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One of these days I'm going to rig up a manual throttle on my '87 GL wagon. My old LANDCRUISER has manual throttle and choke. The throttle is handy in precarious off-road situations when the clutch and brake are being used simultaneously. It also works as a 'poor-man's-cruise'. Tracy

This reminds my of memories from my boyhood. When I was 8 or 9 my dad owned a foreign car repair shop, specializing in VW bugs and Porsches. My dad often went to rescue VW's with a broken clutch cable. The customer's always expected a tow but my dad would always just drive them in using that method. Tracy

I've always done it your way as well, although I've ripped some ball joint boots in the process. Something that works okay is making a shield out of some brass shim material so the pickle fork doesn't rip the boot. At present, I have a bad inner DOJ (1987 GL 4x4 wagon) and I've had a rebuilt axle in my possession for the past few months but haven't gotten around to changing it. I think this time I'll try General Disorder's method. I hate messing up that ball joint boot and I've never been able to separate it without a pickle fork. Pounding it apart would surely mushroom the threads on the end. You just can't duplicate the mechanical advantage a pickle fork gives you but like I said, it often destroys the boot in the process so I'm liking the sounds of General Distorder's method. I've changed quite a few axles ('81 Subaru, '88 Subaru, '92 Nissan Sentra, 'Dodge Caravan, etc...), but I'm not a pro-mechanic by any means. Tracy

Thanks Subarian. Tracy

My '87 GL wagon seems to idle a bit 'lobey'... kinda rough. As a quickie check while it was idling, I pulled the plug wires one by one off the disty to listen for a difference. I had a couple that didn't seem to really affect it when I pulled them (HINT: use insulated pliers... I got zapped a couple times). So it seems maybe I got a couple cylinders that are missing. Plug wires look pretty good. I'm wondering about fouled plugs or something. What's the favorite plug for an ea82? I'm going to run get some plugs today. Whether that's the fix or not, it won't hurt. I probably ought to test compression while I'm at it. The engine has almost 200,000 miles on it. What's a reasonable compression range to be at and what #s indicate it is time for a ring job? Tracy

That's about where I'm at as well with 200,000 miles. I think I'm leaking out my front main or oil pump because I'm smelling a lot of oil burning on my exhaust as it drips.:-\ My cam covers are all sealed up and don't leak a drop though. Tracy

LOL... I'm just suprised this off-topic thread has survived thus far and that I haven't been grilled yet for doing mechanical work without jack stands (in one of the photos I provided the link for, I'm rebuilding the wheel cylinders wtih a high-lift jack and no jack stands). I'm getting the vibe from this thread that I really should just keep my Landcruiser. It's got me thinking. Thankfully, my wife is supportive either way. Tracy

Cool... I had two at one time but sold the one with the Chevy V-8. It was fun but the stock inline six is more suited to the steep, winding backroads I frequent. I used to eat, sleep and drink Landcruisers. Then I moved out to the country, built a house and expanded the family. Alas, my Cruiser does a lot of lonely sitting these days. Many years ago I was a TLCA member... good group. My family has had a lot of good times in our Cruiser... my kids overheard my wife and I talking of selling it recently and weren't too happy. Tracy

With a volt\ohm meter, test the impedance while cool and while hot and see if the reading is different. BTW, in the winter, my radiator fan doesn't come on either. As an aside, I liked this idea for testing gauges when troubleshooting sending unit vs. gauge issues. This tip is from Mark Humble: <quote> One tool you can make to help diagnose gauge problems is to buy two resistors, one 50 ohm and one 80 ohm, 1/4 watt. Connect one lead from each resistor together and attach a 12" black wire to this connection and solder them together. Then solder a red wire to the 50 ohm resistors other lead. Solder a blue wire to the 80 ohm resistor and attach alligator clips to the ends of each wire. To keep the resistors from getting damaged, put them in a short peice of PVC pipe and fill with silicon. Now you have a gauge tester that can be used on almost anything. To use, connect the black lead to ground and the red to the temp sensor wire and turn on the ignition. The gauge should about 1/3 up the scale. (Note:The Red Wire Is For Temp Only) If no reading, repeat the test at the gauge. This is done to check the wire between the gauge and the sending unit. If still no reading, use a volt meter or test light to check for power to the gauge, if there is power, but no reading, the gauge is bad. The blue wire is used to check pressure and level doing the same as above. <end quote> Tracy

I've mulled over that one as well. The diesel engines were awesome. Mated to a transmission with a better gear spread like a NV4500 5 speed, I'd have an awesome vehicle (lots of $ though). It is a little bit hard to find a Landcruiser diesel engine in the states, although Toyota exported some diesel cruisers to Canada (they were called BJ40's). As an aside, I saw an old guy in town awhile ago with a clean FJ40 Landcruiser. I stopped and 'talked shop' for a bit. I noticed His vanity plate said: [ DYIN4ABJ ] I thought he was talking about a BJ40 Landcruiser but he had a puzzled look when I asked and he just shook his head and said he meant the other kind of 'BJ'... LOL. Tracy

