subaru1988

I suspect the reason people say they might "leak for no reason" are the bolts being previously overtightened which creates a pinhole/crack behind said bolt for the coolant to come out of. As a result, someone might suspect a gasket leak. I had this problem, and I fixed it with the Permatex coolant specific RTV. A light smear on the gasket and bolts worked. That said, you really shouldn't have to do this, as the paper gasket should be fine, but these cars are older with many hands that have been on them at this point.

It'd be interesting to see the temp gauge at 65 MPH versus the last time you drove it. That radiator looks kinda bad, but I took one out of my car that was worse, albeit it was one of the later plastic tank ones. The cooling fins were literally falling out of it. I had a brass radiator welded/repaired like yours is after a wreck in a different vehicle, and that thing lasted nearly 40 years! Some of those guys do great work.

I recently put mine back in service, and I found that the clutch cable needed to be adjusted first.

This is great info, I'm keeping that part number. I remember when old Subarus were pretty common in salvage yards in my area. You could test the EGR solenoid pretty easy, IIRC, but it could test good and fail within weeks. It's good to know that a Toyota version of this can work with not much modification, as those parts aren't going anywhere anytime soon I'm sure. That's a clean looking car the OP has.

This website says what I assume is 82,408 wagons sold in the US in '87. It says a total of 177,138 total Subarus sold in the US in '87. https://www.cars101.com/subaru_archives.html You seriously have to write what amounts to a report on your car to get it licensed as a historic vehicle?! And I assume this is basically for an emissions free existence from this point forward? How ridiculous, but it's CA, I guess. I'm sure if someone can justify this for a Ford Pinto, one of the earlier compact 4X4 utility wagons can be justified as a classic. Wasn't Subaru one of the earliest and best at 4X4 CARS back then? That would be a start, IMHO.

That video is OK, but kind of short on detail. Do a YouTube search for "Miles Fox EA82" and watch his timing belt video. He posted on this board for a long time, and his videos are good ones that have a lot of why you're doing what you're doing instead of just how to do it.

They can't be all that different? How about this? https://www.troublecodes.net/subaru/#codes88multi

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.