Panda

Yes well that is what is tickling my brain....if the belt snapped then it could definitely cause the camshaft to spin a bit funny......But I'm trying to think of a theory that could cause the cam sprocket to have resistance which caused the belt to snap.

Hey all, So the story goes like this, I was trying to help a mate out who had purchased an unroadworthy BR9 EJ255 legacy to fix up, WOF and sell. He is mechanically minded and repaired the vehicle to WOF standard however it was due for cambelt replacement and lacking Subaru experience he asked me to help him with this, having done about five EJ timing belt replacements over the last couple years I felt comfortable with this job. I was trying to help out and we were doing this the cheap way and I happened to have a spare used (was told its gates) timing kit with allegedly approximately 5,000km of use, Visually it seemed okay, no cracks and I could still see the installation timing marks on the belt, however I'm aware that this doesn't mean anything in terms of judging the condition of the belt........yes it was a used timing belt kit with no way to confirm its actual mileage or history. This belt came off one of my own vehicles and the backstory behind the kit doesn't really matter. I can assure you this will be the last time I install a used belt on an engine. Everything went smoothly, He proceeded to do at least 500 but probably not more than 1,000kms in the vehicle after this timing kit was installed (including some backyard autocross paddock bashing) and the engine was running beautifully as we expect. A couple months later we were both in the vehicle, pulling out merging onto a highway when he floored it and gave it a decent "squirt" onto the motorway, 30-120kph pull at WOT using all the engine RPM, important to mention the vehicle is a CVT so it just "shifted" whenever it liked. About 30 seconds after this pull at cruising speed (1700~rpm) the engine very abruptly died with no noises or other warnings.....the engine wouldn't turn over and the starter just clicked. first instincts was the old dodgey battery had s*** out while cruising as the car was showing signs of a flat battery. After a brief investigation I found a small hole in the timing cover behind the harmonic balancer which filled us both with dread. Our worst thoughts were confirmed later on when we found the timing belt had snapped and wrapped itself so tightly around the main crank pulley that it had "seized" the engine in place. The belt was wrapped unbelievably tight around the crank and was quite a mission to remove, I have a photo but file size it too large to upload. ...Thats how the story went. I still had the old timing belt so I decided its worth installing it to confirm the engine is kaput before buying a replacement engine..…All 4 idlers showed no sign of malfunction, the bearings were nice, smooth and silent. The water pump turned with no resistance. The tensioner was still dry and wasn't leaking oil. The back of the snapped belt was untouched and so it hadn't been running against any belt guides....all the teeth seemed to be intact and undamaged except where it had shredded and snapped. While installing the old belt back on I noticed the right hand exhaust sprocket (left hand looking from the front) was MUCH harder to turn than usual. the left hand cam sprockets had the locking tool on as normal and the right hand cam sprockets should both be completely free to spin by hand when timing the engine. However the R/H exhaust cam sprocket was noticeably harder to rotate by hand, not normal at all. It was possible to rotate it with one hand but it was difficult and had much more resistance than normal. My theory is that the piston punched a valve hard enough that it bent the camshaft slightly causing it to bind in the journals and not rotate as freely as it should, do you think this is plausible? As everyone expected after installing the old belt the engine had no compression and is now scrap. A replacement engine has been installed (With a fresh belt!) and I am yet to teardown the old engine to investigate. I did take the RH valve cover off to quickly peek at the camshaft and at first glance it seems perfectly normal, super clean, golden, no sludge. Now disregarding the fact I'm an negligent idiot for not installing a fresh OEM belt in the first place, we all live and learn and its a lesson for me.....I was wondering if anyone else could think of any mechanical failures that could possibly cause the belt to snap. Maybe something to do with that "stiff" camshaft sprocket....maybe its not due to the piston/valve contact. What about the AVCS system? can this play up somehow? The engine had 230,000kms. I am taking liability for this mishap but I couldn't help but wonder if there is any other explanation for the sudden breakage. The whole timing kit appeared to show no signs of age, no noisy idlers ect. if the belt had done over 100,000km then I would expect the cog idler to sound like a train! Got any stories or theory's for my peace of mind!, Much appreciated.

Hi all, So today I removed the oil galley bung above cylinder number 3 to install a temperature sensor into it. It took a huge amount of torque to crack the bung free (it had Loctite of some sort and it was red coloured!)....after removing the bung all the material from the thread sealant which had hardened and just crumbled fell right into the galley to make a home inside my EJ20Y. I haven't even cranked the engine over at all yet. How concerned should I be? Does anyone know where this galley leads to? Does it feed the camshafts and the rest of the top end? Thanks

Yea well....your right....but I'd prefer to keep my oil non-sparkly?

