Pinsk18 Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Hey everyone. So one of my headgaskets blew in my 98 legacy outback about 2 weeks ago and I'm just now getting to it. Here is the problem, I got 3/4 cam pulley bolts off. But the driver side lower one will not budge no matter what I do. Any suggestions? Can I heat it up? What should I do? I cant get the driver head off until this bolt comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 I had the same issue on a motor I bough a while back. Attempting to breakout loose, by every possible means, only caused us to break the cam cap and damaged the head itself. Now I've just got a drivers side head sitting here uselessly. In the end, it never came loose.. So be careful with anything you attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinsk18 Posted July 19, 2013 Author Share Posted July 19, 2013 ^Ah........Ok. I don't know what to do. Tried everything I can think of. Gonna try to heat it and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyposeur Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 What you need is a powerful impact gun. Did you pull the motor? If so take it to a shop and ask them for help. I had to do that with a stubborn cam bolt and my electric impact gun couldnt cut the mustard. Fortunately in my casket was a sohc head so I was able to remove the head first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 The safest way is to buy the Subaru cam gear alignment/locking tool and use a breaker bar. Using a impact gun can lead to breaking of the bolts or the cam gear itself being it is plastic. Also it's hard to get a 1/2" impact gun down to remove the lower or exhaust cam gears without damaging the AC condenser fins. The second plus to the cam gear tool is when your installing the timing belt it locks the gears inplace and aligned with the timing marks. I paid like $35 from a Matco tool dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyposeur Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Ill just quit posting on this site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zues Marine Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sludgeroo Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Ill just quit posting on this site. Please don't, we like your help. And wouldn't one really want to remove the engine, like monkey just said? Way easier if your gonna have the downtime anyways Ain't the rad closer to the condenser? If the impact gun is POWERFUL enough it will just shock it off. Sorta like when that crazy dude can pull the table cloth out from under everything and not a dish or glass moves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Still be careful. Using a really powerful impact gun and the locking tool is when the cam cap and head were damaged on mine. I'm not saying this will happen everytime though. Mine is really like a freak thing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subikid90 Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Why are we talking about two things here? The cam cap bolts (10mm) are not the same at the cam pulley bolts (17mm). Use an impact on the cam pulley bolts, they will come out. You can hold the cam with a wrench if you take the valve covers off, they have flat spots for this. -Subikid90 1997 Legacy GT 5spd & EJ251 w/EJ25D heads ~10.5CR 1998 Legacy GT Limited waiting for EJ22T hybrid swap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I had the same issue on a motor I bough a while back. Attempting to breakout loose, by every possible means, only caused us to break the cam cap and damaged the head itself. Now I've just got a drivers side head sitting here uselessly. In the end, it never came loose.. So be careful with anything you attempt. Still be careful. Using a really powerful impact gun and the locking tool is when the cam cap and head were damaged on mine. I'm not saying this will happen everytime though. Mine is really like a freak thing.... I'm only talking about the pulley bolt. Have been the whole time. Third time: I broke the main cam cap and damaged the head attempting to break the cam pulley bolt loose... I used a breaker bar, impact gun, cam gear locking tool, and clamp tool on the cam itself resting against the head. Someone tightened all the bolts on that side of the motor WAY too much. I wasn't talking about the cam cap bolts at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnegg Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 TIPS for the cam pulley bolts. 1/ loosen the pulley bolts while the timing belt still in place with an impact wrench if you have it. 2/ use an impact wrench, air if you have it but my HF $50 electric does just fine. 3/ i have used a chain wrench to hold the pulley while protecting the sprocket teeth with a piece of the old belt. 4/ and my most recent solution, (my impact wrench was not handy) use the old belt to wrap around the cam sprocket and then wrap the tail around the crank sprocket. you may have to work at it to find just how much wrapping and clamping it takes to hold the cam sprocket, but it worked for me. 5/ hold the actual cam ''shaft'' inside the valve cover with a wrench. rumor has it there are flat spots on the cam shaft just for this. but i doubt any of my open end wrenches would do the job. what i do not like about 3 of the 5 solutions, is that it stresses the sprockets, some of which are plastic. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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