daeron

GAH!! ive been running that search every two weeks for a while now, and im overdue!! you caught me, thats the first one in three digits ive seen on craigslist in the STATE yet....well, i dont check the whole state but there are parts of florida 600 miles away from me.... thanks!

so, a slight addition of positive pressure at one side would not really decrease the temperature of the air flowing into the radiator fins then? once i fix my headgasket, it wont be an issue. however, i was still considering it for the overall efficiency of the cooling system as a whole. the idea occurred to me one night, driving around. since i drive pizzas, i pretty much start the car when i go to work after topping off the coolant.. then drive around all night (50-100 miles) and dont have a chance to top off the coolant until that night, at home, after the engine has cooled off. there have been times when i was forced to carefully open the radiator, and SLOWLY add water while the engine was running in the middle of a shift, but ive tried to minimize that.. and those times were all in situations of "i have some sort of coolant leak, but i havent traced it down yet." my headgasket is bubbling compression into the cooling system, so im slowly popping things that havent been replaced yet... yes the crank fan is installed, yes its functioning properly.. the coolant is going into the combustion chamber....slowly. but 100 miles a day is not slowly, any way you cut it. and yes, i know, i need to do the headgasket. that was the VERY first sentence of the thread. im not trying to fix the problem of my temp going up with this stupid blower fan... im asking a theoretical question about air flow, which is a subject i KNOW to be complex beyond my current awareness of it. my motivation, rather than being a jerry-rig fix, is simply more efficient operation of the system as a whole. thank you nipper, for answering that question.

thanks nipper. its been explained to me.. but i havent grasped how it all flows together yet. i havent clicked the links yet but i shall, and i will let you know how helpful they were.

bucky: same here, mechanic out of necessity. If my dad hadn't raised me around his "i-can-fix-it" philosophy (he was right, for the record) then i never would have started learning when i did.. but once i got to a point where i finally had a car when i graduated HS, i sure as heck couldnt go affording me a real-life mechanic, even tho my older brother is one! so, to the wrenches i turned. I had actually just begun to give up on ever being more than a competent shadetree when i discovered the subaru, and it showed me exactly how wrong i was when i thought that the automobile, as a combination of integrated subsystems, was just a *tad* beyond my abilities.. good for a goal, but not a goal im ever going to reach. i now believe otherwise.. hopefully that made sense. Northwet: i hear you on the datsuns.. i would agree on the lego-ish proportion, the datsuns about half as simple as the soob... i know youre talkin 510 and im talkin Zcar, but the ones close enough to the other. incidentally, if youre that much of a datsun fan, i _have_ to brag about the fact that my uncle buck actually owns one of the two BRE team 200 roadster racecars.... i forget the numbers, but their first racecar ultimately became their #2 car so to speak.. the other one became the primary car, but my uncle has the first one. :- ) its awesome to have a piece of automotive history. even if its obscure, and not really of much significance anymore (the car has passed thru other hands that did alot of work to it, without a good work ethic.. so its more a conversation piece about what the car was than a fact about what it still is.. again, i hope im making sense) well, thats the second or third time ive "hopes i was making sense" so im finishing this post now, before i get any worse.

195/60 huh?? thanks, ive been wondering about departing a little more from factory spec (not THAT much) and i havent posted anything yet.. but hearing that tells me that going a little more wider than stock than i am (read it again it makes sense) wont be any problem.. right now i run 185-70s.. not too much difference but i felt it. ill try for some 185-60 or 195-70 next time... i dont know what kind of tire sizes aer common and not in 13" so i'll see what i get when i go to get em, but i know i cant go too wrong, if youre running those. nice lookin car BTW, i cant believe it was "free" like that. could never happen to me.

i dont know about the soob (yet) but there is typically a bleeder valve on the main body of the master cylinder. you bleed it the same way you bleed the rest of the system.. pump a couple times, hold pressure, release bleeder, tighten bleeder, repeat until no air. if theres no bleeder valve on the main cylinder housing then look elsewhere, or find a HTKYSA or haynes or something to tell you. that is how a master cylinder is bled, no rocketry or cardiac surgery involved. hope i dont sound snide, i just dont _really_ know about the subaru system.. but since you had no answers, this is more than nothing...

funny, about four days ago i was in a junkyard and found a wiper control unit dangling from a car.. i grabbed it, because on anything but dead low my variable speed intermittents sweep spastically across the windshield.. but my first thoughts were of this thread. i never dug it up to post that i found the unit, but obviously i wasnt needed

great! that relay is a MUCH easier fix to try, ill have to get one out at the junkyard. that would be sweet. thanks alot for the info on how the system is put together!

