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Having owned two Subaru's with one belt failing 'prematurely', I am curious when should it be done the second, third, fourth time around?
My first Subaru was back in college and it had 228k miles when purchased (I knew the previous two owners all highway miles). The belt had just been replaced for the third time, but broke after 48k miles (one side broke). However, the other side was just fine, and I would like to mention this is in Alaska and the day it broke was 25 below zero.
My second Subaru was sold with only 20k miles on the second belt, but the new owner gave me a puzzled look when I stated the belt should be good for another 20k miles.
How long should the second, third, etc. belts last? I miss my Subaru's immensely and seriously debating purchasing another, however, I don't want to buy a car that has 60k miles on the second belt and have to put in the shop right away. I would like to know it could drive cross country and beyond for a while without worrying too much.
Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MillerThyme
Having owned two Subaru's with one belt failing 'prematurely', I am curious when should it be done the second, third, fourth time around?
My first Subaru was back in college and it had 228k miles when purchased (I knew the previous two owners all highway miles). The belt had just been replaced for the third time, but broke after 48k miles (one side broke). However, the other side was just fine, and I would like to mention this is in Alaska and the day it broke was 25 below zero.
My second Subaru was sold with only 20k miles on the second belt, but the new owner gave me a puzzled look when I stated the belt should be good for another 20k miles.
How long should the second, third, etc. belts last? I miss my Subaru's immensely and seriously debating purchasing another, however, I don't want to buy a car that has 60k miles on the second belt and have to put in the shop right away. I would like to know it could drive cross country and beyond for a while without worrying too much.
Thanks!
My experience is that the quality of the belt, or bad luck, impacts how long they last. I have lots of friends who have never changed their timing belts in Subarus and Toyotas even after stratospheric miles on their cars. The ones that have have checked the old belt and it looks good as new. None have failed because of the belt. Water pumps, tensioners, and pulleys will most likely fail before a quality timing belt.
Put in a cheap one to save a couple of bucks and you are taking chances.
Before 1997, Subie engines were not "crash" engines, after 97, they were. Well, I am still running a 92.
At least on my legacy, it's just 3 bolts to get the inspection cover off where you can look at the timing belt.
Timing belts don't age on a per mile basis the way tires do. How much you use the lower gears, temperature extremes, hot soak after shutdown, all these affect the timing belt.
Agree with Stone that you should get an OEM or equivalent belt, this is not a part you want to cheap out on, particularly with the "crash" engines.
Agree with the above. If I had a interference engine, I would buy the best rated belts and then change them out about 5K miles before due. Beyond that you really have no control and getting a bad belt could just be a stroke of bad luck.
One thing you can do is inspect the belts every 5K or 6 months or so looking for signs of wear... But unless you pull the old belt regularly I am not sure you can see all the potential problems.
I'd also say that this is the reason I never buy a car with an interference engine. It's just bad engineering IMO.
Last edited by blktoptrvl; 12-01-2017 at 04:12 PM..
like others have said, it's all in the parts. I did a Gates kit in my WRX for the first change, but the water pump started leaking prematurely after about 50k. It's due again and I wont be buying a Gates. Most of their kits are chinese made, and the quality has declined. Looking at the Aisin kit which has higher quality parts and good reviews.
Are you talking timing belt or drive belts? I have never heard of a car having 2 timing belts. 2 drive belts yes but not 2 timing belts.
hes talking about the 2nd timing belt change, not two timing belts at the same time.
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