High temp CEL and then engine dies

I had thought, initially that I had lost a turbo, but was mistaken. A few kind bits of feedback from users and I am back to my senses. At first, it puzzled me as to the quickness that this all took place and the timing belt, which now makes sense, was the furtherest thought I had while standing on a busy interstate with a car of only 40k miles, dead.

 

The verdict on my car is this:

 

The idler pulley for the timing belt seized. This resulted in the failure of the water pump followed with the destruction of the timing belt. I had heard no prior indications of squealing or screeching typically heard when a bearing or pulley is about to go, just all of sudden as with a switch.

 

So going backwards, it all makes since that when the pulley seized, it was pretty quick and no the doubt the by the abrupt stop, the water pump then failed resulting in the quick uptake of the temp in the vehicle. The engine dies as a result of loss of sync with cams to motor. Subaru won't know if further damage occurred as a result of incident, specifically the valves being bent or worse, till they get it buttoned back up and test.

 

All I can do now is wait and hope that engine died before any subsequent damage had occurred. I'll update when they get the parts in later this week.

our engines are supposedly non-interference engines so the valves *may* be okay. you won't know till it's pulled apart. very unusual circumstance with your idler seizing with that mileage.

that was my thoughts. Given I am super anal at caring for my cars, performing all maintenance and then some, needless to say I was very concerned. The timing belt is not even recommended to be replaced till around 100k. I will say that what on behind the cover of the timing belt must have been pretty amazing.

well, powertrain warranty thy cover.

our engines are supposedly non-interference engines so the valves *may* be okay. you won't know till it's pulled apart. very unusual circumstance with your idler seizing with that mileage.

 

Um, what are you talking about? Most subaru engines, and all the turbo ones ARE INTERFERENCE ENGINES. Hopefully it died before doing damage. Either way it should be covered under the 6/60k powertrain warranty.

 

Keep us posted.

 

-mike

 

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/91072632.jpghttp://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/141039922.jpg http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/133406601.jpg http://upload.pbase.com/image/137566671.jpg

Call directly as We carry almost every manufacturer now, so before you buy parts call us.

AIM: AZP Installs | E-mail: paisan@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) | T-1 Certified Amsoil Direct Jobber

"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"

Well, I thought I'd provide a little update on the car. The car is till with the dealer and the hope is that I will get it back on Tuesday. Once the cause was found, Subaru ordered the parts to the repair the damaged water pump and idler pulley and a new belt. When they buttoned everything back up, they did a compression test which yielded that the driver side was not holding. Bent exhaust valves were found once the head was taken off. The head were machined and new valves installed and the engine assembled, only to produce a slight tapping noise after the car was started and running. The cause for the tapping was a bent valve on the passenger side head, to which was machined and valves replaced. Initially the passenger side showed no issue with the compression test. Friday, they told me that they should have it put back together late Monday.

 

During the time I have been with out my car, I have had many a night contemplating whether or not I want to keep it. The confidence in reliability is shaken a bit, with a failed part at such a low milage coupled with the fact that several components were damage as a result. Still have just over a year in payments and prior to this mishap, was preparing to install new tires, shocks/struts, and upgrade the brakes. Now the thought of $1200.00 investment is hard to come to terms with. The dealer gave me a 2012 Outback to drive, that while a nice car, I feel it to be a softer ride ride than that of the 2008 that have today. I would rather have a little better feel of the road versus having all bumps in the road camouflaged. Power is ok, but not like the turbo, ( wish they made a turbo wagon ). I am going to drive a Forester and see how the ride is and then will see where a Forester XT is; the dealer only has n/a 4cyln versions. I have also looked at the VW Tiguan and will probably drive one of these as well. The decision of what to do has been really troubling as I had plans to keep the OutBack and continue to improve suspension and performance….now I just don't know.