i still utterly fail to understand how ignition timing and camshaft timing mesh together... i mean, sparking with 25 degrees of advance..?? WTF, do not grok in fullness, you know what i mean?? sorry to confuse the original poster...i TRY not to talk to loudly when its (somewhat) out of my arse.

sounds like northwet set you on course, this is almost certainly a switch problem. Ive been thinking about grabbing a couple spares in the junkyard someday.. but havent gotten around to it yet. If you can get any function out of a window with any switch, chances are a new switch will work the window like new. since ive been meaning to start a thread with virtually the same subject to ask this question, Please dont hate me for a bit of a hijack.. BUT.. my windows are REALLY slow... i have been assuming that was from wear and/or carbon and gunk buildup on the brushes of the motors... because each is different.. is it possible or likely that my problem is resistance in the switches?? they seem to function the same way regardless of what switch is used. i guess the easy way to find out would be to clean the master switch and find out... or take all the window motors out and service them...

northwet: advanced timing causing a lean burn, causing too much heat... right? i may have overstepped my knowledge? but that was what i thought.. 'sokay.. i re read your original post, and kinda guess i misinterpreted what you were saying.. i mean, i work late too.. and look at the time i made that post actually this thread answered the questions ive had on direction of water flow thru the engine... so it was kinda bonus learning.

nipper: replaced fan and radiator both already. my thought was specifically to feed some positive airflow AROUND the condensor whenever the AC was on. i would achieve better results if i could route some ductwork to be blowing fresher air into the gap between the two coils, but thats totally more difficult than simply hanging a little blower fan pushing a little air into that region just behind the condensor.

awesome! so basically.. chances are real good thats a blind alley then. eh, if i need to do something, ill do it. its probably OK then, based on what is said. I cracked the FSM to see if there was any sort of testing to run on the sensor/circuit.. and discovered no, not really. okaaay.. heres another thought. i haven't gone and assumed (by reading the book) that I have an optical CAS when in fact, my '87 EA82 spfi has some other sort of sensor in its hitachi (i think) distributor, have I?? i mean, the partial 89 FSM is what makes me think ive got the photoelectric sensor...I wouldnt know anything else.. thanks again. now i know what to check for if i DO have an issue with mine, and even better I know it was liable to be "paranoia" on my part. I shall definitely make the car force me to change the CAS.

Okay, this thought was stimulated by cooling problems I am having because I need a new headgasket. That being said, I still think its a neat idea, and I am curious to know what you all think of how effective this might be. Sometimes the water runs a little low, and when I turn the AC on, the temp rises. This may be a faulty reading, its a digidash, but whatever.... My thought was to install a small blower fan with the output blowing from one side of the car to the other, providing a point source of "fresh" air to the radiator. IE, air that hadn't already seen the heat of the AC condensor. do you think that would really lower the temperature of the air flowing over the radiator fins dramatically? I was anticipating wiring it to come on only when the AC is on.. my stock electric fan is currently hotwired and running with the key on (got it like that, saw/see no real reason to change it) It seemed to me that with the space between the two, it could make a difference. That, and I've got several ideal little blower fans from nissan 280ZXs.. they had this thingy that blew air up over the top of the cylinder head down over the fuel intake...but the fan would fit perfectly, at least in my head. Any air flow engineers out there care to sound off?

heh, my landlord and i discussed using a radiator and a radiator fan, and public cold water supply, to make an air cooler of sorts for the front window during the three weeks of interminable heat and no electricity (except 12VDC from the buick) after hurricane frances.... but that sounds like a great idea, its no different from liquid cooled PCs. ten years ago in high school we joked enviously about how ridiculous they were, now the high end gaming systems are so overtaxed they need them... BTW, if you decide not to use the soob rad, second generation RX-7s came with a stock oil cooler mounted under the bumper, in the extreme front. GREAT little unit, and usually like 15-20 bux at the boneyard.. good way to save some $$ when you want to install an oil cooler, too.

