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That's cool... I didn't realize it was a passive system. I'm glad to hear it. I'm going to take your advice and block the AI valves this weekend. I'm looking forward to a quieter Sooby. Thanks again GD. Tracy

Thanks for the reply. How is the air pump driven on an ea82 engine? Many years ago I had a '76 Toyota Corolla that backfired all the time, I removed the belt on the 'smog pump' and it solved the backfiring. With just a quick cursory look at my '87 Subaru, it appears the air pump is not driven by a belt off the flywheel. Blocking the valves will cause it to stop pulling air but is it more desirable to eliminate the air pump all together? Tracy

My 1987 Carbureted GL wagon, sounds like it has an exhaust leak but it doesn't. After some inspection and a bit of research (HTKYSA page 248), I've discovered that the softball sized plastic muffler/silencer for the air injection system has been eliminated for some reason. It probably broke and so a previous owner just replaced it with a plastic union. Since this device is missing you can hear the rumble of exhaust noises and it sounds like I'm driving a beater that I'm too cheap to fix the exhaust system on. If I pull the cover off the air cleaner box and put my thumb over the inlet hole to the AIS, it sounds much better. I'd like to hear suggestions: Get part off junk yard Subaru and call it a day? Engineer a homemade replacement from a lawnmower muffler? Eliminate Air injection system all together? Comments and ideas much appreaciated. TIA, Tracy

Can anyone here verify or expound further on this? My dash lights give a faint flicker of feedback, faint enough to only be noticed when it is dark. It happens when I do something to change the electrical load. Oddly, it happens when I do something to *reduce* the load (like turn off the fan or turn off the headlights) the dash lights will flicker. I believe this started after I replaced the alternator (so it is likely no distributor related). I now have a freshly rebuilt NAPA alternator (it had a bad voltage regulator) and the voltmeter on the dash shows well above 12 volts so the alternator seems to be working okay. BTW, NAPA wouldn't warranty the alternator even though it had a 2005 sticker on it because their warranty is not owner transferable and it was the previous owner who had purchased the alternator... so I had it rebuilt for $30 at a local shop. This place does good work. I have taken several alternators to him in the past. He has a great reputation. He said that the NAPA alternator wasn't as good of quality as an OEM but better than the Checker Auto Parts alternators he sees. Aside from the faintly flickering lights everything seems fine. The rebuilt alternator has been in there for a couple months and a few thousand miles. My hunch is the voltage regulator on my rebuilt NAPA alternator is still a bit iffy, for whatever reason... because, if I remember correctly, the OEM Subaru alternator I borrowed from a friend while my NAPA one was getting rebuilt didn't cause any of the dash light flicker. Tracy

I was hoping for something more concrete like: 'yeah if the problem comes and goes, it's not the mickey mouse gasket'... oh well, if the oil pump seals aren't a big deal to change then I'll go ahead and do it when I get around to doing the timing belts. In the meantime, I'll continue to change the oil often and throw in some MMO/Seafoam from time to time. Hopefully it will just keep running quiet. Thanks everyone for the good information on this common problem that can sometimes be elusive. Tracy

Will TOD from a sucked in Mickey Mouse ear come and go as mine has or am I likely plagued with residual sludge? I have no idea how frequent the oil changes were in its past. Right now my '87 GL wagon with approx 200,000 miles on the odometer is purring like a kitten at all RPMs whether cold or warmed up. I expect it to tick again though at some point and I'm trying to determine if I should just bite the bullet and tear into the oil pump (and timing belts while I'm at it). Thanks for your good input Gary. Tracy

What a saga... My oil pressure seems pretty decent for an EA82. It rides around the same range as my former Subarus did. When I'm cruising down the highway on a warm engine it is close to 45. I agree about the 'convenienc' of HLAs. I love the simplicity of the engine in my '68 FJ40 Landcruiser and I loved the EA81 in my '81 GL wagon. I wish I'd kept that car.

