Questions and Answers

Subaru Legacy Crankshaft Damage Q. Hi, my name is Ray I have 1996 Subaru Legacy with 235,000 miles on it, 2.2 liter engine and automatic transmission. Just had body repair done due to an accident. Get it back and three weeks later the damper pulley broke. Now I don't have the charge or power steering. Well in the process I am told that there is a key way or something that is supposed to connect that together to the engine block or something and that is broke or cracked.

So they tell me that I have to have that fixed as well, then they say that my crankshaft needs replaced in the process and in order to repair that they have to basically tear the engine down? Can you help me and shed some light as to what they are talking about, and if it's worth fixing???

Thank you...

A. The front of every crankshaft has a slot cut into it called a key way. There are corresponding cuts in the crankshaft timing gear and harmonic balancer. A key is used to align the key ways of all three parts to place, and keep, all three components locked together.

It is a cheap and effective way to insure that the balancer and timing gear keep their proper positions in relation to the crankshaft. In the event this key way is damaged, the crankshaft must be replaced.

If you decide to replace the crankshaft, keep in mind that you will end up doing a complete engine rebuild. Other options are buying a used engine or buying a remanufactured engine.