stephenw22

My '88 is having problems with its brakes. When you press down on the pedal, it barely grabs at all, even with the pedal to the floor. The problem started happening during the last cold snap, and it hasn't improved with warmer weather. One thing I noticeed is that if I press the pedal to the floor, then quickly release the pedal and press it again, I get brakes like I normally would. I tried bleeding the brakes, and my fluid seems fine (a little yellow, but not that bad at all. I flushed the brakes about 18 months ago with a fresh litre of fluid. Any ideas or suggestions? Brakes are one thing I don't know too well yet.

I don't think that they use a magnetic plug for the oil pan, but there is one for the front diff of my turbo wagon. I don't know if it's stock or not, though. If it is, it looks like it's the same size as the oil pan bolt.

If it's a broken axle, you could fix it yourself, easy. If it's a broken transmission, don't try to fix the transmission itself, just go to a wrecker and get a used one. If you have a decent spot to work on your cars, you could do a transmission swap yourself.

my turbo wagon has about 220,000 miles on it, and it would still be running if the ECU hadn't died a while ago. It was my university car, so it took all kinds of abuse because I was too broke to fix it right. I have: Washed it 3 times in the last 6 years. Drove it for an undetermined amount of time with less than 2L of oil in the pan (oil press gauge was reading 0) Drove it for an undetermined amount of time with very little oil in the front diff (dipstick was dusty when I first got the car I just filled it up, and it's run fine since) Drove it with huge oil leaks (like 1L every 300mi) for months at a time. Drove with a plugged radiator for a whole summer. (never overheated) Drove with broken radiator fans for another whole summer. (never overheated) Drove with a leaky upper radiator hose (500mi trip) in winter. (never overheated) Abused the auto tranny by shifting it manually from 1-2-D. Disconnected the wastegate for a while to see what it would do. Slammed it into curbs sideways, bending rims. That engine and tranny were bulletproof!

I already run 5w-30 + mmo in my car. The cost of a few extra litres of oil (even synthetic) over the next couple of months is no big deal if the car runs better on 0w-30. I've never heard of a pad heater before, only the removable magnetic heaters. I'll definitely have to scout around for a pad heater though - sounds like that would be an excellent solution. As far as the block heater's effectiveness goes, as long as I can park the car in an area with little or no wind, it does a decent job. There's a noticeable difference starting the car if if there was a breeze blowing into the grille. If you've seen where I'm from, there's very little shelter to be had. The background of this picture is just like my front yard: http://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~williams/images/craik.jpg And here's a picture of my place in summer (the clump of trees to the right of the grain truck) http://www.ece.ualberta.ca/~williams/images/harvest.jpg

The engine drips a little, but not too much. I lose about 1L every 4 weeks of driving. I was planning on a re-seal this next spring, and also to take the timing belt covers off. Since I have to do this repair in an unheated shed, I'm only doing the belts, and no re-sealing for now. I already have an engine block heater and electric battery blanket, and I have the radiator 50% blocked with cardboard. Those are the minimum requirements for any car up here. The problem with the block heater is that it just warms the coolant in the block. The oil and the oil pan, which sits below the block, barely gets any of the heat from the engine block heater. Also, since the block and heads are aluminum, the heats gets carried away pretty quick. The cold oil would put a big strain on the drivers' side timing belt, which turns the oil pump. I guess I could go with a magnetic heater for the oil pan, but that won't do anything if the car is sitting unplugged at the mall or on the street. I could also get a circulating coolant heater, but the car seems to warm up quick enough once it's started.

I'm having some winter issues with my '92. For the last three weeks or so, the temperature has been consistently around -25C (-18F) in the day with lows of -35C (-31F) at night. Then, just last night, my drivers' side timing belt decided it didn't want to turn the oil pump anymore, and it snapped. I'm thinking that it might be good to run a full-synthetic 0w-30 for the next couple of months. Other than the usual dino/syn arguments, is there any reason for me not to do this?

Governor gears on turbo automatics are metal, at least it is on mine.

I've run without timing belt covers since about 2002, and I've been through all kinds of stuff year-round. I had one belt fail, but that belt was already a used one that I was too broke to change out when I took the covers off. It took me about 1 hour to change both belts and belt tensioners. The thing I really like is that I can inspect my timing belts every time I check the oil on my car. I can check the tension, and look for unusual wear.

If you're trying to get ready for winter, make sure that you have a 190 degree thermostat in your car. Last year, I tried going through winter with a 180 degree thermostat in my '88, and it never really seemed to warm up at all. With a 190 degree thermostat, it was much better.

Another vote here for sealed bearings, if you have to replace them. Whenever I change an axle, I just inject new grease in behind the bearing. I use a grease gun with a needle fitting on the end. It slips through any little cracks, and shoots grease in the back side of the bearings. I thought about installing a zirk on the knuckle, but i decided it would probably get too messy.

I'm not sure if that would indicate a governor problem - maybe. It's an easy enough fix to try if you have a couple of hours to spare. Let me know if it's not on the USRM.

