Timing Belt Replacement 2.5T

The idlers and tensioner are 28.8 ft lb, the guide is 7.2 ft lb, the manual transimission guides are 4.7 ft lb, the timing belt cover is 3.7 ft lbs, and 132.7 ft lbs on the crank pulley. Follow the attached picture for the water pump. Make sure to Loctite all the bolts, except the crank bolt.

Info. from ALLDATA.

 

Crank Pulley;

Tighten the bolt temporarily with tightening torque of 44 Nm (4.5 kgf-m, 33 ft. lbs.). Than re-torque to 132.7

Awesome! Thank you for the help

I have recently replaced the timingbelt on my 2003 Legacy 2.5L SOHC. Followed all the instructions on various web sites-Youtube- and everything went according to instructions, Marks lined up, line on belt matched. However when started it runs rough under 2000RPM and won't idle. The only thing I did not do was disconnect the battery and put the harmonic balancer back on before starting. Any suggests??

Sooo.... any reason against using a 1/2" ratchet and rapping it with a pipe to get the crank pulley bolt loose? I didn't have the special holder tool and I didn't want to put uber torque against 5th gear trying to get it loose. 3 whacks and it was loose.

 

I did the same thing with my old Impreza and I put 30,000 miles on it after I did the belt on that one and I didn't have any issues.

Well i'm at 106K on my 05. I asked the local subbie dealership if they sell an oem kit with all the bearings tensioner and he said everything is ordered separate but they only replace if they are noisy. What's everyone's experience here on the forums. If i'm doing the belt should I just go ahead and do all of the bearings/tensioner and even the water pump? he did offer up a price on the front crank seal to do at the same time.

 

Thanks

might as well do everything while you are in there...i am at 96k and bought the gates timing kit (tckwp328) it comes with everything except the thermostat i got it on sale from amazon last week for $193 not sure the price now but it does jump around..i am going one step further and changing out the crank pulley while i am there too.

Let us know how that Gates water pump holds up. I know everything else they sell is A+, but it's been common practice to use Gates belt, tensioner and rollers with the Subaru pump and stat. Regardless, only use the Subaru t-stat. Yes, it's $30. Don't cheap out and install crap.

to be honest, i was looking at the gates WP and was disappointed. the cast aluminum is poor quality and has some obvious imperfections..i believe its the only peice in the kit made in China.

if i had to do it over, i would buy the gates kit without the WP, and get subaru oem WP and Tstat..i still think this kit was a good deal and it saves me some money to buy the grimmspeed light weight crank pulley..

Interested to know about how that pulley treats you, too.

The only things I would probably add is get an OEM waterpump gasket if you're using the Gates ( I don't like the cheap paper gasket they provided), perform your coolant change and inspect your radiator / coolant hoses and belts prior to replacing the timing belt since if they're going to need replacement soon to save additional down time and replace them now.

Gates must have changed the water pump gaskets cause when I did mine 2 months ago, it had a metal gasket-- just like OEM unit. I compared them and both looked to be the exact same design, so I went with it. I also put on some gasket stuff for added security.

want to clarify something..i did the timing belt and had a hell of a time aligning the marks when installing the new belt. in the end, i got the top, bottom and side marks aligned to the best of my ability and installed the new belt. however when i went to rotate the engine a few cycles, the cam and engine marks were slightly off. I dont feel any binding or hear any noises while manually turning the engine, but want to clarify if i am within spec and good before i put everything back

 

i think the method i used to install and remove the crank pulley bolt had something to do with the off lining marks..i used the car in 5th gear, brake pressed method and naturally got some forward and backward movement when i went to torque the bolt in either direction..

The marks on the belt will not be lined up after you spin it... the marks on the crank and cams are what's important.

 

-if the crank and cam marks are off-

 

You really have to be super, super careful when you line everything up and double, triple and quadruple check everything and use an inspection mirror on the lower cams just to be sure that you're sure. Once you have everything dead on, install the lower pulley on the passenger side and yank the tensioner pin. Let it sit a minute or so till the tensioner has taken all the slack up, then turn it 2 revolutions or so. if you're questioning your work, keep turning it one full revolution at a time till the crank mark lines up and the cam sprockets line up, keeping in mind that the belt marks will no longer match up. Again, the important thing is that the cam and crank marks all still line up... might take a few turns, since the cams spin at half the speed of the crank.

i pulled off the cam sprocket covers and double checked last night..the double tick marks on the cams are 1 tooth off on the drivers side and the top passenger side single mark is about a hair off from the mark on the timing cover..the wierd thing is the the side marks are spot on and the top drivers cam is lined up perfectly to the top mark on the cover...i believe the lower gear spun a bit as the belt gained tension

 

is this within a certain acceptable spec or should i pull off the tensioner and belt and redo everything?

