edrach

An inch or two of rain; I hope you've got oars on that wagon! I would prefer wet also, but I do so much like the dry, fast courses. I will try to remember to bring the carb for you Jason.

So back to the same question....how do you test the O2 sensor with a multimeter? More specifically, at what reading is it considered bad? The gas mileage on my '91 Legacy has dropped off significantly in the last year and it still runs great...but I'm down to 21 to 22 around town from the 25/26 I used to get.

Odd that these posts should appear now that winter approaches. Here in the Seattle area, the gas stations switch over to gasoline with 10% alcohol content. I've noticed a 15% reduction in gas mileage every year in November which goes away again in the Spring.

What should a good one read versus a bad one?

No documentation, but you should check the ball joints and such for play.

Very similar to what happens when you have a bad inner joint (DOJ) on the axle; if you have a torn boot on either or both inner joints, I'd bet on a bad joint.

They look like the 8 spoke steelies to me.

You can get the rims pictured at either Pull a Part wrecking yard in the area. Drop me a PM and I can get you more specific information.

Smart Service in Shoreline is a good bet. Zap beat me to posting the link; 'phone number is 206-417-0880. Brian's Subaru Serive is Burien is another. 206-242-0925. I work in Redmond and haven't found a decent shop closer than these two.

I've never heard of a head gasket failure producing volumes of steam from under the hood. Sounds like a hose or perhaps the intake manifold gasket. Someone else gave you some good tips on finding where....you will need to add water to the system to see where it's coming from. As for ignoring the DOJ torn boots, you can do that, but it leaves a lot on grease thrown around in the engine compartment. Also, the inner joints don't normally click when failing as the CVJ (outer) joints do; DOJs cause a major vibration during acceleration that goes away instantly on when you let off on the gas. Sometimes the vibration is so bad you might think the transmission is falling out of the car. The mechanic that told you that you might have a bad strut on that side....I'd think about getting a new mechanic.

Stopped at Shucks today and they also stock Mobil1 in 0W-20 and 0W-40 grades. Try www.mobil1.com for more information.

Having had some body work done recently the insurance company offered to warranty the work for as long as I owned the car (at no additional cost to me) if I accepted the use of "their, non OEM" parts. If you can't get new, require that they will replace it again if it doesn't last the lifetime of the car. Insist on it; you didn't ask for this grief.

Kelly, my son brings his BMW over here to our house for his oil changes. He uses Mobil1 Truck/SUV 5W-40 for year-round use. It was hard to find, but Shucks carries it locally. I thought I saw the 0W-40 next to it. I think it was labelled Truck/SUV also. I'll check on that the next time I'm at Schucks. You might also ask your local supplier if he can special order a case of it you you from his distributor.

I don't think the split boots are worth the time or money. I never had one last more than 6000 miles and the time an effort to mount the split boot and re-grease the joint was greater that the time it takes to pull the axle. Check my post on axle replacement (hopefully in the repair section) for some hints on how to make that job easier and quicker. A question: Is the inner boot that you're replacing always on the passenger side (over the catalytic converter)? If so, your car is running to rich causing excess fuel to be converted in the cat and making the cat run hotter than normal which causes the inner boot on that side to fail pre-maturely. The fix is to get the carb adjusted to a leaner mixture. If that doesn't help, I had an extra air deflector mounted on the cat on one of my older cars. This left a 1/2" of air space over the cat and I set it so extra air flowed over the cat and the shield kept the heat away from the inner axle joint (DOJ). Solved that problem! Lastly, don't buy cheap boots; OEM is best but NAPA makes a good one also.

Sounds like a major leak; without water in the system and the ability to start the car it might be tough to isolate. Was the cloud of white smoke out of the exhaust pipe or did it come out from under the hood? That would help to know. It may be as simple as a bad hose but we don't know that yet.

I haven't heard of any sanctioning change for rallyX, but SCCA didn't give the clubrally guys much advance warning.

