1991 Subaru Legacy Timing belt water pump job

JAHNJA

MEMBER
1991 SUBARU LEGACY
4 CYL
AWD
MANUAL
218,000 MILES

I need to replace my water pump, and on this car the manual says you need to do the timing belt if you take off the water pump. I have studied a repair manual, a haynes, I believe. It has a couple different pictures and diagrams of where the timing marks should be. It has one set for top dead center, and another one for checking the valve clearances. They do not match up. Also I checked my car, and if you try to put the crankshaft pulley on top dead center, the cam wheels do not match
the position in the pictures in the book, and even the notches in the two cam wheels are not lining up in the same place with the marks on the block. One is and the other is off. What would be the best way to tackle the problem of making sure all the marks line up and are timed right? Thank You.

5 Replies

OBXAUTOMEDIC

MECHANIC
3,711 POSTS

Is the #1 Cylinder at TDC along with the Crankshaft Timing Mark?

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Friday, July 11th, 2008 AT 6:18 PM

JAHNJA

MEMBER
4 POSTS

I hope this is the write window to use. I had the question for this topic. I found out it is close to top dead center for the no 1 piston. I had some help from a mechanic who saw me working nearby on the car. It turns out the two small bolts that keep the harmonic balancer, or crankshaft pulley wheel bolted on to the crankshaft timing hub (probably wrong word for it) were missing, so the outer part of the harmonic balancer would just spin and spin, (when trying to unbolt the main crankshaft pulley bolt), making the outer crankshaft timing mark useless. The mechanic, said to use the inner marks, so I did and they look pretty good. One cam wheel was off one tooth. It has been noisy, but seemed to have a lot of power. This explains why the marks were
so far off. I do not know for sure if it is at top dead center, but it is (will be) lined up for something where all the wheels will match up to where they should be.
It should run right, but I could still use any advice as I'll be putting it back together real soon. Thanks, I really appreciate it and did send a donation. Thanks, John.

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Friday, July 18th, 2008 AT 6:28 PM

OBXAUTOMEDIC

MECHANIC
3,711 POSTS

I will make one suggestion to save you what could be a big headache. Once you get the water pump and timing componants back on. Before putting the timing cover and engine mount all back on put the crank pulley on just over hand tight. Make sure any wiring and hoses are put back on. Then have someone start the vehicle, as long as it starts and runs good you are good to go. Just don't run it more than a minute or 2, keep an eye on the timing belt cause it has a tendency to work off if you run it to long.

If all is good put everything back together.

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Friday, July 18th, 2008 AT 6:50 PM

JAHNJA

MEMBER
4 POSTS

Thanks for your help. I am just reading this now, and the car is already done. I am glad It worked out.
Everything turned out very well. I was worried because the marks are not as easy to line up as my other cars were, but they were
pretty accurate. One mark on the cam wheel looked like it was off by the length of an 1/8 in after I got the pulleys on, but the marks that were built in to the belt itself all lined up. I counted the teeth on the belt as the books said also. The two small holes in the crank pulley hub I talked about are not used.
It runs very well. I can see some of your picture on the website, but it is a little dark. It looks like you have a family. I Hope you are