[McTaff]

Originally Posted by pylon500

For those that are interested, with most (if not all) Subaru engines, if you lose a cam belt, it does not automatically destroy the engine like most other cars.
It just stops.
Interestingly enough, if your belt jumps a tooth or so, it will actually keep running!
I discovered this in my haste to reassemble my engine and not noticing that my belt had moved THREE teeth on one side, and FOUR on the other, yet it actually started!!

The 'floppy' belt does go away after the engine heats up, but I'm still autious.
I guess I'll have a better idea by the end of the week.

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General info on the subject for people: The SVX has recessed valves, which means even if the exhaust or inlet valves are at 'maximum open' and the belt stops/jumps/is lost, the cylinder head can come up to TDC and still be clear of the valve... even at hotter than normal temps.

Most cars do not have this feature. A slipped or lost cam belt usually resulted with the cylinder head flying up the cylinder at high speed and meeting a set of valves in the open position (trumpet heads down inside the cylinder).

This results in an impact of a stationary body with another with an extremely high inertia and kenetic energy value. This can result in some spectactular (read: catastrophic) engine failures. Bent or broken valves, rocker covers forcibly removed by the shock, damaged cylinder heads or even rarer (even though it is pretty awesome) a broken con-rod exiting the side of the cylinder at high speed. These usually result in total engine replacement, or complete and brutally expensive overhauls.

Another one of the reasons why the boys at FHI get my vote.
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You are right, the engine will still run if you have 'jumped' teeth, but I'd like to know how badly it will run - and if the EMS knows something is up? Or will it refuse to start?

So what exactly happened when you fired it up?