I've read a lot of HLA noise oriented posts here and I have a pretty good handle on causes and fixes. None-the-less I have a question: If HLA noise can be caused from aeration of the oil due to faulty oil pump gaskets which in turn cause the lifters to go flat... is this something that can come and go with oil changes? I've not had my current Subaru for all that long. When I first got it, I changed the oil and after that it started ticking (although I don't think it was on all cylinders). I figured it was dirty lifters and added Seafoam and drove it around for several days but to no avail. I used some motor flush and changed the oil again (the oil had a fair amount of sludgy junk in it.). I put in fresh 10W 30 and some more Seafoam and drove it for another several days... one day the ticking stopped during a short coffee run after being parked for a few minutes after my 30 min morning commute. It purred like a kitten for a month after that with nary a tick. I figured it had been dirty HLAs and considered the problem fixed. Then one day... I let the car idle for a couple hours while I got sidetracked talking to a pretty lady at work... when I went back out to my car it was ticking. DRAT... After that I added MMO and Seafoam and drove it for several days. The ticking seemed to get worse. I'm sure the oil was a bit thin at this point although oil pressure was reasonable. I flushed the engine again (it was really ticky while it idled for 5 min with heavy duty engine flush in there) and figured I'd put fresh oil in it to see if that helped although at this point I was suspecting the TOD was from leaky oil seals aerating the oil (as an aside: this Subaru doesn't leak a drop of oil anywhere!! unlike my former Subarus). After the oil drained I noted some more sludgy stuff but less than the first time. I then added 10W 30 with nothing added to it. It ticked upon starting it. I let it warm up a bit and then in a spastic moment I just revved it up HARD and for a good several seconds. The ticking quieted and stopped! The car has been purring nicely again and I haven't heard a single tick in over 300 miles of driving. It is quiet upon immediate starting and quiet through any range of RPMs. I sure like my Subaru better when it isn't ticking. Did I have dirty lifters that were fixed by changing oil or did I have thin, additive laden oil that became more susceptible to aeration and changing the oil put it back to a threshold that was tolerable by my possibly aging but not yet gone oil pump seals? I was going to pull the oil pump and replace seals over the Christmas holiday break but now that the engine has quieted down again I'm just driving it and enjoying the car and wondering if the oil pump is fine. Thanks in advance for the input. Tracy '87 GL wagon former Subarus: '81 GL wagon, '88 GL wagon, '90 Legacy wagon

Yeah... I'm just a shade tree myself but I've changed a few half shafts (Both half shafts on my '92 Nissan Sentra, a half shaft on my old '81 GL wagon, both half shafts on my old '88 GL wagon, both half shafts on my retired '90 Legacy, the half shaft on a friend's Dodge Caravan and I'm about to replace the driver's side half shaft on my '87 GL wagon). Changing a half shaft is a job that is easy enough and the $ savings significant enough that it is well worth tackling even for a novice mechanic. I've always been able to get enough free play by popping the lower ball joint free from the race with a 'pickle fork' and a piece of shim brass cut in the right shape as a shield to protect the grease boot from tearing. After that I pull the half shaft free from the transaxle and then drive the axle out of the hub. I've never loosened any bolts around the strut. As an aside: One time I totally FUBARed the threads on the old half shaft... I showed the guy at Checker Auto and he gave me the full core refund anyway. The axle was being REALLY stubborn and the block of wood I was using was absorbing just enough of the momentum of my 2 lb sledge to not pop the axle out so I finally said 'screw it... it's only a $30 core refund anyway' and I just went to town on it directly... then it popped right out of the hub. I should invest in a brass sledge or a gear puller. Tracy

