Help: Info on Timing Belt Replacement: 97 Impreza

[Terry King]

Hello,
I know this has been discussed here, but I can't go far enough back to
find it.. Can someone please point to the suggested procedure for
replacing the timing belt, water pump, and oil seals on a 97 Impreza?
A list of required parts before tearing into it would be greatly
appreciated! And, of course, opinions on a good online source of parts
would be great.

I have to do this on my wife's car ASAP as she'll be taking a long
trip...

There is currently a significant front end oil leak...

I have an aftermarket manual...

THANKS!!

 

[Jim Stewart]

Hello,
I know this has been discussed here, but I can't go far enough back to
find it.. Can someone please point to the suggested procedure for
replacing the timing belt, water pump, and oil seals on a 97 Impreza?
A list of required parts before tearing into it would be greatly
appreciated! And, of course, opinions on a good online source of parts
would be great.

I have to do this on my wife's car ASAP as she'll be taking a long
trip...

There is currently a significant front end oil leak...

I have an aftermarket manual...

THANKS!!

Posting a step-by-step proceedure would be beyond the
patience of most of us. I'm pasting my long description
of my experiences with the job. Note that you don't
need an online source of parts, just call Jason
at Auburn Subaru in Wa and he'll take care of you,
probably at a better price than online.

You probably ought to get a genuine Subaru
manual. There is an online source of pdf
manuals, or else you can buy a compiliation
CD on ebay.

Old post follows...........................

I have a '99 Legacy Outback with a 2.5l DOHC
engine and 85k miles. The front crankcase oil
seal had started leaking about a month ago,
pushing up the 100k timing belt change inter-
val to now.

Being a lazy person at heart, I decided that I
would change everything that might be a problem
as long as I had it apart. The shopping list
included plugs, fan belts, timing belt, crank
and cam oil seals, water pump, thermostat,
gaskets, timing belt tensioner, top timing
belt cover gasket, oil pump o-ring, Subaru
gasket sealer, fresh antifreeze and spark
plug anti-seize compound.

All Subaru parts were purchased from Jason at
Auburn Subaru. The parts came 2 days after I
ordered them, with a 25% discount, no sales
tax and very reasonable shipping.

I started on the project Friday a week ago. The
first issue was finding a loud squeak in the
fan belt area that had been driving my wife nuts.
Taking off the belts one at a time showed that
it was the aircon belt idler pulley. I took
it out, popped off the shields, cleaned out the
hardened grease and replaced it with fresh grease.
The squeak went away.

After the belts and fan were removed, the next
issue was the crank pulley. After trying a
bunch of different things, I fabricated a tool
to hold the pulley similar to the Subaru tool.
It's a plate with 4 pins that engage the 4 holes
in the pulley. The edge of the plate rests on
a vertical 4x4 that sits on the ground. The
crank nut came off with probably 200 ftlbs of
torque. I used my lathe and mill to make the
tool. Your mileage may vary. I plan the keep
the car for at least another 6 years so I felt
that making the tool was a reasonable investment.

After I got the pulley and belt covers off, it
became clear that I'd need more working room so
I started pulling off parts. I removed the
radiator, air filter box, battery, windshield
washer box, and the 2 little covers under the
car next to the fenders.

Next I removed the timing belt tensioner, oil
pump, timing belt idler pulleys (3) and water pump.
I checked the oil pump back plate and sure enough,
2 of the 5 screws were loose. I removed all of
them, cleaned them and their holes, applied Lock-
tite and reinstalled them. While I had the plate
out, I popped out the old seal and pressed in the
new one. I cleaned the RTV sealer from the mating
surfaces on the engine and the oil pump, applied
new sealer, put on the new o-ring holding it in
place with some grease and re-installed the oil
pump making sure to reconnect the crank position
sensor.

The water pump was trivial to replace, and
probably did not need replacing as the old
pump and thermostat looked like new.

Next, I removed the timing belt tensioner and
unpacked the new part. It was clear that the
tensioner that I received was for some other
Subaru, not the one I had, effectively ending
the job until I could get the right one.

