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I'm sure with enough time they are serviceable. I'm not sure what the internals of the IAC actuator look like, it's definitely not meant to be taken apart. The entire valve is a part. You couldn't buy just the actuator even when they were available new. My guess is I'd "just" need to get a coil rewound for it. Something theoretically simple that in practice will prove to be anything but. The actuator I replaced tested okay. But I only tested it cold. The resistance changes as the coil heats up and maybe it was only out of spec when it warmed up? I'll be honest the only reason I was using that actuator was because it tested okay (so I thought) and it was the best looking. I was putting lipstick on a pig but it's still nice to see shiny parts on an old vehicle. :]

Lots of folks add grounding straps too. That old IAC look at all serviceable or can an attempt to cleaning it help? Only because as time rolls one your supply will only lessen. I’m all done with that era but have 70s so I can tell you a bit about all that. More 70s parts out there than your era. That’s when SOA became a monster to the smaller dealers. And new dealers complied to their wishes to scrap New old stock parts going as far as to dent fenders etc before tossing them so they could not be dumper diver take aways.

I just noticed that lots of people have been locked out due to failed logins. All accounts have been unlocked, but if you cant remember your login info, please email me so we can get you a new password to login. Rob turbone@gmail.com

Now the CEL comes and goes every now and then. I'm guessing it's an intermittent connection. I'll have to pull the engine harness and check it. If it's not that then I'll have to check the body harness and the connections. Wouldn't hurt to check my grounds too. :]

And the moral is... Start with the simple, most relevant parts, before looking for exotic complex failures. Not idling? Start with the idle valve. Only if it's not that, then think about pumps and valve springs and injectors and alternators....

It was my IAC valve. On my way home from work I finally got a CEL. Pulled the code and it was a code 34 for the IACV. I replaced the "solenoid" (turns out it's actually a bimetallic actuator that uses a heating coil) and it idles like a dream. Smooth as silk and the vacuum is rock steady, no excessive vacuum flutter on start up. :]

I did not get around to messing with the IAC. I was helping a few friends with their cars. What about the idle adjustment? Maybe my idle is set too low and the computer has to overcompensate. Does anyone have any pointers on how to adjust the idle on an EA82 SPFI setup? Do I have to connect the test connector(s)? Disconnect the IAC? I only have the MPFI idle adjustment in my FSM. This throttle body is a junkyard unit. So the chances of the idle adjustment screw being off are high. :]

Colorado time machine?

Not anytime soon. If it was the same ratio we probably would but I think the 6MT low range swap is going to wait a while. We just tacked up all the links, we'll mock it up and see how the lengths work out. The R160 is a bit narrower than the R180 but those big front axles have quite a bit of plunge travel and not a lot of it is used in the rear.

Are you putting an R180 in the Forester?

B fit and tacked up a set of lateral links for the billet knuckle swap. I turned up some of the pieces for that and a couple of wheel bearing spacers. Sometime in the next month or so we plan on swapping out his rear diff and doing the billet rear knuckle conversion on his Forester.

Not much of an update but the wife got me a roof basket that I had on my Amazon wish list for Valentine's Day. More of cosmetic thing but I like the way it looks.

I bought the injector and once I got it I compared it side-by-side with a Loyale injector. They're the exact same. I vacuum sealed the injectors with desiccant packets. Hopefully they'll last until I need them. I've heard it's the moisture that'll corrode the coils and kill them. Are you asking about that weird horseshoe gasket? For installation I use a few dabs of silicone grease to hold the gasket into the throttle body then quickly flip the throttle body onto the intake. There's Walker brand throttle body gasket kits, I'd recommend those. You get every seal you'd need for a throttle body rebuild. I'd recommend a coolant system pressure test after you install a new gasket. I've learned my lesson on that one the hard way. :]

With Subaru part numbers, if the second last digit is different by one digit value it usually indicates a compatible part number. Some times you can find this occurs up to for our five digit number values as updated but compatible parts become available. I’d put money on those two part numbers you give there as being the same. What do you do for that unique O ring setup between the TBI and the intake manifold? Asking as I have a SPFI setup to go on an ea81 over here (we didn’t get them in Oz) and that gasket is a little worse for wear - not that it’s going into a vehicle anytime soon, it’s in waiting.

I have not yet gotten around to messing with the IAC valve. I'll be doing some work on the car this weekend so I'll get to it then. The previous owner had spliced in some spade connectors on the IAC valve so the OEM connector was removed. Perhaps the valve was a junkyard/used unit that had the wires cut. Is it possible I just have the polarity flipped on the IAC and that's causing my issues? Will reversing to polarity damage anything? Perhaps the IAC solenoid. That mechanical portion of the valve was ultrasonic cleaned. Unless 3000 miles gummed up the valve that bad, I doubt it's a sticky valve. The issue is sporadic. Leading to me believe it's electrical. :]

Good engine. 5EAT is lovely when it works. I think higher failure rate than 4 speeds. Prepare for electrical issues. Rear tailgate harness breakage. Passenger airbag light fails and disables the entire airbag system. Any trouble code disables the cruise.

I boycott bookface. NFW. I did notice it's been relatively quite here; hate to see everyone defect. I feel the same way about the newer, but if this is the same basic engine as my '01 H6s, I think I'll be happy.

Not a big fan of FB but there’s a “Subaru Mechanics” group that might offer a wider base of knowledge than this aging message board. Apologies if you’re already aware. Wish I could contribute. Right now I’m a little gun shy of the whole 2005 to present engines.