 

i have not pulled the crank pulley bolt back out and torqued it down to 95ft-lbs

 

again when i was manually cranking the engine, i did not hear or feel anything unusual

What belt did you use?

 

I used a gates belt and all of my [crank and cam] marks lined up correctly after 4 full crank rotations. If you're off by less than a tooth there's not much you can do... if you're off by a full tooth, I'd suggest pulling it apart and lining it up again. A tooth off is a tooth off.

 

If the teeth on the belt are wrong, you got a dud belt or something... the marks should all be within a mm or less after multiple revolutions. I wish we could see these marks... post photos?

Edited December 29, 2013 by evil03mustang

i used the gates belt as well..i wasnt really trying to match the lines on the belt as much as i was trying to keep the ticks all in line with each other, and this is where i believe the cam rotated about a tooth off and threw itself out of line with the mark on the upper cam..

 

ill post a pic soon to give you a better idea

i was wrong about the misalignment, looks like i am half a tooth off on the top when the double ticks are perfectly aligned on the bottom as well as the pasenger side is perfect too...i still need to take off the crank pulley again to see where the crank marks are lining up

 

sorry cant post pics tonight as i am at work, but will try tomorrow

If all you're off is that half tooth, you might be OK.

 

The arrows were pointing to the right when you hung the belt off the crank pulley, correct?

 

You mean you didn't make sure to line up the belt marks with the hash marks on the cam pulleys and the crank pulley? I'm confused.

 

The kit comes with instructions for a reason...

i am re-doing it now...dont want to take any chances even with being a half tooth off..

i am following meatys video from nasioc

ill report back when i line everything up again

When I did my timing belt, I had the same issue as you-with the one tooth being out of time. Keeping trying, it will get there. I swore up a storm thinking the belt was the problem and it might not have the right amount of teeth.

 

I noticed the left side cams would move ever so slightly when I would try to stretch the belt enough to get it on the top right cam. That's how I noticed it would get off one tooth.

 

With a stroke of luck and persistence you will get it perfect, just keep trying. I wouldn't settle for anything else but perfect timing.

man that is a relief to hear...i am so frustrated right now by the drivers side, im scared i might get mad and slam something on the car!

the passenger side is perfectly lined up as well as the crank lines...everytime i stretch the belt on the drivers side from bottom to top, it moves out of place ever so slightly, and not to mention when i try putting in the last idler on the lower left side stretching the belt up moves everything too!

im taking a break right now to clear my head and ill try being more patient when i go back out

I don't get why you're having such a rough time..

 

I lined everything up to the marks, hung the belt on the crank with the line on its mark, hung the passenger side, then the driver's side exhaust cam then the driver's side intake cam. The lines on the belt matched the lines on the pulleys as close as could be expected. I've since driven it 3,000 miles and it runs same as it ever did.

 

:shrug:

 

Get the marks in position, then hang the belt matching the lines on the belt with your reference marks. Like I said... crank pulley, passenger side intake, then exhaust, then driver's side exhaust then intake. You may have to rotate the crank pulley just a fuzz one way or the other to get the belt onto one pulley or another without damaging it. As long as you can wiggle everything into position with the reference marks and lines on the belt matching up while the belt is on, you should be fine.

 

If you're really that worried about it, take photos of your work and post them up for review.

man that is a relief to hear...i am so frustrated right now by the drivers side, im scared i might get mad and slam something on the car!

the passenger side is perfectly lined up as well as the crank lines...everytime i stretch the belt on the drivers side from bottom to top, it moves out of place ever so slightly, and not to mention when i try putting in the last idler on the lower left side stretching the belt up moves everything too!

im taking a break right now to clear my head and ill try being more patient when i go back out

 

To be honest, it took me a full 12hrs to do the job by myself. I could have easily done in it in 3-4hrs if it were not for this problem. I also installed new injectors, plugs and coilpacks.

 

Not sure if this would help you much, but it seemed to help me. I went to Harbor Freight and bought some small, cheap metal spring clamps to keep the belt in the right area on all three cams. I had problems with the belt sliding off the cams, which in turn would pull the cam gears out of time. Maybe you can try it

Yeah those spring clamps are helpful!

 

I didn't use any.. Maybe I just got lucky.