A call to Jason on Monday got me the right
part on Tuesday and a UPS pickup slip to
return the wrong part.

The new tensioner installed with no problems,
just one bolt.

The next job was the camshaft seals, all 4
of them. The Subaru manual calls out a
special tool to keep the sprockets from
rotating while they are being removed. I
should have broken the bolts loose before
I removed the timing belt. In any case, the
sprockets on the driver's side did move
causing me much concern about damaging a
valve. When the mark on the crank sprocket
is aligned at 12 o'clock, the drivers side
camshafts are sitting with 4 of the valves
depressed, giving a hair-trigger nature to
the sprocket. The passenger side valves
are all closed and are not a concern as they
have no tendency to rotate.

I pried out the old seals and tapped the
new ones in with a tool that I made from
some thick-wall aluminium tubing.

Next, I replaced the sprockets and back
covers. I then installed the timing belt.
I decided to turn the engine over with a
breaker bar the make sure that everything
was free. There was a lot of resistance
when the crank sprocket mark was at 3
o'clock. This caused me a huge amount
of concern that I might have bent a valve
and that it was sticking up.

I stared at the engine for a long time,
pondering whether or not to pull the
driver's side head to look for damage.
I decided to pull the valve cover and
see if I could tell anything. I took
the cover off and felt the cups under
the cams as I turned the crank to 3
O'clock. I couldn't feel anything. Next
I removed the camshafts and cups, and
with my fingers lightly on the valve
stem ends, I turned the engine over.
I still couldn't feel anything. Com-
pression seemed to be fine as well. I
decided to put everything back together
and see if it would run. I noticed that
when I turned the engine over with an
ordinary 1/2" drive socket wrench, in-
stead of a breaker bar, the resistance
seemed to be reduced and the same for
3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, the 2 TDC
positions.

Anyway, after about 3 hours, I had the
new plugs installed, the timing belt
buttoned up, the fan belts on, the radiator
and fans back in, the air filter box
and battery installed.

I decided to refill the cooling system
with water until I knew whether or not
I'd be tearing it down again.

I was almost physically sick with worry as
I first jogged the engine with the ignition
switch. It turned over fine. I cranked it
and it caught right away. There was some
tapping as the oil started to flow, but it
disappeared quickly.

I drained the water and put in 50/50 anti-
freeze. I had changed the coolant before and
I anticipated the hassle of getting the air
out of the system. After about 30 minutes
of fiddling, the car was driveable.

I put about 150 miles on it today. No oil
leaks. The only issue is a squeek when the
aircon compressor comes on at high RPM. I'll
give it a few days to sort itself out before
I'll much with it.

So, would I recommend a non-mechanic change
their own timing belt? Probably not. I may
have saved myself $300-$400 in labor, but I
ate up 2 weekends. I also have a spare car
I can drive.

 

[Rat]

Not my site, but this guy wrote a how-to with pictures on doing the
timing belts on the svx - which is basically identical to the 2.2L as
far as the belts go. It was very helpful when I did mine - I managed to
do them in 2.5hrs my first time by following his tips.

http://www.ryanmacdonald.com/car/howto/belt/belt.html

 

[Rat]

for online parts I have had very good business with 1stsubaruparts.com

 

[Terry King]

Thanks! to the immortal Rat.. Mortal, moral, whatever...

The info at 1stsubaru is very helpful.

I'm real sure I need to replace the crankshaft and camshaft seal(s). Are
there two camshaft seals, one each side, I assume??

Any pointers to removing the old seals, and replacing them??

I plan to do the water pump also. Any pointers??

Thanks so much: I really needed some perspective on this job...

 

[Mickey]

Terry King wrote:

snip

I plan to do the water pump also. Any pointers??

Thanks so much: I really needed some perspective on this job...

Only pointers I can offer is, make sure the WP gasket in proper place before
tightening the bolts. Due to plump location it isn't easy to see without a
second pair of eyes. Was doing this job myself and gasket slipped and I didn't
notice until I got under the car to reinstall the water hose.

