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Hi all, Merry Christmas & all the best for the comming year. I'm very new to this forum and need some urgent advice/information. We bought our Liberty in September and the water pump failed just before christmas. I replaced the pump but now I'm having trouble replacing the timing belt. I have miss timed the cams and crankshaft when putting the belt back in. Could someone please help me with the correct timing belt fitment procedure and where the timing marks are on the cams and crankshaft and where to set them prior to belt fittment. Thanking you in advance cheers (confused:)

Normally on EJ engines there is a small notch on the front of the rim on the cams, same goes for the crank shaft you'll have to align them to top points i think. It might be covered up but give it a clean.
Cheers
AP

The thing that gets everybody is that it's the little slight line notches you need to use to line them up, NOT the big arrows.
The notches line straight up with the corresponding notches in the black timing belt covers (the parts of the covers on the engine).
There are three, two for the Cam wheels and one for the crankshaft pulley.

This link to the engine section of the EJ22 Liberty workshop manual should help - http://www.mediafire.com/?cxyuewwjm2l
That's for single overhead cam heads.

This link is for quad cam
http://www.mediafire.com/?cxyuewwjm2l

Thank you Alpine 'raven and Andrew T , I downloaded the manual, found all the correct marks, and lined them up as per the manual, now Liberty will not even start, let alone run. Is there a procedure for fitment of timing belt after timing marks have been lined up, i.e. does the engine have to be manually rotated as you are setting up the left and right cam marks? Many thanks for any info.

Cheers, Phillip Watts

yes there is,should be covered in the menuals...these are the workshop manuals that subaru use showthread.php?t=11691

Hi Andrew T and Alpine Raven and everyone

Thanks for your interest and advice, I downloaded the manual, aligned the cam shaft sprocket left and right timing marks and the crankshaft sprocket timing mark as suggested, but for zero result. The car will not even start now. Is there a procedure to follow when fitting the belt? Does the motor have to be hand-turned to get correct alignment on the left and right hand cams, do the cams have to be offset to each other by 360 degrees?

Many thanks all, cheers

Phil Watts

pm sent....use the link i put up and have a look it covers heaps of stuff the other manuals dont....once you have done it you'll see how easy it is but for a first time its a P.I.T.A.

i'd say if you're not 100% sure get a mechanic to do it, a tbelt is not something you want to get wrong! it could cost lots

not really, EJ22 is non interference engine, if you get the timing belt totally wrong the valves don't get hit by the pistons at all like in most other engines.

From memory it takes two full revolutions of the crank shaft for the engine to do one rotation. Is it possible you have one of the cam sprockets 360deg out? Try rotating one a full 360deg. This will put them both back in alignment. Though I thought the timing lines would take care of this. As previously mentioned make sure you are using the (i) lines not the arrows (^) on the crank and cam SPROCKETS. PM me your email address if you are still having trouble as I sent someone an email a while ago, re a SOHC EJ22.

All - Can the engine be started at this point w no coolant or drive belts, just timing belt secured, ie even for two seconds to test if it will start??? I know it would heat up super fast but just to make sure its set right?

yes you can start it , it wont hurt anything

cam sprockets cant be 360 out, if theyre all lined up then theyre all good.

engine 'can' be started BUT for a very short time only.

from what ive read all Subaru SOHC engines are non-interference, whereas all DOHC engines can hit valves