drewk2

^THIS!

 

Boy does it suck on the drivers side. The one closest to the grill wasn't terrible, took me some time to get the rotation on the coil right, so it would slide right out. But that rear drivers side, what a pain.

 

First off, the walkthroughs I had seen made no mention of that air pump hose. Not sure if it was new on the later models, but there was next to no way for me to get my fingers down there to do anything. Couldn't see or get a socket on that rear coil. And as far as disconnecting the air pump hose, I couldn't even get close to reaching the rear most clamp on that hose to disconnect it. I thought about just spraying a little power lube and try twisting it off, but cringed at the thought of getting it back on.

 

 

So what I did was take the bolts off the air pump itself, then disconnect the forward most clamp on that air hose (there is a bolt to remove, holding the hose to the motor as well). Doing that, there was enough play between the two, to wiggle the front of the hose free from the pump. (I really couldn’t figure out how to get the pump free of the shield over the front of it and just get it out of the way entirely, so the pump stayed in place). Once the hose was free, its flexible enough at the back end to just lift hose up and out of the way. This gave me just enough room to see the rear coil.

 

Used a swivel socket to get the coil bolt loose, but then I didn’t have a chance at getting the coil off. I could get my fingers on it, but the back of my hand was against the frame and I couldn’t pull it at all. I spent probably an hour between actually getting to the coil bolt and then trying to get it free. Wasn’t until my wife came down asking what was taking so long, had her use her tiny hands and pop it free. Similar to the forward coil, took me some fooling around before I spun it correctly to lift free between the head and frame.

 

Getting the plug wasn’t too bad, used a swivel spark plug socket and extension. Just makes me a little uncomfortable torqueing that thing free at an angle. And the same goes for threading the new one back in. Took me a little while before it actually started threading in. Had to the swivel socket and extension again. Just couldn’t fit my hand down there.

Thankfully it’ll be a couple years before I have to do it again.

Best bet, get a girlfriend with tiny hands for the week. It'll make the job a lot less miserable.

Post #595 would have saved you a lot of work.

Mobil 1? No difference between filters????? :eek:

 

 

Subaru filter has a 23PSI relief spring for a reason. Flows certain GPM for a reason. $.50 STP filter can't possibly meet those specs. Subaru Filter is like $6. Why would you buy something else?

Who makes the oil filters for Subaru?

Replaced mine as part of 60K maintenance. Went from 19 miles per gallon (MPG) on the highway to 27 MPG..... YIKES! Shoulda replaced them 5K miles ago....

WOW, around a 35% increase in gas mileage. I wonder if anyone else has gotten a near 35% increase in gas mileage after their 60k maintenance...

 

Also, since you're new to the forum, I'll tell you that it's been my experience that people here tend to understate the amount of time it takes to complete a task - either that or I'm just a pisspoor mechanic (which I'd tend to doubt, as I'm an engineer and have been working on my own car for almost 40 years). I don't think people are trying to mislead, I think they're just saying "well, that's how long it SHOULD have taken me, if I wasn't drinking a beer or arguing with my girlfriend, or didn't do this or that stupid thing"; but, all those things are facts of life. It's a normal effect, one I see in my engineering work all the time.

I agree with you 100%.

I hate to be discouraging, but my previous Subaru was a 97 (an Outback wagon, but I imagine the engine config is the same), and changing the plugs on it was absolutely horrific. Every single extension I had (and some I purchased for this job), feeding the extensions into the plug holes with my fingers before being able to snap them together, etc. The problem is just that the plug holes are perfectly aligned with frame members, so there's literally only maybe 2" of clearance on some of the plugs.

 

I wonder if you can jack up the engine a few inches (like I did on my 2005 LGT as shown in post #595)?

I was watching the Meaty video and he mentions that he doesn't like the Gates t-belt. Is that a common opinion? If so, what's everybody using as a good replacement belt?

Would you trust someone called "Meaty" over actual engineers when it comes to a timing belt?

Hey I am in the middle of a timing belt replacement and after removing the old timing belt my cam pulleys on the driver side have shifted and are out of line now. I have since read that it is good to put vice grips on these to keep them in place before removing but I am past that now and was wondering if anyone knew the best way to get these pulleys back in line and keep them there? Any help or suggestions is appreciated.

Luckily, I have VERY strong hands and wrists and turned them back to the center and held them while my friend installed the vise grips.

I'm going to do mine myself, I think. It doesn't difficult at all to be honest, its just a lot of steps.

Good luck.

Let us know how it goes....

Yea I did notice that it is a little easier with two people to help hold the belt and I'll have to try what you were saying thanks man hopefully this works

Have you ever done one of these timing belts before?

If not, I can't believe you had the cajones to attempt this by yourself without having someone experienced with you.

More power to you!

Leeloo Dallas Multiquote for printing...

 

 

Thanks for all the tips everyone, I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm a little offended that none of my tips were included....

