Fox

Hi. After an embankment collapsed and damaged the front of my soob I have found myself needing a radiator, bad. Is there any other model that has the same radiator as my '84 EA81, or perhaps other types of cars, is there anything of similar size that will work. I have a manual btw. I cant find anything anywhere, ebay seems to only have performance WRX ones. If anyone around Melbourne (Australia) has a spare one, then please, i beg of you give me a PM. Even if it needs repair, my soob is my only car and I am off the road now, I desperately need my car. Thanks for any help.. I couldnt find anything concrete about what fits what via search and the wrecking yard has too many "professionals". ~Foxy

Thanks for the wishes. I had the heads off, both of the gaskets blew, straight into the water galleries and it came out through the bottom drivers side of the radiator, thankfully no water actually ended up in the engine, the rocker covers didnt even have chocolate milk in there, thankfully the pressure was enough to keep the water out. I cleaned the heads up well, checked the valves all that, came up exceptionally well and the engine is in really good nick from what I have found so far. Also, didnt need any special adaptor to get the heads off, took the rocker off first and the bolt in the centre came off last, I didnt have a torque wrench so will hire one for a few hrs after a few days driving and retorque it (cold) in the hire place's carpark Busted a spark plug though, couldnt get one at the time I finished so will get one tomorrow, have some cheapo replacement oil to flush the engine with and will replace it with semi synthetic oil, even had a purolator oil filter spare. Oh.... I found the monotorque gaskets seem to COVER a water gallery, the gasket removed was the same, but it COVERS it completely! Ill have photos in a few days! Not good, at least I know she runs cool with the gallery blocked. Still, I dont like it. (The old gasket had a slight bulge where the hole is, so I know theres pressure behind it.)

:-\:-\:-\ My girl bit the dust, well.. mud. Here I was, doing a U-turn at the end of a road, in the mud. I stopped.. too late. The embankment collapsed and my car nosedived into the ground, not far, but far enough to crack the radiator core. The resulting loss in water pressure means the equilibrium between the 2 sides of my dodgy head gasket was gone, and blew both instantly.. (As I believe) I was also bogged, got towed out at cost and had a look.. no oil, no water.. Now, the heads are off, hell of a mess, just a touch of oil left, no water and the radiator looks like a replacement, :-\.. How much should I expect to pay in Australia and is there any other brand/model I can use.. 300+ on ebay is just not good enough. Also, while its in pieces, is there anything else I can do? Belts are good, everything else is well maintained (engine is still in the car) Thanks guys, ~Fox

I tested the brakes, they firm up well, no loss of braking power, no sinking or overly hard pedal, no sponginess.. Wierd. Most of the things that could blow, had and were replaced by the prev owner, looks almost new under the bonnet. (Guess I was lucky, they had the money to keep it all well maintained) I have had to brake hard a couple of times in the last few days, the brakes worked fine. UPDATE The plastic protective cover inside the front wheel arch fell down, hissed a little, I fixed that, turns out it was coming from the rear of the car, I cant find anything wrong with it >.< (sounds like its coming from the rear drivers side somewhere)

Oh, could be. The car has been on the road a couple of weeks now, I dont use the brakes a lot, I prefer to downshift and use the gearbox. The car sat for a couple of months in total, or so.

Hi everyone. After getting the WRONG distributor, it was apparently meant to fit.. rotten mechanic.. anyway.. 250$ LATER, I finally found an ignition module, got my soob back on the road, and now my brakes hiss! It hisses when braking, as I brake. It doesnt hiss when braking and not moving. It sounds like a piece of paper being slid across another, a soft hiss, it wasnt there before and I dont have any sign of diminished braking capacity. Any ideas? I couldnt find anything via search, maybe brake dust? I dunno.. Lost on this one. Its an 84 GL Stationwagon, EA81. Any help would be appreciated.. Thanks heaps guys. ~Fox

Hi. Sorry for the newbish question, but I dont have a timing light and limited tools. Thanks to a dead ignition module and not being able to find a spare, I am left having to upgrade to a ND disty and coil, obviously I will need to do the timing. How can I do it well enough to get the car running and be able to drive to a service centre or something, without a timing light? Is there any other way I can do the timing at all? Sorry, just know precious little on the matter.. thanks, ~Fox :-\

Has to be the ign module, I just have to find out if the 2wd nd dizzy will fit without modification, I dont want to go and spend 100$ on the parts and find they are not only useless, but my soob is still stuck in the driveway. :-\

I changed the coil, no luck, its the ign module. Sooo, I found an ND dizzy, how hard are they to upgrade? (from hitachi electronic to the nd)

BAD BAD BAD!!! I cannot find the right dizzy or electonic module anywhere, every single soob in the wreckers has a points system, even the newer ones they had!! Does anyone know of a compatible electronic module? I am desperate, I NEED my car on the road, today if possible! I need a car this weekend, desperately.