Pictures would also be good if you need to pursue legal action with the school. Good luck with this.

Old wally is correct; if you'll do it yourself, do it right and replace all the pieces as well as getting the flywheel re-faced. This would also be a good time to go to the larger clutch. It would require replacing the flywheel, but the larger clutch will last much longer. Clutches came in two sizes: 200 mm and 225 mm (or 7-7/8" and 8-7/8" for the metrically challenged) for the 2WD and 4WD cars. A quick trip to the junkyard and you can get a cheap flywheel off of a 4WD vehicle and have it re-surfaced first and use it to replace your existing one. The best price I've found on clutch kits is theclutchplace@aol.com (ask for karleen). Last time I bought a kit it was $130 plus shipping. Good luck with it. I just re-read your post, and you car is 4WD. However, I suspect you have the earlier, smaller clutch since 85K is a bit early for it to wear out. I'm also not positive that the 1600 engine would take the larger clutch flywheel but I'm sure someone on the Board will correct me on this.

This was just posted on the ORG message board: Oregon Region's RallyCross #5 November 14th, 2004 Hillsboro, Oregon With close battles in most of the classes for first overall in the season standings and all classes even tighter for the other podium positions, this the last event of season should prove to be exciting at the least! To top it off the course design has been done by last season's Oregon Region Open Class RallyCross Champion, Charles Buren. This forward thinking course design includes classic corner names like, "Glory" and "Spit" among others that combine creating the ultimate in RallyCross fun. The course layout bears a deep resemblance to classic rally stages that Charles has rally raced on here in the forests of the great North West. Charles had this to say about the course design, "Duuuude." with both thumbs high and "everyone will hate this part!" when pointing to a particularly challenging part of the course map. The course should indeed prove to be a great one. So come one come all the to the Oregon Region, SCCA RallyCross #5 brought to you by the Oregon Rally Group November 14, 2004 at the Washington county fairgrounds in Hillsboro Oregon. The morning run group will be Production, Group 2/5 and Truck/SUV with Open class and Production GT running in the afternoon. Morning registration will begin at 8AM and will close promptly at 8:50 AM. Drivers meeting at 9 AM Sharp! FCO at 9:15 AM. The afternoon registration will start at 12PM and run till 12:50. Drivers meeting at 1 PM Sharp! FCO at 1:15 PM.

More likely a bad ground than low output from your alternator.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I know about the oil sender vs. pressure switch syndrome. We ran into it when we installed the rebuilt engine from CCR. We hadn't told them it was a DL and it came with the sensor. Five minutes with them on the 'phone and everything was resolved. Great people there.

Looking to install an '82 dash and instrument cluster from a '82 GL Brat into an '82 DL Brat. Did the early Subes have the same wiring harness for these two models...that is, will the tach from the GL work in the DL without having to re-wire the DL recipient car? If anyone else has tried this before, I'm hoping to do this but don't want to expend the effort if it can't be made to work without a lot of grief.

If I'm not mistaken, the check engine light (not egr light) comes on every 60K and needs to be re-set by changing a wire in a plug underneath the dash. Info is posted elsewhere on this if that is the problem.

The only thing you are missing is horsepower. Unfortunate but true. You have a fairly heavy car with the last carb'd engine. When Subaru went to fuel injection they got peppier. You'll find the car will take forever to get to 70 or 75 but it will run there all day without complaining. You'll need to learn conservation of momentum and using the gearbox (hopefully it's a manual...automatics are even slower) and pushing the engine to redline to get more pickup when needed. There are relatively inexpensive ways (considering you only paid $200 for the car)to get a little more power. Opening up the exhaust a bit and replacing the carb with a weber will help somewhat (hopefully you're in an area where the emissions police don't care what's under the hood as long as it's still clean enough to meet standards). Good luck with it; you'll find it's fun to drive--especially in the snow--and should be quite reliable as a daily driver.

So Emily, how do you like your coffee?