broken cam/timing belt. help?

[dann]

hey guys,

so today i drove down the highway doing like 72ish, and out of nowhere it began to feel like i was running out of gas, running really rough, then started to squeal like i had a belt loose. so i pulled over on the side and suddenly there was a shot gun blast and smoke pouring out of the hood. :smt013 then the engine sputtered and died. all this happened within a couple of seconds. so i popped the hood when the smoke was gone. the carnage was unreal, the timing cover on the passenger side was in blown all over the place in pieces, and the cam gear on that side was shattered. i found the timing belt, in very small shreds...

just trying to figure out what caused this and is it really worth fixing, could this have possibly have been caused by the cam shaft seizing up? or by the timing belt/ cam gear just failing? also trying to figure out if there was any internal engine damage caused by this. i have a 1999 legacy 30th anniversary L with the phase 2 SOHC 2.2 motor. not sure if its an interference engine or not. it only has 99k on it and its dead. :smt010

thanks for any help-

[mike-tracy]

Sorry to say it's an interference engine. You can try to put on a new timing belt and see if it fires up. But if you do need headwork, it might be cheaper to just source another used engine - and put on a fresh belt.

[lord flashheart]

mike tracy knows whats up. but if you do put a new belt on it just make sure you had turn it to see if it binds up. if it doesnt than your clear for lift off. if it does bind just start shopping online for a motor.

on a side note, im out of a job now so i was thinking of buying junk yard engines and rebuilding them and selling them. i figure if i turn out one a week, spend 200 on the engine 300 on the rebuild kit and sell it for 1000 bucks thats 500 bucks a week.

[green97gt]

Until you buy a motor to fix and find it has a crack or scored crank or something.


But yes. Sounds like your timing belt slipped, valve contacted piston, pully stoped turning, motor didn't, pully shattered.

[dann]

thanks for all the quick replys!

so when you say turn it to see if it binds, do you mean the cam shaft or the crank shaft? probly cam shaft?
so it is an interference engine? does that mean that both heads could have valve damage? (left and right sides?)

oh boy... this sucks. its my only car... time for an '05 LGT?

again, thanks!

[green97gt]

you could have one bent/broken valve, several, or holes in the pistons. the only way to know for sure would be to do a leakdown test. This would require the cams and crank being in time.

What he means by turn it by hand is replace the cam pully and timing belt and use a 22mm socket on the crank pully, turn it by hand and see if it binds, if not you may have dodged the bullet, but may have bent or chipped a valve and not have compression.

That's why timing belts are so important on interference motors.

[lord flashheart]

well put green97gt.
but just so u know subarus aren't all that difficult to change engines in.
if you decide to go that direction let us know and we can give some good tips.

[green97gt]

I would easily swap a Subaru motor or trans than do the HGs

[lord flashheart]

I would easily swap a Subaru motor or trans than do the HGs
you lost me lol

[green97gt]

yeah, that didnt make alot of sense.

i was trying to say i would much rather swap a motor that to the headgaskets.

[lord flashheart]

Oh I agree, Subaru engines just slide right in.

[dann]

i agree on the swap. i was talking with my mechanic and he seems to think that maybe that a idler pully went bad (because of the mad squealing) but still that does not explain why the cam gear would shatter... any ways i got a couple of quotes for a new engine (used), the cheapest being $1200.00 exact make model and year. didn't give me the mileage though.

[lord flashheart]

i looked on ksl.com (utah local classifieds) and i found a couple engines on there but this one is defenitly worth checking out
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad ... at=&lpid=1 (http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=9499425&cat=&lpid=1)

[green97gt]

^CHEAP!

[mrpyb]

i looked on ksl.com (utah local classifieds) and i found a couple engines on there but this one is defenitly worth checking out
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad ... at=&lpid=1 (http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=9499425&cat=&lpid=1)
except this a 2.2.......from an outback?? haha outbacks are only 2.5.

when my camshaft sprocket shattered last year all 16 of my valves were bent! not cheap but I did all the work in my garage and just sent the heads away to be refinished/new valves and with new HG's it was around $800. good luck man!

[jey]

95 Outbacks have the 2.2 and the 96 Outback with the manual transmission has the 2.2.

[dann]

thanks guys!

well probably whats going to happen is it will become my new project car (don't have the time or the place to work on it as of now), and ill find a newer legacy for my daily driver. :smt023

[decke48]

the only thing i could think of how the cam gear broke. is if a idler lost bearings and got stuck between belt and gear. the plastic cam gear dont do well understress and crack easy. or the cam stopped rotating, or something broke threw the cover and broke the gear.

[dann]

i heard of this once, but i was thinking of a wrx 2.0 setup for a new engine with my stock AT transmission. anyone try this? care to comment? i mean its probably kinda stupid unless later on down the road you are planing to do the swap on the transmission... AT's kinda limit your driving potential...