teasdam

the USMB needs a "bragging" forum, but this will have to do... Here's the ugly creature that has taken up all my time and money for the past six months (and I'm not referring to the dog in the back). This was my first attempt at an automotive resurrection, but so far so good! If you look close, you can see the $100 price tag on the windows...although I talked the guy down to $75. I think I'll leave that there for a while; might deter people from tailgating. I just registered it yesterday and had my father-in-law weld the exhaust back together where I got after it with my sawzall, so it's at least roadworthy if not perfect. All that stuff my wife calls "rust" I insist is just "character" I calculated only 24 mpg on this trial run which was a little disappointing. The guy I bought it from said he never got less than 30. I've seen some posts here about poor mileage so I'll look though those before I start asking a bunch of questions again. (My first thought, I don't think the 3-speed tranny was intended for 75 mph on the highway...runs steady at about 4500rpm.) Big thanks again to everyone on USMB for helping me and all the other newbies on this stuff! I can only imagine how far behind I would be on this project with only my Chilton and my cheap-o tools. Skip was my automotive advisor for a couple months, so I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that I'm done. Next project is to get the radio working and replace the rear drums with disc brakes...and maybe nitrous while I'm at it.

for what it's worth....I just finished my halfshaft replacement and I was caught off guard by how difficult it is to pull the axle through the bearings on reassembly. What I ended up doing was going to Ace and had them cut about 4" of PVC pipe into 1/2" "spacers"...I forget what size pipe it was exactly, something like 2", but whatever will work. I added spacers as I went and it worked out great. I don't know how much the fancy installer tool would cost, but this only cost me about 50 cents for the PVC.

I was bleeding my brakes over the weekend...when I got to the rear driver's side I discovered that the bleeder valve was broken off sometime in this car's past life. I put an ez-out to what was left of the valve, but now I see why they broke it off the first time. I don't see any hope of getting it out without removing that whole hub assembly from the axle so I can really get after it. However, there are no signs of fluid leaking from the broken valve, and after bleeding the other three brakes, everything seems to be functioning normally. Anyway...my question is, is there a way to bleed that brake without the bleeder valve?

I haven't touched the cooling system on our outback but I was thinking...couldn't a guy just raise the front of the car to make the radiator cap the high point? Say, drive the car up onto some cheapo ramps from the parts store, or maybe park on a hill with the front of the car on the high side, and then try to fill coolant? Eventually it should burp through the cap. (Then again some of these newer pressurized system may be different. I'm actually picturing my old Chevy setup as I type)

I'm replacing the front passenger side caliper. When I removed the old caliper, I let the brake line hang and allowed the brake fluid to drip out. It's been a week since and the MC reservior is empty now. I was planning on bleeding the brakes once everything was back together, but I've seen some talk on the forum about bleeding the MC as well. Is this something you only do when you suspect an MC related problem? or should I plan on doing this before bleeding the brakes?

oh man, that's not hard at all once a guy finds the right tools...my father-in-law is a welder so he has every tool under then sun. Took maybe an hour to do both sides. Thanks again for the help all of you. Now I just have to put it all back together and the beast should be ready for another 200k miles! (...I think I'll just leave the rear drums on for now or it'll be another month before I drive the car.)

er, I just figgered pressing them in would be a preferred method. As mentioned above, "backyarding" these bearings back in place leaves the opportunity to mess it up....I don't always trust myself with projects that require finesse. Thanks for the replies. The halfshaft still hasn't arrived so I guess that's all the excuse I need to give it a shot. While I have your attention...anything in particular I need to look for when buying the grease? I saw mention of high-temp, but anything else? No idea if this grease comes in differrent weights or somethin like that.

so just how hard is it to get the bearing out, and back in? I have minimal equipment and tools, just enough to really mess things up. I guess my biggest concern is putting them back in correctly...do you think I could do everything else myself and then take it all to a machinist to have them pressed back in? Which way do the bearings come out? (I mean, towards the outside of housing or other way?) Do they go back in the same direction?

so I'm waiting for a halfshaft to come in, and the axle housings are accessible for the moment. I can see the bearings and such within the housing and I was wondering if I should be doing something with them at this point. I've seen where auto shops offer wheel bearing repacking as a service but I don't know what this actually entails. Is it as simple as cramming some new grease in there? or is it something more involved like disassembling the housing innards to clean them up?

