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Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 1:24 am
by volny
Hi there,
My timing belt broke going through the mountains. Mechanic says at least 800$ to replace it if fixable...The car has 250k miles (92 wagon), an oil leak few boots to replace, bushings to tighten up, and a cross-threaded spark plug. I bought the car for $1000 originally, I love it and have no money to buy another one...
So what do you think, worth it?
Would it be a good idea to buy a new block and replace the old one? how much would that cost?
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 2:05 am
by Someperson
is it a turbo, non turbo? these are non-interference motors so you didn't break anything internally...
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 2:17 am
by rallyak
The engine is not hurt, 2.2 are a noninterference engines. You can put a belt back on and be fine, but I would suggest changing water pump and resealing the oil pump at the same time. Those things are just typical maintenance. If you can do the work your self you can probably do it for half that including replacing cv's.
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 3:33 am
by volny
Wow good news so far thanks guys!
Car stuck in a garage 1 hour away from home so the mechanic is gonna do the work...
Non turbo car.
Just an after thought, I have been running 185/65/14 front and 195/65/14 rear for a year now, could that be related?
I was also driving kinda harsh in mountain road and the belt hadn't been changed in a long time anyway.
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 1:32 pm
by Someperson
Well is it awd? Cause you'll screw up your diffs doing stuff like that...
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 3:46 pm
by volny
Ye it is. I had a flat last year at a friend's funeral and haven't had the chance to get four matching tires since, I was schedule to replace the front with general altimax (195/65/14) a day later than the belt thing...
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 5:50 pm
by Legacy777
Do you have an auto or manual trans?
I don't think the difference in tires had anything to do with the timing belt, but I would certainly recommend putting the same size tires on all four.
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 4:34 am
by Someperson
what josh says
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 3:59 am
by volny
Doing that this week, getting two general altimax, and keeping the old federal fd1 till I can get them replaced too.
Got the car back, got lucky to stumble into an awesome Mechanic in Boulder creek. They replace all my belts, water pump thermostat, valves, spark plugs (one was stuck) broken seal that was causing a leak etc....for a grand! Seems pretty good to me, and they were super nice on top of that.
Now gotta find a week end job for a while, but I get to keep my beloved car !
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 4:10 am
by Legacy777
If your car is an auto, I recommend putting a fuse in the FWD fuse holder. Putting two new tires on really isn't any better and might actually be worse than having one different tire.
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 2:59 am
by volny
Really even at same size? I have been more worried about having a saggy butt due to installing impreza struts on it (bad call it was a cheap option)...I have now passed the bar of 254kmiles, not sure how long it's gonna last anyway
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 4:51 pm
by free5ty1e
Aww its just a baby! Some members here have passed 500,000 miles.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 6:11 am
by volny
Damn!!!! I will do my best to measure up then!

That's so awesome, I so don't wanna change car...how do you guys feel about the newer legacy/outbacks compare to these? I sometimes feel like the 90's are the best years
Re: Broken timing belt is worth to keep the car?
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 11:22 pm
by Legacy777
They're alright....there are some things about the newer ones that are better, but you could also argue that there are some things that are worse. I know that may not help you
But if you have any specific questions, feel free to create a new post to ask.