markjw

The girl I got the car from had the thermostate replaced on Dec. 3.Last month. Along with oil/filter change and a few other maintainance items.She gave me all of the service records. The bill from the shop she went to listed also possible water pump going bad. Thats what failed on her on her way to school,about three weeks later. She wouldn't say,but I think they quoted her several hundred dollars to replace the water pump,and she declined,electing only to change out the thremostat. The thermostate looks new.So,I just re used it. Also,she paid someone to replace the radiator recently.I can tell you for absolute certainty,this radiater is several years old. Here's where I'm at. When I got back from my last test drive,I drove it right up on the ramps and parked it. I let it sit for an hour,went back out and checked the fluid level.I easily put another quart maybe a little more into the radiator. The overflow tank was the same at the full mark. I went back out for another twenty minute drive,and the temp guage stayed constant below the halfway mark. And,the heat from the heater never went cold. But,I'm still seeing a few bubbles in the expansion tank. I'm going to the Subaru dealer tomorrow for a oem thermostate and oem rad. cap. I'll see where that gets me. I'll start all over again with the burp proceedure. Thanks for your help,Fairtax.

Ok..I got a different cap.Still a off brand one but,something changed in the symptoms. I drove it about 20 miles and, although it seems to be running a little hot,about half way on the dash guage,it didn't spike. And,No bubbles in the coolant tank. But,the defrost air is still getting cold at idle. Hotter than it should be at cruising speed. So,now I'm stumped. idk..I think I should do the hydrocarbon test or atleast bust out the compression tester. I really do not think a comp test is going to reveal much.Maybe it will. The lower radiator hose has a tendency to go cold. I only notice it at idle,thou. You know,when I can reach under the car and feel for it. I can't get my son to climb onto the hood and feel for it while we're going down the road.

Also,from what I've read on the board here,seeing bubbles in the expansion tank is a dead giveaway for a leaky hg. Is that not true?

I did. But,I bought a really cheap POS at Schucks. The subi dealer is 30 miles from me.I guess I shoulda went that way on my test drives. Should I buy a oem one? I will eventually,but is it probable the Schucks one is that much of a piece of junk? I haven't done a compression test,either. I can,but just haven't. Thanks,btw.

I got it all back together. And,it runs...I think I was trying to make the timing belt install more complicate than it is. I almost fell for the stamped arrow on the crank sprocket being the crank timing mark,instead of the correct timing mark on the plate behind the crank sprocket. I know,I gotta get a book. So,I replaced the water pump with a new one,new timing belt,too. I burped the heck out of it seven diffrent ways,and it's overheating. Not too much,but enough to where it needs to be delt with sooner than later. I bought this ride from a college student at Evergreen here in Olympia. The water pump failed on her on the way to school and she continued to drive the thing. She said she lives about 5 minutes form the school,so,whatever happened,it happend in that amount of time.I bought it right out of the school parking lot over the weekend. In the last two days,I have put a hundred miles on it,just trying to make it overheat,and it does. Bubbles in the reservoir tank,sporadic temp readings,full reservoir tank,defrost air going cold,pretty much every classic symptom of bad head gasket. I called the Subaru dealer and was quoted $45 apiece for the headgaskets and $10 for the intake gaskets.$20 for the thermostate. I called the machine shop I usually use,and they want $90 to pressure test and flatten the heads. So.if all goes well,I'll still be into this wagon for well under a grand. I gotta tell ya.GD is right on the money. This car is 10 times the car a ea82 is. I love this thing. By the time I'm done,it'll run as good as new.

Well,it's pretty much just sitting,you know,amongst a couple hundred other end of life cars,at the Tumwater Pick-A-Part. It's the only ea81 I've seen there in a really long time. This one just came out.

There is a '86,4wd Hatch there. It's orange or maybe more of a red orange. Its kinda smashed up a bit.The pass. door is nice.Left fender is nice. Rear hatch is good.Grill is good. All the glass is good.And,the motor,interior and d/r 4sp. haven't been touched,Yet.

Did you try spraying starter fluid into the intake? If it starts and runs for just a moment,you can easily eliminate a no spark situation.

Alright...Those are good ideas. Thanks.

1991 Legacy Wagon AWD. (I just got it today) I have searched the archives and,I understand the timing belt replacement proceedure,for the most part. One thing I'm not clear on,thou...If I pull the timing belt off,replace the water pump,and re-install the belt,all without ever turning the crank or cams,can I just put the belt back on without going thru the crank/cam sprocket alignment proceedure? I can certainly do the timing proceedure,but is it necessary? What do you guys do?

