DaveT

If this is an EA82 3AT: Wire runs: Starter switch to connector under steering column. From same connector, under dash, to connector near floor / passenger side. Same connector under carpet to automatic shifter / inhibitor switch. From Inhibitor switch back to a connector near floor passenger side. From that connector, under dash, to big firewall connector. Firewall connector to starter. Any of those connectors could be intermittant. To find the right side connectors remove the piece of verticle trim under the dash, on the side where the door hinges are. And the plastic that covers the area under the glove box.

If it is rust free, sounds good to me. When you do the coolant system, make sure you find & replace all 7 hoses. If the fine fins are fallling out of the radiator, replace it soon. It barely has enough cooling capacity in new condition. Water pump and timing belts & idlers. Including the cam seals and the orings behind the piece the cam seals are in. Rocker cover seals. Some of the oil leak may be from the oil passage that feeds oil to the lash adjusters. Unfortunately, the o ring that seals the passage at the headgasket gets hard & leaks. And / or the seal between the head and the cam carrier.

I got my dose of adrenaline today! I'm not sure how long this took, but it wasn't long: I was driving home from work. Moderate traffic volume. 65 MPH in the right lane of a 2 lane highway. Another car is passing me on the left when I notice all kinds of stones and crap hitting my windshield. I get on the brakes pretty heavy, as the other car starts drifting sideways into my lane - I'm looking at the side of the car in front of me:eek: Sparks flying out from under the car. It's not 90 degrees yet, but it looks like it could keep spinning all the way around in front of me. Brakes are not going to do the job, I'm still getting closer. I dive right, to the gravel to the right of the breakdown lane, still going pretty fast, floor the gas. Glanced at the tachometer, it's at about 3000. (I'll have to see how many MPH that equals tomorrow) See the other car in my rear view now. As I get back on the travel lane, the other car straightens out, drifts to the left until it brushes the guard rail (cable W/ steel support posts) & comes to a stop, left front wheel dangling by a "thread" (maybe brake line?) I'm back at 65MPH at this point. A truck stopped behind the wrecked car. The only known damage I have is a small mark on the windshield from one of the stones.

It has been my experience that EA82 + overheat due to coolant loss = new headgaskets. Even one time. Maybe immediately, maybe in a number of months. In the milder one time cases, I put up with coolant seeping from the HG for many months. Milder case = last 1/2 mile to house, noticed the gauge a little high, found a pinhole in one of the small hoses spraying out coolant.

If the toe in is way off, it will eat tires. As in, the tread gets seperated from the steel belts. Then they "wobble" & shake depending on speed. The car didn't pull one way or the other. After I adjusted the toe in, it did steer better, and no more extreme tire wear. I used 2 moderately heavy straight bars. Placed on blocks, 3-4" off the floor, against the tires. Measure across just in front & just behind the tires. The length should be close to equal. The exact range is in the FSM. Usually pulling hard to one side is something bent or a brake draging.

The hitch on my EA82s I built. http://home.comcast.net/~davidtief/hitch.html The lighting on the trailer is mached to the car, so no converter box is needed.

Check the ECU for trouble codes. The LED is under the steering wheel, under a plastic panel (removable)

It is actually lack of vacuume that would kick it down, or delay an upshift. But even when I ran it with the line off, it really didn't kick down due to vacuume only much differently - at least that I noticed. It is easy enough to try, just pull the hose off & plug the end to the intake. Won't kill anything for a short time, anyways. It won't want to upshift to 3rd until around 35MPH with light throttle. I have a small flatbed trailer. I have had about 1000Lbs on it maximum. Drive with longer distance ahead, downshift for engine brakeing. Heck, I used the trailer with my 1976 1400 & 1978 1600 also.

Hmmm, I've been thinking about putting a restrictor in that line. All 5 of the 3ATs I've had shift up too early, always have. An OEM vacuume modulator will make it a little better than an aftermarket. Running with the line disconnected will make it up shift very late / higher RPM. Somewhere in between would be nicer. There is a kickdown switch mounted on the gas pedal, up under the dash. Check to see if it is getting activated when the pedal is floored. I have been shifting them with the lever for years, so they shift when I want. When I want to downshift to slow down, I shift the lever down 1, tap the gas, and it goes into the lower gear. When I want to get more power to climb a hill, let off the gas slightly, move the lever down 1, hit the gas after the shift happens. With practice, these "manual" shifts are much smoother than the auto left to it's own devices. I'd probably have manual transmissions, but for 3 reasons, in no particular order: 1. Wife can't do manual 2. Left knee bothers me after a few shifts. 3. Manuvering a trialer, and in tight places is much easier with an auto.

The frequencies used by TV and DTV are nowhere near AM radio. Not even close. The AM radio section in an AM / FM radio is a seperate set of parts. They only share the antenna connector and the audio amplifier stages, so the AM part could just be dead.

