My recently purchased MY00 has just turned 90k and had a timing belt done at 30k. So I think it's due one... I'm tempted to try it myself as I'm fairly confident with the tools but if it's only 150 quid for someone else to do it, I'll pay someone.

Any recommendations for someone to do it round the north wales area?

Do the belts go, or is it a precautionary measure?

 

depends if your getting a genuine belt or not and if you need any pullies or not ???
you dont kn ow what its like behind the covers
silverstone motorsport , trading as bluebridge cars , they can do them ,
01244846800

 

Do it yourself,Its not hard,i did mine a few years ago no probs,there were some guides about but if your good with cambelts it straight forward and there is plenty of room with the rad left in.

 

if you havent got aircon , take the rad out only 2 pipes and 2 brackets holding it in . its easier.
rich

 

Its not hard mate, give it a go. I used a Gates belt which has all the timing marks on it

 

I'm planning on doing my own.

What I like about doing it myself, is that I can make a genuine decision about renewing the belt tensioner ..... too many places will just renew (even if not needed) - reason being that they make money from the item (and the belt tensioner costs £150 on its own!) ...... so, a £150 job ends up costing £300, whether needed or not.

Belts are not a weak point of the Impreza Engine .... will probably last as long as the car - in the USA it is a legal requirement that they last 100,000 miles (it's the same belt as they say change in the UK at 60,000 miles!).

 

The belt is not the weakest link IMO - The tensioner is (especially the 1997 on variant)

Having worked only on Subarus for the last 6 years, i've only ever seen one belt 'snap' - Plenty of failed tensioners and collapsed idlers causing the belt to slip though

For complete peace of mind, replace the belt, tensioner and any idlers that appear loose/noisy - Remember when you put the covers back on that everything inside has got to be good for the next 45k/5 years minimum.

 

Thanks all Anyone got any tips for removing the crank bolt? I'll be doing it on my own so standing on the brakes whilst undoing the bolt is a no-no

 

There is a special tool apparantly for doing it. If not 2 people with starter motor out and screw driver on teeth of flywheel although thats not the most elegant way of doing things and can risk breaking a tooth.

 

while we are talking about belts,i had a gt-b and when i came to change the belt i noticed large pieces of belt material had come away from the belt all around it.the garage i bought the car from said the belt was fairly new!!yeh right.
anyway it turns out the belt was chafing on the metal guide which surrounds the crankshaft pulley.i dont know how long the belt would have lasted but it mustve been doing this for some time.since then i adjusted the guide and have drilled a 25mm hole in the cover at the top and placed some tape over the hole to stop dirt ingress.now i can easily check the belt on a daily,weekly,monthly basis.no taking guards off,and definate peace of mind until the next service.