what about in the back??????? i really dont know the layout of the 'zuk that well, but i know the vehicle abstractly, and from the outside, very VERY well... but would it be possible to cram it over the rear axle? also, you might consider an older, OHV ea-81 engine because of the shorter height... would that fit where the OHC motors wouldnt? just a couple thoughts. i like that idea :- )

its funny.. the first time i heard the TOD on my car, i just kinda ignored it... bad thing, i was low on oil at the time and a top off made it go right away... but there i was hearing my lifters clacking like a SOB... knowing what it sounded like, and thinking, "hey.. that could be _really_ bad. maybe i should look into it... eh." I kinda felt guilty at the time. as much advice as i have given to people here who show up asking about it (i like to talk, so i'll save other people some effort if i can) i havent done a single thing to fix my own. i top off the oil, and i dont hear it. just shrug it off. well, soon im gonna be replacing every gasket and seal possible, so i'll probly reseal the pump at that time.

yah that chick rocks, too. seriously, i like to say these cars are built like lego. I've never met a group of engineers who had so few emotional problems growing up (i judge the emotional state of my automotive engineers by how sadistic they seem to be in wishing any technicians much pain in servicing the car, ie if you need sixteen different tools just to change the spark plugs, someone got an atomic wedgie at the WROOOONG time) BTW, how did you come up with the name bucky? i have an uncle who goes by buck.... yes, i have an Uncle Buck. He is Eeyore Incarnate, and i called him that before i ever found the board here.. so it has nothing to do with NorthWet... but hes the car uncle, no family so he got to play with the cars my dad wanted to play with for the last forty years. my dad kinda got to do SOME of the same stuff.. and we all get to play with the racecars, so its all good.

okay.. when pulling codes off ECU in diagnostic mode, i got three sensor codes.. TPS, CAS, and O2. the TPS has been replaced, will be calibrating possibly today.. the O2 sensor gets replaced when i calibrate the TPS (its right next to the multimeter and feeler gauges) but im clueless on the CAS. honestly, i thought it was down in the block until i read the FSM.. (incidentally im _real_ glad i did that before posting...saved me from lookin DUMB..) but now i see its just a light, and some holes, and a light sensor in the housing of the disty itself.. the quick-and-dirty way is to swap out the distributor with an identical unit from the boneyard, then? would i be better off just replacing the sensor inside the distributor? would my best bet be to find the best disty in the JY i can, and plan on using that unless mine is better mechanically? AND, other than virtually zero side-to-side play, is there anything else to beware of picking up a JY distributor? im already pretty sure that (providing i get the same brand of disty) its a more or less straightforward job to swap... just remove the one, and insert the other.. then jiggle a bit to get the gear set down in the crank. any potential surprises??? just trying to pre-emptively apply some covering to me arse, i hate getting up to my elbows in car and THEN discovering some assumption/idea/bit of knowledge poorly investigated is WRONG and i dont know where to go next I call it bugs bunny syndrome, because its the kind of time you see yourself turning into a donkey in your mind....

quick poll... raise your hand if you have soldered componentry onto your ECU (or even inline on a pin) that was my only point

northwet: he said passenger side was running hotter, thats non distributor side. good thought on the thermostat, though... if youre right about the coolant flow then that would certainly cause more heat buildup on the passenger side than on drivers side... (right? water flows up thru the thermostat and into the top of the rad...) tom: running lean is what would happen if the timing belt jumped a tooth or was sloppy from a worn sprocket.

northwet: by SOA, did you mean subaru of america?? are the fel-pro ones no good?

i couldnt tell if you were talking to me or someone else. obviously not me. (regarding the mayor comment)

GD-- the u-check test mode is done by plugging in the green timing connectors and revving the engine over 2k for over 40 seconds. then the ECU blinkenlight flashes a different set of codes from whats stored in memory. i dont know what kind of diagnostic program it runs, but it told me that a couple of tranny gear sensors and the speed sensor were faulty (???) and also that my O2 sensor and my TPS sensor were questionable. never had any CEL, changed the TPS and car has lost more than half her "ghosts" Syonyk: PM bgd73. He has gotten his elbows deeper in the ECU than anyone else ive heard of thus far, and would be able to answer _some_ of your questions im sure.. and he might know where you could get more data. everything that he has said about it has been out of my ballpark.. i know enough about tech to understand it all, but zilch about these ECUs in particular. he apparently is an old skool nerd (ie munches breadboard) AND a gearhead, so i would start there.

no market, in the pacific northwest!!! two words guys.. latin america.... there are NO subarus down here, and with the other japcars that almost always means that immigrants buy them and ship them home... think of the latin american members of the website... im just saying, you could get yourself into the ol "import/export business" here.. and you know, make a little extra cash on the side..... maybe branch out.. :brow: