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Holy old thread! I haven't posted over here in ages.

I found an ignition switch at Pick-N-Pull for $7, stuck it in there and now the car starts perfectly. I was expecting to have to fight with it to get it started since it sat for a few months, but it hardly even cranked, it just fired right up. So now I have a sweet eject button and a car that runs (but doesn't drive).

Wow, nice! Any pics? The last $200 Suby I bought had more than 100,000 more miles than that and needed a hell of a lot more than timing belts. You got a great deal. Especially for an RX.

Okay, I think I've got it. I'll take a stab at it later, but first I think I'd better take a trip to the junk yard to get a spare switch incase I butcher this (which is very likely, knowing me). Thanks again, hoozie. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

I'm not a "sir", and I am listening, just not understanding. It's hard to understand someone who uses little to no punctuation. Thanks for your help.

The button I bought was rated for 3 amps. I couldn't find one that was rated any higher, but I figure since it will only be pressed long enough to start the car, then released, it could probably handle the current. How much current would actually be running through it? I can't imagine it'd be that much. Okay, let me run through this quickly to make sure I've got it right. The button I have has two terminals on the back of it. If I run the black and yellow wire that runs to the starter to one and the white power wire to the other, that should be what I need? What amperage fuse would you recommend? And where? Sorry for all the questions, I don't have much experience wiring in ghetto pushbutton starts. :-\

Where do you normally tap into the B+ wire, then? If I run a B+ wire to one side of the button and the ignition switch-starter S terminal wire to the other side, the car should start? I'd test it, but I don't have the car handy right now.

Thanks for the help, hoozie, but that's not quite what I'm looking for. My ignition switch is bad, not my starter solenoid. I'm not trying to install a relay, just a button.

The car is an '86 GL-10, 2WD 3AT. It has a bad ignition switch, this has been tested and proven and I know that the start position of the switch isn't doing its job. I ordered an ignition switch off eBay and it was the wrong one. Who knew the '85 ignition switches were different from '86s? Anyway... Here's my issue. I'm trying to wire in a button so that I can just put the key in run and press the button to start the car, but I can't figure out how the heck to do it. Does the ignition switch supply power or ground when you wanna crank it? I see a black wire with a yellow stripe that goes to the starter S terminal which I thought was the one I need...but then I need a 12v source? Yeah, I really don't know what the heck I'm doing. If anyone who has done this before can just give me a brief run-through of the procedure, that'd be greaaaat.

You're such a jerk, Will. :-p

Well, it was nice to meet the few of you that I actually got to talk to. I tried to talk to as many of you guys as possible, but I was having a hard time matching people up to their cars. Anyway, your corner of the lot was the most interesting, if you ask me. There were some REALLY nice cars, I was impressed. Made me miss my broken down old GL-10...sorta.

How does a broken MAF cause you to lose coolant?

Buuuump. Shawn, you coming? Yet another Red Rocks meet where I won't have an old school Subie, but at least I won't be the only one with an Impreza this time.

Hmm, well my GL broke (again...grrrrr!) and I'm in Colorado until who knows when, so I'm out. Sorry guys, but I hope it's fun if it does actually happen.

Your car looks like spaghetti, Will.

I think the reason that people have problems with their R-134a conversions is because most do-it-yourselfers don't have the equipment to do it correctly. The system needs to be completely evacuated of any moisture, air, oil, old refrigerant and all other contaminants before it is recharged. It also helps to have a manifold pressure gauge and a way to accurately meter how much refrigerant you're putting in your system. Too much or too little refrigerant will cause poor cooling. Subi, there is an air conditioning specific dye and black light you can buy that is one of the best leak detection methods out there. You just add a little bit of it to your system, run it and drive normally for a day or so, then shine the light around all fittings, along hoses, etc. for green spots where the dye leaked out. There are also electronic leak detectors which don't work quite as well. They beep at you whenever they decect a leak, but they aren't as accurate. Especially for small leaks.

Thanks, Will. This is the first car I've had that's been old enough to need retrofitting. I guess I'll decide this week if it's worth the effort.

The air conditioning in my GL-10 desperately needs to be recharged. I have access to all of the equipment I need to properly evacuate and recharge the system, I just don't want to spend a ton of money on a car that I'm most likely about to sell. I wouldn't be surprised if the retrofit were cheaper than recharging the system with R-12 though. So for those of you who have done the retrofit, where did you buy the kit and about how much did it run you?

I was kidding too. Thanks again for your help.

Er...yeah, $500 before the 8 hours of labor I just spent on it. At a labor rate of $62.50/hour, the new price of the car is $1000 plus however much I feel like tacking on for the money I've put into it. We'll see how attached I get after driving it around for awhile though. I can't wait to detail it tomorrow!

We finally discovered that the car was indeed getting spark, but only with the key in the "run" position, and not in the "start" position. We learned that the hard way when my instructor held the coil wire to a ground and shocked the crap out of himself when he thought I was done cranking. At first we thought it was a bad ballast resistor, so we bypassed it and didn't see any change. Finally (and thank you to everyone who suggested this before we finally decided to check it COUGHEmily and 2 or 3 other peopleCOUGH) we decided to bypass the ignition switch, and voila! SHE RUNS!!!!!!!!!!!! Really, really well, I might add. Set the timing, checked the oil, and went on a test run. For having sat for over 3 years, it surprised everyone with how well it ran. The gas light won't turn off, the AC needs to be retrofitted, needs fluid changes, and who knows what else, but so far, it fires up every time and runs incredibly well. I'm so happy. I'll post pics after I wash and wax it.

The meet is definitely on. I finally have a running GL.

The ignition module is the little transistor that's attached to the bracket that ignition coil. It's located directly below the coil. I do have the photoelectric type distributor (aren't they all photoelectric?), I took the metal plate off my distributor out of curiosity this afternoon. Thanks for the wiring diagram, it's pretty much the same thing that AllData showed me, so I guess that confirms that something is up with the parts I have. I need to figure out what year the module I have is. They obviously changed something somewhere along the line.

Yeah, that's the same thing that AllData is telling me, but my car doesn't have the white/yellow wire, I think it has a blue one, a black/white one and a yellow one. Don't quote me on that though, I'll have to look at it again tomorrow and write down the wire colors and where they go. There is no CEL, but I checked the ECU for codes months ago, and I can't remember what they were if there were any. One more thing to add to the to-do list. Thanks for checking for me, Cougar. I appreciate your help.

Update: I Finally got a chance to really check out the ignition system and no-spark issue today. I have access to all kinds of neat diagnostic tools at school, so using a Snap-On Vantage, with the help of an instructor, we did some tests. -We checked the 4 wires on the harness side of the distributor connector, and everything looked good. -We checked resistance on the coil and both the primary and secondary sides were good. -We checked voltage to the ignition module, and that was good. -We checked voltage out of the ignition module and there was none. I took a trip to the junk yard and grabbed 2 ignition modules, but upon further inspection, we realized that their wiring was different. They had larger, round connectors and two wires (yellow and black, I think) instead of a small flat one with one wire. I'm assuming that's because they had analog tachs, and my car has a digital dash, so it just gets its tach reading from the computer? Maybe someone can confirm that. We did some splicing and tried hooking up the new module quickly before class ended, and the car still won't start, and we're still not getting a reading out of the module. AllData's wiring diagrams don't match my car, so we're having a tough time figuring this out. I thought the condenser attached to the positive side of the coil, but now I'm not so sure. If any of you have an '86 or '87 SPFI car, could you let me know what wires hook up where on your coil? Also, is there some sort of relay that I could be overlooking? Hopefully someone can help, I'm kinda stumped.