DaveT

They are thick, directly connected to the battery, with no current limiting device. What are the cold cranking amps of your battery? A dead short would be considerably higher. That would be bad. Short a battery with a piece of 18 aWG stranded wire: Instant flash fire as insulation vaporizes. most of the strands end up fused together. Somewhere, the wire melts, breaking the circuit. As you go up in wire guage, the flash fire & melt / fusing slows down, but the battery gets hotter. Get big enough wire, and the battery fuses internally, igniting the hydrogen oxegen that has been released by the high rate discharge. Hot flying bits of plastic, lead and acid. Bad. This is why removing the (-) terminal first is the way to make the electrical system safe to work on. You wouldn't want a smallish wrench to get across (+) to GND, especially with your hand on it. If the crimp area is clean, they should be ok. I put grease on the wires / lugs / battery terminals. Still have all original connectors after 16+ years. Side note, none of the battery cables I have are aluminum.

My 76 wagon did that. The floor started rubbing the drive shaft. I used a couple of those ratchet straps to lift the floor with the roof for a few months until I could finish reassembly of the 78 I replaced it with. When I cut the roof off the 76, the doors wouldn't open.

On our 88 4WD wagon, the tube that holds the front of the rear diff and the mounts for the rear trailing arms rotted so bad that the front of the diff dropped low enough to get the driveshaft rubbing the exhaust. At first, this was intermittant, and I couldn't figure out how the 2 were touching, even though I could see the marks.

Coolant hoses 5 years. Age & heat kills them. All of them, not just rad & heater. Water pumps usually bad abouth the time my timing belt break a little over 50K. I can't say I never had a timing belt make it past 60K, but it is rare in my >16 years experience with EA82s. I try to change them around 40K. Alternators - usually 1 of the brushes and the bearings replaced in the low 100Ks. O2 is tough. The can fail in a way that does not trigger the computer to light the CEL, but still be off enough to fry the cat. Best way to avoid that is replace every couple years or so. Mostly I have changed them when the CEL came on, only 1 time fried the cats. Around here, (CT) radiators fail due to road salt eating away the fins. Then the pressure cycles stress the flat tubes - they don't stay flat without the support of the fins - until they split. The "duct" around the electric fan is fantastic at collecting crud that rots the fins away quickly. I recently had a fuel pump go intermittant. My spares had the damper rotted to the point of leaking, so check that your pump is rustproofed. Replace the OEM EGR & purge vacuume solenoids with Toyota ones. Check the Diff oil in the automatic trans, if you have an auto. The oil leaks that develop over the years / miles help preserve the underside of the car, but adding oil all the time gets annoying. Battery 5 years. Time & deep discharges kill them. I have had them go longer, but after 5 years the battery is not what it was when new, even if it still starts the car. I put the biggest battery that physically fits in the tray area. Handy for jump starting w/my 1AWG jumper cables.

Mythbusters did a show on various additives and gimmicks that claim to increase milage. Acetone either was no difference or decreased milage. They set up a measured system to verify the claims, not subjectivly driving the car. All you have to do is subconsiously be thinking "I'm trying to get better milage" causing you to go lighter on the gas, and you'll get a few percent increase. They also mentioned that the EPA (or some other agency) tests all of these things. Out of something over 150, less than 10 actually work, and only by single digit percentages. I have always had milage in the low 20s in all of our 3AT SPFI EA82 4WD wagons. Not light on the pedal on starts, but I do let up coming to an unavoidable stop.

mine settle incrementally also. They aren't indexed. The static friction is higher than the kinetic friction. (this is common in most mechanical things) Once they start to move, it makes up for the force build up. Maybe the new shocks have tighter / stiffer seals, arn't all worn out, so it is more noticeable.

They are a little hard to see/find. They bolt through the frame to the bumper arms. On the passenger side, pop the charcoal canister out of the way. They are about under it and forward a bit. The 2 on the driver side are below the battery, either side of the lower radiator hose. I use a 14mm socket on 3/8 drive w/long extension to a U joint to a long extension to the ratchet for the drivers side. I have to work around the transmission cooler lines also.

There are 2, one each side. remove the 4 bolts that hold the bumper, and the wires for the turn signals, and you can get at them.

Pretty unlikly. The starter is behind the flywheel housing on top, just under the heater hoses & battery leads. 2 Bolts hold it on. 17mm open end for the lower one - it is no fun to get it srtarted, but yes, you can get the wrench on it once you figure out the 1 way it will work. Top bolt you need 2 14mm wrenches. You need a 12mm for the main 12V wire. The signal from the key is a push on. There are 2 contacts in the starter that a copper disc hits. This connects the power to the motor. One of them erodes faster than the other. I have made new contacts from 1/8" thick copper. Also try tapping the starter with the tire iron - sometimes it will go again, but don't count on it working too many more times.

This is a recurring problem. Take a look here: http://users.adelphia.net/~davidtief/solenoid.html

Amsoil makes synthetic gear lubes. I used it in my 78 4WD wagon. It shifted like it was warmed up all year round. Even dead cold 0 degrees in the AM. With the original regular gear lube the car practically slowed down to where I would want to go back to 1st before I could get the shifter from 1st to 2nd. My 3ATs also shift better cold with the synthetic ATF.

I have a mixture of turbo & non turbo axles on my 3AT 4WD wagons. My 86 FSM shows 25 spline only on MT turbo. 2WD / 4WD no difference. The MT turbo 25 spline is the only kind I have not used on my 3AT 4WD wagons. In my 90 FSM, they seem to have changed things a bit. The 25 splines are used on Turbo MT 2&4WD and turbo AT 4WD.