My parent's '81 Dodge Colt actually wasn't a bad car. They purchased it new and it was a great little economy car for quite a few years... then my sister got her driver's licence and pulled out in front of someone and got T-boned. It got fixed but slowly started getting trashed after that. Her boyfriend filled it up with regular (leaded) fuel from his dad's farm tanks and so my Dad by passed the catalytic converter because it got ruined. Eventually I got my license and I trashed it pretty good too. I thought it was an off-road vehicle. I managed to break the motor mounts and royally wear out the struts. It was always going through CVs too. By the time we sold it to a migrant worker, it ran but was missing the driver's side window (my cousin accidentally released the parking brake at a drive-in and the movie speaker tore out the window). The windshield was all shattered (no comment)... and the sunroof leaked. Also, at some point the hood release cable broke and the hood got pryed open (it opened backwards like a Corvette). The hood sort of floated as you drove the car after that. As I look back I can't believe the car got so trashed. I am actually pretty careful about how I drive and maintain my cars. I think I won't be letting any of my kids drive the family cars. Teenagers can be hard on cars. I'd like to find a beat up Subaru with a 3 speed auto so they can't go too fast or do much damage and I can teach my kids how to do basic auto repairs on an easy-to-work-on car. Tracy

The clutch is getting pretty weak in my '87 GL. I often start out in low when at a four way stop on an incline. I love that you can shift back to high on the fly. It works well. My Landcruiser has a separate shifter for the low range and the 4-WD so you can choose 2-WD high, 2-WD low or 4-WD low. I really like the 2-WD low for slowly backing my 16' open bow ski boat down the ramp at the lake... no 4-WD binding as I jockey down the ramp. For starting out in a straight line 4-WD low works fine in the Sooby but a 2-WD low option would be kinda nice. BTW, my parents had an '81 Dodge Colt with the extra range. I drove it when I was in high school. I used to have fun 'split-shifting' through all 8 gears like I was driving a 'big rig'. It was a cute little car but it certainly wasn't engineered for longevity. It was wore out with only 150,000 miles on the odometer. Tracy

I was wondering about that... as I think back, the only time my Landcruiser carb iced up (I remember spinning of the wing-nut on the air box and looking down to see lots of ice formed around the inside walls of the carb) was on a fairly warm, wet-tish day. It makes perfect sense. It leaves me wondering if I'm back to trying to fab something up so I'm ready to travel when that combination of conditions exist. A co-worker who also owns a Subaru has had trouble sucking up water through his air stove tube when he's been out splashing through the mud. It makes for a low and unprotected point on the vehicle to be pulling air from. I suppose a guy could run with it disconnected most of the time and just have it there for that rare time when you need it. Thoughts? ...and thanks for the input. Tracy

I've had two carbed and two injected Subarus. The last carbed Subie I had was a 1981 GL wagon. The carb seemed to ice up quite a bit (ran rough, sluggish and weak sometimes on really cold days). In "hind-sight", I think I might have just had a sticky choke. I appreciate the input. Tracy

Cool... I do have the stock carb. That is an interesting feature. I'm glad to know carb icing won't be an issue even without the air stove. My Soobie seems to be working well in the cold temps. I just wish the plastic things like window cranks, blinker levers and such were a bit beefier. It felt dangerous rolling down the window at the McDonalds drive-thru window yesterday. Tracy

My carbureted '87 GL wagon wasn't so happy last week driving to work. It acted like it was starving for fuel... would barely pull 2nd gear. I figured it was tank ice impeding gas flow at the filter/pump so I poured in some gas de-icer. Next day it was even worse. I wondered if maybe I was having a carb-icing-up-issue. It should be noted, my air stove isn't functional. The previous owner replaced the Y-pipe and the one that is now welded in there has no riser flange for the aluminum duct that goes to the airbox intake. So there is no duct coming from the Y-pipe. I figured I'd need to fab something up. It has been really cold here in Idaho (-15* F this morning). Last Friday the problem got to the point it wouldn't rev enough to even pull first gear. I realized it was probably more of a fuel delivery issue and possibly not the carb icing up at all. So, I replaced the fuel filter (near the fuel pump) a couple days ago and it was clogged. I could barely blow through it. I got a Hastings fuel filter at the local Parts Service. As an aside, I like that the Hastings fuel filter is clear. The car ran just fine after that. I've driven it the last couple days and it has had no problems. I drive 30 miles one way and like I said, it is coooold. The missing air stove duct doesn't seem to be adversly affecting the car... at least at these temps (-15*F). Should I bother fabbing an air stove at this point? It seems to be doing just fine without it. I checked and the diversion gate in the air box is working so in the extreme cold, it is pulling air from inside the engine bay but not actual warm ducted air from the Y-pipe. Tracy

