1997 Subaru Wagon Timing belt and CAM gears

Hi there,

This is a pain of a job, often a second pair of hands holding the cams in place with a spanner on the cam nut will make this so much easier.

Mark (mhpautos)

I tried today for about an hour and a half to do it with somebody who could hold the cam gears with a socket and wrench, should I just keep working at it until I get them all lined up properly? I was not making too much progress. How critical is it to count the teeth? I am doing everything that I can to make sure I am getting the marks lined up dead on.

Thanks!

Hi there,

I will give you a secrete tip lol. Start at the L/H upper cam, run belt around the lower cam and check alignment. Cut section of old belt and use this to protect the new belt, get heavy duty bulldog clips and clamp the belt to the gears, this will help hold them in place, your assistant may need to keep a little back pressure on the top gear to stop it from rotating, keeping tension on the belt fit to lower cam on R/H/side clamping in same way, take adjuster off engine and run top of belt keeping tension from top R to tensioner, re fit tensioner check all alignment marks, if ok, and no slack in lower section release tensioner pin, remove clamps and you should be timed correctly, try this method.

Mark (mhpautos)

I will give it a shot after class tomorrow and let you know how it goes! Thanks for the help! Where can I donate @?

Thanks again!

Hi there,

https://www.2carpros.com/forum/lwdonate.php

check this link, and you can also leave feed back and vote, check the vote link on my posts.

mark

Well, it seemed as tho everything was fine. All the marks were lined up correctly on all sides. I get the timing cover back on, slide the crank pully on and then look at one side and I am still off. After numerous tires, I always end up being off when I try to put in the belt tensioner. It has me a bit frustrated. There always seems to be slack in the belt everywhere just waiting to throw me off on the opposite side while I am not looking.

HI there,

If you clamp both top gears like I said, and then have your assistant hold tension on both gears so the tension across the lower section is taunt and the timing mars are all aligned, you should be able to fit the tensioner and release the pin and all should be ok, I know this is a pain to do and I have often found these are one tooth out when I go to replace the belt, persist and it will work,

Mark (mhpautos)

I can clamp the cam gears on the drivers side but not on the passenger side unless I get clamps that will go across the top of the cam gear over the cam gear bolt. I have a clamp on the intake and exh. Cam on the drivers side. Should I clamp the passengers side as well? ( I would have to get some fairly large clamps.) I am making more and progress each time. I have re-read your reply's a few times and the more I try making it work then re -reading the more progress I am making!

Thanks for your help!

YOU should be able to get away with clamping one side and having a helper hold tension on the belt & gears by hand so it hod in place while you fit the adjuster, just look at what you are trying to achieve, with the gears in place and holding tension non the lower section of the belt, you only have to ensure that the timing is correct and the top of the belt will tension up with the adjuster.

Mark

Well I am pretty sure that I got it on correctly! Thanks for your help! Everything is back together accept for the PCV piping close to the pass side shock tower. I touched that plastic and hose and it was ROCK hard and it the plastic was brittle and broke. I am going to have to figure out how that hosing around there works out and lastly which injector clip goes on which injector.

Hi there,

Thats good to hear, sorting out the loom should not be that hard, most plugs will lay close to where it should go, replace any rotten and brittle hosing, the last thing you want is the check engine light flashing fault codes at you, so don't forget to click on the blue feedback link and put something in there, every bit of feed back helps grow a better site to help you and others in need of help.

Cheers,

Mark, (mhpautos)