88 GL-10 won't start

[subarob]

I picked up an 88 GL-10 wagon not running at an auction so I know nothing about its background. It has an EA82 engine and full time 4WD with fuel injection, turbo and the digital dash. The fuel pressure was low (fuel ran out of the hose like a slow running faucet and it's supposed to be 60-70 psi) so I changed the fuel pump and that now the pressure is strong, but it still won't start. I am getting spark, and if I turn over the engine with the plugs out, it sprays a little gas. I used an injector tester to confirm that the injectors are getting electrical signals to activate. I'm stuck! I know nothing about turbo, and have never had a problem with fuel injection on other Subarus I've had so I don't know much about fuel injection either. Could the turbo be causing this? Do the control modules send faulty signals when they go out, or do they just not send signals? I appreciate ANY suggestions you may have.

[calebz]

Check the timing belts. its very common for these cars to end up at auctions and junkyards because of broken/badly installed timing belts and blown headgaskets.

 

pull the distributor cap off and crank the motor, see if the rotor turns. if not, drivers side T-belt is probably broken.. but you said you were getting spark, so I doubt thats it.. Passengers side T-belt could be broken. peek in and check it out.

 

BTW, good score. Its a 5 spd right?

 

Welcome to the Board:D

[subarob]

Thanks, Calebz. It's a 4-speed automatic - the only thing I don't like about it, aside from it not running. It has every option, even has the electronic height control. Only 141K miles, and it's clean! I got over 300K on the last two I've owned, and was able to fix everything myself. I checked spark on all 4 cylinders, but I would think it would at least run badly if the head gasket was blown, at least the others did, but I'll check that out.

[Skip]

Rob, I own the same car to a "T" and have a FSM for it.

 

Lets start by finding out if it's a fuel or spark or valve timing issue

 

Lift the intake plenum (cast Al piece over throttle body that has "Subaru Turbo" cast in it) Pour a small quantity of gas down the throat, replace plenum and see if it starts

 

If not the ig amp may be bad and the spark is not strong enough

Should be a strong blue white and jump a 1/2" off the coil wire.

 

Next I would check it's compression to check valve timing.

Does the front of the engine look like it was apart recently?

Maybe the pass side belt was installed incorrectly.

 

Hope this helps

 

feel free to email me if you like

 

BTW the fuel pressure is only ~ 35 PSI - regulated

[bushbasher]

1.) broken timing belt

 

2.) if a headgasket was replaced previously that means the timing belt would have been removed, and could have been put on correctly, same goes for if a previously broken belt was replaced. Take off the timing belt cover and check the marks on the pulleys, the marks on the cam pulleys should be 180 deg apart, but I don't know the relation between the cam pulleys and crank pulley.

[MilesFox]

subarus dont like to start in any loss of compression.

you could have a loss of compresson by either a bad head gasket, a broken timing belt, or an improperly installed timing belt, or the sot could be off.

 

if you got fuel in the plugs, check to see that the injectors arent leaking or spraying continuously. that happened to my 83 turbo when some wires melted to the exhaust, and have heard of leaky injectors with others' cars

 

 

yours being an 88, hs a crank angle type distributor, and the 86 and older have a standalone igniton with knock sensor.

 

if you can get the front timing belt covers off, then come back to the board and we can tell you how to check to see if the belts are on properly