Sorries >.< I have the hitachi, no points, just the control unit, which is either faulty, or the coil is.. and I need to find out which

I did that, no spark. Couldnt no spark also mean the coil is dead? If I wasnt living on a student income atm I would just replace both.

By the way, I have pulsing light on the - when cranking.

So there is no external igniter on my car, that makes things a lot easier Now, I found a test online, could I use this with the ignition module? "...you could put a small low current 12V bulb (so we're not talking about a headlight or tail light - just a Radio Shack 12V bulb) between the +12V and the output of the igniter. (envision hooking it up across the coil but taking the coil out of the circuit).If the bulb flashes when cranking, your igniter is ok. If not, it will take a little detective work to make sure that you indeed are getting a periodic input on the igniter." UPDATE. Ok, I did a different test with the coil and it failed. The test light lights up on the + of the coil and a good ground (suspension component), however it does not light on the - of the coil and the + on the battery, when in the ignition is in the on position. According to the manual, that could indicate primary line failure inside the coil. Could that also be indicative of the ignition module failing?

Ack. No, I dont. Im going to have to go for a long walk to get one, looks like I have no other choice, and being so close to the long weekend I am stuffed anyway, noones open.

The coil is getting voltage, I checked the + of the battery to the - of the coil, and the reverse. Where is the igniter? (I have no idea what it looks like) There is no spark whatsoever still..

*sigh* It has to be something in the ignition components.. I'm now getting no spark. I tried to fire it, first time start, then promptly died. All my wiring is in good nick, everythings tight. I suspect the coil, or something on the way there. Thanks for all your help.

The carb has fuel, the engine is turning over, just not firing. Is it likely to be a problem that develops without symptoms and seemingly instantly?

Well, I belted it with a hammer, no luck. I now cant get the engine started at all.. The starter motor has a sticker on it, was recently replaced/reco'd.. Ill have to give it what for tomorrow. It actually sounds pretty good, the starter is strong, battery too. I wonder if its the coil, intermittently going out.. damn. >.<

Hey.. could it be a belt? Theres noone else here atm and its pretty black outside, Ill have to wait till tomorrow before I can do anything else. Neighbors will complain that I am making too much noise or something... Car wont start again.

The spark is good, new leads/plugs too, fuels good, pcv, dizzy, rotor button all good.

Hi, got a wierd problem. Normally my soob starts without hassle, since putting her on the road and having to fix one mechanic's screwup, she has never broken down, till now. :-\ I tried to start it, the engine cranked, nothing. Checked the carb for fuel, looked inside the dizzy, checked the leads, nothing.. I manually turned over the starter motor, got back in the car and it started straight away! Ok, so I figured it was the starter motor.. I turned it off, then restarted it, started straight away. Drove off, did some shopping, got back the car, started straight away.. then promptly died. The engine was still hot.. I tried to start it again, it did start, but not very easily. The days before, there was nothing wrong. Has never backfired, has never played up like that. Oh, its an ea81 in an 84 gl. Any help would be appreciated, I rely on her for day to day driving, I cant afford to be without a car. ~Fox

Phew. In future, I am doing ALL the work on my soob.

Well.. Long story short.. I took my soob into a mechanic to have the roadworthy ("pink slip") done, I had him change the wheel bearing because I didn't have the tools or time for it. I moved to the city from the country and had to pick up my soob very quickly. Got the rego, no defects found, he changed the bearing, I drove out and registered her, yay? I filled up the fuel and hit the offramp, yay, leaving the country.. then the revs shoot up and she glides to a stop, no movement in any gear. F**K! I put it in 4x4 and drove back into town, swam a bit but was driveable, as I hit 80 - 100 kph I felt shudder, I slowed a little and continued on. When I got to the mechanics, it turns out he forgot to put a spring back in, the axle spun and stripped the spline, destroying it in the process. I had to stay in the country that nite, in a caravan in 110f heat but he replaced the axle and all for "free" as it was his mistake. Anyway, I drove some 100k in rwd only, could I have done any damage? :-\

A good place for a switch is inside the map pocket. Noone will notice, as you close the door pull the toggle. You can also put an rfid system in, house the receiver in the door, as you close the door swipe the keyfob over the reader, well, you can house it nearly anywhere, even in the dash. Add a relay and timer switch, 10 seconds to start the car before the starter circut is deactivated. A product like this is perfect. http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AA0210&CATID=&keywords=rfid&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID= Another idea is to use a loom. Basically, the wire you want disabled goes into a plug and back out of the same plug, it is complete when the other end of the plug is inserted. Its pretty visible though, might serve as a good long term parking option though. ~Fox