I just bought a '94 Legacy AWD in non-running condition. I found the toothed idler for the timing belt had failed. I changed all of the idlers and the belt. The belt had timing marks on it and the marks matched the info I found at endwrench.com. 44 teeth from passenger side cam mark to crank mark, 40.5 teeth from crank mark to driver side cam mark. I put it all back together and it still won't start. I have 170 psi on 1, 150 psi on 2, 155 on 3, and #4 I had up to 150, but it took about 6 compressions. Not sure that the connector was on tight enough on that #4 cylinder, as I can't get a wrench on to tighten it. I have spark. I smell gas after cranking. Cylinder 1 at TDC has the crank pulley timing mark close to 0.
I can't use my OBD-II connector on it. I connected the black pair of test plugs and get a steady, constant blink on the check engine light. I connected the green pair and the fans ran, relays clicked, etc in a continuous cycle.
Oh, by the way, it has something like 228,000 on it.
I verified that I used the correct timing mark on the cams, not the piston position mark. Any other ideas, anyone? Does the steady blink in read mode indicate no problems detected by the ECU? The spark plugs look bad, but it seems strange that it was running until the timing idler failed, and now won't start at all.
if I remember correctly there's a couple places where you can point the marks on the cams to line them up, one is right and one is wrong, same for the crank; I think there's a notch and a dot on the sprocket but I can't recall.
it's been about two years since I've looked at mine.
make sure the crank sensor and cam sensors aren't mangled, if the pulley failed there's no telling what could have gone with it.
edit: also don't read too much into those compression numbers until you get the engine warm, if it's been setting for an extended duration then the compression numbers will be out of wack due to oil drainage and such.
I found the problem! I found a reference on another site about two timing marks on the crank also, not just the cams. Tore it apart, fixed the alignment, she starts right up. Thanks, scuzzy for your post. The correct mark on the crank is behind the belt on the sprocket for the crank position sensor. The endwrench.com article does have it correct.
I litereally exploded my intake by using the wrong crank mark. The MAF tube was the weak point and it cracked open. Nothing a little super glue and epoxy couldnt fix