Last time I did rear brakes on my '85, the passenger-side rear caliper acted the same way. After a long process of elimination, I eventually decided that there was probably something in the caliper that was catching or sticking when it was pushed in that far. My guess is that moisture in the fluid had rusted the caliper internals a bit. Solution - I took a grinding wheel to my new brake pads and took off about 1/3 of the pad material. I put the 'pre-worn' pads on the car, and the problem went away. A new caliper would have been the ideal solution, but brake pads are a lot cheaper than new calipers.

Hi to you from SK!

That's the reason why I leave the covers off. Even though I live about 3mi. off the main road over some rough gravel and dirt roads, it's still not worth putting the covers on. We had a wet spring here, and I slogged through a lot of mud and water, but the belts don't seem to be wearing out any faster than when the covers are on. All I do is carry a set of old t-belts and tensioners in my car. Last time a t-belt broke on one of my cars, it only took me an hour to replace everything. You just have to figure out what your time is worth to you.

I might be buying a '92 Loyale up here this week. It needs some work, but I can strip parts off my '86 to fix this one. Not much rust, just a little on the body. The guy is asking $2000, but I think I can get it for $1500.

As far as I know, that's a code that you get from starting the motor. My '85 has had code 12 for years with no problems.

If you have composite headlights (bulb plugs in the back of the unit). Then toss them and get some headlights off a DL. Those composite headlights always end up leaking and rusting on the inside. Rusty reflector = horrible lighting. As far as I know, DL's were the only ones to use sealed beam headlights instead of the composite unit (two sealed units per side, one low beam and one high beam). You'd have to splice the headlight wiring together, but it will be WAY brighter than before. Sealed beams cost more than composite lights to replace a headlight when it burns out, but then you get a brand new reflector, every time.

Where are the injector ballast resistors located in my '85 Turbo Wagon? I've traced my non-starting problems to the fuel system, and I'm working my way through the wiring. The next thing on my list to check are the ballast resistors. Seeing them on a wiring diagram is nice, but it doesn't show me what they look like. Thanks in advance!

Well, I have the entire interior stripped out, except for the main duct/heater core section. There were 3 nests in total (so far). nest #1 was in the open, on the passenger side, under the blower fan. #2 was in the fresh air intake ducting. #3 was in the rear compartment where the jack goes. I haven't dropped the blower fan yet, or opened up the heater core or a/c sections yet, so there may be more. I'm getting +12v to all of my injector leads, which is normal. Where are the injector resistors? That's the next thing down the list to check.

hmm... I've been having some problems getting the car running - maybe chewed-up wires is something to look at. So far, I've pulled out everything but the dash, front seats, and front carpet. That's for tomorrow. It was actually kinda fun ripping the car apart.

How do I get rid of the stink that mice leave behind? I went to get my Turbo Wagon running (after it was parked in a snowbank for the last 6 months), and found that it is full of mice! The stench is horrible! Is there any way to get the smell out of the seats, or am I screwed? I already know that I'm going to have to take off every single piece of interior trim (including the dash and air ducts) and clean it all out. I have leather gloves and a 1/2 mask that I'll use when I do this, so I won't get Hantavirus from all that nastiness. That will take care of any more stink from happening, but what about the stuff that's worked its way into the seats already?

My turbo wagon has been sitting for a while, and I'm trying to get it back into shape, but it won't run. I have spark, and air, but the fuel isn't getting to the cylinders. If I dribble some gas into the throttle body by hand, the engine runs (poorly, but runs). I'm getting no error codes. No fuses are blown. When I hook up the green connectors, the fuel pump cycles on and off, and is working fine. Under the hood, it sounds like the fuel regulator is doing its job. I forgot to check the fusible links, though. Also, I didn't have a meter with me to check for voltage at the injectors. I've never had to work on fuel injection stuff before - what could be wrong? Is there a fusible link that feeds to the injectors? Do all of the wires feed from the same cable? Could have all of the wires been worn through? Is it something related to the injectors(tps or something)? Some kind of other relay or switch? Thanks!

95% of my miles are on pavement or gravel roads. I've put about 30,000 miles on two different coverless Subarus, and they are still running fine. For me, it's a maintenance thing. I can see the belts, I can see leaks better, and I can do repairs MUCH more quickly, even if there is a higher chance of a t-belt breaking. I just keep my old set of belts in one of the car's storage compartments. If I were doing more off-roading, I'd rather swap the ea-82 out for an ea-81 and not have to worry about the belts at all.

I had jacked the car up using a crossmember, but I was setting it down on the front left jacking point (just a little bit behind the front wheel). The metal just completely gave out. I drove the car up on some ramps next, so I could get a good look at the underside of the car (I hadn't done it in the 6 months I'd had it so far.) The frame rails are nasty, there are a few holes starting to get through the underside sheet metal, a few more in the wheel wells, going through to the interior. Overall, I think that if I jumped it, the front would snap off, and the rear wheels might end up in the back of the wagon. Is the car still able to drive? Sure. Is the car very safe to drive? Definitely not. That's why it's not coming back any time soon.