2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

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2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby SubaruDIY20 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 12:41 am

Hi All,

Attempting to change the timing belt myself on the EJ204 motor for the first time.
It has quad cams, and my question is about adjusting the cams so that all the markers line up (highlighted yellow in image below) when the belt is off.

AVCS cam.png
AVCS cam.png (103.46 KiB) Viewed 4899 times


I understand you should line up the markers with the old belt on; but it can't be helped that once the belt is off, the cams can spin independently and often need to be rotated so that the markers line up again.

I've heard that the passenger side intake cam (circled green in the image) apparently has AVCS and can easily flip violently when rotated, and the valves can collide with eachother or with the piston head if they happen to be in the way - this is what I want to avoid! The other cams apparently do not flip violently when rotated.

I've heard that the safest way to tackle this is to line up the markers with the belt on, and use a cam lock tool from Company23 to lock the AVCS cam to the one directly below before taking off the belt. I spoke with Company23 but unfortunately their cam lock tools only fit turbo models and mine is naturally aspirated.
So, it seems I need to make do without the tool, and I want to understand what measures I can take to prevent the valves, piston head from colliding and how to do the job safely.

So the questions I have:

1) I've trawled forums and comments, and read that (for boxer engines) the piston head is mid way in the cylinder when the marker on the crankshaft sprocket is lined up (not at TDC as would be the case for an inline engine) meaning that the valves are not at risk of colliding with the piston should the AVCS cam flip - is this true?

2) To avoid valves colliding with eachother, I found in the 2004 DOHC Turbo service workbook that there is a particular direction that the passenger side cams (they call it LH cams in the manual. image below) need to be rotated to avoid valves colliding...
Do you know if this also applies to my engine? It seems to suggest that both the intake and exhaust passenger side cams can flip violently? Why does this rotation direction apply to the passenger side cams and not the driver side cams too?
cam rotation.jpg
cam rotation.jpg (93.8 KiB) Viewed 4899 times


I am happy to hear every ones experience with this.

Thanks
SubaruDIY20
 
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 11:44 am
Car: LIBERTY WAGON 2006

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby wildfire42 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 5:07 pm

Hi DIY, I replaced the timing belt and all of the idlers
on my EJ204 last year.
I purchased a pulley lock and after I removed the belt covers
I found that it didn’t fit.
So no problem just carefully filed down the hex parts that fit into
the pulleys and all good.
Its a bit easier with the lock but I still needed a second person to hold
the belt in place while aligning all the marks.
Also you can use those large paper clips to hold belt onto the right
( driver’s side ) pulleys.
Hope that helps.

I have a pic of the modified lock but there doesn’t seem to be a button
to upload a pic.
Last edited by wildfire42 on Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
wildfire42
 
Posts: 24
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Location: Sydney
Car: 2007 Liberty Wagon

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby SubaruDIY20 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 8:54 pm

Hey Wildfire42!

Thanks for the reply.

Can you link me the pulley lock you purchased?

In terms of adding a pic:
1) You go to the 'upload attachment' tab
2) click 'choose file'
3) click 'add the file'

1.PNG
1.PNG (9.87 KiB) Viewed 4874 times


4) click to leave the cursor where you want to put the image in your text, and click 'place inline' button (it shows up as a text, but when you submit your response it comes up as an image)

2.PNG
2.PNG (3.3 KiB) Viewed 4874 times


took me a while to work that out as well.
SubaruDIY20
 
Posts: 16
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Car: LIBERTY WAGON 2006

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby wildfire42 » Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:08 pm

Hi. ebay link below.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/123837532614

This should be the one I bought from ebay.

They are all pretty much the same.
Attachments
9BBA8E3A-FEBA-4EF9-99DD-9DEC641694A0.jpeg
9BBA8E3A-FEBA-4EF9-99DD-9DEC641694A0.jpeg (67.75 KiB) Viewed 4867 times
wildfire42
 
Posts: 24
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Location: Sydney
Car: 2007 Liberty Wagon

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby SubaruDIY20 » Tue Jul 28, 2020 11:05 pm

Thanks!

it looks like it could take 2.5months for it to arrive :( and with this covid climate i reckon it might do so since its coming from China... so I might take a stab at fabricating this tool myself coz i need it earlier =S

Any chance you'd be able to tell me what size allen key hex you had to file it down to?
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Posts: 16
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Car: LIBERTY WAGON 2006

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby wildfire42 » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:16 am

Hi DIY,
Sorry I haven't got back to you sooner.
The allen key size in the LH cam pulleys is 10mm.

I had previously made a cam lock tool before for my son's 1997 WRX out of various bits
and pieces and it worked out well.

Cheers.
Attachments
Cam Tool.jpg
Cam Tool.jpg (77.36 KiB) Viewed 4718 times
wildfire42
 
Posts: 24
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Location: Sydney
Car: 2007 Liberty Wagon

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby wildfire42 » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:29 am

And here is the type of paper clip that I referred to above to hold the
belt onto the RH pulleys. Two required.
Attachments
Paper Clip 2.jpg
Paper Clip 2.jpg (86.67 KiB) Viewed 4718 times
wildfire42
 
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon May 20, 2019 7:06 pm
Location: Sydney
Car: 2007 Liberty Wagon

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby SubaruDIY20 » Sat Aug 08, 2020 8:44 pm

OK cool, thanks wildfire42.

I will let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!
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Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2020 11:44 am
Car: LIBERTY WAGON 2006

Re: 2006 Liberty wagon timing belt change (cam adjustment)

Postby SubaruDIY20 » Mon Jul 17, 2023 6:45 pm

Coming back to this old post of mine to close the loop.
Timing + accessory belt, pulleys, water pump, hydraulic cam seal change was a success.
Thanks to everyone above who gave advice.

The alignment markings on the cam sprockets on the left bank was maybe half a tooth out but that didn't matter (image below).
20200913_171452.jpg
20200913_171452.jpg (127.48 KiB) Viewed 1773 times


The cam on the top right even flipped on me (a heart stopping moment), but was able to put a drive wrench in its socket to rotate it back to align the markings.
20200913_144446.jpg
20200913_144446.jpg (209.56 KiB) Viewed 1773 times


This forum is amazing!
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