Quote:
Originally Posted by gravitylover
I spent some time with the engine master tech at the dealership this morning and his take on it is it sounds normal for a high mileage engine. He figures there's been some wear on the chain guides (that I asked them to replace when they had it apart but they didn't) so there's a bit of slop until the tension and the oil pressure comes up.
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Did you pay to have them done? If so are they going to reimburse you since they weren't
Quote:
Originally Posted by gravitylover
He also told me the tensioner is hydraulic and can't be adjusted to take up that slack. At this point it would cost a bunch of money to have those guides replaced even though they're really inexpensive so I'll just monitor it and hope it doesn't change (much) from this point on.
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Correct the tensioner is hydraulic, it's the timing chains that have to be tensioned properly with the timing marks all aligned before the pin is pulled on the tensioner to maintain the tension that was set. Like any belt or chain timed engine, everything must be set correctly during this process, 1 tooth off on one of the sprockets will cause noise and possibly damage. If it wasn't making noise previously, I'd be suspect.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gravitylover
The other tidbit was why the throwout bearings go bad so quickly. Apparently there's only one vent for friction material from the clutch disc to evacuate out of the tranny and under heavy use it's not very good at doing what it's supposed to. Obviously covering the bearing in abrasives isn't a good thing. He said that if you get anything over about 30k you're doing well, if you pass 50k do a little dance. While the revised bearing appears to be the same as the old one it has better seal material that should be more resistant to the dust than it used to be but the "fleet" (my word) with the new bearings hasn't been on the road long enough to know if that's actually sufficient. I guess this means we all need to add a few hundred dollars to our maintenance budget every couple of years to drop the tranny and replace a $50 bearing  |
Transmission can be pulled and reinstalled at home cheaply and easily in a couple of hours.
The throwout bearing (new or old) requires a specific lubricant at several points, we've found if the proper lube is used and is applied properly with the updated bearing 99% of the time this cures any bearing issues. If an inferior lube is used, or it is not applied properly issues usually return. The Subaru P/N for this lube is 000041000 and comes in a toothpaste like tube. 1 tube is enough for many clutch/bearing jobs.