DaveT

Got the driveshaft out tonight. It is possible to get it out without removing the exhaust, if you can remove the heat shields. The bad bearing in the picture is really bad. Has visible play now that it's out. Feels horrible, like all sorts of chewed up metal in there.

This reminds me of the time I needed a part for my Dynahoe. It is a big loader backhoe. The part was a double universal joint that drives the main hydraulic pump. Like many parts for our 30 year old Subarus, lots are no longer availavle. And dealer parts are big money. I had spent a fair amount of time looking for parts to rebuild it etc., and not had much luck, so I called the local parts place. They had one. The last one. I asked how much. And had to ask are you sure. $45. 00. I'll be right there! I was expecting $450.00. An hour or so later, I still had a hard time believeing I had the right part, on my way home, and less than $50.00.

Yes, that's right - looking at the pistons through the spark plug holes tells you nothing about the camshaft timing, or the belt condition. And there are 2 belts on EA82s, if the passenger side belt broke, the distributor will still turn. If the drivers side belt broke, it won't turn, and it would not even try to run obviously. I did see somewhere notes about where the rotor in the distributor should be pointing at TDC. But that doesn't check the passenger side belt.

Yes it's expensive here too. I know everything is even worse down under. But it's a one time thing, at least for gearboxes. I found out about it from a Co worker around 30 years ago. After trying it on the first car, eventually switched to all their lubs. The ATF makes the 3ATs shift better, most notably when cold also. Run the engine oil with their bypass filters. Never change oil again. Back then, it was about 50$ a year to be a dealer, and get the stuff wholesale, so I did that. Never got into being a real sales man/ dealer, they recently changed things, now you can pay a lower amount for preferred customer pricing, or more to be a dealer, so I switched to pc.

Only have to take the left and right side timing belt covers off to see the camshaft marks. The crank mark is on the flywheel.

This is all interesting to read. I've been thinking about replacing the 30yr old rubber in my suspension systems... but I don't want to add maintenance items.

Goes back a while, but when I had a 4 speed, - 1978 4WD wagon - I used Amsoil synthetic gear lube in it. It shifted nice even when it was sitting in 0 degree weather overnight. The normal stuff, it would be so gummy, the car would slow down so much by the time the shifter would move from 1st to 2nd, you almost wanted to be back in 1st.

Not sure. I've had a number of them apart, the plunger contact is a lot larger than the fixed ones, so the wear it sees is far less. DC tends to arc more metal away from one contact than the other. The looser on these starters is one of the fixed ones. You will have to go through many of the fixed contacts before the plunger one is worn out.

I was thinking similar. Send me the oem broken boot ones.

Actually, most cars end up junked because one thing broke, or maybe 2, and most people just go buy another one.

Ah, didn't know that. There were never many of either that I came across.

GL-10 was the turbo version of the GL.

You did belts before successfuly, so you know the one full rotation of the crank before installing the second belt, or the trick with one cam 180 degrees off the marks... Any chance a coupl plug wires are swapped?

Actually, there are 2 common causes of click no crank. High resistance in the wiring to the solenoid, which is most easily fixed by the relay mod. And the other is one of the 2 contacts in the solenoid has worn down to the point it no longer closes the circuit to the starter motor. That contact can be replaced. In these cases, the click no crank starts as an intermittent problem that gradually gets worse.

If it is click and no crank, it's time for the relay mod. Lots of threads on here about it. 14v might be a touch high, if measured with probes on the battery posts - not the clamps. After a full day at rest, no loads, don't open the door, check the resting voltage on the battery. 12.6 is fully charged. 12.0 is fully discharged.

That is not working right either. If it were in my garage. I'd double / triple check all the timing stuff, and the added things I mentioned above. Then the CTS - that can fail and not cause a code, and make very hard to start. If it is running really rough, only wants to run above idle with partial throttle, that also I have seen with 1 cam mistimed or a pair of plug wires swapped. Maybe a big [but would be hard to miss] vacuum leak. IF everything is correct, the normal timing adjustment range the distributor allows will effect fuel economy, power, knocking, etc, but not really make it run rough or smooth.

I have always repaired things at the component level. Repaired electronics from before I touched a car. Remans were not common back when, and I often had more time than money. Also, I've read about how much trouble people have had with aftermarket alternators, so I'm not interested in those. Here is the place I get parts: https://www.aspwholesale.com/index.php They have pretty much everything, for tons of alternators. One of these days, I have a feeling I'm going to have to figure out how to rebuild a water pump, since sooner or later, they will be NLA. The only question with those is where to find the seals for the coolant. The FSM actually has instructions on how to do it.

As long as the boots are intact, the 30 year old ones are most likely still good.

I've alway repaired my alternators. I have had decent luck with napa parts fitting and quality in general. I always buy their higher grade parts, not the cheap ones. Original alternators usually fail around 150k miles due to one brush wearing out. Like clockwork. I've also had a couple rectifiers fail. When I repair them, I replace the bearings also.

My guess is GL, just going by the year. Don't know about RXs. Timing beltsand idlers every 50 to 60k to be safe. All several cooling system hoses are overdue. Plastic radiator overdue. Pretty likely a full reseal from the headgaskets up by this age and miles.

The color difference may not always translate across all manufacturers, but the contact seals I've bought all have the red color. The NTN, NSK, and Nachi bearings I have are all red. Also, if you look really close where the seal meets the inner race, depending on the brand, you can see a lip, or the gap is very close to non existent.

Cool!

You cannot adjust the distributor / timing with the connectors not connected, the ECU will make adjustments, and the reading is not correct. If the distributor is way off position, it may have been installed with it's gear off a tooth or 2, or have some internal problem. There may be a picture somewhere showing the rotor position for TDC of #1 cylinder, I'd want to verify that. Check for play, etc.. I have not seen a case where connecting the green test mode wires caused the engine to die, that's weird. I checked the timing marks on one of my flex plates - I have 3AT cars, no clutches. It has marks that are 2 degree increments. Determined by the 10 mark and the 20 mark, that have actual numbers, and the four tick marks between them.

@ 1 Lucky's pictures - - YIKES!

SPFI does not have vacuum lines to the disty. IIRC, the green connectors HAVE to be connected to tell the ECU to not mess with the timing when you set the distributor position. Trying to set it with the connectors not connected, will not give a proper setting. If the timing is that messed up, it's not the adjustment, you need to verify all the timing marks are correctly positioned as if replacing the timing belts. I've been running EA82s since 1988. Several different cars. Almost never had to touch the distributor position. Never had to move it more than a few degrees from the original position. Even after replacing head gaskets and timing belts.