MitchP

The mech. thought it was some kind of emissions part, but wasn't really sure. It passes fine without it though. All I know is that the car really runs bad when it's hooked up.

No answers yet? Sorry about the size of the pic. How do you get the large pics in the post?

Please see the attatched pic for the part. It is a small part that attatches to the air cleaner snorkel and has one electrical connection and two vaccum lines. I was wondering what it's function is. It is disconnected now and has been for 5 years. I was having some very bad drivability problems shortly after I bought the car in 1998. It really felt carb related. So I rebuilt the carb and it didn't help much. I then bought a new carb from Subaru. It helped some, but didn't eliminate it. I talked to a mech. at the stealership where I purchased the carb and explained what was happening. He came right out to the car and told to that disconnecting this would solve all my probs, but didn't really know what the part was. It ran 100% better after doing this. The reason I'm asking now is that it started running like garbage again. Problem was the caps I used had cracked and created vaccum leaks. Car felt like it just wasn't getting any fuel, or running out of fuel. Runs great now with new caps. I know that the dealer wanted $170 for a new part. So can anyone tell me what it does?

I just went through the same senario with my 87 GL Wagon. Compression checks were fine, plugs all looked great and car seemed to run fairly smooth. It just blew a lot of smoke out the exhaust with the strong odor of coolant. I pulled the engine and jerked the heads off only to find everything looked great. The cracks between the valves sounds to be very common and not a problem in most cases. I learned from this site that the casting in the exhaust ports is thin to the coolant passage and is prone to cracking. I couldn't "see" anything in my heads. So I ended up buying a lower milage used engine and installed that.

I have a tough time believing that it's head gaskets in my case. The original motor gurgled from day one that I owned it. I put 70k over six years on it. I just recently changed motors and this one gurgles also. When I tore down the original engine, I could find no evidence of gasket failures, either head or intake. The original motor experienced a sudden loss of coolant into the exhaust. The second motor is running like a champ. I will try some of the things mentioned and see what that gets me. Thanks.

I've owned the car in my sig since 97, and 20-21 is all it gets. I think it hit 22 once.

I own a 87 GL wagon 4x4 with 1.8 2bbl and 3 speed auto. It's been mine since 97. Is there any way to get rid of the coolant gurgling in the heater core? I have tried everything I can think of to get the air out, but it's still there. It's really driving me nuts! Any suggestions? It's done this as long as I've owned it.

About 137 ft should be enough!

If you need a new radiator, Check with Fitz Auto Wrecking in Woodinville. They sell new Modine radiators and I haven't found anyone who could beat their price. I've had to buy four radiators for different vehicles over the past 10 yrs and they have always been the cheapest. The radiator for my Subaru was $104 two years ago. Went through the same symptoms you have and it was the rad. Good luck.

I guess this is just going to take more work than I thought. I spent a lot of time looking at the heads and cylinders. Everything looks normal. This is getting really frustrating, as I was hoping for a quick and easy repair. Mabey it's time to just look for a new motor or part the car out. Thanks for all the good info and I will check everything out again.

Well, I'm at a loss. I checked the heads inside the exhaust ports and everything looks OK. The intake gaskets look as though they were doing there job still. Anything else to look at?

I have an 87 GL Wagon with 4x4, auto, and carbed. It currently is just a few miles shy of 160K. The car was loosing coolant and I spent the summer trying to track it down, until the water pump bearing failed. During that time, it did get overheated a couple times from low coolant. With the new pump, everything was good again for a few days, then it started blowing steam out the tail pipe with a strong anti-freeze odor. The warmer the motor gets, the more it blows. I did compression checks and everything was reading normal. I was assuming head gasket. I now have the motor on an engine stand in my garage, and completely disassembled. I can see no problem with the gaskets or the block. There does "appear" to be a small crack in the heads between the valves, but it is common to all four cylinders and I'm unsure if this is normal or what? What am I missing??? If not the head gaskets, where else could be suspect?