Our 2004 Subie Forester rolled 100k miles. Mike performed its major service: new timing belt, tensioner & pulleys, new water pump & gasket, new thermostat & o-ring, new accessory belts, and flush/replace the coolant, also adding the Subaru coolant conditioner. I was pleased to discover the head gaskets looked in good shape.
1 I drained the coolant from here instead of using the radiator drain plug, to get a more complete drain. The coolant came out cleaner than I expected, given its age.
2 Lots of parts to remove from this engine, to get to the timing belt.
3 The radiator and cooling fans.
4 Removing the radiator & fans gives plenty of room to work. Note: this car has 2 radiators; the front one is for the air conditioner, which I did not remove.
5 Looking up at the old water pump, you can see leakage and light corrosion where the t-stat o-ring seats. I spent 20 minutes cleaning off that corrosion with steel wool, so the new t-stat o-ring would seal properly. Then I realized it was part of the water pump and I'd be replacing it anyway!
6 The old t-stat. Looked pretty good, given its age and mileage.
7 New (L) and old (R) t-stats, bottom view.
8 New (R) and old (L) t-stats, top view.
9 I removed the battery, windshield fluid tank, and air intake to make room to remove the spark plugs.
10 Passenger side of engine bay, with access to valve cover & spark plugs.
11 Driver side of engine bay, with access to valve cover & spark plugs.
12 Spark plug hole with a little piece of zip-tie that fell in. I removed it with needlenose pliers.
13 Timing belt cover removed, here's the old belt. Looks pretty good for its mileage.
14 You gotta remove the timing belt covers to get to the water pump. Here's the old one. Internals were pretty clean, but externally you can see its gasket was compromised and it was leaking.
15 The new water pump was tricky to install, but I finally got it in. Here it is, from the top.
16 Water pump from the bottom; the new t-stat is inside the black plastic housing.
17 Timing belt pulleys - old on the top row, new on the bottom row.
18 New timing belt installed and aligned - passenger side. Note the crankshaft & cam marks are both pointing straight up, and aligned with the yellow marks on the timing belt.
19 New timing belt aligned on the driver's side. You can see the new tensioner with the pin still installed. Don't pull that pin until everything is installed & torqued! This cam spun a few times because it was in mid-position for one of the valve springs. No harm done.
20 The #4 plug was riding a bit high after being installed & torqued. I removed it and took a photo to double-check that there wasn't anything obstructing it.
21 Here it is, installed & torqued. No problem.
22 Timing belt with pulleys, tensioner, water pump, all installed & torqued. Now the cover's reinstalled.
23 Driver's side engine bay all reinstalled (battery and water tank).
24 Passenger side engine bay reinstalled (air intake components).
25 Installing & tensioning new accessory belts.
26 Refilling with fresh Subaru coolant, using the funnel to ensure it is burped and no mess.