I tried to do this today, but the guy at AutoZone gave me plugs for a Nissan 300ZX ... Idiot.

Bring them back to them, have them get the correct plugs, and then tell them to change them out in their parking lot.

I would love to see their reaction if they accepted the job, not knowing how difficult it can be.

I'm having a problem doing my timing belt. i can not get the crank pulley bolt to budge. i have tried the 2 3/8s extensions in the holes with a pry par, and snapped a pry bar. i have tried brakes + 5th gear, and it feels like im making my clutch slip. i get a good 120 degrees or so loosening it up and then it feels like clutch is slipping and there's a creeking noise (car did not budge though). i have also tried the dreaded starter bump method and it keeps stalling my starter out, and now i think my starter is fried. i can not get this bolt to budge. i've done all except take the inter cooler off and try a pry bar in my flywheel teeth, and i'm afraid to. afraid to crack bell housing because of how tight this seems to be on.

 

any advice??

We used an air impact-wrench to get mine off. It barely fit between the pulley and radiator, but it worked.

Will do. Had it off the motor mounts a few weeks ago, and was all ready to pull the plugs, but decided I didn't have time for any "glitches" in the time schedule, so I've deferred until now. It was then that the idea of a thin-framed ratchet with a stubby wobble joint would work better than a u-joint, extension and a ratchet. We will see.

Or, you can check out my post #595. Others have done this too.

Jack up the motor a few inches, and with normal tools the job is easy.

Yes I have the receipt from the local Subaru dealership. I do see they "replaced timing belt, installed new cam belt w/replacement of short block".

 

So should I still change the timing belt since it has been a bit over 60K miles & running stage II or wait? By the way I'm running 17.5 lbs psi...

I would wait till 100k.

Dude... no doubt that the driver's side rear was a real PITA. I beat my hands to hamburger trying to get it all back in and then had a realization. It took about 10 mins to take off the bottom plastic pieces and loosen the LH engine mount. 30 seconds later I had it jacked up a few inches and HOLY COW it went in like butter.

 

I highly recommend that when you do this install that you considers just loosening those darn engine mounts and jack it up a few inches. 10 minutes of extra work up front will save you 45 mins in the long-run. I'm just saying...makes all the difference in the world!

You mean like how I did in post #595?

anyone? did i even stump the techs?

My advice is to definitely have a friend (preferably mechanically inclined) to help.

Believe me, two pairs of eyes are better than one when it comes to making sure everything is aligned and correct.

More than 2 hands are helpful too in some of the steps needed.

This would appear to be easier with everything apart. I had planned to wait and do mine when I upgrade my turbo, UP, etc. But I've lost so much power in the past few months I'm thinking I should not wait and do the plugs sooner than I'll likely get to them if I wait. How much else would need to be disconnected if all I was doing was jacking the engine to make plug access easier?

My mechanic friend is more of the expert, but he thought you could remove the motor mount bolts and jack up the engine slowly without removal of anything else. We slowly jacked up the driver side first at an angle, changed the driver side plugs, slowly lowered the jack....then moved the jack slightly under the passenger side and slowly jacked up the passenger side and did those plugs.

You definitely want to have another person for an extra set of eyes on everything when you are jacking it up to make sure you don't harm any hoses or electrical connections.

Me and my mechanic friend done my timing belt/water pump, accessory belts, and spark plugs this past weekend. I used the Gates timing belt kit complete with water pump.

Some thoughts:

--2 people make this job much easier. I don't know how 1 person does it.

--we removed the whole radiator/fan assembly to give us plenty of room.

--with the extra room, his impact gun fit over the harmonic balancer nut to remove it. Be careful it doesn't back off too quickly or your impact gun will collide back into your condenser radiator.

--another thought.....my mechanic thought there is a way to hold the flywheel still by removing a small rubber plug that is just under the intercooler on the passenger side and putting a large prybar/flathead screwdriver down that hole while removing the harmonic balancer nut. Anyone know if this is true?

--the vise grip trick to hold the driver side gears together is an awesome help.

The only issue I had after the completed job was we forgot to put the rubber washer/gasket on the radiator drain plug before screwing it in. Now we can't find it and it drips antifreeze about 2 ounces per day. I am having a hard time finding a replacement radiator drain plug or just the rubber washer/gasket.

Anyone know where I can get a replacement?

Changed my timing belt, water pump, idlers, ac belt, ps and alternator belt, and spark plugs this weekend.

To make it easy to change the spark plugs, my mechanic buddy came up with an idea that may or may not have been mentioned yet. Please note that we had the air box removed, the battery removed, and the radiator/air fan assembly already removed to do the timing belt. Not sure if you really need to remove all this if you were only going to change the plugs only.

With the car already on ramps, he got under the car, removed the motor mount bolts, and jacked up the motor gently about 2 inches. This gave us all the room we needed to remove the coil packs and plugs, and to re-install. See the attached pictures showing the passenger side with the rear coil pack already removed.