DaveT

Body on that is way too good to scrap. Ig it only blew the head gasket, reseal it from them up. If it seized, or spun a bearing, get a used engine and reseal it pop it in. Or EJ swap it.

If the thermostat is original, it is certainly old enough to be bad. OEM or the high end Stant thermostats are what I have used. They will have the jiggle pin. Normal operating temp is around 190 degrees, which is pretty uncomfortable to touch. A meat thermometer is a low cost option for testing.

Oh, hmmm... If I had one of those, I would get an aftermarket recovery add on, and get the right kind of cap. Thinking about it, my 76 didn't have a stock recovery system, but I added one. I ran 76 and 78 models until I got my 86, which was an EA82 engine and those come with oem recovery tanks.

Yes, on a first refill, there will be some trapped air that has to work out. Even with a 100% good system, it can take a few drive cycles to get rid of all of the air. The key is instant steady - but it can even be very slow - stream, or just never stops. If you get to where it isn't bbubbling from a start, idleing, etc. Re check after a short drive. Don't open the cap, only watch for the bubbles in the overflow at this point. When you open the cap, you let in air. Going forward, before each drive, check the level in the overflow, AND squeeze the upper radiator hose and listen for gurgling and the jiggle pin in the thermostat. Note the sounds, and look for less gurgling each time, if everything is well sealed.

Miles don't kill headgaskets, overheat while low on coolant does. Temperature cycles do seem to wear them / limit life. The most common sign of hg failure beginning is small continuous supply of bubbles out the overflow tube into the tank. Sometimes, you might get a seep to the outside. The bottom edge is the oil return passage, no coolant passages down there. You might be lucky, since you saw no bubbles with the test run. Sometimes they survive, but not usually.

Hmmmm, maybe it's time to buy a couple of sets.

Oil condition rarely indicates headgasket integrity in Subaru engines. It's been rare on my experience to have coolant get into the oil. Around here, a radiator typically rots out in around 10 years. What matters - cap off the ports. fill it with water. Leave the cap off, highest point. Quickly release the cap on the bottom hose. The water should fall out fast, in a second or 2. Look at the thin copper fins that are vertically zigzagging between the tubes... are they intact, attached, and not blocked up with road crud? Especially look where there are sheet metal air guides for the fans. Are the end tanks metal or plastic?

The sensor for the temp gauge is most likely a single wire thing that bolts into the intake near the thermostat. I skipped over EA81 engines, but I suspect that multiple overheats are just as bad for their headgaskets as they are for earlier and later engines. Most important thing to keep at 100% in Subarus is the cooling system. Radiator free flows, all the fins attached to the tubes. All of the various cooling system hoses maintained, not just the 2 radiator and heater hoses. System always 100% full of coolant, little to no air. Usually air is the initial sign of problems coming.

There is a chance that an industrial seal / bearing supply shop might have parts, but you have to match by dimensions, some have online catalogs you can search through.

That should be ok.... I had one that ran down so low, it didn't show anything. It was an automatic. It was my wife's car, I didn't drive it much, so never caught it early. Found out when the pinion bearing had failed bad enough to let the pinion screw forward into the differential carrier whenever engine braking happened. Ouch. I had another, that I bought used that had turned out to have an empty front diff. Flushed it with a couple fills of ATF / cheap gear lube, and then switched it to the Amsoil synthetic I run. The noise eventually faded away, and I drove it to 200K+ miles before the body rotted off. Never had another problem with that transmission, I still have it.

Also, Check the gear lube in the front diff / transmission. Loose nut is not good for anything - bearings, axle, hub, cone washer. Sealed bearings, might not be good. Depends on what they were sold as. I once used electric motor sealed bearings for the idlers, and they did not hold up as well as the oem ones, or the proper ones I bought from a bearing supply shop next time. Different applications, but something similar regarding loading and or temperature may be similar.

My old thread, with details on making exhaust gaskets. Lets see if this link will work.... -

I used to use gates. I've heard they are made in China now. With that cheap price, I would go with subaru. Lowest price is not always the best deal. Or it may be that RA is just trying to get rid of inventory.

