My dad had a bad thrust bearing on his 06 sti. He thinks my outback has the same problem. I am hoping it is the timing chain. I've searched and searched and the bad thrust bearing seems to be a very rare problem in Subarus I cannot find anything on it.

 

Wow I've never had a thread go without response on evom. Granted I'm usually talking about my evo.

My mechanic says my thrust bearing is fine. With a pry bar the crank moves less than 1/16" He said it is normal for it to move a little, but I read somewhere on here that the tolerance is .01" Please if you know anything about this give me your input.

 

Don't quite understand that right thur, but putting this in the correct tech section might help with the problem....

Thrust bearings aren't a common replacement item, and haven't been an issue since Subaru moved the crank thrust from the #3 journal to the #5 at the back of the block.

 

Oh, and wtf are you doing using a prybar to check crankshaft side clearance??? You're right in that the max clearance is .0098", but what's leading you to suspect a bad main bearing? When those go it's more than ****ing apparent that the engine needs a teardown....

 

My dad's thrust bearing went in his 2006 sti at 96,000 miles. The only noticeable symptom was a clanking noise at about 3000 RPM's. The car ran fine otherwise. He drove over 500 miles before getting it diagnosed and a new short block installed. I just want to be sure that I don't spend $400 labor to find out that there is nothing wrong with my timing chains, and then another $3000 to replace my motor.

 

I highly doubt that crank sideplay was to blame for the clanking, but I didn't tear the engine down either.

You really need to be more specific about what you're trying to troubleshoot. From what I've gathered in the few sentences here, is that your outback has a clanking sound that only shows up at 3K and your dad thinks it's a spun #5 main bearing, but you think it's an issue with your timing chain.

I think the only issue is with you hoping the timing chain is bad.

 

I had an earlier thread with more details, so I am sorry that this does not include everything thta lead me to think that it might be a thrust bearing and not the timing chain. However I did not think that the bearing was spun. Only that it might have what some call crankwalk.

Today I dropped the oil pan and Found these pieces of plastic.


I found a picture on the internet of what the engine should look like, and I am pretty sure that the pieces I collected go together to make the guide shown on the bottom right of the picture. In two weeks my wife should have a quite smooth engine.

Now the car is at the mechanic having the timing chain guides replaced.