so first off, I am an idiot. Second, I consider myself a good mechanic, with bad luck. So, changing the timing belt in my wife's 2.5L ej251 Legacy. no problem, did it on my old 2.2 w/o a hitch, right? wrong. Apparently there are a number of marks on the crankshaft pulley, I see a Square and an small arrow. I go with the arrow, (WRONG!) so when I tried to start it, i was surprised it just didn't run. So after 2 nights of dinking w/ it, I see that one cam sensor bump has a timing mark, aligned with the square. set it, start it, runs like poo. check spark, good. compression Good on dvr side, nothing on psgnr side. The same side when adjusting the cams, was off a good .100" on the intake side. Now, I am thinking i screwed the pooch, and f-ed something up good. What do you think I broke? What I know: Passenger side cams: the exhaust cams gap was good, the intake was off a mile. Did I Bend the valves? would they be bent and jammed open? did I bend or jaw loose the lifter arms? Any suggestions before I have to take it too the shop to get fixed?
I'm guessing you bent the valves. Interference motors don't like it much when you slip a timing belt. More than likely it was catastrophic to the heads. I'd suspect damage to the pistons that made contact also. You might get lucky and it just busted the valve, but I'm putting good odds on valve chunks playing soccer in your combustion chamber for a little bit. Your best bet at this point would be to hit up the junk yards or scan Nasioc for a new EJ251 with heads. They can be had for not too bad of a price. Obviously not what you want to hear, but I'm a pessimist. And this sounds ugly.
You need to get someone out there that knows for sure that the timing is on, what kind of belt did you use?
Thnx for the replies, guys. @readymix, ewww....Oh no, please no... @AWDimprezaL, I bought the Subaru OEM. and yes, it's going to the shop. We have used the Foreign Service, any comments? This has been a Very very humbling experience, it's bad enough i screwed up the engine, it's worse since it's my wife's car. Guess I can sign off working on that ever again. thnx for the help guys.
i had something similar happen last summer when we tried to do our timing belt, thankfully not quite as bad. our belt was on correctly but wasn't going to stay there. caught it before it caused catastrophic damage, but still had to pay out $$$ to fix it and make sure it's right
so quick update. after realizing what i did, i took a day off and came back to it on Saturday. Took a closer look, and I was able to remove the head w/o having to remove the engine. I did indeed bend all 4 intake valves, but no damage to the seats or pistons. The guides looks also intact. I have since replaced, lapped and reinstalled the head. Although i have now stripped the lower timing belt idler thread into the block, something I also did on my 92 legacy (you would think they would have changed that design). so luckily we have a M10 x 1.5 helicoil set at work here (saved me $45!). will be making that repair tonight. my thoughts, i may be wrecking sh!t here and there, but i am learning? thnx for the input, you guys are great....
@threshold1, I measured 1.5mm with my caliper, but given my current luck, i am going to check w/ a thread gauge....
I would have to say, yes, you are learning. You're very lucky it wasn't a catastrophic event. But I bet now you know how to do it for next time, right?
@chux & @thrshld1 you are correct sirs. M10 x 1.25. thnx for the sanity check, i am in constant need of it...
