riverrat

Ok another question kind of along these lines. either my ignition switch is going out or there is a relay somwhere going south either way....sometimes when i twis the key it is not letting enough juice through to spin her over and the other day it behaved like it had no juice thriugh out the system and the wala back to normal. Anybody want out p.m me on how to hot wire the river rat?I spend an imense amount of time in the back forty steelhead fishing and am afraind of a long walk.I am not interested in a new ignition switch on this old but faithfull beast,hell you can start it with any key or even a dime as it is now.I would be just as happy to bypass the switch and install a couple of switches

can you get the castle nut on at all?If so use it to pull the axle through.If the rotor and splined hub are off the the castle nut can be used to pull the axle through with a couple of large screw drivers,carefully prying backwards.just becarefull of the grease seal.Some times the addition of the flat washer and or the cone washer put on back wards helps,giving you more leverage. hope this helps!!!!

I had the same problem with riverrat1.It apeared right after I severly overheated it.My experiance told me that I probably had coolant in the engine oil.Had a suby mechanic diag it to keep me from wasting mony as a shade tree wanabe.He told me to replace the radiator with 240,000 miles on it and to quit using cheap as4 oil in my oil changes.Quit using the walmart special and problem went away. I noticed the other day that riverrat2 has the same white sludge on the bottom of the oil cap. I would change the oil and check crankcase venelation before I got too carried away.

I have another ignition switch over here in bremerton if ya want.Trade it for a peek at your wagon some day.

I would have to agree with the advice of having the charging system tested.A couple of bucks if not free that will save a lot of guessing.Once one piece of a charging system starts to fail the next piece in line takes the abuse and wears out to doubling the cost. I also know from experiance that a new aftermarket alternator does not mean it is good.The only one I have ever had to replace on a suby came out of the gate charging anywhere frome 19v to 9v.did not need a volt meter to tell just turn on the lights.Napa tested it and told me it was fine.had to take it out of town to a differant napa{differant management] to get the truth.I got the idiot at the local store fired over that one.

We had probably a thirty foot or so semi deliver windows on a job sight a few years back.Well he ran out of diesel on the hill just before the house.I called the dirt guy and he came up and gave him twenty gallons of diesel.Well the truck would still not start.The poor guy sat there for probably three hours using the starter to inch his way up the hill in an attempt to coast down the back side to compression start it.I finally could not stand it any longer.I hoped in riverrat1{84gl4x4wagon] rolled over there and told him I would pull him up the hill.He laughed hard so I bet him fifty bucks.Hooked up my tow strap secretly through into low and pulled him up the hill..I let him off on the fifty as he ha dsuffered enough grief for one day.Besides the whole plat was now intriged by the once anonomous subaru:D

Ok that pic is diferant than the riverrat.I just had to replace the blower motor and never found the resistors.I figured it was the brushes and was correct.I did a search though and read a very long thread concerning the ressistors and was disapointed when I did not get to inspect mine in the process of the motor swap. Once again you guys are great,I know alot of the info asked by people is very redundant to you old time experts,yet you always seem to step up to the plate. No pics needed but where is mine hiding?

Here is a little trick to help identify speaker wires.Get a AA batery and pop the speaker.It will not blow your speaker.I used to install for a living.We would just tape some wire to a aa and poke around the radio harnes to identify the speakers.

The riverrats a lowlife and it has one.

saying good bye to riverrat1 was very hard.Like losing a good dog in my mind.I feel for ya

Upon further thought.....when I bought riverrat1 it behaved the same way as you describe.the problem ended up being NO thermostat instaled.just a thought.

My thoughts with a spike like that upon warm up would be a stuborn thermostat.

This is one of the reasons I love subarus.The quality people they atract for pets.

thats what I thought but I onlly have experiance with the ea81.

I run 87 around town but on my week end trips to the coast I run a higher octane simply because the riverrat handles the hills,at freeway speed better than with the lower octane.It just runs better out there for some reason.I am guessing less preignition lugging up the hills in 4th I do agree that alot of people are mis guided at the pumps though.My 2002 mercuary cougar came with instructions not to run any higher than 87 so does the 99 exploder I believe.