Timing Belt confusion for 1997 Impreza Turbo 2000
 

Hi,

I've just bought my uncle's 1997 Impreza Turbo 2000 (V3 I think - facelift bonnet, but pre-facelift interior and bumpers). I have managed to completely confuse myself trying to work out if it's due a cambelt soon or not. My uncle thought is was already overdue, but from what I've read I'm not so sure. The owners manual says that it should be done every 48 months or 60,000 miles but I've got previous Subaru dealership service record sheets which imply 45,000 miles and 3 years.

The last belt was fitted in December 2009, but since then the car has only covered 7,000 miles. By my reckoning, according to the owners manual it's not due a belt until December 2013 at the earliest, but if I go by the Subaru service sheets, then it should have been done December 2012.

To be honest, the 45K, 60K, 3 year, 4 year thing has confused me just a bit! Did the mileage and timespan change for different years, or get revised by Subaru after my owners manual was printed? Otherwise, I can't understand why my owners manual would differ from the service sheets!

Can anyone advise?

50k or 5 years is usually the norm for a belt

if in doubt ...... change it out :D

Whatever the Dealers publish as interval, I always subtract 10k miles and change at that interval instead.

Although having said that, in this case, Beastie is right. If in doubt, swap it out! :thumb:

Completely agree - I'll probably just get it done sooner rather than later anyway as a precaution, although in this case it's the time interval that means I'll need to change it, rather than distance - the car's only done 7K miles in the last 3 1/2 years!

Looking on the internet further, everything I'm now finding seems to imply 45k miles or 3 years which is less than the figures printed in my owners manual, but definitely seems the safest bet.

I'd still like to know if the figures were updated by Subaru at some point though? Oh, and my uncle bought the car in 1998, so it's very unlikely that the manual has been swapped for the wrong one at some point at a dealership or garage!

I wouldn't worry at all, those belts last a lot longer than you'd think!

I bought my 1997 Impreza Turbo GT 2000 brand new (May 1997), and it's still got the original timing belt on, that's 16 years! with an admittedly small 37,500 miles.
I inspected the belt not long ago and it looks perfect.

Yes, it is risky and perhaps stupid to neglect this item for so long, as it can result in serious engine damage if the belt fails...
But please don't worry about your 3 or 4 year-old belt, especially since it's only done 7,000miles!
When they state a service interval of 3 years/50K miles for the TB, there's a safety factor built in to that, so I think you can leave it a bit longer before you change it ( don't wait 16 years though! )

Regards

i think theres a higher probability of tensioner failing, could happen at any miles/age

for what they cost I would change it asap, its a lot cheaper than the damage it can cause