You might find the alignment marks on the cam pulleys slightly (maybe a half
tooth) off, making it look like the belt is not installed right. Subaru mech
told me this was not too uncommon. This may not be an issue on all model
engines but it got me to worrying on my 2.5 SOHC model.

Mickey

 

[Jim Stewart]

Terry King wrote:

snip



Only pointers I can offer is, make sure the WP gasket in proper place
before tightening the bolts. Due to plump location it isn't easy to see
without a second pair of eyes. Was doing this job myself and gasket
slipped and I didn't notice until I got under the car to reinstall the
water hose.

You might find the alignment marks on the cam pulleys slightly (maybe a
half tooth) off, making it look like the belt is not installed right.
Subaru mech told me this was not too uncommon. This may not be an issue
on all model engines but it got me to worrying on my 2.5 SOHC model.

I saw it on the DOHC as well. If you're paranoid you
can count and mark the old timing belt before taking
it off and verify the position by the tooth count.

 

[Terry King]

Thanks, Mickey and Jim, for pointers!

Is any gasket cement suggested for the water pump gasket?? I'm trying to
make sure I have everything in hand before taking this car out of
service...

Jim, I like that idea (Marking old belt..); I'm a compulsive marker/photo
taker. Learned the hard way, long ago.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

search for step-by-step procedure at www.scoobymods.com .
Also, SOME books have too low torque for the crank pulley - try to
verify the number.(can't recall exact issue here sorry)

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[Mickey]

Thanks, Mickey and Jim, for pointers!

Is any gasket cement suggested for the water pump gasket?? I'm trying to
make sure I have everything in hand before taking this car out of
service...

Jim, I like that idea (Marking old belt..); I'm a compulsive marker/photo
taker. Learned the hard way, long ago.

I used something my son had (don't recall brand) that is blue a gel and doesn't
harden. Has worked great every time we've used it.

I'm not sure what marking the timing locations on the old belt would do for you
but to give you a tooth count. The belt I used was already marked. Did note
the marks were spaced differently than noted in factory manual but were spaced
correctly except for the half tooth thing.

Mickey

 

[oothlagre]

For those of you that have changed the belt. What tool do you use for the
crank pulley? I found a camshaft sprocket wrench at Snap-On tools for about
$43. Would that do it? I read the torque is supposed to be 115 pounds. I
need a good wrench to hold that thing for that kind of torque.


Henry

 

[Jim Stewart]

For those of you that have changed the belt. What tool do you use for the
crank pulley? I found a camshaft sprocket wrench at Snap-On tools for about
$43. Would that do it? I read the torque is supposed to be 115 pounds. I
need a good wrench to hold that thing for that kind of torque.

Won't work. You can't torque the crank pulley
until you've completely covered the camshaft
sprocket.

 

[Rat]

I used a rubber strapwrench from sears to hold the crank pulley to
torque it down. You have to get it on there really tight but it works.

 

[Mickey]

For those of you that have changed the belt. What tool do you use for the
crank pulley? I found a camshaft sprocket wrench at Snap-On tools for about
$43. Would that do it? I read the torque is supposed to be 115 pounds. I
need a good wrench to hold that thing for that kind of torque.

What I did recently was to use 2 large bolts that fit fairly tight in the holes
in the pulley and used a prybar across the bolts. With a second pair of hand
holding the prybar I was able to remove the center bolt without much difficulty.

Mickey

 

[Terry King]

For those of you that have changed the belt. What tool do you use for theThe directions I read at:
http://www.ryanmacdonald.com/car/howto/belt/belt.html
THEN points to the crank pulley stuff at:
http://www.ryanmacdonald.com/car/howto/pulley/pulley.html

BUT: HOW do you get access to the flywheel on a 2.2L engine??? A quick
look (obscured by all the oil from the Bad Seal) doesn't find an obvious
opening or bottom cover. Help!! I gotta get this done this weekend! (97
Impreza, 2.2L).

