to maintain camshaft/s to crank relationship. It is likely that one piston will be near TDC and if the camshaft moves it is possible that a valve will move on to the piston crown.

I don't have an issue with using mole grips to lock pairs of pulley wheels together, provided you do not use excessive clamping pressure. They just need to be nipped together and the grips press on the non-toothed side so no damage to the drive side.

I am going to get some cheap spanners and make a locking tool that locks the pulley bolts together.

As to taking the cam pulley off - pass - the shaft may a couple of flats to put a spanner on but there may be a tool to hold the pulley.

For the crank pulley and flywheel, you need to lock the flywheel using some angle iron, a metal dowel and a large screwdriver. Becareful you don't load up the crankcase anywhere where it could break the mounting flange - it is probably alloy !!!! Also you may need to get someone to sit on the engine block to hold it down !!

Lewegie

Changing my belt next week.
Will let you all know how it goes.

Richard Olafsson

Some good info here to prepare me for a cambelt change, but I have a couple of questions!
If it is not a good idea to use mole grips on the pulleys to keep them in place, is there another DIY way of doing it, or is it easy enough to turn them by hand to the correct positions while putting the belt on them in the correct positions?
Also, as part of the rear cambelt cover is broken I plan on replacing it, how can I lock the cam to remove the pulleys?
The engine is currently out of the car so access is good, but I won't be able to get help from putting the car in gear, I was thinking about bolting a bit of angle iron to the crank to stop it spinning, as I am changing the flywheel as well.

Thanks for any advice,

Rich
PS Anybody got a standard air filter they don't want for a MY 97/98 car?

Richard Olafsson

I hope to do the work this weekend, if I can. I also ordered the Legacy Haynes manual which should hopefully help as well.

Rich

Richard Olafsson

I had a look at the cam wheels where I could clamp them with some mole grips. The left hand side pulleys seem easy enough but there doesn't seem to be anything to grip on the other side, am I missing something?
Thanks,

stv555

I will e-mail you.

Lewegie

Just replaced the cam belt this morning and it is as simple as i have heard suggested on this topic.
The radiator comes out so easily (2 bolts and hoses), off with the accessory belts and ac belt adjuster, remove crank pulley, off with the cambelt covers, remove the tensionor and compress in vice to insert pin ready for refitment. Remove the lower left idler pulley for ease off fitting new belt.
The only problem i did experience was the lining up of the marks of cam pulleys, no matter how hard we tried there was one that was a fraction out but not a tooth so it didn't matter.
Reassemble and job done in approx 2.5 hours but would be much quicker if i had to do it again.

scoobyboy

i am just a bit worried the . i hope that the tensioner you compressed in the vice was not the type that has the wheel attached to it. if it does then the tensioner is knacked. it should only be compressed in the upright position if not you will find that it will no longer hold the correct tension on the belt and it will cause some funny noises. we were warned about this from im because they were replacing a lot on warranty because dealers did not know.
if you want to check take the tensioner off and press it hard against a solid object if you can see the plunger move it is no good throw it away coz it should not move at all.

scoobyboy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by scoobyboy:
[B]i am just a bit worried the . i hope that the tensioner you compressed in the vice was not the type that has the wheel attached to it. if it does then the tensioner is knacked. it should only be compressed in the upright position if not you will find that it will no longer hold the correct tension on the belt and it will cause some funny noises. we were warned about this from im because they were replacing a lot on warranty because dealers did not know.
if you want to check take the tensioner off and press it hard against a solid object if you can see the plunger move it is no good throw it away coz it should not move at all.


p.s my record is 40 mins job done but i do have all the special tools.