Think my timing belt let go....what now?

So luckily my 05 LGT quit on me in my driveway last night. Pushed it into the garage. Think the timing belt has disintegrated. What am I looking at in terms of repair? Valves, maybe heads, pistons? I'm guessing a minimum of $3000 for parts and labour?

 

Is it worth it to repair the engine or look for a replacement? There is a JDM SPec.B engine with 6 speed a couple hours away for about $3000.

 

Thanks for shedding any light on this you can.

That JDM engine may be hard to get parts for or serviced later on if needed, plus the changes you need now to make it work.

 

You need to decide how much you enjoy driving the car...

 

I have spent way much on my 05, but I love driving it...

You need to decide how much you enjoy driving the car...

 

I have spent way much on my 05, but I love driving it...

 

I ask myself that very question every time there is work to be done. And the answer is always the same... lol!

 

j.

What do you mean by 'think the timing belt has disintegrated'? Why not pop off the driver side cover and confirm?

Yeah, want to keep the car. Haven't found an option better for fun and practicality.

 

It's at the shop now for diagnosis. But car just shut off with a clunk in my driveway. Tried to crank it once and received the automotive equivalent of f*** you.

 

Sounds like the consensus is repair/rebuild?

funny story, I bought my 06 making the worst noise and it smokes white lol , and I am building it now. It still starts and run with no engine code. I bought the car knowing I would need new motor. I would fix it and have fun. just make sure the shop knows subarus and not some local joe who works on trucks and lawn mowers mostly.

If it quit at idle, you just might not be in as serious trouble as you would have been going down the road. If the valves just barely touched the pistons, they might be fine. I've seen it before and new belt, idles poorly for a bit, and then straightens itself out, so don't give up just yet.

Thought I'd update....

 

Turned out that the bearing in one of the tensioner pulleys siezed. Timing belt replacement kit installed (which included the pulley) and voila, back in business. Dodged a HUGE bullet there.

huh? You went from step 1 to like 5 .... how did you come to the conclusion it was the timing belt from it crapping out in the driveway? basically i read my car stopped working because I think its the timing belt, i brought it to shop, it was a pulley...... there is only one tension pulley, so saying one of confuses me... makes me think you might not be that mechanically inclined, no offense.

 

This screams misinformation..... are you talking about your accessory belts???? How would you know its the timing belt without looking, only conclusion i can assume is, you think your accessory belts are the timing belts, which are visible. And what actually blew was the tensioner for the ac belt.

 

If thats not the case, you should share more info for the next guy....

 

how did you go from my car stopped working straight to its the timing belt???

Edited July 15, 2019 by Tehnation

Gee, no offense taken. As I work as a machininst, I'd say my mechanical aptitude is pretty good. I am however, not a professional auto mechanic. That said....

 

Since I bought the car used about 1.5 years ago and it has just shy of 160k kms (100k miles) it is time for the timing belt to be replaced. Having it come to a clunking halt in my driveway sure seemed like a timing belt issue. hearing a metal screech when trying to crank it seemed like something was not rotating.

 

While I'm no auto expert, I know the difference between the accessory and timing belts. My accessory belts were and are intact. I had the car towed to a garage and they pulled the timing cover and voila, the tensioner pulley (the one at the bottom with the cogs, which is what the service advisor told me it was and showed me a picture) had a nice chunk out of it since the bearing in it basically blew up and seized the pulley. If I can get the picture I will share it. They replaced the timing belt with the full kit and it ran quite nicely after.

 

So maybe the incorrect terminology was used. But given the shit I have endured over the last week, I really appreciate the immediate jump to I'm an idiot.

i'm an asshole... don't mind me, but at least we know the entire story! Nerds like details!

Which leads us to the next issue, if that belt broke you might have some other issues!!!! Once the timing goes, the valves are very likely to have smacked the pistons. I would do a compression/leakdown test to be safe!!!! Check your oil for metal etc.

Sorry, I didn't mention it. The timing belt was 100% intact. It wasn't much longer for this world, but it was only the pulley that caused the issue. The pic the service advisor showed me had the belt perfectly attached and the tech said everything was still lined up exactly as is should be.

 

Car is running quite smoothly now.

About time we had a happy ending to a "my Legacy did X shitty and wholly unexpected thing" thread. Congrats!