subaru1988

It's a running, driving car with less than 150K on the car itself. If it's less than 2K on a rebuilt engine, and you can prove that with receipts, it's at least a $2000 car. I see "Mechanic Specials" and "Nice car except needs a motor/transmission" on Craigslist for $2000. Yes, asking price is one thing and selling price is another, but there have been cars I've seen in way worse shape than that with quite a few more miles start off with a $2500 asking price and are gone in a day or two. If that car works for you, and you like it, keep it and get YOUR money's worth out of it by using it. You could sell it and wind up buying someone else's problems. As they say, better the devil you know than the one you don't.

If my car had a clutch fan like yours, I wouldn't even worry about the electric fan. From what you say, it sounds like the difference between my car and an AC car is a relay for the AC fan, as the diagram does show. My thoughts were when I redid the connections and connected it all back together, put the same colored wires with each other and that should do it, ie. LR to LR, YW to YW, B to B. Four from the harness, four total from the fan and the switch, couldn't be that hard, right? LOL Good to hear you're driving in Phoenix in summer no less with no real issues. I agree with you on the radiator. I put a new one in my Subaru, and man, what a difference. Mine was literally falling apart too. The cooling fins were disintegrating, but it was somewhat hidden by the rad fan. Made all the difference! I barely get over 1/2, usually under if it's cooler out, whereas before it was pegged at 3/4 all the time regardless of outside temps.\ My thought is the fan is there, it works, why not try to at least hook it up right. Too bad the factory connectors blistered up from heat thanks to being badly corroded. That could actually be why some people's fans don't work. I would have never known without smelling burning plastic!

Interesting.. I have to say that after I replaced my radiator/water pump, my car runs right in the middle or a hair below depending on outside temps. If the weather was always 80 or below, I might not worry about it. That said, 90+ degrees out while stopped in traffic is possible where I'm at! My fan does work, and I just wanted a second set of eyes to give some input on my wiring hookups and the diagram. The diagram is OK for the LR and B wires, but the YW go to-- not so sure. Shoulda labeled them, but I was in a hurry. Thanks!

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. You cleared a few things up for me. First, I know for sure the blue/red to blue/red is right. Second, the reason the wires on the aftermarket thermoswitch are both black is because they can't really be mixed up. Finally, if I jumper the two wires I have connected from the harness to the thermoswitch on the harness side, the fan should come on if the rest is connected right. I just don't want to short anything out if they aren't right! I know this diagram is easy, but the thing throwing me off is the fact that there is a yellow/white wire to a fan relay for an AC car. I say this because I just cut all of the ends off without labeling them, so I was thinking maybe I'm working with two yellow and whites because one shouldn't be there in my case. Wiring harnesses aren't specific, as I have connectors all over for AC and stuff like that aren't being used. The blue/red to blue/red and black to black are easy, it's the two yellow/whites out of the harness that are throwing me off because I don't see where connector F24 and F23 go to. Thanks!

Hi All, So I'm trying to verify what should be a real simple wiring hookup for my '88 DL with no air cond.- the radiator fan, and the thermoswitch. Long story short, my Rad fan connector got hot and melted due to corrosion, and I had to redo all the ends with spade connectors. This obviously meant I had to cut the other wires and redo them with spades too. I was dumb enough to not label the wires 🤨. I'm going by this diagram- the wiring colors seem to be the same except for the thermoswitch, which for some reason shows a black and yellow wire where I have two black wires. I have my stuff connected: Blue/Red from Harness to Blue/Red on Fan Black Thermoswitch to Black Harness Black Thermoswitch to Yellow/White Harness Yellow/White Fan to Yellow/White Harness The diagram shows the male connectors, but not the female off the harness, which leaves me wondering if I mixed up one or two. My car runs midpoint and slightly under on the gauge, and I don't hear the fan coming on. I know the fan works. I jumpered it to verify a short time BEFORE the wire connector changes. Not sure which of the connectors I'd do that with anymore! Any input to verify my wiring would be much appreciated!

Lot of manuals...LOTS! https://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/--Old Models--/

If it's an '85 and still has it's cat converter, be careful. Too much zinc could ruin the converter over time. That said, in '85, the zinc content of oil had to have been higher than it is now? I'm not an expert in Subaru engines, but I know FLAT TAPPET (usually v8) engines benefit the most from zinc. In this case, if you have a flat tappet aftermarket cam, it's worth using it up to a point, especially with high valve spring pressures. I think the number people shoot for anymore is 1300ppm or so for cars with NO converter. The old Dino Havoline 10W40 runs almost 1000, and I wouldn't see that being too low. I ran Castrol for decades in an old Datsun, never added zinc, and never had a problem. Rotella used to be great, but they changed it over time, and the Zinc is sadly not what it once was. Valvoline VR1 is an awesome oil for classic cars that you can now buy at Walmart- I THINK it's around 1300 ppm Zinc. However, it states... "It is not recommended for vehicles with catalytic converters" https://www.valvolineglobal.com/en/vr1-racing-motor-oil-sae-10w-30/