Here's his instructions:
----( copy )---------

Crank Pulley Removal

Now for the hardest part of the of the installation. Not exactly like
its difficult...just its one stubborn bolt. To remove the pulley do
these steps:

1. First off, crawl under your car and locate your flywheel. (This is
where its much easier to have two people to do this. As you will need to
be under the car and the other person will be loosening the main bolt.)
Once you found the flywheel, you need to insert a large flat screwdriver
into the splines. Hold this here while your friend takes off the pulley
bolt. HOLD TIGHT! This will keep the engine from turning.
2. The other person (unless you figured out a way of keeping the
flywheel from turning), take off the main bolt with a 22mm socket.
---( end copy )-----

I promise I'll write up what I find!

 

[Gilles Gour]

The directions I read at:
http://www.ryanmacdonald.com/car/howto/belt/belt.html
THEN points to the crank pulley stuff at:
http://www.ryanmacdonald.com/car/howto/pulley/pulley.html

BUT: HOW do you get access to the flywheel on a 2.2L engine??? A quick
look (obscured by all the oil from the Bad Seal) doesn't find an obvious
opening or bottom cover. Help!! I gotta get this done this weekend! (97
Impreza, 2.2L).

Here's his instructions:
----( copy )---------

Crank Pulley Removal

Now for the hardest part of the of the installation. Not exactly like
its difficult...just its one stubborn bolt. To remove the pulley do
these steps:

1. First off, crawl under your car and locate your flywheel. (This is
where its much easier to have two people to do this. As you will need to
be under the car and the other person will be loosening the main bolt.)
Once you found the flywheel, you need to insert a large flat screwdriver
into the splines. Hold this here while your friend takes off the pulley
bolt. HOLD TIGHT! This will keep the engine from turning.
2. The other person (unless you figured out a way of keeping the
flywheel from turning), take off the main bolt with a 22mm socket.
---( end copy )-----

I promise I'll write up what I find!

I did this recently and used a chain vise grip. It's cheap and it works
also for holding the cam sprockets. Just use a piece of drive belt to
protect the pulley. Thighten just enough and the handle will catch on
the alt bracket permitting use of both hands to work. Use a piece of the
old cam belt when you remove the cam sprockets. The handle then catches
on an idler pulley or soemthing else. I recommend it.

 

[Terry King]

What I did recently was to use 2 large bolts that fit fairly tight in the holes

in the pulley and used a prybar across the bolts. With a second pair of hand
holding the prybar I was able to remove the center bolt without much difficulty.

Sounds good, Mickey. The factory Service Tool is a bar with a disc
with a hole in the center that goes on the front of the pulley with two
protruding pins that must fit in those holes you mentioned.

There is a similar different tool to hold the cam sprockets.

I bet there's an aftermarket general-purpose tool that can do this...

 

[Mickey]

Sounds good, Mickey. The factory Service Tool is a bar with a disc
with a hole in the center that goes on the front of the pulley with two
protruding pins that must fit in those holes you mentioned.

There is a similar different tool to hold the cam sprockets.

I bet there's an aftermarket general-purpose tool that can do this...

You're right that what I did was not unlike how the factory tool works and the
price was right. Before starting the job I saw a pic of the factory tool and
gave it a little thought and said, why not this.

Mickey

 

[JW]

I did this recently and used a chain vise grip. It's cheap and it works
also for holding the cam sprockets. Just use a piece of drive belt to
protect the pulley. Thighten just enough and the handle will catch on
the alt bracket permitting use of both hands to work. Use a piece of the
old cam belt when you remove the cam sprockets. The handle then catches
on an idler pulley or soemthing else. I recommend it.

I just used an old broken belt, slapped it around the sprocket and clamped
my vise grips to it. Worked better to hold the the shaft in place than any
regular tool I have ever tried!

 

[oothlagre]

Well, the work on the '95 1.8 Impreza is done! My first time working on a
Subie. We did crank and cam seals, oil pump seal, water pump and thermo. and
gasket, timing belt and center cover. It runs like a champ so far!

Now I need to do the same to my '96 sometime soon.

I opened the cover to the flywheel on the passenger side and wedged a punch
in to hold the crankshaft. I used a rubber strap wrench on the cam
sprockets. The passenger side sprocket had over 100 ft. lb. torque on it.

Next time around I'll try to get some pics out of it.

Henry