Cambelt time.........
 

Guys and girls

It's time for a service and to change the cam belt. I'm wondering how difficult the cam belt change is to do at home, and whether I should be thinking of changing the waterpump at the same time ?? The car is a '96 UK model and has 93k on the clock.

I've only done one other cam belt before, on a four cylinder, but as a novice that only took me a couple of hours.

So far we've paid for servicing, but apart from getting the damn undertray off how difficult can it be ??

So do I change the belt on my driveway ?? Do I pay someone to do it with the service ?? Do I change the water pump as well, or "if it ain't broke don't mess with it" ??

What are your thoughts ??

Phil,
If you've done any timing belt before the SVX is a breeze...
So do it in your driveway.
I'd recommend going ahead and replacing the water pump, as it will only be about 10 extra 10mm bolts while you have the t-belt off.
Both of these things are pretty easy if you have any mechanical ability.

Just get the timing marks up before you take off the old belt.

Given that we have a non-interference engine, is there any reason not to wait until it breaks before replacing it? :rolleyes:

...not if you don't mind walking.:p

Opinions apparently differ on the non-interference issue, tho' I've not read of anyone here suffering valve damage upon having a timing belt break. (Then again, I've not gone looking for such news, either.)


dcb

The valves should never contact the piston. If both the intake and exhaust valves both opened at the same time that's another story (VERY unlikely).

That's what I've always thought, too, but I'm pretty sure some have insisted that this is an incorrect assumption. (Were I not so lazy, I'd do a search.)


dcb

It's true. There have been discussions regarding whether or not our engines are interference or not. It was concluded that the valves could touch each other but the valve would never hit the piston.

You will never find a thread here where someone has to replace a valve as a result of their SVX timing belt breaking.

The two cams in the EG33 head are tied together by a pair of gears, the Timing belt only turns the lower (exhaust) cam, which throught the gears turn the upper(intake) cam, so if the t-belt breaks, the valves CAN'T come in contact, as they stay in time with each other through the gears....the gears themselves would have to break to let the valve hit each other...

Why Subaru didn't use this design on thier other DOHC motors is beyond me:rolleyes:

Here ya go here is...
 

a good summary of the situation...

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...threadid=11429


Either way its not hard of a job at all just make sure you have the tensioner all the way over and down good or else it will keep moving and youll be thrown off by a mark or two...(This took me a couple of tries before realizing:confused: :rolleyes: )Dont worry if you pull the pin and it isn't right and you dont have a vice to push the pin back in just go to home depot in the tools department and use there vices they have there. Word of caution you are placing EXTREME pressure on the so make sure its in the vice properly. You'll see if when you have to compress the pin.

Finally..........
 

the cambelt arrived !! Don't ask, it's a long story............ but it did come from Subaru parts dot com via a colleague in the US, so at least the price was reasonable !!

So now I have to pluck up the courage to do the job (car now has nearly 103K miles........) Is there anything I *really* need to be aware of, be careful about, that is a real PITA when doing this ??

I'll be using a friend's fully equipped 'shop, so a two post lift, air tools and the blue-tipped hot knife / heat source will be available..............

1. How easy/difficult do I expect the crank pulley to be ??
2. Do I need to make some clamps to hold the cam gears in place when the belt is off ??
3. Do I need to get the cam gears off assuming the seals aren't leaking ??
4. This damn hydraulic tensioner needs to come off to compress it right ??
5. Anything caught anybody else out while doing this job, as it's the wife's main car it can't be incapacitated for too long............

Any help would be appreciated !!

Phil.

Crank pulley will be the hardest part of the job, but really if you've ever done a timing belt on anything...the SVX will be a breeze, as it's a very simple set-up...hard to mess up.

Just be patient when compressing the tensioner.

Probably because it's an expensive design.

IMHO you might consider...
 

...replacing the crank pulley/harmonic balancer at this time.

Although a little expensive it can wreak havoc on your belts and timing cover if (when?) it blows. Take it from me. Do a SEARCH on crank/harmonic balancer for more about this.

Re-sealing the oil pump, replacing the 9 yr. old crank & cam seals is also a good idea while you already have the front covers, etc. off. If you are seeing any leaks in these areas it is almost foolish not to do so. Also the little water pump hoses.

Sounds like I'm more than willing to spend your dough but if you get all the work done at once you s/b good to go for another decade, or so!

Cheers!

Any special tools or further teardown required to do the front crank and cam seals and oil pump seals?