I don't see how the axles could come out either.....I was more concerned about the unknowns surrounding whether or not the circlips have seated in properly.....or if they have broken or had been pushed through into the centre of the diff ready to go for a ride through the gears.

Just thought I'd let you guys know that I have been in touch with 4 Subaru dealer technicians, two qualified mechanics and the Subaru tuning specialist to tunes my car. I have got a variety of different responses, the mechanics think the clips should NOT be left in the diff...the dealership technicians have contradicting opinions, some say they should be left in the diff, some say they shouldn't and one guy reckoned there shouldn't be any at all!?. The Subaru specialist was absolutely adament that the clips are supposed to be left in there (on a R180) and he had many colourful things to say about the dealership technicians as he thinks they should know better. Another thing I learnt is that the front axles ALWAYS has clips that come out the "normal" traditional way. My research told me that there are varying different varieties of Subaru diffs that use both methods (clips staying in is a bit rare and niche though I believe), therefore I decided that because they were both left in the diff it is more likely to be by design than by something going wrong....and the tuning workshop guy really convinced me as he deals with the older performance Subarus opposed to the dealership mostly doing new stuff.....and the qualified mechanics wouldn't be super familiar with niche Subaru things in particular. So I popped them back in with a tap of the heavy hammer....applied some pressure with a prybar to confirm they were locked in....they were......then I pulled them out and looked at the circlips to make sure they were still in the same position as I first saw them and hadn't sheared off or broken......I put them back in and repeated about 3 times until I felt comfortable about them. I haven't put oil back in or driven it yet ....but if anything goes wrong I'll be sure to post about it here! Also when I pryed to make sure they were locked in I noticed there was a bit of side to side play in axel when applying pressure to confirm the axles were locked into the diff.....probably about 2 or 3mm of movement? Is this normal? It made me a bit uneasy as I don't understand how it can have play if the circlips have locked it into the grooves? None the less the axles required quite a lot of pressure to pop them out so I assume they are locked in properly? Has anyone got an opinion about this? many thanks to all..... I'll be sure to let you know when I have a whining rear end and grey pastey, sparkly diff oil ?

Upon a bit of research I believe I have an R180 diff. Even pulled axles out of these in particular?

Yea okay that's a good thought. The Clips are MOST DEFINITELY still inside the diff. Looking through one axle hole I can see all the way through to the other side and there is definitely a clip on each side. They are still seated in their grooves.

Any idea on how I can confirm whether or not they should be in there? Because they are left behind it would be likely that they are supposed to right?

Hey all, I'm sure this has been asked before but I've been browsing the web and have been finding very conflicting information about whether the rear axles are supposed to have circlips on them, or whether the clips stay in the diff. On the weekend I dropped my whole entire rear subframe to replace the diff bushings on my 2006 Legacy GT. This of course included popping the axles out of the rear diff and removing the diff. I did the normal method of prying the axles out of the diff and they popped out without too much of a struggle, however I couldn't help but notice that there were no circlips on the ends of either of the axles. After not much investigating I did sure enough find that BOTH circlips have been left behind and are still sitting in the grooves in the diff! (Would like to upload photo but max upload size is only 200kB). I started getting really worried because axles on a front wheel drive Nissan I once pulled out came out with the circlips.... I read on some random forum that this is normal and that the axles will push back through the middle of the circlips when you reinstall.... I've ALSO read that this is not supposed to happen and that I must somehow fish the clips out, put them back on the axles and install the axles with the clips already on them! I've read that the rear axles leave the clips in the diff.....and the front axles come out with the clips? Can someone who has done this a few times please clear up my confusion and let me know whether ... A. Everything is fine, it's normal for the circlips to get left behind in the diff by design. To reinstall the axles they will simply click back in. Or B. Something has gone wrong, the circlips should be in the groove at the end of the axles when you remove it. I will have to somehow fish these clips out of the diff without them falling down the middle. Once I have them out of the diff I have to put them back in their grooves on the axles and then they are ready to be pushed back into the diff. Vehicle is a 2006 EJ20Y turbo legacy with the 6 speed manual. Any advice is greatly appreciated, many thanks for your time?.

Hi all. Doing a cambelt and wpump change tomorrow, found some old notes of mine that I just wanted to confirm with others that they are correct before I write them in my new "Subaru cheat book" of torque specs?. Can anyone help confirm that these torque specs for the EJ20Y (I assume all EJ's) are correct! Large cambelt idlers including the hydraulic tensioner - 39Nm The singular small cambelt idler - 25Nm waterpump - 12Nm, starting at the 2 O' clock bolt and moving clockwise. Do two 12Nm passes all the way around the six bolts. Thermostat housing - 12Nm main crank pulley (Harmonic balancer) - 44Nm followed by 45° (should equal approximately 130Nm) I also add a small amount of Loctite Blue to all idlers and the tensioners....what are your opinions about the Loctite Blue? Does anyone oppose my torque specs? many thanks everyone! ?

