Timimg Belt
 

Has any one had a timing belt (SVX) break while the car was running? What happened?

Uh...the car quits running?

Hi, John -

The previous post is correct - the car stops. The real question is why did it break?

If it broke from age, you probably won't have much trouble except for the inconvenience of having the car towed, as the engine is a "non-interference" type, i.e. there is enough clearance so that the pistons do not hit the valves. (As an aside, my mother had a belt on her Hoda Civic break - and that engine was NOT a non-interference type. Ended up scrapping the car as the cost to repair was too much)

Now if the belt broke because the water pump froze or other such happening, then you have a little bigger problem. Still not insurmountable.

Mine hasn't broken yet. It is over due for the change and I was letting it go until the spring. I want to change the water pump,oil pump and main pulley when I do the belt.

I was wondering if anyone had the belt break and knew how many miles were on the belt when it broke. The mnual says to change it every 60K miles. If mine was changed at 60K by a previous owner, then I got about 75k on the belt in the car now.

Yes Beav I know the car will stop. Does the belt ever do any other damage when it breaks?

I've yet to see a t-belt do any damage to any car. Why change the oil pump? Just because it's there is no reason. Ditto for the main pulley, some have a problem, others never do. The water pump is normally done because they normally do begin to leak eventually, and they're relatively inexpensive. Plus everything that you do to change the belt is req'd to change the water pump.

Beav

p.s.
 

If I were going to do anything extra while changing the belt it would be the cam and crank seals.

Beav

There have been posts on the Yahoo site that the California belt and the belt in the rest of the states are the same part number, and that Calif requires by law that the timing belt be good for 100,000 miles. I haven't tried to confirm that, but I think you are safe for a while.

John had his timing belt break on the freeway. Apparantly, it wrapped around the sprockets and idlers so tight that they were damaged.

He hasen't been in lately, otherwise I'd let him answer for himself.

BTW: I changed my original timing belt at 211,000 miles and it was in perfect shape.

Doug

Whether or not they require it to last 100,000 miles doesn't mean it will actually last that long. They just want someone to pay for it when it does break, kind of a silly-assed thing if you ask me. It just means the OEM is going to jack up the price of all the cars to cover the cost of replacement. I'd rather buy the belt and install it myself than to pay interest on it for five years and have it go bad at 101,000 miles.

211,000 miles is good, but not everyone wants to risk sitting on the side of the damn road freezing their butt off in a blizzard because they were too (insert your favorite term of negligence here) to perform preventitive maintenance. Thank goodness you weren't trying to race one of the kids to the hospital for anything serious. It's funny how the best cars in the world instantly become pieces-o-crap when they break on the side of the road. BTW - you can't tell if the belt is actually perfect just by looking at it, it's strength lies in the condition of the cords inside of the rubber.

"And that's all I have to say about that." - Forrest Gump

Beav

would a bad timing belt affect the transmission or ignition in any way?

Not that you'd ever know - when the belt is bad the car won't run. The only purpose the t-belt serves is to transmit power from the crankshaft to the camshafts. Along the way it also supplies the power to spin the oil and water pumps. If by some rare occurence the belt frayed and caught on whatever and snagged the cam or crank sensors they could be damaged. However, you still wouldn't know it because the engine wouldn't run at that point.

Beav

Beav,

I'm sorry if I hit a nerve. I'm not promoting skipping any scheduled service. I'm simply saying that's how long mine lasted. I know exactly what it feels like to sit at the side of the road with a dead SVX. In 1994-95 I had my transmission rebuilt 11 times over year or two period. That was long before the Yahoo board and before Subaru was offering factory rebuilts. I can't count on one hand the number of times I waited for a flatbed because It wouldn't have enough tranny grip to leave the stop light.

I don't consider the SVX a reliable car. I don't use it as a reliable car, and I would never drive anyone to the hospital in an emergency in ANY car. That's why we have ambulances with lights and sirens.

Doug

Doug. Are you talking about Poelman? Has this been recently? Do I need to send him a sympathy card? DAMN! I hate that!

That's who I'm talking about. This was a year or two ago that happened. He's been real busy at work. That's why he hasn't been here lately.

Doug

PHEW! That's a relief. :D