edrach

I just bought a jdm motor that had been installed on a local car 50K miles ago. Transmission let go so the owner junked the car. I bought the engine and installed it in my '91 Legacy. Engine runs fine; after 50k of "break in" I would expect I'll get a few more good miles out of it. Wish me luck.

If you re-consider rebuilt axles again, try www.cvaxles.com.

Here are the measurements using the bcbrscantool on my '91 Legacy: Battery voltage, engine off: 12.24V " " , egine at idle: 13.86V Water temp after warm-up: 180 degrees F Ignition timing: 24 degrees BTDC (engine cold) Air flow signal: 1.20V Load data: 57 Throttle sensor: 4.76V at idle; volts drop off with more throttle. Fuel injector timing: 2 ms at idle Idle air control: 36% when cold at idle O2 sensor: 0.7V Max O2 sensor: 0.85V Min O2 sensor: 0.04V Correction coeff. of a/f ratio: ??? Ignition timing correction: 0 degrees Barometric pressure: 750.87 torr Fuel trim: 0.78% to 2.34% No CEL during these measurements.

I'm with Andy, the hardest part is removing the backing plate. Cleaning the rust and crud off the hub will help a lot to make that easier.

The inner DOJ on the axles is the most mysterious in terms of the symptoms it can present. The CVJ is always more obvious since it clicks on turns pretty consistently. DOJ problems are less obvious and can be just a slight vibration under acceleration or so bad that you think the tranny is about to fall out of the car and any other drivetrain related symptom. And there doesn't seem to be any way to tell by looking or wiggling or any other tricks to diagnose the problem. Whenever there's a noise that is speed related, I think drivetrain, and the axles are always my first choice when a visual inspection of the drivetrain doesn't find an obvious culprit. With the multitude of rebuilders out there who don't actually replace a joint "if it looks okay" I've learned that even newly rebuilt axles are likely to fail within the first month or two of installation. The rub is trying to prove it to the supplier.

/91 Legacy, non-turbo wagon. I was using VRG's scantool to get the measurements. I can make sense out of most of the items although my '91 has different names for some of the items. I'll take a run tomorrow with that sheet and report the values I read with the bcbfscan utility. Thanks.

I'm beginning to think the high idle is normal. My old engine suffered from low idle for so long I think I believed the high idle to be abnormal. Anyway, it seems to be limited to the first 5 minutes or so after starting the car....goes up to 1600 or so and stays there and then slowly coasts down to around 1000. I'm not so concerned about that now although I still think it's not quite right. I got a CEL again today after 3 days of no CELs. Happened again starting with a high idle condition (but after the engine was fully warmed up) but when it drifted down to 1100 or so it wasn't steady but went up and down give or take a 100 rpm or so. I had the laptop hooked up to the OBD1 connector and was monitoring the IAC duty cycle. Normally, high idle occurs when the duty cyclcle is 50 to 55% and as it drifts down to 20% the idle follows it down. When I got the CEL, the idle was oscillating around 1000 rpm and the IAC duty cycle was still at 54%. I suspect the ECU didn't like that disparity and threw the code. Again, as I drove off the CEL disappeared and everything seemed normal for the rest of the trip home. I'm not sure how the IAC actually works, but I suspect the ECU controls the % of opening electrically and sometimes the mechanical doesn't follow it resulting in the erratic idle and the CEL.

I believe CCR has an installation kit for their rebuilds...gaskets and such. Ask them, they'll tell you what you need. Did you get the clutch alignment tool I sent?

I used the EA82 flywheel since it's more massive; a little slower getting up to speed, but more momemtum when you're there. Works fine with the EA81 engine. Only hassle I had was the extra space I had around the smaller bolts. 'Solved that by cutting short lengths of brass tubing to slip over the bolts to take up the potential play.

Understood. What your father-in-law likely did when he fixed it was to unplug the connector and use a long skinny tool of some sort to squeeze the female pin smaller to get better contact. You can also get a spray can of contact cleaner to further reduce the resistance of the contact. This should get you working again so you have time to find a plug or harness to replace the existing one; also, if the female pin is in the fuel pump, I suspect you'll need to replace it too in the future to get a permanent fix.

Brian, that's a tough one. I've had a similar problem in the past since I use the EA82 flywheel in my Brat to mate up with the 5 speed conversion. Check out the 8 holes that mount the flywheel to the crank. The EA82 uses a slightly larger bolt than the EA81. There's not much difference, but it's there. Also, I believe the timing marks on the outer perimeter are about 20 degrees different.

I'm suspicious of the IAC (obvious choice) but hadn't thought about the TPS. I've got a real time monitor for the voltages to both on my laptop and it occurred to me today I should have it in my car tomorrow to look at the voltages from those two as well as the temp sensor. I haven't done it as yet since 25 straight days of rain are starting to addle my brain beside discouraging driveway troubleshooting. (By the way, thanks to Legacy777 and VRG for the laptop utility to monitor the voltages).

