[crazyroscoe]

Got to work Fri morning, heard a loud bearing type noise coming from the engine on my 02 Outback 2.5 with 285,000 miles on it which very quickly turned into a screech, shut the car off. Went to work and i would have to figure it out when i got back to my car at the end of the day.

So when I went to start it went clunk and it wouldn't start, had the car towed home and figured it had to be something to do with the timing belt, when I got it apart the lower idler pulley had disintegrated and the timing belt had definitely slipped.

Now since the engine wasn't running at the time and no compression in the engine I don't think I could have done any damage. Anybody got any feedback?

CR

 

[rasterman]

You may have escaped the worst, at least until you tried to start it. That doesn't sound good... but not awful either.

Worth trying a new idler set & belt, I'd say.

 

[mikec]

Just curious,how many miles did you have on the idler and where did you get it?

Also for $90 [theimportexperts ebay], you can replace all the idlers and timing belt and then see if you did any damage.

 

[Seabass]

If you're going to replace an idler pulley, replace all of the timing belt parts. The clunk is what worries me! I'd recommend going ahead with the timing belt, pulleys, waterpump, and tensioner install. When you get the crank pulley off and remove the timing belt cover, line up the crank to tdc and check the cam alignments. Also crank it a few times by hand to see if there is abnormal resistance. Hopefully you've escaped valve damage!