My Turn To ask Timing Belt/Water Pump Replacement Q

Situation: own a Stock 06LGT with 83k miles that I treat with kid's gloves. Suby recommends timing belt change at 105k or seven years. It has been seven years. Know that I plan on keeping this car about four more years to ~130k miles. I will have work done at dealer or by my Indy mechanic. Getting quotes from each.

 

My questions are:

 

1) should I replace TB now or wait another year or so due to low miles on my car?

2) if I replace, should I spring for OEM belt/pulleys/tensioner or Gates?

3) knowing I'll own the car just ~4 more years, do I replace the water pump now? Suby dealer I called suggested they last a long time and don't need replacement with timing belt change like most manufacturers' vehicles.

4) if I replace WP, OEM or after market?

 

Appreciate any insight from long-time LGT owners. Thanks!

I'm not a long time LGT owner but I am a long time subaru owner who just changed the timing belt out on my 07 LGT a few weeks ago.

 

Just curious, are you doing the labor yourself or paying the dealer?

 

1. If you're concerned about it, then do it. It's been my experience that as soon as I decide to put off a maintenance task, it seems to blow up. See motor mount story below .

 

2. I went with the Gates Kit ([ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IUT7S8/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]Amazon.com: Gates TCKWP328RB Timing Belt Kit: Automotive[/ame]) and ordered the OEM tstat and gasket from fred beans parts.

 

3. Going back to #1, I changed it just for the piece of mind and the fact I was already going to be in there. Based off my research the dealer is right and the water pumps in our cars have a low failure rate.

 

4. Some people are dead set on OEM but I've read through enough forums with positive results from the gates water pump, but I did see multiple recommendations to go with OEM tstat and tstat gasket.

 

Horror story with my motor mount:

95 Honda Civic with jdm b16 swap and aftermarket polyurethane motor mounts. Decided I was tired with rattling my skeleton every time I drove and decided to go back to OEM mounts. Purchased the mounts, put them in my trunk and figured I get to it when I had free time. Finally got around to making the time got the car up on the jack stands and realized I needed something simple from the parts store, so simple I can't even remember what I needed lol. Figured I've been procrastinating this long whats another hour.

 

Instead of taking another car I decided to have some fun with the civic. Was only around 2 miles away from the garage at a stop light and decided to pull hard when it turned green. I shifted into second and heard a horrible noise, engine started revving up and the entire front end of the car dropped down.

 

One of the aftermarket motor mounts split, the engine dropped 6" or so and broke an axle, then the throttle cable got all bent out of shape and pulled it to WOT.

 

Wasted the day and quite a few $'s due to procrastination.

Thanks for the insight. Your story indicates it is better tone safe than sorry. I will be having either the dealer or my every day mechanic do this work. I'm getting quotes from each.

My 05 has 89k I will have the TB changed in a few months. After much research I will be replacing the WP & Thermostat with OEM, upper and lower radiator hoses too, everything in the Gates kit is manufactured by the OEM manufactures. It 105 months & 105k miles, not 7 years BTW.

1. pull the timing cover and see how they look? Mine looked fine well past the 105/7yr mark when I changed it.

2. I used the gates belt/pulley tensioner kit and quality was good and price was great.

3. At 70k you probably don't need a water pump, and if you're out by 130k then I wouldn't worry about it.

4. If you do choose to do it, the OEM H2O is 10X better quality than the gates-- the gates bangs around in a box with all those tensioners for who knows how long, the gasket surfaces get messed up, casting is rough and the bearings don't feel as robust. If you're going to do it, do it right.