Crickets... awesome. Couldn't help buying it at the price. VVT strikes me as marginal fussiness but probably harmless, though I've seen oil leak through them in a friend's EJ25. The car's twenty years old and already too modern for my taste, though. Electronic gear selection, auto-dimming rearview mirror, no key lock on the hatchback, etc. But we'll see how it goes.

Finally made more billet rear knuckles. Spent some time making these a little smoother/nicer than the first pair. One pair with tapped holes in the side for wheel scraper/caliper bracket and no wheel bearing holes for slammo. He is planning on using a different bolt on wheel bearing, I'll machine that when the time comes.

Radiator bottom temp has been interesting. Once the engine is up to temp the bottom rad temp will be anywhere from 100F-200F, never changing very quickly. Occasionally all three will be within 10F. Does seem like being stopped and/or periods of high load will cause the temps to creep up but not real consistently. Block temp sensor and top rad both stay around 190-210F in normal city driving. Think I fixed my power steering leak. Replaced the return line from the rack which I'm almost positive was leaking. Thing isn't even 30 years old, disappointing. Replaced both o rings where the lines connect above the crossmember. While I was at it I simplified/shortened the return line routing a bit.

I've been searching for a new SPFI injector to have on hand when the the pearly gates come calling for my limited stock of used injectors. MPFI injectors are a dime a dozen but new SPFI injectors are more difficult to track down. The only actual new parts I can find are compatible with the Subaru P/N 16637AA000. However this only seems to be compatible with 1986 and maybe 1987 models. My car is an '89 model which calls for the P/N 16637AA010. Is there really any difference between the two? It doesn't list 16637AA010 as a supersession part number. But I'd have a hard time believing that Subaru would have one injector only work with a 1-2 year model range. That doesn't sound cost effective. Why would they change the injector? Different flow rate? Updated spray pattern? Maybe a different throttle body casting? The latter seems very cost ineffective. New molds, tooling, jigs, etc. The kicker is that 16637AA010 shows it's compatible through the entire SPFI production ('86-'94 here in the States). :]

Have continued to observe and experiment with the Haltech. One issue that I've had since I have had a tablet plugged into it watching things the last month is that the O2 sensors would work sometimes but not other times (open circuit error code). And either they'd work the entire drive or not at all. One seemed worse than the other, switched them side to side and it followed so I replaced the worse one and that one seems to be working consistently. Other one occasionally doesn't work, will probably replace that one too. Also dawned on me that the Haltech was only using one of the sensors for the fuel trim. Had just assumed with the dual wideband kit and the EZ36 basemap it was using both. So I have those set for each bank now. Not that it makes much difference, they both seem to read about the same. Another issue was the cruise would work for about the first five minutes of driving and then give all kinds of errors. Went to an older version of firmware and that's back to working consistently. Keep watching the radiator temps. It was finally around 50F this afternoon and I drove the car a fair amount. After being parked for a bit the bottom sensor will be up around 100F but then when driving it starts dropping down at least close to ambient. When I got home and let it idle for a minute though it crept up to 200F, eventually around 218F, same as the top radiator temp. At that point the top radiator temp was actually about the same as the engine coolant temp too which is unusual, normally it reads at least 20F lower. This is still below the temp the first set of fans kicks in but odd to see zero temperature drop over the radiator. Once I ran the big fans, the bottom temp dropped down to about 100F in a minute or two. Even with the AC on the bottom temp dropped pretty quickly (wanted to see if the AC was still working). Top radiator temp and engine coolant temp dropped a bit too. With the big fans back off the bottom radiator temp went right back up to 200F in a minute or two. So that will be interesting to watch. Didn't seem to be in any danger of overheating but the radiator definitely isn't doing much cooling with no air moving through it (duh). Cams seem stable at all temps now. Follow the target pretty well when fully warmed up, bit of a delay when cold but not terrible. Still should get the car on a dyno sometime and actually figure out the best map for those. Got the idle lowered back down to 600RPM when warm and good throttle response. Much lower than that and it definitely hesitates/bogs when you tap the gas. Might play with that more. B stopped by last weekend and I went through the rear struts on the Impreza. I changed the valving to match B's rear struts (according to my notes I had, but I hadn't). So that might soften it up a bit, not that the ride is bad. Will see how it goes. Regardless they have fresh oil etc now. While I was doing that B replaced the pads in the (Mustang) rear calipers. Which can be quite a chore, the one took a while to get the piston threaded back in all the way. Those pads seem to wear faster than the fronts, I think they have less surface area. Also I finally got some different boots for the parking brake cables and B figured out how to get one of them to fit nicely.

I haven't cleaned that exact valve, but usually you want to blow a bunch of brake cleaner through every part of it, with the solenoid removed so you can manually move it to all positions, then put a drop of very light oil on the bearing.

I'll check the IAC tonight. It's right out front and easy to access. If it's not carboned up I'll see if there's a resistance test or something I can do in the FSM. I have a few spares kicking around I could try if it comes to that. Also I did do a factory PCV reroute. I know the PCV was definitely sucking oil before I did this. I lost about 1/3 quart of oil over about 1300-1500 miles. I've checked my oil level recently (about 1500 miles since the reroute) and I haven't noticed any obvious loss of oil after doing the reroute. Then again my oil pump leaks so I'm unsure how much of the aforementioned oil loss was due to the oil pump leaks vs the PCV sucking oil. And my vacuum does begin to ever so slightly flutter above 3.5k-ish RPM. Less than 1inHg fluctuation but if you're looking for it, it is noticable.