Broken Timing Belt 96 Legacy L Wagon HELP!!

[riverrambler]

I broke the timing belt on my 96 Legacy 2.2 L wagon wit 219,000 on it last night. Had it towed to a mechanic he said that the timing belt was broken and he didn't think it damaged any other parts of the engine. I asked about bent valves and he said he didn't think so. When it died on me I was going 70mph and it just had total power loss and died, it didn't bang around or make any weird noises. He quoted me $250 to replace the timing belt, $350 to replace the timing belt and water pump, and $579 to replace the timing belt with a kit that also replaces all the pulleys ect.. and the water pump. It seems like a good idea to replace the water pump too? I'm tempted to just go the $250 rout? You guy obviously know a lot more about subarus than I do and any thoughts and info on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

[02_Legacy]

I believe 2.2's are non-interference engines so no valves should be bent. (someone else will have to confirm this though) However I recommend going full out and doing the pulley's also. If that belt was on there long enough that it broke then those pulleys have been there the same length of time and they do go bad. Maybe if you are looking to save a couple bucks ask around and get a couple quotes.

[riverrambler]

I was hoping I wouldn't hear that, but knew it was coming. 600 sounds so much worse that 250, my motor leaks oil pretty bad and it gets on the exhaust and smokes and stinks like oil and my back right strut makes a lot of noise, but I've been rollin on it for 60,000 miles. just tryin to figure out what makes the most economic sense and I'm not conviced that my car is worth putting a lot of money into. It does seem to run great though with oil changes every 3000 miles and it has been an amazing car and I feel like she's got more roads to travel. Its not your time to go subbie stay away from the light lol...

[hansvonaxion]

It's common to replace the water pump at the same time as the timing belt, I would definitely do that but I wouldn't bother with the pulleys after what you've just told us about your car.

[riverrambler]

Thanks man, thats what I was feelin too.

[subie/legacy]

You could buy the parts and do the job yourself. I change the oil pump, and belt on my Subie for the first time a couple years ago. It really isn't to hard. Be sure to have the right torque specs for each bolt. A few people here have fsm that you can download for reference.
I don't remember prices, but you should be able to get everything, plus o ring for oil pump and valve cover gaskets to help with oil leaks. Just a thought

[Dead91silvia]

Do everything...

I had my water pump fail and it took out my 12K OEM T-belt... Not cool... Also, do the bearings, they can fail and do bad things also.

$579 is a good price! Just make sure he installs a "New" water pump, not rebuilt. I never install rebuild ones on mine or my customer cars.

[GTDrifter]

I bought a friends 98 legacy that broke the timing belt, just put a new one on and it has been running perfectly fine ever since.

[hansvonaxion]

Here in Japan I was told it would cost about $1000 or more for tbelt and wpump. So it could be worse.

[GTDrifter]

I say just get a waterpump from junkyard, new timing belt, and install yourself...it'll cost maybe $75 total

[02_Legacy]

well considering everything that you stated, and the fact that you have a non-interference engine maybe it would be ok to go the cheap route. But, just remember its like playing Russian roulette. The water pump and idler wheels could last a few years, or they could last a couple months.

[riverrambler]

Thanks for the response, It is getting a new timing belt, water pump, and all of the pulleys and bearings replaced right now for $540. I was just gonna do the timing belt and water pump, but when he got into it he noticed that there was a bearing that was bad so were replacing all of the pulleys and bearings now. I've been wondering how hard is it to replace the seals that leak oil, i think from around the oil pump?

[Dead91silvia]

Remove the 2 cam gears and the crank sprocket and the seals are right there... It's worth doing those also. Cam seals leak all the time and the front mains do over time. I just did all of mine this week.

Parts cost should only be about $30-40 at max for Felpro...