AISIN TKF-006 timing belt and water pump kit review - 2010 H4 NA

I had to replace timing belt and water pump on two NA Outbacks recently - 05MA and 2010 NA. For 05 I got the Gates kit that worked for many before, but this one came with water pump that was made in China (unexpected). I read some reviews on Amazon for it where people were praising Aisin kits and decided to give it a shot when time came to do 2010.

 

So kit was ordered, and just to be safe I got OEM water pump as well, just in case.

 

Again, this is for 2010 NA 2.5 EJ253 with VVT. Afaik in 2013 EJ went to chain driven timing, so this may apply for 2010-2012.

 

Ordered from Amazon, price at the time (January 2017) was .

 

Here is the box (side vew):

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245302&d=1487728993

 

The label on the box, NOT stating where individual components were made but stating that kit was assembled in USA:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245303&d=1487728993

 

Opening the box, instruction in the box, pretty standard stuff:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245304&d=1487728993

 

Top view of components after instruction sheet removed:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245305&d=1487728993

 

Component in the box, says "made in Japan", looks like good start:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245306&d=1487728993

 

Looking at the timing belt, branded Mitsuboshi, iirc that was the OEM that came on my LGT, but I amy be wrong. Anyway, looks good, marked "made in USA", and has timing marks on it. Neat.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245307&d=1487728993

 

 

Grabbed the box with component that is labeled "made in Japan", and its belt tensioner. Pretty important part if you ask me, and I recall that the Gates kit part was not clearly marked on the part itself. Let's see what this one is:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245308&d=1487728993

 

Good sign, tensioner is classic blue, and says its made in Japan:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245309&d=1487728993

 

Another angle on the tensioner:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245310&d=1487728993

Edited March 21, 2017 by SubOperator
Pictures and comments...

Continuing with other parts in the box.

 

First box with some pulley, says "made in Japan", made by NSK:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245311&d=1487730882

 

Side view of same box, can't figure out what the printing means but here it is just in case:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245312&d=1487730882

 

Taking the pulley out of the box, clearly made "made in Japan":

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245313&d=1487730882

 

So first pulley is all good. Looks exactly like OEM part on the engine, and it's made in Japan.

 

Moving on the second pulley. Box, says "Koyo" on face of it:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245314&d=1487730882

 

Back view says "Made in Japan", but name is "Jtekt" , I am not sure which is trade mark and which one is company's name, but its still saying "Made in Japan" so far so good:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245315&d=1487730882

 

The pulley out of the box, looking great and marked "Japan". Looks like OEM pulley on the engine:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245316&d=1487730882

 

Third pulley, also made by NSK and also marked as made in Japan:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245317&d=1487730882

 

Side view:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245318&d=1487730882

 

This is the bottom one, marked "made in japan" as well":

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245319&d=1487730882

 

So pulleys all looked good.

Edited February 22, 2017 by SubOperator

Moving on, other parts in the box after pulleys and timing belt are out:

 

Water pump gasket at the bottom of the box. Let's see if it got dinged like the one in gates kit:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245320&d=1487732039

 

No, looks clean, no marks on it. I think having a thick piece of carton as backing helped, this is nice little detail:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245321&d=1487732039

 

Nice service label, thank you Aisin:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245322&d=1487732039

 

Miscelaneous gaskets - thermostat gasket and side seal for water pump body:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245323&d=1487732039

 

Now water pump, front view, does say JAPAN on the body:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245324&d=1487732039

 

Under another angle, says AISIN:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245325&d=1487732039

 

 

And the back of Aisin water pump, looks clean and well made:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245326&d=1487732039

 

Overall looks very good!

Edited February 22, 2017 by SubOperator

Water pump taken of the engine. It does look the same or very similar, even though markings are different:

 

Back of old OEM water pump:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245327&d=1487733198

 

front view :

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245328&d=1487733198

 

Another one:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245329&d=1487733198

 

And side view, marked as YAMADA, also made in Japan:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245330&d=1487733198

 

Otherwise looks like Aisin one quiality wise.

 

Since I had bought new OEM pump from Subaru to be safe, I compared OEM one to Aisin as well.

 

OEM Water Pump box with part number on it:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245331&d=1487733198

 

Back of OEM water pump:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245332&d=1487733198

 

I wasn't impressed with it. I understand its OEM, and it may have spent more time in the box then Aisin one, but still Aisin looked better to me.

 

Here is front view of Aisin vs new OEM pump:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245333&d=1487733198

 

 

Aisin looked better made to me, so I ended up installing Aisin and boxing the OEM one. I spun both by hand and feel is exactly the same, so I am sure OEM would be just as good.

 

Its been about 2 weeks now, car is parked outside in the cold, running great this far with zero issues or knocking/noise from any timing components or water pump.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited February 22, 2017 by SubOperator

reserved 5

Thanks the pic's. I'll be getting ready to do this job on my Spec B soon, been watching all these threads about this kit's.

You're welcome, this site helped me a lot, returning favors were I can. Just keep in mind this kit is for 2010+ NA, not for 2005-2009....

 

I will look at Aisin kit when it will be time to do timing belt on my LGT. at 199K now...

Very nice pics, thank you for the quick look and writeup. It will definitely help me down the road!

Thank you for taking the time to post. My 2011 Outback is at 104,400 miles so the timing belt is almost due. I saw the negative posts on Gate kits so Aisin looks like a much better alternative. The only thing I would not install in this kit would be the water pump gasket. I believe OEM is aluminum (not sure). The thermostat is another one I would go with OEM. Everything else looks good or better than OEM. Edited August 27, 2017 by Joelrdrgz
I left all the pictures in the original post. That is too much redundancy.

Awesome pics and overview, thank you very much for this!

12,000 miles on my Aisin tkf004 kit on my 06gt and it's still fine. I used the Aisin water pump as well. Nice write-up.

At this point just under a year on this kit, no problems, no noise either, car is parked outside year long and had no issues in this brutal cold weather. No sure exact mileage on the kit now, estimating 7-9 K miles.

 

I have Aisin TKF-004 ready for my own LGT timing belt job, will likely do similar thread on it when I find time.

I will never hesitate putting an Aisin kit on any car, which is why I opted for it a couple year ago when I did my t-belt. They always use high quality, oem like, parts. If anyone has had a bad experience with Aisin, I would assume installer error over defective parts. I will not do a timing belt job on a car if it's not Aisin or Continental. If I had a non-interference motor then quality may not be as important but a complete Aisin kit with water pump set me back $250. This was 2 years ago so I'm sure pricing has fluctuated but it's not like their kits are grossly over-priced.

I know this thread is a couple of years old, however, I do want to say thank you for the excellent write up.

 

Bought my 2012 Leggy last year and have been extremely pleased with it thus far. Use it as my daily and for some road trips.

 

 

After reading through your review of the Aisin kit, as well as researching the other kits available, I have decided to go with this same kit for my car.

 

I should have it in my posession on Wed the 27th and will double check to ensure all the parts are made where they say they are made before it will ever go into my car. Glad I did my research on this as a timing failure is never what you want to happen.

 

Thank you to SubOperator for this great write up!!!

 

Aisin is top quality. I've installed dozens on various manufacturers and they have all been O.E. like parts.

Aisin is top quality. I've installed dozens on various manufacturers and they have all been O.E. like parts.

 

I had been looking at various kits on RockAuto and the two I kept going back two were the Aisin and Continental pro kits. After reading through this thread and multiple other reviews regarding them, I figured the Aisin was the best way to go for the money.

They're both similar quality. I would have went Continental if I wanted the cam seals. You can't go wrong with either of them.