LOL... Actually I made out okay the first time because the guy had become a friend (and still is to this day) over the course of the year. He sold it back to me for $2500 which is what I'd sold it to him for. He purchased a newer FJ40. On mine, he had put in a new alternator and battery, added seatbelts out of an Izuzu pickup and purchased a bikini top and soft doors for it. I got all that but he kept my new wheels and tires and sold it back to me with stock rims and tires (shoulda kept those dammit). I keep mulling it over. It doesn't owe me a thing and would be really fun to restore some day. As Landcruisers go, it's really pretty clean and mechanically sound but it is a beast, it's slow, heavy, uncomfortable and gets bad gas mileage. Furthermore, there are less and less places to drive a four by four that is as capable as that one is. I know I'd likely regret selling it... but is it just one more thing to complicate life? I'm really into simplifying. It might feel liberating just to sell the Landcruiser and my old boat and not look back. I can have as much fun hiking in the Tetons with my wife and sons as I can burning up fuel in my Landcruiser/boat and I don't need to build a shed to store my backpacking equipment in... it fits in a closet under my stairs. Hmmmmm.... Sorry to get off-topic here. Tracy

I got my '87 GL wagon about 5000 miles ago with a slipping clutch. Today, it is still getting me to and from work even though it is weak. I'm trying to decide if I should have a clutch shop do it for a little over $200 more than parts or limp along until I have time to do it myself and save money as well as have the opportunity to clean up the engine and do a few other engine maintenace things like oil pump, water pump and fixing oil leaks. At any rate the clutch should keep limping you along for a bit longer if you go easy. Tracy

Looks like I did have a more recent pic on my PC here at work: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=14332 You can see there's a bit of oxidation that needs buffed and I bunged up the front fender (goofing off one day). I used to drive it 40-50 miles every day but for the past 7-8 years it has done quite a bit of sitting... too bad really. I can't afford to drive it. I moved out to the country and fuel is too much $. Tracy

I sold it once 12 years ago to pay for some medical bills... I was so bummed I bought it back from the guy a year later. I've had it for over 16 years. Believe it or not, recently, I've been thinking seriously about selling it and putting the $ towards a mid-size truck like a Toyota Tacoma 4-door. I will probably regret selling it but a more modern vehicle that gets closer to 20 MPG and will haul more stuff would probably be more practical for my family's needs. Tracy

Here's a quick and dirty shot... it's an old pic (my son in the photo is now almost 12). It's all I have here at work. http://tracytodd1968.blogspot.com/ or http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/94/2284/1600/scan0001.jpg Tracy

I've put just over 5000 miles on my current Subaru ('87 GL wagon). It has close to 200,000 miles on the odometer. I've replaced the alternator, fixed the blower motor selector switch and resitor pack, replaced a broken side window, changed fluids, filters and puttered on various other things. I have a few things still on the list: clutch is weak and I have a half shaft with torn inner boot. The oil pump needs sealed as well... I keep having the HLA ticking come and go. It appears to be a fairly clean Subaru overall though and I'm happy with my $700 spent. It is the cheapest Subaru I've owned so far. Today I blocked off the air-injection-system valves with quarters. One side was missing the small plastic muffler so the car had a leaky exhaust sound. It was really loud. Now with the AIS valves blocked, it is really quiet. It sounds 100% better. No popping/backfiring sounds when revving the moter either. It sounds a lot smoother. I'm glad I did this, although I'm half tempted to just block off the exhaust ports and remove the AIS altogether as a step towards a 'cleaner' engine bay. Thanks for the tip GD. Tracy

The overheating in waves is indicative of a leaky head. That is what my '90 Legacy did with a blown HG. Like Bucky said, just cool your jets, regroup and deal with this thing. Tracy

It may be worth more than that to the right person but in general a car of that age with a leaky head is worth about $50. I tried hard to get more than that out of my '90 Legacy with the same problem. In the end that is why I'm likely going to donate it to our local fire dept. That is why in your case, I'd start turning some wrenches. I would have on my Legacy had the car not already had other issues. Tracy

Are you interested in the engine out of my '90 Legacy? It has a blown HG and I let it get hot. It does run though and is rebuildable. You can have it for free if you'd like. I'm just planning on donating the car to the local fire dept. anyway. I'm up the road a few hours drive in Rexburg, ID Tracy

