nimrod

Thanks, Caboobaroo, that's the kind of tip I can use. I saw a bunch of little holes in the flywheel and thought maybe I could use one of those, just don't know how tight that bolt is. Incidentally, after changing to 20W-50 GTX: no lifter noise so far....

Oh, so you don't necessarily have to hold the flywheel if you have an air wrench, which is how "real" mechanics do it? Holding the flywheel with a screwdriver through the starter motor hole (Haynes Manual) is a joke, impossible I think. I'd be happy to pay a mechanic to replace my oil pump o-rings, but haven't found one I trust in my town...

The Mobil1 was 10W-30, I just refilled with 20W-50 GTX, so we'll see how that goes. It was quiet on the ten minute drive to work today. So...how the heck do you hold the flywheel to remove that crank pulley bolt anyway? That's the point where I gave up on the oil pump o-ring job. I guess there's a special tool for it....

Hey, I have a new used '87 GL FWD 5sp wagon I bought used a year or so ago, and about six months and 1500 miles ago (I don't drive it much) I changed oil and used Mobil1 as I had very good luck with synthetic in my old Toyota. Recently, I've been getting lifter noise but only after the car gets good and warm. It goes away after it cools down. I'm guessing that it's a leaky oil pump o-ring...think the oil could have caused that? I changed back to dino (GTX) and poured in a pint of MMO for good measure. I bought the pump O-rings, but I'm not man enough to get the friggin' crank pulley bolt off. Any thoughts? ... besides that I'm lame, I know that already.

Ah!...just read a post that says the ticking could be caused by a leaky oil pump o-ring. That makes some sense to me. My oil pressure is good, but seems like maybe it was fluctuating more than normal when the ticking was especially loud....

Thanks for the feedback. Forgot to mention that the original owner obviously didn't drive the car much, but still changed the oil regularly, as often as every 1000 miles. And....the oil on the dipstick looks totally clean.

My '86 EA82 FWD wagon starts ticking randomly after it's warmed up. After it cools off, it ticks loudly when it's started, then it's quiet -- sometimes for days -- till the problem crops up again. I've searched other posts, read about Seafoam and MMO. Any ideas why the noise would spontaneously come and go? I purchased the car used about 9 months ago, 93,0000 miles on it, changed to Mobil1 10W-30 about 1000 miles ago. Could the synthetic be loosening junk and plugging something? The noise seems to be from the drivers side only. Is MMO compatible with Mobil1? Thanks for any thoughts or feedback!

This is a great post...I got my '87 GL wagon a few months ago (FW drive, SPFI, 91K miles) and it's making the CV clicking noise on tight turns. So how bad does the noise get before the joints fail? Has anyone had a CV joint fail? What happens? Do they explode, or do you just lose the drive? I'm trying to put off the expense for the time being.....Thanks!

Thanks for the reassurance everyone. I'm just being a baby.

Thanks for the replies you guys. I'm just really spoiled by my Toyota which I drove for 200K and never did any major work. No clutch, never had the head off, etc. Of course, I put alternators, brakes, tires, etc. on it. Glad to hear that the halfshafts are an easy fix: what, they'll get a lot noisier before they explode? The clutch doesn't slip, just has that weird shudder when cold-not sure why that is. The car is in great shape -- was driven by a LOL (little old lady) -- and had regular maintenance: timing belt, CV boots, clutch, but strangely the plugs and dist cap looked original. It's definitely a keeper. Appreciate the feedback....

I've almost run out my first tank of gas (excluding the gas that was in the car when I bought it...) in my "new" '87 GL wagon. It's FWD, 5sp, TBI, 90K miles and super clean -- looks like new. So far, in the first couple hundred miles (still on the gas that was in the car when I bought it...) I've had to replace the timing belts (one broke stranding me) and voltage regulator (alternator), so I'm understandably a little paranoid, and now I have two concerns: 1) I'm hearing a clicking from the CV joints, but only at low speed, tight turns, when the car is stone cold, then it goes away. The joints are original, but the boots were replaced at 40K, I think. How long do CV joints last? This is my first front-drive car... 2) Also when the car is cold, I have a pretty severe clutch shuddering pulling away from a stop. This also clears right up when the car warms. Is that normal? I think the car got a new clutch at about 40K, also. I've always heard that Subarus are reliable, but having been stranded once already (my old Toyota never let me down for 20 years), I am -- like I say -- paranoid. Thanks for your input! .

Thanks for the suggestions. I had my GL towed to a local shop after the timing belt broke mainly because I wasn't prepared with a parts source so I could do the job myself. A discount timing belt would be a BAD idea....I hate taking my car to a shop. For example, I still have to get my flywheel inspection-hole cover back from them -- they forgot to put it back on I guess for a distributor cap and wires I could see what they have at Pep Boys...Bosch should be OK, right?

I just got a super-clean '87 GL TBI FWD 5sp Wagon with low miles (~90K), and since we have no dealer in this city, I need some suggestions of online sources for factory or other QUALITY parts. I know, I could Google, but you guys have your favorites, I'm sure. So far I love the car except that it stranded me before I burned up the gas that was in the tank when I bought it. That was kind of traumatic as my '75 Corolla has never stranded me despite the abuse I heap upon it. Then again, it has CHAIN driving the cam.... Any suggestions would be appreciated!

OK, I've had my new old '87 GL wagon for a couple weeks now, passed CA smog (easily), it seems to run great, why is my "check engine" light coming on? I've never owned a "modern" car, and I gather that this is due to one of the smog sensors spitting out a code that can be downloaded with the proper tool. I really enjoy the way the car handles and I've been pitching it around on the twisty bits -- could this be a cause? Sloshing gas into an overflow or something? (yes, the gas cap it on tight)....BTW, you all probably have seen this, but I found it interesting: http://subaru.sonik.us/vindecode.html. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Thanks for the advice. I picked up a Haynes manual to get started, but it is pretty general. It's great that there's this active community, you've already been a big help. Any suggestions for parts on-line?