DaveT

See this thread for a low cost vacuum pump: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=59115&highlight=compressor To be effective, the vacuum has to be strong (hard) enough to boil water at room temperature. An air powered venturi pump won't do this. The receiver / drier could probably be restored by warming it while vacuuming. It would need to be held under those conditions for some time. Not sure how long though. I had one A/C system that ran with air in it, didn't cool as well as it did before, but it did work for a number of years before loosing the freon again. After pulling the vacuum, close the valves, shut of the pump, make sure the system holds the vaccuum for a good while. If it doesn't there is a leak. Cheaper than freon.

I don't see why. The evaporator is the heat exchanger under the dashboard. Vacuum for 30-60 minutes should remove any moisture. The thing to replace is the filter / dryer. Small black cylender in the high pressure line from the compressor.

I re-tap the hole for 1/8" pipe thread and use a 1/8" brass valve. Add a 6" piece of hose on the other side, and you can catch all of the coolant instead of getting half of the frame wet and puddles all over the place.

Any chance significant coolant got down an intake? Water won't compress and stop the piston dead. Turn crank with a wrench to avoid breaking anything. See/feel when it stops. turn the opposite direction. Determine if it is only on the compression stroke or any time the piston is at the top of the bore. Maybe this will give a clue. Remove spark plug/s, try again.

Ah, it becomes more clear now... Since the transmission is not pumping oil, things aren't lubricated as they should be. Even on level ground, the ATF will pour out of the tail of the trnsmission if you pull the driveshaft - with the front up on a dolly, more oil will be back there. At some slow speed, I doubt much would be hurt. At some high speed, maybe bad things could happen. From looking at the drawings in the FSM, I don't see anything more than a bearing and one side of the transfer clutch connected to the driveshaft. Turning in oil, how bad can it be? Maybe someone else has tried it, I haven't. I think we hit 40MPH max a few times. Dropping the driveshaft is 8) 12mm nuts & bolts on the rear piece - behind the center bearing to the diff. Those bolts can be a pain, because one side is hard to get a wrench onto.

I had a friend push my dead 3AT with his truck ~15 miles, no ill effects. No highways:) Don't try this at home. You have to expect the brakes and steering to be heavy & sluggish. If you are going to hire a tow, for $25, I'd just do the flatbed.

Don't know if this will work for ASV, but here is what I do for the EGR and Emissions solenoids: http://home.comcast.net/~davidtief/solenoid.html

With no spark / fuel / etc. it should sound even Rrr Rrr Rrr Rrr. If there is a funny pattern to the cranking, first thought is timing belt - since they aren't broken, check that one or the other didn't skip. Maybe a valve stuck / keeper let go? Smell of antifreez - small leaks from the hoses - there are 6 coolant hoses - dripping or spraying onto the top of the engine. The heat evaporates it, so you don't see any evidence. Also, water pump seal. I'm not a turbo expert - I beleive the block is the same but the heads are different. ECU & harness is different.

Slightly over 2.75. I agree, better to have them running right. The test always seem to be at the least convinient times. There is no way to get out of it around here - except wait for the car to be 25 years old.

Thank you. Yes, I drive (operate) the tractor. And repair it - it isn't needy that way however. We bought the Dynahoe near the end of the project - but by then, I had enough experience to know it was the right machine for my situation. It's a great help disassembling cars also. (I save all the good parts).

It has *major* rot from road salt. Hard parts are all pretty good or better. I have an 87 GL wagon with NO rust. I am adding the 4WD parts to it. That one should be around for 10 years or so. Parts from the 90 will live on in the 87 or the 92. The 92 is near the border line of work to save or forget it and get another no rust to keep nicer longer. Around here, (CT) once you let the rust start, it is near impossible or a ton of work to stop. Since I spent the last 14 years building our house and maintaining the one we were living in I didn't spend as much time on the cars as I should have to keep the going indefinately. The tradeoff: loose the cars to rust and get into the house & loose the mortgage faster. Now debt free, one house, 3 cars, 1 big tractor, 1 car in "restoration". Now that the house (http://home.comcast.net/~davidtief/house.html) is nearing completion, I am starting to deal with cars more. By next winter, the garage will have the radiant floor heat hooked up.

