85glsw

Actually, with the rotor on, it's about 3/4 inch play axially. As for sticking with the same distrib, I'll follow the advice, but I thought that the 2wd distribs were stronger, or had more advance or something.

Maybe it moves very slightly from side to side in one direction. In turning it (axially), there's 3/8" play. So it sounds like the bearings are going, like you said. No? Thanks for your help.

4wd '85 1.8, GL SW I hear a clicking noise from my side of the car when I accelerate, like a spark plug wire loose on the block. When I listen to the distributor with a stick, something is knocking. It doesn't sound smooth. The cap is fouled. I replaced it about a month ago, with the rotor and the plugs. Bad distributor? By the way, have timing fully advanced due to altitude (8400 feet). Swap the distributor for another (2wd if I can find it)? Any tips on getting the distributor back in the right splines? It's been a few years since I've done this. Any help grately appreciated.

Thanks so much for the replies. It paints the picture. Please keep spirt of this forum: that's what the Internet was about in the first place: people helping people. What goes around comes around.

Subarus aren't on the list of the type of car I'm supposed to take to Mexico, 18 hours down. But it's not a great time to be switching cars. Anyone have any experiences getting soob parts way down in Mexico?

Yup. It was a vacuum leak. I guess I'll invest in some hoses. Last time the guy gave me a fuel line, and I didn't say anything. But this time, I want a lot more hose. Should I sacrifice a bottle of rice wine over the motor or something, so that I don't have to redo this whole thing to feel comfortable driving more than 10 minutes away from the house? Oh, never mind. Thanks again.

No compression gauge. (I was afraid someone would say that.) But I'll try to double check the vacuum hoses.

EA82 '85 GL SW, 1.8, (Hitachi?) carburator (rebuilt or not the orig.). No power at all. Can't even get up a steep hill in first. Cylinders don't miss. Idles fine. Has fuel. (Lots of it.) Has spark on all four cylinders. Don't think there are any vacuum leaks. Starts and idles fine. Both sets of cylinders sound the same. When it was really cold, there was dark smoke coming out the tailpipe. Now no smoke. (No thermostat.) No coolant loss. Oil's fine. Tailpipe full of carbon, but dry. Yesterday when I shut it off, it had been running fine. Been intermittently having this problem to a much, much lesser extent from time to time for a few weeks, but I would rev the motor or plug up a vacuum, and then it would run absolutely fine. I don't know where to check next.

I didn't think there'd be more than one petcock. I saw the one half way up the radiator on the passenger side, in the midst of so much stuff that fluid would be nearly impossible to capture, and I looked at the lower hose, with it's curve upwards, also creating a tricky situation. As for the drain bolts in the cylinder heads: thanks for the info. I didn't want to go hunting there. I'm aware of the stringent regulations in Japan and in many other wealthy countries, as well as the fact that our cars do many decades more of unregulated service in other countries like Mexico and African countries. I don't like the fact that I am legally driving a polluting vehicle here in New Mexico. Unfortunately, even for me, so many decisions boil down to simple economics. In my observations, in this country, and in European countries, stringent regulations are not the ultimate answer. It creates a kind of black market (bypassing inspections and cars going to Africa where they pollute even more), and, ultimately, more and more people will ignore the government, which is very unfortunate when we are talking about pollution controls. And if you've been to the third world lately, you should know clearly where we're heading so far as pollution. Over regulating here would be just a drop in the global clean-up bucket, and fill the pockets of car "manufacturers," who, it seems, will be under China's pollution "regulations" while building their cars.

Thanks for the tool link. I have another vehicle (with a 1980 Mercedes van motor) that blew the head gasket in the Sahara without the gauge ever getting very high (I watch temp gauges all the time), so I probably will invest in such a tool. (We were stuck over a month getting it back together.) An African mechanic told me it happens all the time, because of all the limestone in the water in Europe: it clogs the radiators. So they pull the radiators out, take them apart, and clean them thoroughly. Pulling a radiator doesn't bother me. But this soob: how do you get it out without spraying coolant all over the place? (Turn the car upside down?) No engine block bolts to drain? Why didn't they just make a normal bottom tube that you pull out and the fluid goes in the pan? Sheesh! It goes in well water. Runs off into rivers. Dogs like to drink it. Japanese engineers.... I mentioned that cool laser temperature tool to my wife. She said, Now that it's happened twice to us, that an engine overheated without the temperature gauge going up, next time it will be something else. Darn, she might be right.

That could be it. I drove around on three cylinders for a while, with a hole in an exhaust valve on that side. The cylinder was full of gasoline and carbon when the mechanic looked at it with his scope. Probably shouldn't have done the work. It was too hot to look for another car.

Could you explain the point and shoot thermometer? I don't understand the tool. I hate to buy cheap tools, but for a very occassional use, do you think that the cheap one is worth getting? Sounds like that could save me from pulling the radiator and cleaning it and flushing it, when it might not need it.

How could a factory gauge be bad when it goes to the middle like normal, and then when the thermostat is out, stay in the bottom of the operating range and go up a tiny bit on hills? I'm really perplexed. Thanks for the radiator filling advice. That's the way I've always done it, but since I"m self taught, I never had any confirmation. But I've never filled this radiator. No, I haven't replaced the cap, but it's kind of on the list, since it's a 13 lb cap. External condition of the radiator is a little hard for me to see. I don't think it's good. So, I'm tempted to pull it. The strange thing though, is because of the state of the gauge, I don't really know if I'm overheating any more or not. I'm as blind as I was in my '69 Cutlass. And here I don't even have the overheating idiot light. How can I tell if I'm overheating or not? Even if I were to drain the system and pull the sending unit, would it be worth my while to put it in water with an electrical tester connected and see if it works? And then the whole thing seems crazy, because I might not be overheating at all. If you see my dilemma.

