10 March 2016

Removing camshaft sprocketbolts from popular Subaru en-gines isn’t the headache someguys say it is. Actually, the taskis only as difficult as you chooseto make it. Here, I’ll discuss

tools and methods that simplify the job.Last month, I explained how a rambunc-

tious technician turned a routine cam bolt re-moval on a 2006 Forester into a mechanicalhorror show. During a cam belt job, he real-ized that the cam seals were leaking. So hehad to remove the cam sprockets in order toR&R the cam seals. Thereafter, a combinationof ignorance, impatience and bad advicecaused needless destruction of the cam boltsas well as the cam sprockets. Besides wasting

the shop’s money, the mistakes wasted the cus-tomer’s time because the t-belt job ran waybehind schedule.

Before I delve into technical details, I urgeyou to capitalize on Subaru service in general.After all, this brand usually attracts a loyal fol-lowing of people who value their vehicles. Ex-perience shows that they tend to invest inproper maintenance and repairs. What’s more,some shop owners have overlooked Subaru’sbooming sales: Within the last eight years, itssales have increased more than threefold!Matter of fact, it outsold both Mazda and VWover the last two years. That means the Su-baru brand has become more mainstream—more service opportunities for your shop.

To give you additional perspective, considera service-age Subaru that comes into yourshop. The vast majority of these vehicles havea 2.5L powerplant equipped with a timingbelt. (Some of these are turbocharged.) Stayalert and sell those t-belt jobs and other main-tenance before your competitors do.

Many shop owners always price a timingbelt R&R to include new cam seals. If you fol-low that format on service-age Subarus, keepthe following details in mind. For one thing, acommon cam sprocket bolt has a 10mm inter-nal hex in it. For another, the factory usuallyhas torqued this bolt to 65 ft.-lbs. Loosening itwith an impact gun is fine, but there may notbe enough room to use an air tool here.

Subaru specialists said that three thingspromote a painless repair here. Two of thethree are specialty tools that I’ll describe in amoment. The first requirement is a clean, un-damaged 10mm hex bit—preferably one that’s1⁄2-in drive. That way, you can turn it with yourhuskiest breaker bar or ratchet when neces-sary. Be absolutely sure you keep that hex bitfully seated inside the cam sprocket bolt. Andwhatever you do, don’t allow that hex bit tocock or tilt to one side while you’re trying toloosen it. If you do, the bit may round out andruin the internal hex before you realize what

Observing proper service procedures can mean the difference

between success and failure on many jobs. Additionally, some jobs

are darned near impossible to complete without special tools.

Foreign Service

DanMarinucci

dmarinucci@motor.com

The Subaru cam sprocket holding tool being used here is Assenmacher’s SU 200T.Use it or an equivalent tool to hold the sprocket securely while you loosen theinternal hex sprocket bolt with a clean, undamaged 10mm hex bit. Be sure boththe holding tool and the hex bit are fully seated or engaged!

Pho

tos:

Dan

Mar

inu

cci

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shouldn’t make a mistake and re-install them upside down. What’smore, the lifters could slide out of thehead while the cam is removed. SomeSubaru lifters are select fit—matchedto a particular cylinder during factoryassembly. If you mix them up, youruin the OEM valve adjustment.

Meanwhile, the other vital tool isused to hold each of the driver-sidesprockets on the turbocharged 2.5Lengine and the 3.6L, six-cylinder mill.(Note that the 3.6 has chain-drivencamshafts.) The OEM version is toolNo. 499977500; the Assenmacherequivalent is tool No. SU 3625.

Last but not least, don’t use an im-pact gun to reinstall the cam sprocketbolts. Instead, securely hold the camsprocket with the appropriate holdingtool, then tighten the sprocket bolt tospec with a torque wrench.

As I said at the top of this column,some tasks are only as difficult as wemake them. If you handle the Subaruwork carefully, it becomes as routineas other repairs in your shop. Untilnext month, keep smiling and I’ll lookfor you then.

Foreign Service

he opened his own shop, Subaruservice remained a big portion of hisbusiness. Julia told me that his techshave had the best success by teamingup to loosen Subaru cam sprocketbolts. One guy keeps the above-men-tioned AST tool fully seated on or en-gaged with the plastic cam sprocket.Then another tech patiently loosensthe sprocket bolt with a 10mm hexbit and a breaker bar. Julia said thismay sound elaborate or time-con-suming, but it’s worthwhile when itneatly loosens OEM sprocket boltson the first try.

Using alternative techniques mayseem simple at first, Julia explained,but could be fraught with pitfalls. Forexample, you could turn the engineover by hand until the valves areclosed, then remove the camshaftcaps and the cam itself from the en-gine. Then locate the flats on the for-ward part of the cam, put the cam inyour vise and tighten its jaws againstthose flats. Finally, remove the camsprocket bolt.

However, you can’t mix up thosecam caps with each other and you

12 March 2016

happened! When you encounter arounded-out internal hex, try coatingthe hex bit with valve grinding com-pound or something similarly gritty.That may restore the hex bit’s gripjust enough to loosen the bolt—butno promises.

In my last column, I noted thatsome Subaru cam sprockets are madeof a plasticlike material. Subaru spe-cialists told me that the only safe, se-cure way to hold the plastic sprocketsteady is with the proper holding tool.The OEM sprocket-holding tools areNos. 499207400 or 499207400-A. Butthese guys referred me to Assen-macher Specialty Tools (www.asttool.com) for two effective equiva-lents to the OEM tools. The first oneis tool No. SU 200T, which they saidworks effectively on the plastic camsprockets.

Jim Julia, who owns and operatesBroadway Automotive in Broadway,NJ, began working on Subarus as adealer tech back in the 1970s. When

This tool (Assenmacher’s SU 3625) or anequivalent holds the driver-side cam sprock-et on turbocharged 2.5s as well as the 3.6LSubaru engine. Subaru specialists advisedthat the holding tools are wise investments.

What about gripping the camshaft flats referred to in the text of this column? With theengine out of the car, I slid a big open-end wrench nearly all the way onto those flats.Maybe you could customize a spare wrench to slide in farther and bend it into a tight Lshape to clear the inner fender panel. Buying the proper holding tools looks much easier!

Be sure you use a clean, undamaged, 10mmhex bit to remove the Subaru cam sprocketbolts. Then be sure you have the bit fullyengaged inside the bolt’s internal hex. Lastbut not least, hold the wrench correctly sothe bit doesn’t tilt or cock to one side dur-ing bolt removal, rounding out the hex.

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