DOH! The fingers are quicker than the mind! On second thought, I meant to say that the ball joint is still in the axle housing. It was the control arm that I hammered off. In any case, same question...

ok, so now how in the world do I get the ball joint out?! I'm trying to remove the one that's in the lower control arm (which the axle housing sits on). I completely removed the control arm, axle housing, and the bar that runs diagonally back (is that a torsion bar?). After some serious hammering and cussing I got the housing to come off the ball joint stud. Now I need to get the ball joint out of the control arm. I have one of those forked wedge ball joint separator tools, but that doesn't seem to be good for anything. I'm thnking this ball joint is just incredibly corroded into place. Any ideas?

oops, but = buy

the boot around the brake caliper piston is torn to smithereenies. Autozone doesn't offer caliper overhaul kits, so my only option would be to but a reman caliper for $70. Just how much of a problem is this torn boot?

great! you guys rule! This is making more sense already. Thanks much for the replies. I'll get after it this weekend and see what I come up with. (This $75 dollar car is quickly turning into a large investment.)

1990 loyale, 4wd, 3sp auto, 1.8 SFPI non-turbo (I need to go make my sig right now so I can stop typing that)... ok, I'm looking at edrach's instructions on halfshaft replacement and my Chiltons, and neither one is making any sense to me. Argh! I've got the castle nut and washer off...now what else is supposed to come with it? I see mention of a second washer and/or a "conical spring" but I don't see where these are. There is however, still something on the hub that _looks_ like a separate washer, but I can't get it to budge. Does this need to come off, or is it part of the hub? I tried whacking the hub to loosen things up like edrach says, but still no difference. I expected the hub/rotor to come off easily once the castle nut was off but that isn't happening. I need to get the rotor off as well so I can get it turned. (BTW, I do have the caliper assembly off, tie rod off, and the spring pin out already also.) As I understand it, I need to loosen things up enough to where I can pull the whole shaft assembly out towards me so that the tranny end of the shaft comes free. Once the tranny end of the halfshaft is out, will I then remove it by pulling the whole thing towards the center of the car without the axle housing? or out away from the car with the axle housing stuff still on it? I'd like to also replace the lower control arm ball joint while I'm in there (per my last post) so I think the shortcuts I hear people talking about are just serving to confuse me even more. The instructions make it sound so easy, but when I look at what I have to actually work with, things don't add up in my head. I'm afraid the 45 minute time frame that edrach mentions has long since expired. The engine rebuild was easier than this, sheesh! Help please!

I'm in the process of replacing a halfshaft on my 1990 loyale with 180k miles on it. The tie rod end ball joint looks ok, but the one where the axle housing sits on the lower control arm is torn wide open. So I was thinking just replacing the torn one. My question is this...are ball joints considered "bad" only when the rubber actually tears open? I had the thought that at 180k miles, it would be wise to change all the ball joints that I have access to while I'm in there.

hmm, I did a few searches but only found one link to edrach's tutorial, and that link is apparently no good anymore. Do you happen to know if it's archived somewhere? I did find milesfox's info so that will help anyway. thanks calebz

I'm about to attempt a passenger side halfshaft replacement on a 1990 loyale 4wd. I've never done this before so I thought I'd ask if there are any tricks and/or pitfalls I should be aware of before I tear into this. Any suggestions?

yeah, I've got the FSM pdf saved...I looked through it to see what voltage I'm looking for from the idle switch but I didn't find anything. Anyway, I'll give it a shot this weekend and see what happens. I'm assuming if I set my multimeter to the lowest (2.5V) scale, the "ON" voltage should be enough to max it out. Thanks for the replies russ

You're saying there's a check connector for the idle switch specifically? I've noticed those big harnesses by the test mode connectors...I'll take a look at the diagram and see what I come up with. Now once I start probing these wires, what am I looking for? Is there a certain voltage that will show on the idle switch wiring that I need to look for? Or is it something else like ohms that I'm checking? How do I know when the switch is "ON"?

back probe with both wires? ...please explain BTW, there are 4 wires coming from the TPS (but all through the same connector)...looks like the uppermost is the one I want. Are we looking at the same thing?

1990 loyale, ea82 SPFI... the manual says to confirm that the idle swith is ON before adjusting timing. How do I do this? I just bought a multimeter specifically for this, but I've never used one before and I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for here.

My Chilton says to use GL-5 in open differentials, and GLS in limited slip diffs...how do I know which diff I have? The car is a 1990 Loyale, 3sp AT, 4WD Also, it only recommended 85W for areas with colder weather. Does this sound about right?

well, on an EA82, you turn the dizzy CW to advance timing...so I assume that would mean it spins CCW ...I don't know if all Subarus are the same. I just gave out some wrong info for a different engine type so I'll just keep my fat mouth shut regarding other engines

oops...you mean there's other engines than just mine?! In my limited experience, "Subaru" = EA82 Well, mark that off your list