Due to lots of things, I have to keep my very rusty 90 Loyale running a bit longer. Almost 200K miles. Emissions test due. The catalytics burned out a year or so ago, probably by the quart per week oil consumption. (another long story..) So I scrounge up a Y pipe & middle pipe from my stash of spare parts. After vacuuming the mouse nest out of the Y pipe and patching a couple of small holes, bolt everything on. Run the car to get the cats hot, temperature probe shows first cat working, second not. Oh well, I'm out of time. Went to the test place this morning, and PASSED! With wide margin! Now it's good for 2 years, probably fall apart before that.

A - Wrench extender - This is the cylinder from the front strut from a 1976 4WD wagon - the first car I bought. The struts were actually made so that they could be disassembled and rebuilt. B - 1/16" rectangular steel tube - use to keep wheel from spinning while turning axle nuts. Also used for pushing the transverse link down to remove a strut or ball joint. It rests on the back side of the link on the folded edge and touches the leading rod, extending the effective length so that it can easily be pushed down with a foot or knee, leaving both hands free to deal with the strut etc. C & D - Exhaust system pressure drop meter. big end of C goes to tail pipe. Smaller end of C goes to vacuum cleaner. Disconnect Y pipe from engine - (about a 1" gap) Turn on vac, see needle move. Compare to known good system. Made from PVC plumbing and vacuum motor from heater controls. E - Brake piston "screw driver". Swing brake caliper to open position. set the nubs (left end in pic) into the depressions on the piston. Fold a work glove, place between the big bolt head (right end) and body. lean into car. Turn square tube with 1" wrench. The tube spins on the bolt. F - 1/4" thick steel piece used with a gear puller to remove the first bearing in a front hub. G - Dead 6203 bearing - Ground 20 thou under standard OD. Used to install new 6203 bearing into the gear toothed timing belt idler for EA82. H - Modified socket and extension for head bolt on EA82. I - 1/2" drive torque wrench to camshaft pulley adapter. For tensioning EA82 timing belts. Made from 3/8" thick aluminum. J - Aluminum bar for holding EA82 cam gear while turning mounting bolts. K - Crankshaft pulley holder for 2001 Forester. 1/4" steel bar, 7/16 NF bolts w/ heads cut off, tapped into bar, jamb nuts on back so they don't move. Notch allows clearance for socket on crank pulley bolt. L - Contact pin remover. Made from a stainless steel wiper blade edge. One end ground narrower, one end ground thinner. Works on most connectors in EA82 and older subes. Not shown - Piston pin remover - 1/4" carriage bolt with head ground to fit through hole. Use with a nut and a Wonder Bar to pull wrist pins. Not shown - Extra spacer from front wheel bearing assembly, used to pull new CVJ end into hub with the axle nut.

I've wondered when is a thread "too old" to bring back.. I've unwitingly added to a couple of old ones that were resurected by others.. Anyways, No airbags for me. http://www.airbagonoff.com/dr_smock's_research.htm

"Paint" the new ball joint and the socket of the knuckle with anti-seize and you won't have trouble next time. Also the bolts.

Not enough to make these problems. Recently I drove my 90 EA82 SPFI with only the header / y pipe. No preceptible difference in performance. Sure, it was LOUD. (The flange on the 2nd cat rotted off on the way to work)

That's a baby. How rusty is she? CVJ / shaft for the ticking noise. Seals, etc for the leaks. Timing belts & idlers now.

Don't wait for those to leak. If they are over 5 years old replace them. Run low on coolant = new headgaskets. (at a minimum)

The power windows in my 90 quit working a while back. The main 12V feed *wire* that goes from the frame harness to the door switch went open. I just ran a seperate wire in it's place.

I've been running 3ATs since about 1990. In CT. Amsoil synthetic ATF helped the cold shifting considerably. Another thing I've noticed, is that aftermarket vacume modulators seem to shift differently than oem.

I'm looking for the tool / tools to remove the camshaft seals, & front crank seal on a 2001 Forester. (actually, should work on any seal) I've searched online & forums a bit, not much luck other than pics for o-rings and rear main crank seals for engines w/split seals. I saw a mention of a tool from sears in a timing belt thread, but a visit to the sears website drew a blank. I have used pointy screws on other things sucsessfully, but there isn't enough metal around the edge to get a bite. Anyone have the name / model / etc of a good tool for this? Thank you

Could you be talking about the EGR solenoid? Behind the thermostat housing. Under the intake air duct. What code are you getting?

Closest I ever came was our 90 Loyale. Bought it when it was 2 years old. It only had 15K miles. I prefer to let someone else take the big hit on the price, and the higher taxes. With all the older ones, (price range from $150 - $5000) I never had anything wrong that was even close to the difference of buying a used vs new car.

yeah, I was being vague.