Brown plastic! The universal tip-off to a bad electrical connection. I think you found your problem. Fix is easy. Ideally it would be nice to find a connector set on a wreck but that's actually harder (how many wires in that connector?). The brown spot marks the ONE connection that is bad. Go down to your local hardware store (or Radio Shack for that matter) and pick up a short length of wire sufficient to carry the current along with a couple of butt splices. Cut the wires on both sides of the offending connection and butt splice around the connector. If you still want it to be separated you can add a quick disconnect pair in the middle. Tape off everything that might ground out and you should be good to go. If you're handy with a soldering iron, that would be a more secure connection. Thanks for the tip, we have a '97 Impreza with 118K miles on it and if it starts mis-behaving in a similar fashion, I'll know where to look.

You made the right decision walking away from it. Even 10,500 is much too high. I'd bet a beer that they call you in a few days with a new "low" figure. Don't bite until they come within a $100 of your bottem line number; your number is valid since you'll likely be spending the difference resolving the issues on this car. Good luck. Check out the stuff on the SF craigslist and see if a local member can inspect any suitable candidate you find and then take a quickie weekend to SF.

From your post you have an '86 wagon. Does it have the spoked wagon wheels? I had a similar problem until I switched to alloy wheels. The later version spoked wagon wheels all have a problem with getting knocked out of true with time.

It looks like a mouse tried building a nest in your exhaust while Max was sitting.

Best bet is to try the three Pull a Part yards that are close to you....Lynnwood, Tacoma, or Olympia. Motor will run you 150 to 200 depending on how many parts are still attached to it (carb, clutch, etc.). Most places give you a 30 day money back guarantee. Later model wagons or Hatches are good sources and with some judicious looking and evaluation you can likely pick a good motor (mileage, condition of car, is it a wreck or not); I've been lucky twice pulling good used motors this way. The other possibility is to buy a good running wagon or hatch for cheap off craigslist and pull the motor out of that and scrap the rest of the car.

That's a problem for this weekend. But a slight update, the CEL hasn't come on for the last two days. I checked the engine compartment again and found the radiator overflow was down about two inches from the initial level. My suspicion there is there may have been a air bubble in the coolant that's gone; that could have confused the temp sensor and triggered the CEL momemtarily. It could also be the start of head gasket issues so I'll be watching that.

Occasional click from the starter can be due to the starter, battery and connectors, and solenoid. A not uncommon problem with the older GLs is that the connector from the ignition switch into the wiring harness of the car goes bad. Easy fix, a trip to PAP to pull another ignition switch and short harness and then install in the wagon and you're good to go. Easy problem to spot and diagnose since the one wire running current to the starter heats up at the connector and the plastic turns brown (or black). I know someone posted a pic of one of these bad connectors but I don't know where.

Clicking joints are the CVJs. But it was a thought.

That would be good since I have a brand new one on the original engine manifold.

Replacement engine (EJ22) seems to be okay. It runs smoothly, doesn't smoke, and seems more peppy than the original. One thing it does is take a long time (about 15 to 30 seconds) to return to idle from about 1600 rpm when I come to a stop. It throws a CEL when I restart it after it's fully warmed up; CEL goes away instantly when I put it in gear and drive off. I'll check the code tomorrow when I can see again. Any thoughts? No other CEL codes during 80 miles of driving around town.

Vibration during acceleration which goes away instantly when you let off on the throttle can be traced to a bad DOJ on one axle. Check the inner boots on both axles; if one is torn, that's the bad one.

Just to give you a time frame, I've never pulled an EJ22 engine before this weekend; before that I've pulled and swapped an engine in my Brat and replaced the clutch in a Geo Metro (pulled engine and tranny together). That being said, Corky (who's done a number of engines) and I pulled and installed an EJ22 in my '91 Legacy in just under six hours. Pull the engine to do the head gaskets. By the way, this should put an end to the question on how to do the clutch.....pull the tranny or pull the engine? Corky and I did the clutch on my Legacy two months ago by pulling the transmission; almost 11 hours total time.

Of course the dealer doesn't know about the discrepany; he doesn't WANT to know. The mileages in the Carfax are probably correct and there's certainly been some rollback. The tip-off is the three different owners in vastly different areas of the country; and the fact that it's in California makes it four areas. The car has likely been purchased in a "dealer" auction at least one or more times. Each time it goes out of state is an opportunity to "wash" the title of the true mileage of the car. Now 130K miles is not a problem with the car you're buying, but I'd certainly have a reputable shop do a pre-purchase inspection of the car and offer a price more in line with the suspected high mileage and true condition of the car. Check Kelly Blue Book or NADA for suggested "fair" prices; know that KBB will be high and NADA will usually be much lower. If the car passes muster, I'd offer a price close to the NADA value and see what happens. Another alternative is to buy a car in another area where the selection is much more "buyer friendly." Saving $4K or $5K can go a long way toward re-imbursing you for the inconvenience of a long distance purchase. Lastly, try www.autotrader.com and search for comparable cars to this one within a 300 mile radius of your location and a price spead of $4K to $15K and see what other dealers are offering for similar vehicles. Recognize also, that dealer cars are usually priced higher than "private" sales. Good luck. One last thing, try to obtain service records for the car to determine the last time the timing belt had been replaced. Important to know on this engine since it's an interference motor and if the belt breaks unexpectedly, the engine will likely be trashed. If they don't know, get an estimate from a reputable mechanic for the cost of timing belt replacement and subtract that amount from your offer.