Thursday’s featured service is a 2002 Subaru Outback Timing Belt Replacement, brought to us from a client in Minoru, Richmond.
All Subaru four cylinder boxer engines use timing belts and all require replacement at a set interval. For the 2002 Subaru Outback this is at around the 160,000 kilometer mark.
This service interval is fairly long but common to most late 1990 and up cars. The previous generation of vehicles usually required timing belt replacement at 96,000 kilometers. Some cars needed them even more frequently. One of the worst was the 1.8 liter engined Subarus from the mid 1980s to early 1990s. While their recommended interval was 96,000 kilometers many of them broke at half this mileage. Fortunately on this engine no damage occurred however on the newer generation 2.5 liter engines, such as the one in our featured car, a broken timing belt will cause very expensive engine damage.
Proper timing belt replacement involves much more than just replacing the belt. It includes, in most cases, replacing the water pump, tensioner and idler pulleys, the hydraulic tension adjuster, camshaft and crankshaft oil seals and any related gaskets. Replacing all parts ensures that nothing fails prematurely and the new timing belt lasts for another 160,000 kilometers.
For more about the Subaru Outback click this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_Outback
For more about timing belts click here http://goo.gl/paJUQw