The idea is, the KW will try to squeeze through a leaking area and it will build up until the leak has been dammed off. How can this happen if pressure from the combustion process is pushing exhaust gases from the combustion chamber into the water jacket through a compromised head gasket or worse a crack in the head? Even if the circumstances are such that some coolant does pass from the water jacket into the combustion chamber it is likely that the flow of exhaust gases back the other direction would push out the repair faster than it could build up to dam off the leak. The bottom line is, your car over heated and the aluminum head(s) took a hit. These cars are built for longevity but they can't take the heat. I can sympathize. My '90 Legacy experienced a sticky thermostat one summer day during a trip to the local foot hills for a pic-nic with my folks. I let the car drive a bit too far with the temp a bit too high... nothing major at that point... likely a blown HG is all. Since the transmission was starting to get 'clunky' and the AWD had gotten sloppy... and the car had some dents and a leaky moon roof, I just decided to keep driving it and stop dumping money into the car. I'd gotten over 100,000 miles out of her and I didn't pay a lot for the car. I drove it for another 5-6 mos. and eventually just let her 'melt down'. The car is out behind my garden shed. I'm going to pull the alloy wheels, new rubber, new alternator/battery and donate it to the local fire department to practice vehicle extractions with their 'jaws of life'. In hind sight, I wish I'd not ran the car into the ground. Even with 200,000 miles the engine still had a lot of life left in it. Oh, well. If I were you, I'd quit pricking around with the block sealer and pull the head(s). Like I said, at this point you've nothing to lose. Tracy

You said yourself, your getting exhaust in your coolant. That means the leak is moving the wrong direction for a 'fix in a bottle' to work. If you were getting coolant in your exhaust, there might be a prayer for a short lived fix. At this point the car is worth about $50. That means you have nothing to lose if you pull the plugs, run a compression check, figure out which side is bad, pull the head and see if you have a cracked/warped head or if it is just a blown head gasket. It isn't really all that hard to change and like I said, you have nothing to lose. The car isn't usable and it isn't worth anything in its current state. You said you don't have a place to work... get creative. I feel lucky to have a warm garage to work in now, but 15 years ago, when I was in college, I rebuilt the top end of my Landcruiser in the parking lot of my apartment complex after I lost a piston. Another time (after our apartment complex made a rule that we couldn't do major mechanical repairs there), I found an older mechanic, nearing retirement who let me rent some shop space to replace the shackle bushings, shocks and do some exhaust work on my Landcruiser. My wife brought him cookies several times while I was working on my cruiser and he went easy on me and even helped me a bit on his time. Tracy

LOL!! Sorry to be so blasphemous in putting Bar's in my Sooby... Do I dare say I don't pop the money for a WIX or Purolator filter on my Soob either? At any rate, back to the original issue, I agree, no pour-in solution will work for a blown HG/cracked head. That said, if the radiator on a tired old Sooby has a small leak in it, I heartily recommend pouring in some Bar's Leaks (pellets) and not losing any sleep. Tracy

BTW, I've not tried the aluminum flakes type of stop leak. I've only used the rhizex pellet type (and only on my Subaru... I've never poured anything but distilled water and antifreeze in the radiator of my precious FJ40 Landcruiser;)) Lately the water pump on my Dodge Decrepid has been howling a bit. I think I'll dump some in that beast. Here's an interesting link from Bar's website. http://www.barsleaks.net/how2works.html Read the demonstration. If it is true, I don't see how Bar's leaks would clog up a cooling system. I can see how people would be leery though. Like I said, I've never poured any such stuff in my Cruiser. Several years ago, I had a leaky radiator in it and I popped the cash for a new radiator. While I like Subarus (I'm on my fourth one), I'm not quite as dedicated to my $700 Sooby as I am my vintage Landcruiser. I just want it to keep getting me to and from work until I can save enough cash for a Toyota Tacoma. Tracy

I got my information off the Internet so it must be true . http://www.quasimotors.com/about_bar1.htm Tracy

The premium block sealer (glass particle type) will likely not get you very far down the road with your blown HG. As an aside, there is some really bad press (from some USMB members) (reference the thread below) on Bars Leaks for minor cooling system leaks. I've personally not had a bad experience with it (the pelletized type) and I've used it quite a bit in the past on older farm vehicles as well as on my '87 GL wagon. I've never had it plug up a heater core and I've had good luck with it stopping minor leaks. It should also be noted: the following OEM's install Bar's Leaks in radiators at their factories: Allis Chalmers (AGCO) AM General (Hummer, etc.) Carrier Transicold Caterpillar (Canada and USA) Cloverland (engine rebuilder) Daimler-Chrysler (US, Canada, and International) Engine Rebuilders (Canada) Ford Motor Company (US, Canada, and International) General Motors Corp. (US, Canada, and International) Gopher Motors (engine rebuilder) Isuzu (international) Jaguar (international) Komatsu (heavy duty) Marshall (engine rebuilder) Mitsubishi (international) Navistar (International Harvester) RB&W Logistics (industrial) Subaru (international) Tracy