tdelker

I just finished this over the weekend (and a CV reboot. More than I wanted to do in one day, but with a family I have limited time to work on the car). Subaru Outback XT. My notes: I took out the whole radiator with fans. This also included breaking the lines from the transmission to the cooler. Wasn't expecting that. We'll see if there is any issue with that (i.e. I lost some fluid, but not much - less than a 1/2 cup). I wonder if it wouldn't have been easier just to pull the two fans, but it was nice to have all that room AND i had a lot of junk between the radiator and AC radiator that was probably impact cooling. I got the kit from amazon, best price I could find with shipping. Gates kit. All the idlers and tensioner appeared to be OEM. Crank pulley was easy using the two 3/8" extensions in two of the four holes and a Gorilla pry bar 30" that I had around. It has a small 'blade' side that slipped in between the extensions but cleared the socket. This was a lot faster than removing the intercooler to get to the transmission plug. I've used the starter flick trick on another car in the past, so that was my backup plan, but this was great because I was able to retorque. BTW, the bolt only turned 45 degrees, and per the FSM I need a new one. I didn't have one on hand though, so I left it. I suppose I should get a new one from the dealer. I used the vice grip tip. It doesn't take much at all to hold them. Go light. And make sure you're prepared in case it slips (Watch the Meaty Sub timing belt change video) but it probably won't. I replace the tensioner and idlers. THis is easy. The tensioner had oil sitting on top, so it definitely needed replacing. I also replaced the water pump. This didn't seem worth it. I've done all the coolant changes on schedule. The pump seemed fine. The hoses where a bear to get off, and to put back together. Turns out I tore one (heater bypass) but I didn't know that until I had it all back together and was burping it. I used the gasket with the kit, cardboard. Torque was very unsatisfying and hard to judge if I had it right. It suggest 8.9 ftlbs. I want to almost 20 before I felt it was properly torqued. I think it would have felt better with the OEM metal gasket. The water pump took me almost as long as the timing belt. I followed the FSM recommendation to get the belt on, which made it easy. Leave the lowest passenger side idler off until you have everything lined up. Then put it on BUT make sure the bolt is going straight on to the block. I got my cross threaded for a thread or two, and thought that I was in DEEP. Went looking for a tap to clean up the threads (M10 1.25 pitch turns out) but couldn't find one. Went back and started just the bolt really carefully, and it went in with extra running torque. Made sure the idler was on straight the next time before starting the bolt. Felt weird going in (more running torque that I would have liked), but it torqued up just fine. I think I'm in the clear. The top left cam mark was ~ 1/2 a tooth off with the cover. It appeared that way before I took the old one one, I marked the old on, and verified all the marks on the gates. It was spot in. Lined all the marks on the new belt up with the cams and crank, everything looked good except that on. But there's no way it could have been right. Started up just fine. But as I mentioned the heater bypass hose had a tiny tear in it. Ended up with one from the local NAPA store on Monday. Everything else appears fine. Thanks everyone for the tips and writeups! Made it possible for me! ADD: Also there are not timing belt guides in the XT with auto transmission. That had me scratching my head, some some folks over at outback.org cleared it up. Only on manuals. Tom

Here's a tip from another thread for getting the old one loose: you can cut an old timing belt to make a strap. wrap one end around the cam sprocket about 1 1/2 times. clip with clotheshttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png pin or paper clip clamp, to help keep it from falling off. wrap belt around the crank gear to make a loop, pinch belt to its self and clamp with vise grips. the belt will be to long so just clamp it close to the crank so it stays tight. works great,, costs nothing http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/66-problems-maintenance/28266-removing-cam-sprocket.html Not fun, but seems possible. I'm doing it saturday and the local part dept at subaru is open until 5 pm, but I don't think they would let me borrow a cam wrench, that was very nice of your local shop!

