nathan.chase

The rod snapped between the pushing attached to hub and steering box just inboard of the threads.

My car was deamed totalled (see previous post) and I am wondering what she is worth? I live in Humboldt county on the coast of Northern California. The car is a 1987 GL 4wd wagon, N/A, 5sp. AC, power mirrors, roof racks, immaculate interior, a little of the typical exterior rust, Performance CD/ipod Desk, new tires. 220k what's she worth? she was a great car I hate to see her junked and I will see what my options are about keeping her on the road. thanks for your help and hopefully I will get my moneys worth from the insurance company! -nate

Dear all, Recently my Beast a 87 gl 4wd N/A wagon was hit while parked. the lady hit my outside curbed front wheel hard enough to snap the tie rod. The insurance company want to total her but she is so awesome I was wondering what it would take to place the tie rod. my questions Are there concerns with struts/suspension with this level of impact? what is the general procedure on tie rod replacement? (both sides and gear box or only the one side?) Thanks for the help! BTW the car got 31mpg climbing hills and ravaging dirt roads when I went camping last weekend! Yea to the old subs!

I have replaced the radiator. it took me more like two hours to do. I unboldted the main wind colar and jimmied the radiator out with everything else on it. I replaced it without the auxilary fan which made it go in very easily. nonetheless it took a long time for those two or three barried bolts to finally get tightened down. I was actually hoping that this radiator is the problem so I don't have to do a waterpump. According to the last owners mechanic the pump and computer are shot. According to me the thermoswitch wasn't working, and the radiator had cold bands on the bottom. Makes you wonder when kind of mechanic this guy was. I had a cold band on the top of the new radiator, I guess air bubbles. is there a good way to refill a radiator? I usually pump the hoses and try and burp it. turned on the car too. does the air work itself out? Thanks for your help and I will soon test the overheating problem on a 14-18 hour drive from Vancouver to California on friday. Should be fun!

my one reservation is if the pump is not working strong enough to full circulate the water through the radiator would this mean discrepency would arise in the temperature of the radiator or would it just be evenly too hot?

This is a follow up on an old post were I was told to check if the radiator was clogged or if the pump was shot. Full coolant new thermostat and equal in and out radiator temp. new thermoswitch when looking into the radiator I see some movement of coolant when the engine is on. Hard to see but it is something QUESTION: Does this definitely mean good water pump? After warming the 87 gl up, I felt the radiator from top to bottom underneith the auxiliary fan. this fan did not run so I figured it was the best place to feel the radiator. Radiator was HOT at the top and the bottom 1/4 was COLD. QUESTION: Does this temperature difference mean a clogged radiator or is it that hot water rises and cool falls? There did seem to be a quick change from hot to cold with no middle ground. I repeated this test 3 times for accuracy.

Hi all, I just drove from San Francisco to Vancouver with the heater on most of the way. my 87 gl was running within the top 3/4 of the heater gage most of the way. I replaced the thermoswitch in SF thinking I had found the ultimate problem, now I am wondering if the pump is shot or if the radiator is plugged. Symptoms: Ran hot going up hills even at high RPM's. Grill was removed and fan switch was jumped to be on all the time the car was running. It would run hotter the faster I went. Around 60 it could take pritty well (bit over half my gage) when going 75-80 it was really hot and would get very close to red when doing hills in the middle of the oregan day. I am at a loss with radiator/pump except that RMP's didn't make a very noticable difference, then again I am not sure how much it should make a difference. This is a test I was told for checking the pump???? Thanks for the help. Other than the heat she ran like a champ with a full load. Pleasantly supprised with my new car, Nathan Chase

Dear all, THank you for your suggestions. I toyed around the thermoswitch and fan trying to diagnos the problem and I eventually did. I stipped the wires before the standard harness for the two prong thermoswitch. I checked for voltage and hot plenty. in the switch nothing so I cleaned up the switch. Once i got voltage in the switch and ran the car till it was over the half to see if the switch would come on. Nothing. At this point I assumed the switch was getting power but not working as the fan was not opperative. I jumped the thermoswitch to see if all the wiring from the there on to the fan was working and the fan kicked right in. I replace the switch and refilled the radiator which took some burping. I now am going to try and run her hot tomorrow to verify the fan operation. I have a temp dial that is similar to the gas and oil pressure gage. spans about 120 degrees. At mid way I assume the fan should come on right? Also does anyone know what the dipstic in a manual trani is for? what kind of oil it take as mine is below low mark. Is this the gear oil? thanks and let the subaru's rock! I am falling in love with mine. -nate

Thanks so much for the help everyone. I have lost light to jump the thermoswitch so that will have to be tomorrow. I am really hoping that the cooling problem will change the NOx problem as this would make things easy. Otherwise I might be in to computer diagnostics. I haven't used these ECU's/ECM's before, do you need a special tool or is it just some connector that needs to be jumped to start the code reading and such? THanks for all the help Pay it forward -nathan

so it failed in the sustained driving field.by a few hundred. I don't hav ethe figures in front of me. by ego you mean o2 sensor? and with a computer driven model can I actually adjust the mixture? thankx -nate

Thanks for the help. I connected the fan motor directly to the battery and it worked. The connector for the fan is where I got a undouplicated voltage reading. I will test the voltage at the themoswitch in the radiator. it has two lines coming out. Is one ground? I'll double check the radiator ground. also do you think overheating would be a cause of NOx. I am not sure how much that can influence NOx. thanks for the reply!

Hi everyone. I just bought a 87 gl wagon 4wd. the electric fan doesn't come and the car overheats. the previous mechanic said the waterpump needed changing but the fan doesn't come on so what did he know that I am missing. I jumped the motor and it works. I got 10 volts out of the harness going to the fan but couldn't get a repeat reading, seems to be dead now. According to the mechanic the computer is dead as well, if it is failing how can I tell? is the fan run by the computer? the car failed emmissions on NOx and I am thinking that the overheating might be part of that seeing as I have check the EGR system and it the valve seems to be moving fine. I can still check to see if their is a clog but I am thinking the fan or computer are more likely. it passed with flying colours on other emmissions. thanks for the help. I am a subaru newbie and love the new wheels. sincerely, Nathan Chase