Subaru dealership experience

[Scdevon]

Every roller pulley that touches the timing belt should be replaced with Japanese made parts including the water pump and a Japanese made timing belt should be used or Gates brand. Age doesn't seem to affect timing belts much in my experience like mileage does. It's probably a good idea to replace the belt a little early due to age, but the reality is that the belt would probably go to 100,000 miles ok as long as your water pump stays good.

 

[TurboFiat124]

Originally Posted By: Hootbro
You sound like the kind of guy that does not do maintenance until catastrophic failure has occurred.

Besides the tires and wipers, everything else the dealership recommended was withing reason. Bring in a 14 year old vehicle that has not been inspected, I would expect a litany list of things needing to be done. That dealership was not out of line.


Gosh so many replies! But to answer this one. No, I'm not one of those people who only replace things during a catastrophic failure. Very seldom do I have one of my cars breakdown on the side of the road because I know a part is bad and I'm pushing my luck. I inspect my cars regularly but if something doesn't look worn, I'm not going to replace it just for the heck of it.

What if?

Well what if the ECU decides to die? There's no way of preventing that or knowing if or when it's going to occur.

However it seems to dealership suggested replacing everything on the whole car. Why not just trade it in on a new car then?

A good example are fluids and motor oil.

I still can't get it until my head that motor oil has to be changed every 6 months regardless of mileage. I have some cars that I may put only 500 miles a year on, I'm not going to change the oil every 6 months on them. Maybe once a year.

I probably will go ahead and replace the timing belt before winter myself since this is an interference engine and new tires and the battery.

They did not tell the the thickness of the brake pad media. My assumption is when the squealers kick in, I've got within 50 miles of having to replace the pads which I can do myself.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: TheBeaz
If you do the timing belt yourself, make sure you get a good quality timing kit made in Japan or America that in addition to a new water pump, includes new idler and roller pulleys. On Subaru's it's critical that those pulleys get replaced every time a timing belt replacement is done because those pulleys often go bad before the belt and could take out your engine.



You can also do the Gates kit WITHOUT the water pump - the belt is made in the US but the idler/tensioners are from the OEM suppliers. Use the OEM Subaru pump or the Aisin one if you have a manual transmission model - same thing, Aisin doesn't rebox the automatic version. Do use Loctite 242/243 on the tensioner bolts, install the idler pulley last. The Gates kit also includes a small tube of it.

While you have the timing belt off, it's not a bad idea to take off the oil pump, check to see if the pump rotor screws aren't loose and reseal the 2 galley plugs on the bottom with RTV or anaerobic thread sealant and the pump-to-engine flanges, it's a common leak point on the EJ engines besides the oil separator plate in the back. Loctite 518 is preferred since it won't break off and plug an oil gallery if you use too much. You can use RTV, but in the thinnest bead possible.