EA82 Bent Valves?

FKV · Post by **FKV** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:08 am

My 1994 Sportswagon broke the cam belt and when the mechanic replaced the belts the car would not start because "there was no compression". I was led to believe that the EA82 does not bend valves if the cam belts break.
Any ideas?

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:42 am

Hi and Welcome FKV

You are correct in thinking.. they will not bend valves if the belt breaks, so my best guess is your mechanic has not fitted the belts correctly.

There is 3 small makes on the flywheel that you need to line up first (not the BTDC timing marks) then using the centre of the 3 little marks, line up with the centre one with the casting arrow in the bellhousing. Then you can line up the camshafts, There are small holes in the camshaft pulleys, one will need to be at 12 o'clock and the other at 6 o'clock. It doesn't matter which way around but I always make the drivers side at 6 and the passenger at 12, then as long as the dissy hasn't been moved or adjusted, then the car will run. You can check this before putting it all back together.

Hope this makes sense,

Cheers,
Paul

FKV · Post by **FKV** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:00 am

Thanks Paul - when I queried the mechanic he stated that he had heard 2 lines of thought, one saying they don't bend valves, the other saying they do. He also said that he had fitted "140" Subaru cam belts. I recently bought this car for the kids to learn to drive and poke round the farm in, plus do a bit of 4x4ing so I dont want to be up for big bucks over and above the $750 he has charged thus far. It is however in really good nick so I will want to get it running and keep it running for a few years.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 11:32 am

Some Subaru models do bend valves but not on the EA82 engine, so as long as the engine was running prior to the old belts breaking, then it will run again with new ones. There is a way to check compression when the belts are off and this would eliminatre the timing belts being fitted wrong. I'm sure your mechanic has fitted many belts on Subaru engines but the EA82 belts are very different to the other Subaru engines.

The best way to check this is to turn the engine over until the 3 little marks are lined up (on the flywheel), must make sure it's not the BTDC marks, then remove both outer timing belt covers (exposing the camshaft pulleys), then look at the marks on the camshaft pulleys. Like I mentioned before, one of the little holes should be at 6 o'clock and the other at 12 o'clock. If this is not right, then this is the problem. If they are lined up correctly then you may have internal issues.

$750 to fit timing belts??? that sounds like you need to find another mechanic

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 4:19 pm

RSR 555

I dont know if FKV finds your info helpful but I sure do.
It is a very straight forward description so thanks for that.
$750 is cheap as I was quoted $125/hr for 8 hours plus the belt kit price. Needless to say I did it myself.

FKV
The fitting of the belts as per RSR 555's description is very easy. Most of the hard work is refitting the auxilliaries like A/C/ Alternator, radiator etc. Stick with it, the car is very much worth it and no damage is suffered when an EA82 breaks a timing belt.

guyph_01 · Post by **guyph_01** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 4:59 pm

RSR 555 wrote: $750 to fit timing belts??? that sounds like you need to find another mechanic

Wow!!, Even KPM is cheaper!!!! lol. But yes i once bought an l series that had a broken belt a few weeks later and it was just a question of buying a belt and putting it back on...

I hope you get that ''mechanic'' to refund you the money back!!!

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:39 pm

Gannons old EA82T in hands of new owner got similar diagnosis - they are free spinners, but maybe not if shaved to the poohouse ??
Not many mchanics are gonna be open to suggestion they have errored, but it is a simple test you could do in his presence in the workshop with timing marks, belt timing marks all marked on flywheel and remove the two small timing belt front covers and turn engine over.

Did he do it, or upervise his $15 an hour apprentice ??

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:41 pm

Retail on TB kits can be about 440 and two hours labour and a few other mischeivous things to go wrong to get that figure .....

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:48 pm

steptoe wrote:Gannons old EA82T in hands of new owner got similar diagnosis - they are free spinners, but maybe not if shaved to the poohouse ??

Wow you have a good memory. It actually turned out that the mechanic had shaved the heads and ground the valves seats, but neglected to shorten the valve stems, thus the valves never actually closed fully

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 9:35 pm

Good memory ? too bloody good....tore sumptin' outta the paper today to research coz i don't believe it was 1986 when a coupla station hands perished in the Great Sandy Desert , James Annetts and Simon Amos. If so, that was 26 years ago, thought it was in last 5 or so ?????

http://monumentaustralia.org.au/monumen ... 71&image=0

OK, so it was more than just a few years ago..man, my head is full of stuff, not dates though

tony · Post by **tony** » Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:41 am

no compression i would suggest he has the belts on wrong so the valves are being held open . if you need valves i have a pair of heads that came off my ea82 after being cooked they have tiny cracks in them but might be recoverable I was going to send them to scrap but if you want the valves let me know. have to pull the valves anyway for the scrappie.

FKV · Post by **FKV** » Fri Nov 09, 2012 10:22 am

Folks,
Thanks for all the feedback. It is a great community you have here!
Well the good news is that the car is running again, apparently it had a simultaneous electrical gremlin creep in which I hope will be rectified soon.
I did send the mechanic some of the replies in the hope that "we" could assist if some small issue had been overlooked. The responses I got here were fantastic and very much appreciated.
Just FYI, this is the 5th Subaru I have owned - they have been a '82 wagon, a '91 Liberty GX wagon, a (not sure what year) 1800 L series Touring wagon (which I gave to my father who drove thru 365,000km trouble free), a '98 WRX and this one.

Cheers,

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:28 pm

Great, thanks for the feedback the electrical gremlin did not cause bad comp readings ?

FKV · Post by **FKV** » Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:43 pm

No, the mechanic was a bit bluffed by the speed that the motor was turning over when he tried to staart it (good battery and good starter motor combined) that he thought, due to the (high) speed that the compression was down. A comp test then confirmed that all was good.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:22 am

The ol' electrical gremlin.. he's a nasty bugger that little fella

Glad to hear it's getting all sorted and hopefully without extra cost??

The most expensive kit I ever brought for the EA82 was around $250 and that was when they were a fairly modern car.

@Cliff R.. no probs mate, happy to help where ever I can. Although I would not ever take my car to a "mechanic" that would take 8 hours to fit a timing belt

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 7:28 am

Yeah, too right, if the mechanic has done 140 Subaru timing belts he'd know how quick and easy they are to do and would be able to quote a little keener