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1994 legacy manual trans with no spark to 3-4


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I have two 1994 legacy wagons. My manual transmission car lost the harmonic balencer on the freeway. I got off and found that it was still hanging on the belt, and the bolt was still there too. So I hand tightened it back on the crank and drove it home slowly. I removed the timing belt covers and checked for the marks, and the engine ran without the balancer...I put everything back and the engine wouldn't start, so I made sure that there was fuel, and checked the cam sensor and the crank position sensor and the coil and the igniter, by switching them into my other car (auto trans)...everything works. So I checked for spark, and 1 & 2 have spark, but 3&4 no spark...so I checked the wires to the igniter, and they have continuity. I cleaned the ground wires that I could find. next I looked for the computer under the right side floor...nothing there, in either car. even though the Haines manual shows one so I am questioning if the cars are actually 1994 models...before I tear into the main harness, I would like to find the right wiring diagram for my cars, since the one in the book shows that big box under the rug, and it's not there in my cars...any thoughts appreciated. I'm in Santa Rosa, CA, but the best Subaru mechanic in town doesn't have the diagram for such an old car, and doesn't need to work on them when he has so much business working on the newer models...the drawings online seem to be everything except the right one my wires are completely different colors than in the ones that I have seen so far...
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Find reference material for a first gen legacy and see if that matches. Second gen have the computer under a metal kick plate in the right (US) foot well.

 

But when my timing was jumped I had sometimes no spark to 3&4. There are two sets of marks on the crank and cam. One set is more correctly called assembly marks. They put the pistons all half way up/down the cylinders and the cams matching, the other set show TDC #1. It is pretty confusing to people who haven't seen it before. Mixing and matching those will certainly result in problems.

 

If you are saying that the bolt came unscrewed and the accessory pulley fell off, then I would be shocked if your crankshaft isn't damaged causing timing problems.

 

I'll get out my FSM after food and see what it says about which marks are which.

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For the early 2nd gen Legacy 2.2 SOHC engine (what I have the FSM for) there are several oddly spaced nubs at the back of the crank sprocket. Later models have a lot more nubs on the crank sprocket and I don't know off hand how they are marked. One of these nubs has a line in its face that must align with a similar mark in the oil pump housing just about straight up from the center line of the crank. At the same time there is a similar line on the front outer rim of each cam sprocket that must align straight up with a matching mark in the plastic rear timing covers. Do not use the arrow marks on the spoke of the cam sprockets. These marks must be very precisely aligned for the engine to operate correctly.

 

For the DOHC engines the marks and methods are different. From memory, the crank mark is the same, but the cam sprockets on each head have rim marks that have to point exactly to each other. Straight down on the top cam and straight up on the bottom cam. This isn't possible on the driver's side cams without a special tool to keep them from turning themselves away from this point. And letting them turn away from this point can result in severe engine damage.

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If you are saying that the bolt came unscrewed and the accessory pulley fell off, then I would be shocked if your crankshaft isn't damaged causing timing problems.

 

 

I'd take a look at the crankshaft sprocket to make sure it's in the correct position - it may have rotated on the crankshaft causing both ignition to be wrong and the cam timing to be wrong.

 

 

Now I don't know out of my head if this is an interference engine or not. If it's an interference engine then you might have a boat anchor now, but if not then there's still hope that you can get it working.

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This groove in the end of the crank is normally filled with a woodruff key that locks the crank sprocket and accessory pulley from rotating on the shaft. This is how mechanical cam timing is held in place. If the accessory pulley falls off, this groove and or the sorta half disc looking woodruff can be damaged allowing slop in the rotational position of the sprocket. The woodruff could also fall out and get lost.

 

http://mynet.whitehat-inc.com/subaru/woodruff.jpg

 

If this groove is damaged, Subaru would say the engine is now a boat anchor. If the matching groove in the sprocket and pulley are damaged, no big, just replace them and the woodruff. The woodruff is a friction fit in that groove. If it isn't that tight when you put it back together you will have a failure very soon after. All these parts fit almost too tight to do by hand.

 

If the crank is damaged, there is another Skywalker ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H way. I've been using this other way for more than a decade with no troubles, but it is rather involved and tricky to get it right. I can walk you though it, but it would be a lot of work to describe, so I'll only do that if we need to in order to solve your problem.

Edited by doublechaz
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  • 1 month later...
the crank shaft end seems undamaged, the new woodruff fits tight and the sprocket and pulley seem to be snug...compression is good, battery is charged, but the timing marks are off so I need to find #1 TDC before I remove the belt and rotate the left cam shaft to vertical. the engine ran before I screwed up and removed the belt, and hasn't run since I reinstalled it, so before I take it off again I would like to be sure that the #1 cylinder is TDC on the Compression stroke, but the valve on the front end of the shaft never seems to have a gap between the rocker and the valve stem...
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Do NOT do it with #1 at TDC. That's how you bend valves. Nothing to do with cam timing on a Subaru involves anything at TDC. You are looking for the cam timing assembly marks. That puts all the pistons half way down the bores. Two will be on the way up, two on the way down, but none of them will be where they can hit a valve.

 

If you are out of time, set the crank assembly mark first. Then take off the belt and move the cams as needed. On the SOHC this is dead easy. On the DOHC you can't even move the cams compared to each other without intake valves hitting exhaust valves. There is a special tool to lock those cams together. If the cams on one side of a DOHC don't match up with each other I don't know the Subaru approved method to fix it. The FSM should specify which cam to set to the mark and which to move and in what direction to turn it. The right side of the car you can get them close and then turn them the little bit that is needed. (That's where your left hand is when you stand in front of the car looking at the engine.) The left side cams will jump off the apex of the lobes and damage things if you don't have the special tool locked in. (That's where your right hand is when you stand in front of the car and look at the engine.)

 

If my left side cams were out compared to each other I would pull the engine, pull the valve cover and use a wrench on the cam wrenching flats to lock one in place and turn the other so I could set the special tool. Subaru may have a better method, or they may not. It's just that bent valves are a drag so you should do it as right as possible to not bend them.

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