I have had good luck with the Stant brand also. The one I have in one of my cars seems to keep the temperature regulated better than others I've tried. Never had much trouble with the originals either. I have run straight water in an engine - leaked too much to waste antifreeze on - while waiting to rebuild. I saw no ill effects.

Shifting through the gears would probably be similar to shifting without using the clutch - it can be done, but you have to be very aware of rpms and speeds and shift points. I've done it when clutch linkage fell off, etc. You have to have a car without a neutral safty switch to get going - by cranking in first gear. The biggest problem would be getting into first while stopped. 1st won't go in unless the transmission input shaft and the gears are *very* close in speed. With a torque converter replaceing a clutch, the input shaft would be at idle speed, unless you *always* downshift into 1st before stopping.. You would need something (brake) to stall the torque converter output or a clutch in line to let it stop spinning to get 1st in at a stop.

I made a "socket" out of 1/2" thick aluminium and 2 1/4" bolts so I could do the torque as in the FSM. Never did it any other way. When I retensioned every 10K, they barely moved, so they weren't continually stretching. I have always put the covers back on, except on my 90 - since reading about all the guys not using the covers and having no trouble. The retension every 10K was a long time ago. Probably Subaru belts. Mostly been using NAPA Gates belts now. I also found I could use bungee cords to keep tension on the torque wrench while tightening the tensioner bolts. Care must be used to not put forces on the wrench that would make errors.

Those seem loose to me. Years ago I did the retension thing evry 10K or so. They still broke around 50K. I wish I could remember where, but I picked up the info that Subaru had changed the belt replacement interval to 40K miles. I found that if you run the engine for 5 seconds after replacing the belts, then re-tension, a lot of extra slack is removed. I do this before reassembling anything further - you also get to see that the belts are running true. Dave

Your car doesn't sound "done" to me. I don't give up on them until there are holes where rust used to be, on parts that don't unbolt. I've junked 2 gas tanks that were good. Still have a third in a car that is about to go to the scrap yard. It wasn't leaking when it became a parts car a year ago. I'm in CT. so it might be a bit far... Dave

I mostly drive my 3AT SPFI wagons by using the shifter. They almost always upshift too soon. To downshift, say, off an exit ramp, I move the lever back to 2, then tap the gas to get the RPM up, and it drops in. Much smoother than waiting until the auto stuff decides to do it and the engine at idle. I also learned how to mannually do a "kickdown" much smoother than the automatic does when you actually floor the pedal tripping the kickdown switch. ----- Back to the original topic, electric servos probably would be tough to find with the right speed & force. Hydraulic or air powered wight be better. Maybe air would be good- they would move fast under light load, then if the synchros don't mesh immediately, the air pressure would build gradually, kind of like when you push the lever a little harder. Dave

Since Formula 1 race cars use this kind of (indirect) control for shifting & clutching, it can't be all bad... This link talks more about the controls, but mentions how and why they went to electronically controlled shifting: http://www.f1technical.net/articles/30

> When / How should the diff oil I check it before moving or starting the car after it has been parked overnight, on a level surface. Do remeber to check it once in a while. I had a differential fail from no oil -oops. Actually, the bearings on the pinion shaft failed, letting the pinion hit the differential carrier whenever there was no load on the engine.

I have had 3 replaced. $150.00 - $300.00 each (spread over a few years) Each time we re-used the trim. I tried to save a good windshield once, even bought the tool they use to remove the old one. After an hour of real struggle (those guys must have strong arms - it looked real easy for them) cutting the seal, the glass cracked. Maybe piano wire is thin enough to do it w/o cracking?

> 16) Can you buy an altenator rebuld kit? The front and rear bearings are standard, can be bought at any bearing supply house pretty cheap. Get the ones with contact seals. I have been "borrowing" brushes from other alternators - one wears much quicker than the other. Rectifiers & regulators from alts. with overly worn slip rings. All my alternators needed brushes before 190K, amazingly consistant. A cure for a common emissions system failure: http://users.adelphia.net/~davidtief/solenoid.html If you have a SPFI engine, check the fuel pump and protect the damper from rusting. Timing belts change every 40K miles. Check all coolant hoses, not just the 2 main radiator and heater hoses. Check the radiator, especially in the corners of the electric fan. If the fins are gone / falling out, get a new rad. before the tubes split. Overheat from low coolant = at minimum, new head gaskets. Dave

Here is a way to save an old fuel pump: http://users.adelphia.net/~davidtief/fuelpump.html Dave

I use a steel bar - solid 1/2 x 1" or tube 3/4x1-1/2. Put 2 lug nuts on, just to protect the threads. The bar / tube is about 2-3 feet long, so it hits the ground at a shallow angle, and won't move the car. Dave

My 92 Loyale didn't want to start the other day. A shot of carby cleaner in the intake got it going. Off to run errands. 3 or 4 stops later, no start. It will run on the carby cleaner for a second or so. Luckily, the guys at the plumbing supply house had a few tools around, so I got the pump where I could see it. Knocked on it a few times with a screwdriver handle, got in and it started right up. Decided to shut down, and use a piece of wire to hold the mounting plate up, in case it quit on the way home. No start. Knock on the pump, started up. Got home. Called NAPA. They want over $300.00 for a pump! What is it made out of? Gold? Started this evening, of course, when trying to duplicate the problem. I have 2 older pumps (both run, no pressure test yet) and the part of the harness that has the power connector on it so I won't get stuck... Anyone have any alternatives? Thank you