Ugh..At first,it doesn't look too bad. But,the angle of the hood latch hole and the gaps between the radiator and core support,well,that looks pretty bad. Sorry,man. Any clean ea81 that gets smashed really hurts.Especially one on your guy's side. But, it looks like you have a ton of good parts for your next ride.

If you can find a exact matching year,I guess that would be good.But,that's not always an option at the wreckiong yard.I have interchanged the dizzys from '87 all the way up to '94 on the ea82 and have only had to change the connections. The diffreance between a hot and cold compression test is going to tell you little at this point. Personally,I'd do a compression test right off the bat,and determine if the motor was even worth messing with.

Any distributor out of any non-turbo ea82 motor will work for you. I think all of the ea82's were Hitachi distributors. The Nippons were used in the ea81's. I'm almost certain of that.

If you just want to check the compression,you certainly do not need a distributor. There is a section of the belt covers,more toward the center of the engine,that is removeable for belt inspection.

I'm not so much talking about the car as I am the recipient of the Gift car. I had a vehicle gifted to me and remember destictly the conversation with the DOL lady. She said I was fortunate as I had saved about $1400 in use/sales tax because of the Gift option. She also said it was the one and only time I'd ever be able to claim a vehicle as a gift. But,that was about eight years ago. It could be different now.

I'm going to bet it's a compression ring problem in the "zero" reading cylinder. I believe the compression ring is seized/rusted into it's groove and will not expand to fit the cylinder. I've run into this very problem twice. Both with cars that have sat for years. Here's what I did. I pulled the plug,added a couple three tablespoons of Marvel Mystery Oil and then put the plug back in. It's important to put the plug back in because the idea is to force the Mavel oil into and past the compression ring while cranking the engine. Sometimes you have to repeat the process,but it may work for you. Worth a try before you pull parts off the engine.

Maybe check to see if someone has messed with the "mystery screw" or whatever we call it. It looks like a idle adjustment screw on the passenger side of the throttle body. It has white paint on it from the factory 'cause your Not suppose to mess with it. If you shine a good flashlight on the screw,you should be able to tell if its been turned in or out by the condition of the paint. Before I knew any better I adjusted mine and my car ran like crap at about 2000-2400 rmp and also idle like crap. Surged alot,too. I could never get it to run right again. In the end,I replaced that section of the throttle body/butterfly valve with a good one from the wrecking yard that hadn't been adjusted. My Loyale runs as good as new now. Just a thought.

A lot of the older Legacy's that are coming on the market now for a good price are coming from Seattle. There is no escaping it. In a few years,we'll all be feeling the effects of it. Enjoy your rust free 20/30 yr old cars now, 'cause it's just a matter of time.

From what I've read on the board here,it's not an issue,really. More of an annoyance. I can't remember what was said that might cause it,thou. My Loyale does the same thing.

Yes..Place a Wanted ad in the Wanted section on the forum here. Or,live a little and replace the head gasket/ or gaskets yourself. The process is one of the most documented repairs on the USMB and can be done in a day or two with just a few tools. Search the subject.

You could find a good running motor of less than that price. What makes you think you need new heads? Because it won't start?

If you do jump it off of something,make sure you or no one else is in it,else we might be hearing about you on the 10 o'clock news. Like Junkie said,that thing is going to fold in half. It looks to be sagging on the ends as it sits.

There's a thread here somewhere that outlines how to do a 5speed swap on that very car. Or,maybe it was the coupe version of it.The car seriously needs a 5speed. And,a dual range would be nice. Honestly,I thought if you were going to have any trouble with the car on your way home,that it was going to be the 3at. Yeah,that 30w oil I got for free.I have a ton of it. I'm just looking to use it up. The oil and filter probably have about 20 miles on um. If that. When I found the car,it had No PCV system on it at all. And,it looked like it had been that way for awhile. The one that is on there now is the one that GD is getting tired of explaining how to do. And,the PCV valve is new. I guess we should have talked about some of this stuff before you left with the car.

Hmmm. I thought I fixed that. It worked for me several times around the yard here. When I first got the car,it wouldn't stay engaged at all. But,I found a thread on the Board here that explained how to disassemble the swithch and file a liitle brass pin so it was flat on the end. It worked. Well,at least it did. I engaged the 4wd the day before you came to get the car. So,it won't engage at all?