I brought my 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback in for repair in the early fall as the timing belt desperately needed to be replaced. Once the mechanic opened the car it was evident that other repairs were needed, all of which we did and finally the car was running nicely again!

Since replacing the timing belt in the fall, I've driven the car for probably a total of 10 hours- one trip from Manhattan to Annapolis, which was four hours there and back, an one trip upstate which was about 2 hours there and back, plus incidental trips around Manhattan and Brooklyn. The other morning (after that drive upstate)the car just wouldn't start. I had it towed back to the mechanic who said that the hydraulic timing tensioner went and the timing belt would have to be replaced all over again AND that he couldn't guarantee that the engine wasn't shot.

My question is, shouldn't the tensioner have been replaced along with the new timing belt in the first place? What is the mechanic's responsibility here?