I made up gaskets a while back. Posted on here. Layered fibreglass mesh with copper RTV. Details are in the other thread. They are still sealed up. They are reusable, made and cured off the car.

Stainless and Aluminum don't get along well. Unless you use anti seize, if exposed to moisture, the corrosion that occurs expands and can clamp the bolts worse than rust. How long it takes depends on how wet and how long.

Clean, re grease, reboot OEM axles. From everything I've seen on here, the aftermarket axles are junk. A long while back, I remember mention of one brand some had good luck with, but I never tried them. I've been rebooting them since 1988.

Try a search on McMastercarr.com, they might have something.

From 87 through 94 only minor changes, so I am not surprised it runs. Should be ok. The LED should always be blinking when the engine is running, regardless of the test connectors. Count the long and short blinks, they represent 2 digit numbers. No codes code is all short blinks. If there is more than 1 code, they are listed sequentially, and repeat.

I never had piston slap. Haven't seen many if any mentions of it regarding EA82s. Common is lifter tick . Rod knock if suffered oil starvation or severely overheated. That usually doesn't go away on warm up. Lifter tick may fade with temperature, can also be pretty random.

Also, use anti seize when reassembling.

Bigger differences if one is carb vs spfi vs turbo.

They are very similar. From 1986 through 1994. There are some differences in the early 90s they went from a regular lap belt to the stupid power lap belt. Some controls changed location on the dash. Most wiring is the same. Also, I discovered things like my 86 came with manual mirrors, but the wiring harness was in the car - so I bought a set of power mirrors and the switch from a scrap yard, and plugged them in. There might be some small changes, but 86 to 87 should be pretty close.

If you replace it, try to find a used oem axle, and reboot and regrease it. Aftermarket axles are junk. What I do is clean, regrease, reboot a spare one, then make the swap. The hard part depends.... you have to get the knuckle disconnected from the lower ball joint, or the strut disconnected from the knuckle to get enough movement to get the axle out. Some of them press out easily, almost just by hand, some need a big gear puller (or a soft face dead blow hammer ) to push out. Bearing don't like impact, so never hit anything in a way the transfers metal on metal impact to bearings. A big factor is how rusty are things underneath? Use liquid wrench or airokroil a day or so before on the suspension bolts, etc. Brake caliper mounting bolts. The first time or 2 this job can be a bit slow, but it doesn't bother me at all now. Road salt can make things pretty difficult. Anti seize everything when re assembling, and any future work will be noticably easier . Go on the light end of torque range when using anti seize. For the transmission end of the axle - get the correct size drift! The pins are hollow roll pins, if you use one a size too small, it will drive into the hole and jam incredibly tightly making a nightmare you don't want or need. When assembling, verify the holes line up , as the axle will slip on the splines, but there is only one orientation where the holes line up straight. If everything is normal roll pins don't need big blows to move.

I am pretty sure that an 88 should be an EA82 engine. Pretty likely throttle body / SPFI fuel system. How to put the nut on - Tighten. Add a 2 foot long handle to the wrench. The nut is supposed to be around 150 foot lbs of torque. Once it is tight enough you can't budge it without the add on handle, add the handle, and tighten a little, check the holes for the cotter pins. There should be 2 holes in the axle, 90 degrees apart. This give twice the number of positions the nut will line up with the notches on the nut. I do this final tightening with the wheel on, and on the ground, as the parking brake can't always stop you from turning the axle. You are only looking for a fraction of a turn before a set of holes / notches line up. Position the wrench so that you can use body weight to lean down on the handle, but also be set up to catch yourself if something slips. If the nut is not tight, you can get odd noises. And eventually worse, strip the splines out of the hub. Likewise, when disassembling, pull the cotter and back the nut off until it is normal wrench handle tight, then jack up the car and pull the tire off.

Does the Chilton book have disassembly instructions? What year is the car? What engine? [ EA81 or EA82 ]