I have an 07 WRX with only an SPT intake and SPT exhaust, no other mods.

My car left me stranded because it wouldnt start.

Shop says that my timing belt "jumped" a tooth or two.

Why would this happen? Has this happened to anyone else?

I got stuck with a $400 bill to realign the same belt.

I hit a deer in May around 18k miles on my car and showed no signs of mechanical issues for 4 months until just last week when it wouldnt start.

The deer damaged the radiator, frame, and belt cover (the one on the drivers side.) The belt in that damaged belt cover (not timing belt) got sheared and that was replaced also.

The car now has 23k miles on it.

This problem is not covered under warranty.

I do not abuse/race my car and I rarely go past 6k RPMs.

Can anyone share their issues and help me figure this out?

I really dont want my car to do this again, thanks!

 

If the belt is jumping, you should have replaced both belt and tensioner. Did you ask if there was any oil/contamination on the belt?

 

were you drifting?

 

im pretty sure you hit vtec way to hard...

 

I dont race my car at all and I RARELY went over 6k RPMs in the past year of my ownership. The dealership checked the belt and said everything looks fine, it just jumped and they "have no clue how it jumped because they werent there when it happened."

A lot of people have a hard time believing me, but I DO NOT race this car. This is a DD that I want to see reach 300k miles. To do so, you cannot abuse the car.

The dealership were quick to assume that it's deer accident related but the damage SHOULD not have gotten that deep into the motor. If it did, they would have some kind of damage that didnt get repaired/replaced when I got the body shop to work on it.

 

Why was this not covered under warranty?

 

yeah that shit should have been covered, its not like they could prove you did anything wrong

 

They claim it "has something to do with your frontal accident." My car has been running for 4 months and 5k miles after the work done to it with no signs, no starting issues or loss in performance. I have a 4 year complete warranty and I've only had the car for just over a year.

I think Subaru strongly believe that odd shit doesnt happen to Subarus (I did too, I thought Subarus are most reliable) so I think they think they have a valid excuse to only tie it to an accident.

I honestly dont know how they found out the car was in an accident. I dont know if they carfaxed the car or what. I never told them it was in an accident.

 

Unless they can tie the two together w/o a shadow of a doubt, thats BS.

 

I went back to the shop today for an unofficial meeting (like surprise butt sex without the butt sex part) so they can explain to me what the hell just happened to my car.

They said that the timing belt is a very strong material and did not get damaged. The timing belt cover got damaged from the accident and it managed to pop the belt off a cam groove. So the belt teeth were sitting on top of the cam teeth and not in the groove, making it off just a tiny bit.

They said there's no way of knowing after a frontal crash if the timing belt has been bumped or not, unless you inspect the belt system, which the body shop did not check thoroughly enough, they just swapped the belt cover. They said that it can take 1,000 miles or even 10,000 miles to finally bump it into the next groove (incorrect groove to knock off timing/position of cams) which happened to my car at 5,000 miles...

After they put the car back together, they spent an hour letting my car run to see if theres any further damage to the motor. They said my valves are fine and they took an extreme road test on my car and there's no more problems.

So, if any of you guys get in a frontal accident, have your shop check the timing belt, just in case. This should add to your insurance if your insurance will cover your front end damage.

I asked why my belt was changed for a newer one and the Subie people said that the car has to keep the same belt for 100k miles. I did not ask why the belt has to be the same belt for 100k miles. I probably should have.

So that's the end result of my issue. I hope this will help you with your car issues in the future.