The Factory Service Manuals that are floating out there have bolt sizes and torque measurements in them. What I would do is match the bolt to the bolt/torque sizes in the guide. You could then use the exploded diagrams in the FSM as a map to show you where a bolt that size could have come off on the areas you actually worked on.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/osc-935/make/subaru/model/loyale/year/1990 ^ That's the one I have, and for the money, I'm impressed with it. The hoses went right on with no issues, however, it is NOT an "exact fit". You have to persuade the core support with some body tools (or hammer and pieces of metal/wood) to get it in there, but it's not a big deal. I find it hard to believe you can't get a radiator cap at your local parts store.

On the coolant loss...How old is your radiator? My car would run at 3/4 up the gauge in most driving conditions for years and years and mysteriously lose a small amount of coolant with no obvious leak or smoke. The radiator was shot. The fins were falling out of it with a slight leak, and I couldn't see any of this because of the fan. I know it had a leak because I could see the residue from it after I took the rad out. I only saw it when it was time for a timing belt job and I removed it all for better access. You can get a small universal fan at Autozone to replace it if necessary.

Not sure if what I was told was BS, but I had the windshield replaced on my '88 Wagon a few years ago. The guy that did it told me that if he finds rust holes when he takes the old windshield off, he would not put a new windshield in it, and he wouldn't put the old one back in either! I'm not sure what the reason was for this, but I thought it was a total load of crap because a decent running car would be obviously useless at that point thanks to a little rust under the windshield! That said, I knew for a fact the car didn't have any rust in that area, so I told him I'd take the chance. The moral here is if you're checking for rust in that area by getting a new windshield, be aware that if you can't put the old windshield back in it's place by yourself, you're going to get a crash course in learning how to do it if leaving people hanging for rust holes under the windshield is now the industry standard.

You can buy yourself a cell phone holder for the windshield, and then you can download a speedometer app for either iOS or Android. Problem solved if you don't want to mess with the cable in the meantime.

Aside from that rotten area, it sounds like a decent car. One thing to think about right now is the cost of a used car and the cost of gas. I wouldn't be surprised if that car can get close to 30 MPG. It also depends on how much you paid for the car. If all of this lines up in your favor, it just might be worth it to reasonably REPAIR it. As others have said, you'll never really be able to fix it. That's what I'd shoot for, especially with gas prices the way they are. I'm sure there is someone out there can essentially make a "gussett" from one part where there's clean sheet metal to the other end with a ugly floor patch more than likely on top and under the seat. You're not going for looks here, just function to get a few more years out of the car. I've seen this kind of repair done on old American cars, on both full frame and unibody. Is it factory strength? Probably not. Did it work "good enough"? Yes.

Interesting.. So it's basically looking for severely worn balls, cups, and cages then? As in deep scoring, I guess? I can't see how else they could wear. I think this is worth a try. On a straight road at steady speed, I have no axle noise. It's only when accelerating and somewhat when turning. Like I said, these axles have more than 80,000 miles on them even though they aren't OEM, so they must be half decent quality. Looks like a boot kit and a good cleaning and repack is the best place to start.

I'm pretty sure I have a drift size that is one that was suggested on some post on this site. So the holes are slightly offset if you do it wrong..? Would it be wise to put something smaller through the hole first to make sure it's right before sticking the retaining pin in? This is the part that gives me pause because I remember reading a post on here where someone had the whole shebang stuck to the tranny with really no way of getting it off! Great idea about the anti-seize for nut and joints, and like you said, maybe I can back off the torque a tad when I use it. Ball joints have pried out of the control arm many times, and the boots show it, which is why I might change them out. I think the car has had 3 pairs of axles in it. What I actually meant was is a crowbar enough to pry the threaded end of the ball joint out of the control arm? Good point about having it apart more recently than 15 years makes it easier to take it apart. I guess what I can do is mark the axle hole position with some paint, check the VALLEY and RIDGE position, and make sure it's right. Sounds to me like the idea is to key the axle to the shaft using a spline? Thanks to your description and DaveT, I know exactly what to look for now. This is interesting, because the last time an axle was done on the car, it kept loosening up. I'll bet the shop that did it last didn't bother cleaning the splines. What I'll do is clean all the splines with brake cleaner, and grease them all. Anyone have any input on whether axles that click only when turning can just be repacked and rebooted? Mine have at least 80K on them, so they must be 1/2 way decent even though they aren't OEM. Thanks so much for all the great tips! Glad the OP posted this thread even though my car is bone stock so I don't have the added component of working around mods.