Thanks, I'd forgotten about the relay. I agree. Fix the thermo switch, if it's bad. I haven't even looked at the wiring yet, to say nothing of checking the thermo switch. Maybe later today.

Belts: less than 10k. (Previous owner.) Temperature gauge is total bull ************. It acts completely normal with the thermostat in or out. (It's out for the summer.) Others with the same car have confirmed for me the same junk. Evidently the sending unit is in a not so smart place? Air bubbles rise, right? I've gotten a few out by squeezing the hoses. Otherwise, I'd bet a few bucks that a gallon and a half would come out were I to drain the whole thing. No pinging. Electrical: plugs, cap, rotor. Recent. Fuel filter. A few months. Radiator fluid change. Recent. Probably not flushed. Fins on radiator: some bent. Probably never touched. Has AC. Doesn't work. Oil change. Recent. Air filter. Recent. Carb looks nearly new. Float slightly rich, because auto choke doesn't work. (Better slightly lean, no? Otherwise could burn out valves.) I'm at 8200 feet, so I adjusted it. Distributor: well advanced. Pollution control devices. Don't make me laugh. I assume everything is blocked. I cancelled out whatever seemed to work better that way, but removed nothing. Advance on the distributor directly to the carburator. Secondary catalytic converter (back) removed. Concerned that if I remove the front, which surely is well expanded by now, it will be bad for the valves.

By touch.

thanks for the details. The guy who told me it's only for the AC is a serious alcoholic, although the son of a good mechanic. Maybe I'll install a paranoid switch on the dashboard. Last fall, it seems the fan was running all the time when I connected it. Now, not at all.

I was wondering about the fuel pump. I replaced the filter last winter. But the motor seems fine now. Drove the canyon today, and nothing seemed to be breaking down. Seems it was a vacuum leak. That'll teach me to be too cavalier about plugging holes.

EA82 '85 1.8 GL SW My automatic choke is bad. At idle, normally, when warm, it revvs over 2000 rpm. I connected a spring to the choke, and it keeps it in a more reasonable range. But come winter, I'll need a choke again. I imagine that most of these cars have the same problem. I sure as hell don't want to buy a new automatic choke, because the price is probably too high. Any easy solutions for winter? Would it be reasonable for me to rebuild the automatic choke?

'85 EA82, 1.8, GL SW To touch, the passenger side cylinders run hotter. Normal? Coolant's been replaced recently, but not by me. So I don't know what kind of obstructions there may or may not be.

'85 EA82, 1.8, GL SW When I picked up this car, someone who had had the same car told me you only need the electric fan while the AC is running. True or false?

I just tightened up a vacuum connection. So far so good, after maybe 20 miles.

My apologies, m'am. You leave me embarrassed. Or is that embare-assed? I didn't know that there was a woman behind the wheel. That changes everything. Logic goes out the window. I think we should call on some African voodoo mechanics to explain what to do. I've seen them look at a car, build a big fire, call all their friends, and dance around that fire until the sun came up. When I went back 10 years later, they still were driving the same car. No, I say, LET THE FORCE BE WITH YOU! Build that fire. Call all your friends. Dance for that car!

Here's what I think. There are some people who never fall in love. I think it's a good thing that you did. But now you got an old woman on your hands. Now, most of us would say, RUN LIKE HELL. But I see that you're a bit sensitive. You spent a lot of time with her. She done things for you -- no one else done for you. You feel, a little nostalgic. Maybe a bit guilty. You darn near broke her back. But you care. It shows. I'm sure a lot of women darn near cried when they read your post. Now pull yourself together and look at it this way. You don't have any kids together. And, despite what you might think, she ain't gonna know the difference whether she's with you or with someone else. I mean, son, let's get real. She can barely go and fetch you a beer any more! This might sound hard but.... Oh, I just can't say it. Maybe someone else can. Good luck to you.

EA82, '85, 1.8, carburated After a year with this car, and having had about 25 other cars in as many years, I'm coming to the conclusion that these Soobs are weird. I'd appreciate it if someone could help me troubleshoot this maybe serious problem beyond just "weird." Twice on separate days, after starting the car cold (no thermostat. 13 psi cap.), in 65+ degree weather, it sputters as if bad fuel or electric so badly I wonder if there isn't a dead cylinder, and I can't go more than 35 mph on the flat. First day, I revved the motor and it disappeared. Today, revving didn't help. The passenger cylinders felt hotter than the others, and, I think, hotter than usual. I'd only driven about 10 miles, mostly flat. I let it sit half an hour, and then it was EXCELLENT. I drove up and down a 20 mile canyon, and I barely had to shift into lower gears. But, there was something, like fuel or electric, that was trying to break down, but it was so subtle, it was easy to ignore, and someone not worrying about the car surely wouldn't even have noticed. I broke down in Denver a few weeks ago. The temperature gauge always looks fine (dead center with the thermostat in), and so I never suspected overheating. In fact, it blew a hole in an exhaust valve it got so hot. The mechanic did a leak down test and looked at the pistons and I gave him the green light to redo the head. He didn't touch the other side. I just wasn't in the mood to buy another car. He also ran a 24 hour engine flush on it. I changed the cap and rotor and plugs. I don't have any pressure gauges or electrical test equipment, and I have a minimum of tools. The car was running like ************ not far outside of Denver. I pulled the thermostat on the road, and it was much, much better. The distributor looks like it's still far advanced (where I had it before). The advance is plugged directly into the carburator. I haven't lost radiator fluid since the cylinder head work. I took off the cap and jumped up and down on the bumper, but the level didn't go down. I watch the oil. The tailpipe feels dry, but it's full of carbon. I haven't noticed white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. The odometer shows 200k. Ideas?