Oh man! I'm about to do this this weekend. I was nervous about how much pressure I should put on there, and now I'm really nervous. I watched Meaty's video which shows how to line them up if you don't use the vice grip trick, which doesn't look that hard but I'll have to run out and get 2 x 10 mm hex bits. I guess I'll try with reasonably light pressure, and if it slips, I'll just do it the old fashion way rather than risk breaking the pulley which would take A LOT longer to recover from! Tom

In case anyone else checks this thread - I appear to have significantly reduced the occurance of this problem by seating the connect on the accelerator pedal assembly. I was looking for potential places were there could be a loose connection or frayed wire. I noticed that the plug had backed off a ways on the connector, so I pushed it back down. Was happening 2-3x per week before doing this. Hasn't happened since doing this, and its been about 4 weeks. I'm not saying I cured it for sure, only time will tell since it is intermittent. Tom

Thanks a million! Any suggestion on a good online source? Tom

Looking for part number for 2005 Outback XT accelerator pedal assembly (or just the position sensor if I can get just that, but rumor has it I need the whole assembly). Much Thanks! Tom

Do you have a part number for the pedal assembly? I was looking online but couldn't easily find the part...

has anyone got an update on this issue? My wife's car just started doing this, about 1x per week. Very annoying and dangerous. Since it's so intermittent, I can't get it to a repair shop before it clears and I worry diagnostic won't turn anything up and they will have to start throwing parts at it. It would be nice if others have found a solution... One new piece of info for me - it did it the other day while in cruise control so I can't see it's got anything to do with the pedal positioning sensor... Tom

Just finished changing the plugs on a 2005 XT outback. Thanks so much for this thread. Here are my few hints: 1. Battery and air filter box removal a must for my year 2. Remove the one 'button' that holds some type of fireproof matting on the fenders on both sides. The button is up toward the front. Just pry it off but don't rip the matting. It doesn't look like it will add much room, but it makes the world of different. They just rotate down and out of the way. 3. No need for 1/4" driver. I just used a regular wrench with a slight bend (offset wrench). A good collect of extensions pretty nice to have. 4. The swivel joint (universal, whatever) makes life much harder. No feel and it binds. I can't imagine trying to feel how tight the plugs are with that thing, and the binding wouldn't give good torque readings. A 2" extension with a 5/8 spark plug socket works perfect. Just pull the ratchet off before you back the plug out all the way or you can't anything out. 5. Passenger side rear was the hardest one for me 6. 180 deg twist didn't work for me, but I did have to twist them in all kinds of different ways to get them out. You have to unplug them! I was under the impression some people didn't unplug all of them. No idea how they can do this without unplugging them 7. anti seize compound on the new plugs makes threading them in by hand real nice and gives good feel for tightening them. 8. There is no feeling or click to putting the boot back on. They just slide on and that's that. I was nervous since I expected SOME feel to that... No issue with sliding on the boot. Just went on... I do think that this year must be easier than earlier years since it wasn't too bad. Not a lot of room, but enough. I am fairly mechanically inclined, have done spark plugs on a number of other vehicles (including Ford Ranger with 8 plugs for 4 cyl that are HARD compared to this) and was nervous about doing it. I shouldn't have been. Time = 2 1/2 hours

Just in case anyone else wants to do this, the proclip holder that works with the cable that jazzy sells is in fact the Neo prolink v3 style. The proclip holder does work with that cable. I haven't done the full install, but tested the holder and cable. Works like a charm. Holds the cable permanently, and you just dock and undock the ipod just like you would in a regular ipod docking station. Can't wait to do the full install this weekend! Tom

Subaru Outback XT 2005 I have the jazzy aux-in installed, and want a mounting solution for a 5th Gen video ipod. I'm planning on using jazzy's ipod cable for charging and lineout. I really want something that will let me leave the cable attached all the time, and just dock and undock the ipod. I think I found that in the proclip padded holder with tilt swivel for cable attachment item. The problem is that they are cable specific and I'm not sure which on the jazzy cable is. Squinting at the pictures, I believe it is a Neo prolink v3 style because of the arrow shown in both pictures. See bottom for picture from proclip. 1) Does anyone have any experience with this holder in a newer subaru. Does the mount interfere with the vent significantly? Left or right mount? Any suggests? 2) Is this the right cable style? 3) Other options? My one complaint is the price tag ($50 + $30 for the mount). Thanks! Tom From proclip : http://www.proclipusa.com/core/framework/scripts/image.asp?path=/media/images/products/devicecradle/840640cable.jpg&width=400&height=400