Timing Belt

L

lynne78

Guest
Hi All,

On the way home on Friday night the timing belt broke :angry: on my STI. We were overtaking something, then next thing no power. We pulled over immediately and then arranged for the car to be towed home.

The belt was only changed by the previous owner in the UK about 10k ago, and I have had this confirmed by Carroll & Roche when it went for a service.

Anyone got any idea/experience of whether the engine will have survived? Before I head out and spend almost a grand for a new timing belt and tensioners etc, just wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else.

Pretty pissed off bout this, as car is in great nick and has never been driven really hard.

Right now not sure if it's worth fixing or am I better off trying to sell it on as is?

If you guys think it might be worth trying to fix, any suggestions of where to go to have the work done?

Thanks,

Lynne
 
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it could well be goosed...

Only way of finding out how bad it is is to open the block and inspect.

How long was the engine running for after it snapped?
 
Sorry to hear that, Id say there's a good chance of bent valves too.
 
sorry to hear about that i feel sorry for you, :( i cant make out how the belt came off as it was fitted as you said. that usually happens if the belt was never changed :)
 
Thanks all,

We stopped less than 10 secs after we lost power.

The belt was changed, but a local machine reckons that the tensioners were never changed and this is why it happened.

Thanks for the imput, still not sure what I'm going to do. Don't really fancy paying for an engine rebuild, but on the other hand the rest of the car is very straight and I do love to drive it.

I'll keep you posted on what I decide.
 
should look into getting a 2.5 bottom end..its costly but if you weigh it up against how much your going to sell a damaged sti for it could be worth it..make you car a lot quicker as well with the right turbo and a remapp
 
I wouldent go to all that trouble and not change it. Everytime I have the belt done it gets a new tensioner even if it looks ok.

As Dagnut said a 2.5 or even a new JDM STI 2.0 Litre block, No point re building anymore as you can have a much better bottom end and probably cheaper then rebuilding in most cases. Plus it takes much longer. The ej257 you can get nice increase in midrange torque and drivability. There also a Subaru factory assembled with no history and no miles.
 
Thanks again for all the tips.

Any idea of the price of the 2.5 block? Or as Renno said a new JDM STI 2.0 block?

Sorry if it's a stupid question, but what's the ej257?

Thanks,
Lynne
 
Hey Lynne,

Same this happened to a mate of mine in a Fiesta, we originally thought the belt had snapped but when we opened it up it was the tensioner that perished. Had a new timing belt ready to go in as well!

The engine was a goner though, I don't think there is much chance of salvage after that happens :doh:

As the other guys have said though, you can get a new and better block cheap enough, plenty of guys here do them or you can try www.Litchfieldimports.co.uk and get a brand new spec C engine for £3k exVAT

EJ25 is a 2.5 litre, EJ20 is a 2litre, the spec C engine is Subaru's top of the range EJ20

Hope it all works out, good luck with it! :thumbsup:
 
3k sterling ex VAT is way to much for what it is IMO.

I dont think ive heard of a subaru belt snap before, there quite long and normally stretch and make noise before totally snapping.
 
Well Renno, believe me it did snap. There was no warning, no strange sounds before it happened, just drop power and that was that. I've mailed Street performance about the 2.5 conversion, so I'll keep that in mind depending on the price.

Thanks for the tip.
 
[quote author=lynne78 link=topic=5193.msg57774#msg57774 date=1201523658]
I've mailed Street performance about the 2.5 conversion, so I'll keep that in mind depending on the price.

Thanks for the tip.

[/quote]

Lynne, Renno is Street Performance :thumbsup:
 
Sorta figured that, so I've PM'd him.

Thanks - I'm still figuring out who is who as I only joined the week before the car crapped out.
 
if its goin to cost ya a small fortune try goin through yr insurance company maybe :dunno: :dunno:
 
it really depends..

could easily get away with engine out and replacing heads or sorting out ones you have........

when heads are off we can inspect if the bent valves touched the piston..

with way you describe above its hard to say without inspection.....
 
Put a belt on, and turn the engine over by hand first. If it seem's ok, do a cylinder leakage test. If that turns out ok, then your laughing. Chance's are you have bent valves, but it's worth a try.

John
 
:ponder: :ponder: :ponder:

where do ya stand with the belt going at 10k, do you have proof that it was changed and maybe go back to that garage :dunno:

:thumbsup:
 
Warranty is always difficult with performance cars. You would have to acertain exactly why the belt broke, was it replaced, was it fitted correctly, was any tensioner/idler not in good condition.

John
 
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