Just like you, this is meant to be a wee project for me....I already have another EZ Subaru to drive around and this is just my weekend car so I don't mind if it's off the road. ....what are the clearances you checked in regard to your oil pump? ....did the machine shop check your crank, crank journals, hardness test on blocks and heads, crack test pistons, check bores etc? ....or did they only do what you said, blocks cleaned and decked with a light hone? How much did your bill come to? I'm expecting the whole rebuild including parts and machine shop fees to come to a bit over two grand?

Very inciteful. Thank you very much for your advice. I am still keen to go ahead with a rebuild, reuse all parts except perhaps find a good set of used pistons. The local machine shop/EJ specialist (Tony Flynn) said it's worth throwing the pistons as far as you can and replacing them with used ones....even if they have known history. He said he seen denotation events cause damage to pistons that still pass the crack test. I think I will used OEM gaskets and seals (which I buy from machine shop) and a set of ACL duraglide bearings. I think your right. Local engine builder said the later EJs have a 12mm pump. He says it's a must upgrade for older engines....go to Subaru and get a OEM 12mm pump off a newer engine, they bolt right onto old EJs....they like $700 though.

Hi all, I'm looking at rebuilding my first ever engine. The engine is an EJ20Y from a 2007 legacy GT wagon with approx 180,000kms. The main reason for this rebuild is to replace all bearings and rings to breathe many more kms and reliability into this engine as i plan to tune it with light mods (decat, intake, fuel pump and boost solenoid). I'm really chasing longevity and reliability and not necessarily high power thus why I want new bearings as they will probably go within the next 50,000kms, my last EJ spun its guts at 220,000. Question time. Q1. What is everyone's opinions on whether or not it's worth upgrading rods/pistons with just the light stage 1+ mods. I don't want to break the bank on this one, its my first build and 50% of this job is just for my own knowledge and experience! Will I get any gains from upgrading the rods/pistons while I'm still only using the stock turbo and stock tiny BP/BL intercooler? Q2. I don't think I have the budget to upgrade both the rods and pistons so which of these two parts in a EJ20Y/X is the weakest and more in need of upgrading? What parts do you recommend? I was looking at these. https://www.possumbournemotorsport.com/k1-technologies-subaru-ej20-25-h-beam-connecting-r Q2 continued. its worth noting that the previous owner ran this car on 91 octane for a decent amount of time and it ran like s***. I should expect potential cracked pistons and damaged ring lands. even if they appear okay would you replace them due to the high stress they have been subjected to? Q4. What are some good factory replacement rods/pistons? should I consider some internals from a EJ207 or 257? Q5. What rebuild kit is best? should I go to the dealership and get a OEM rebuild kit? I'm quite interested in some decent ACL race series bearings. so I could get a OEM rebuild kit and use ACL race series bearings. what are everyone's thoughts? what have you had good experiences with? what about head gaskets lol? Q6. Is the factory oil pump sufficient? I've heard of many people upgrading to a 12mm oil pump? is this a good idea or is the factory one sufficient? will a aftermarket oil pump bother my AVCS solenoids? Q7. its important that all of this rebuild will work with the factory tune/ecu as I have to travel 450km to my tuner. lets say i installed lower comp pistons from another Subaru engine, would i be safe to baby the vehicle 450km? (Nelson to Christchurch) I'm preparing for my first ever build here so any opinions are much appreciated. Thanks for your time

Hey all. I couple odd electrical problems have popped up on my 04 BP5 JDM legacy. Firstly I recently I did some work on my legacy and had the battery disconnected. Ever since then the drivers door has gone floppy instead of having a heavy and mechanical clunk to it. The door doesn't open and the keyless entry has stopped worked. I believe this is the keyless entry system playing up. At one point the door still opened from the inside but now it doesn't open from the inside nor the outside. Cannot flick the locking latch over as it feels jammed. Perhaps once or twice out of the 10 times I go to drive my car the door will actually unlock and decide to co-operate, however the handle always remains floppy and the keyless entry has never worked since the problem first started. All other doors function normally. Now secondly, my interior fan has started making a loud clicking/rattly sound. The actual performance of the AC seems to be fine but it sounds like a airport starting up and its too loud to raise above the first fanspeed setting. Any ideas? Thanks all, any ideas or opinions are appreciated