Hmmm... Methinks maybe you might have bought the wrong car. These older Subarus have a lot of character, are quite simple to work on and fairly dependable. However, they do tend to like encouragement and TLC from time to time and they do much better in the hands of folks with a few tools who aren't afraid to pop the hood and twiddle with them a bit and who know some of their few weaknesses (such as not letting them overheat). I have a '92 Nissan Sentra with close to 200,000 miles on it (same as my '87 Subaru GL wagon). Aside from brake shoes, tires and oil changesThe Nissan has required exactly two things in the 12 years I've owned it. A fuel pump and an alternator. A couple years ago I did replace the original Panasonic battery and installed new plugs, wires and distributor. I just figured it was time. The battery was getting a bit tired (it was 10 years old, I've never had a battery last that long). Changing the plugs and such didn't really do much but it was probably over due. BTW, I've gotten sloppy at maintenance on this car and the last oil change it got was on Decemeber 18, 2004!!! Whoops! I need to change the oil BTW, that was 10,000 miles ago. Even with year-old, sludgy oil, there's no such thing as 'tick-of-death' on this car. Also, it has a TIMING CHAIN. My wife drives this car so it is easy for me to forget about it. I drove it last week because it has a Yakima rack and I needed to haul a ladder for putting up Christmas lights. I'd forgotten how smooth and fun this car is to drive. You can barely hear the engine running on idle and it accelerates very crisp and smooth. After driving my Subaru GL wagon, the Nissan with it's 1600 cc engine felt like a sports car! Everything was smoother, turns are flat and sports-car-like, the clutch is smooth and even feeling throughout the entire pedal range, etc... I am suprised the car is only 5 years newer than my GL wagon. The engine is so responsive (yet smaller displacement), it left me wondering why my beloved Subaru struggles to get out of its own way. And finally, the list of repairs my Subaru has had in it's life is much, much longer than the list for my Nissan. That said... I wouldn't trade my '87 Subaru GL wagon. I love it! It has character! I love the four wheel drive, I love the cargo space, the ride height, turning radius and the overall mechanical simplicity. I do however, have to give it a bit of TLC (which I enjoy doing to be honest). I change the oil regularly and drive it frequently to keep the HLAs from 'sludging up'. I change out half shafts from time to time (these Subarus turn so tight they tear old, brittle CV boots easier than most cars). In addition, the timing belts need attention every 60K (or you can just let them fly apart, the engines are non-interference <cool!>) and a plethora of other things. I've had 3 previous Subarus. I'll likely have others in the future. Hearing your tale is like watching a train wreck. I feel badly you've lost so much money to mechanics. Although, in this case, I don't think you really have a leg to stand on in complaining about Subarus. The root of the problem started out as merely HLA noise (a relatively minor issue). Most of the other stuff is bad luck that could happen to ANY car. As for your winter complaints. Subarus do fine in the colder weather if they are working properly. Mine has been starting wonderfullly in the cold Idaho weather... however, it is having some issues icing up after I've driven a few miles in the morning. I need to fix the air stove intake and the problem will be cured. Or I could take it to a mechanic, get charged up the wazoo and complain about it. Like I said, these Subarus do like a little mechanical TLC but they are good cars overall. You either need pony-up and get some tools and a service manual and put in some 'elbow grease' from time to time. Find a better mechanic and don't complain about the cost of their work (mechanics have to make a living so car repairs cost money). Or, go back to a car that suits your style a bit better. My two cents. Tracy

Yeah... we live out in the country and there are a lot of field mice. I'm trying to see how he got past the firewall. I've heard that a mouse can squeeze into a spot that a pencil can fit into. I don't know if it is infact true but I do have a hole in my firewall that size. I wonder about the shifter linkage or the hole where the steering passes through. I'll need to do some further inspection. In the meantime, I may empty out the glove compartment and put a 'sticky glue trap' with a piece of chocolate on it, in there for a week or two. I don't want him to find a way into the ventilation system! Like I said earlier, a mouse nest in the heater/air duct system was a key factor in my decision to upgrade Subarus a few years ago. I'm planning on keeping this Subaru for good while so I need to do some 'mouse proofing'. Tracy