The time to fix this is the first time it happpens. If the temp is high due to low coolant level, you will need headgaskets sooner or later. I never noticed the oil pressure dropping while overheating. Oil pressure at idle normally drops very low on the gauge. How is the radiator? Are all of the tiny thin fins still stuck in between the horizontal tubes that the coolant flows through? Loose enough of them, and the cooling abaility of the radiator drops. It doesn't take a large percentage to impact this to a noticable amount. They usually rot out where the fan shrouds are first. IF the coolant level is full, a quick test of the thermostat is to remove it. The engine should not get to normal operating temperature.

I'm pretty sure my 86 4X4 EA82 wagon had them. 88 & up do. At least in 4x4 wagons.

I had 570 watts on my 1978 1600 wagon. 4) 55/60 W Hi / Lo headlights, + 2 55W fog lamps. I had a switch panel to select how many of the filaments were on - singel or dual low beam, all the way up to all 8 for hi beam. I built an external rectifier box for the alternator. Never had a problem after that. The stock regulator worked fine - it was before the regulator was part of the alternator. Edit - typed the year wrong.

The adjustable ones have not been available aftermarket for years, if they ever were. 10 or so years ago, when I was looking for them, they were still available from Subaru. According to some research by the guys at the parts house I buy from, the aftermarket ones they looked at were half way between the limits of the adjustments. I have no idea what brands they were now, unfortunately, but they would not have been the cheapest brands. I went to a pick & pull and nabbed a set of adjustable ones from an older wagon.

Reliability items, from my experience: Timing belts #1 - unless you are 100% sure of how many miles since they were replaced. New idlers & water pump with new belts. #2 Replace all 7 coolant hoses. #3 I have used synthetic ATF in all of my 3AT wagons. Absolutly no transmission problems. I have been operating & maintaining them since 1988. The vacuum modulator is the only part I have repalced. #4 Be sure to check the differential oil. The alternator will likely need a brush and bearings around 120K. Check the brakes. Check the CVJ boots.

I just looked at one of my spare heads: The 2 holes on the sides of the intake intersect 2 of the head bolts. They are drilled through as OEM. Not supposed to be water in there. No harm done. The end bolt, if you drill deep enough, would intersect the air space above the head = crank case.

If they broke off because they were stuck, easy outs will most likely not work. It's too late for this time, but I have found that if I run the engine up to normal operating temperature just before removing the bolts, they come out with a lot less trouble.

For future reference, you don't need to pull the dizzy. just do the timing belt sequence.

Did replacing the link fix the voltage problem?

I didn't intend to exclude the older EAs from the "good" category, I was only refering to the typical same age and newer cars I've seen. My dad had a minivan, I think it was a Dodge. Bought new. All maintanance properly, went through 2 transmissions in less miles than any car in my fleet at the time. He bought a Tribeca. My mom has the other Subaru SUV the biggish one with traction control & all that. One of my sisters has one of them also. A number of years ago, a guy at work bought a new minivan. Typical all excited. I looked under the hood, was not impressed by all the nickle & dime cheapouts they put into the thing.

I vaugely remeber those. One side of the reed valve goes to the exhaust port. The other side goes where? If a reed valve is broken off, it might be possible for exhaust to go backwards through the valve. No, that goes exhaust to intake. If it was way out of wack, the engine wouldn't run good. Pictures might help. MKaybe someone will spot something.

The blow by gasses will be sucked into the intake because you routed the hoses to the air filter box. The only downside could be the oil vapors that get carried along could dirty up the Weber. If that isn't happening, no worries. I'm not sure where you have the PCV valve hooked up. One side is to the manifold, the other needs to connect to the crank case for it to do what it was intended to. That would be control emissions. Since the other vents go to the air box, all the unburned gasses, etc, should end up going into the engine anyway.

Yes, the oil filler is a larger path, so air could flow through it easier than the normal port on the cover. But if the oil filler cap is off / not sealed, air will leak out, reducing the ability for pressure to build up in the crankcase. Also, don't forget, the manual was translated from Japanese, and sometimes meanings get a little twisted in the process. Check what GD mentioned. I haven't had to do battle with excessive crankcase pressure, so I'm kind of limited to more general suggestions.

The newest car I ever owned was 2 years old (90 Loyale). The last 2 I bought were over 10 years old. (EA82s) I've looked under the hoods of other guy's new cars. Have yet to see one that looks easier to work on than an EA82. Maybe partly to my familiarity with them. The only easier would be old stuff, pre emmisions systems vintage. My wife "came with" a Toyota Corolla. We traded it for an 86 GL 4X4 wagon. The Toyota was a PITA to work on. The best thing I got from the experience was the vacuume solenoids I use for my EGR fix, and to make the vent / recirculate a user selectable option on the HVAC system.

Yes. The PCV connects where it originally did, the tap of "T" B that is facing down. The port C is pluged as part of the modification. I added a link to a bigger picture to the original post. (I hope)