#@%&!! (cuss words!). This morning I opened the glove compartment and a chocolate bar I'd stashed in there, had tiny little teeth marks and there was paper bits everywhere. This is on a 1987 GL wagon I've had the problem on previous Subarus as well... I had a mouse get into the glove box on my '88 wagon and worse... a mouse packed the heater/duct system with crap and bits of insulation on my '81 GL wagon. I sold that car after that. I HATE MICE! They are so destructive and dirty. What's up with older Subarus and mice? I've never had a problem with any of my other cars... even my old '68 Landcruiser. Tracy

Yeah, it's quite a transition when I go from my Dodge Decrepid to my little sooby wagon. The Dodge, with it's 3.3L V-6 cruises down the highway at 75 and well under 2K RPM. The final drive gearing and torque range is completely different than the Subaru. The Soob needs to have my foot really in it just to get out of its own way and really likes to be in the 3K-4K rpm range running down the highway. Tracy

U-haul sells one that bolts on where the factory tow hooks are and also required some frame drilling. I installed one on my '88 GL wagon in under an hour. Seems like the one for my Legacy didn't require any drilling and went a bit quicker. The cost was a bit over $100. My Legacy definately towed things better but my GL wagon with the 3 speed auto managed to tow my small tent trailer around reasonably well. I need to get a hitch on my current Soob ('87 GL wagon 5 speed, D-R). I'm thinking of building a tube-style bumper with a built in receiver hitch. I wouldn't tow anything over 1000 lbs with an ea82 for any appreciable distance. They are too light and don't have the torque or braking to safely tow much more. I have a 6x8 trailer with short sides. It tows nicely behind a smaller Subaru and works well for trips to Home Depot for lumber or to the local foothills to get landscape rocks. Tracy

Interesting, I was not aware of the compression ratio difference between carb'ed and fuel injected ea 82s. Is this why my '87 carb'ed Soob runs better (no knocking) on 85 octane fuel than did my '88 with SPFI which seemed to want higher octane fuel? Tracy

That's fine, however when you are trying to get to the bottom of something or making statements of cause and effect, it is helpful to only change one variable at a time otherwise the causative source will be inconclusive. I would have changed the filter AND oil at the same time as well. I'm simply stating that in so doing, your theory about FRAM flow rate as THE causative source of your noisy HLAs is weakened. And yes, I'm sure we do drive our Subarus differently. I use mine mostly as a commuter car and an occasional camping car (which includes towing a small, lightweight, pop-up tent camper). I also plan on driving this Subaru to the ski resort near my home as I have past Subarus I've owned. Idaho winters can get pretty cold but that's the extent of it. Subarus are cute little cars and they do really well in the deep snow we often get here. I just love them which is why my current Subaru is the fourth I've owned. However, I have a Toyota Landcruiser that I use for any serious off-road or extreme use. And don't worry Patrick, my feathers certainly haven't gotten ruffled. Nothing that goes on in an Internet list is capable of that. I come here to share and partake of information related to my Subaru. Much of what is posted here is very interesting and helpful. This forum is an amazing resource. I wish I could find something similar for some of my other vehicles or my old boat but I am not tied emotionally to the comings and goings of this list. Tracy

Here's another interesting link on oil. http://www.boss302.com/oil.htm Tracy

This is a great thread on lifter tick. I think it is worth a bump for anyone whose Subie sounds like it is busy 'sewing a quilt' under the hood. http://subaru.sonik.us/ezboard/topics/18582.html Based on the findings in the above thread, I think my ticking was from the 'laxative effect' of flushing the engine. Tracy

Green Scotch-Brite pad, laquer thinner, Duplicolor wheel paint. Good results for an old Soobie. If it were a collector's car or something then the laborious process of polishing would be justified. My Soobie has stock alloys off an '85. The Duplicolor paint is the ticket. Tracy