94Loyale

Optimator, Check this link out, at the very bottom of the page is a copy of a factory service manual, you'll need adobe reader to open it up. But page 72 is dedicated completely to the Purge Solenoid fault, and has a bunch of tests to run in order to find the problem. I think it will definately help you out! http://home.comcast.net/~trilinear/EA81_SPFI.html

Ouch :-\

Welcome! That's a nice GL. And like you said "it's strangely entertaining to drive" I agree, there is just something about driving these that I love, besides being unstoppable in the weather. My friends didn't believe it until they drove mine. If you haven't gotten a chance to try it in the snow yet, you will be amazed! That's a beautiful 540 by the way, BMW's are my first love. Having a 94 525i, then a 90 325i, and wrenching on BMW bikes is my job If you ever need any help with your GL though, you have definitely come to the right place, these guys really know their stuff!

GeneralDisorder, I definitely owe you a thanks too! I couldn't have done it without the .pdf of the factory service manual. So thank you :-) I got her fixed just in time too, it snowed pretty good here last night, but I was prepared Besides the two that I mentioned, thank you to everyone else, for your input and great ideas, I really appreciate everything! Bret*

Success! After many headaches, replaced parts, and wire testing... It was the Ignition Relay :cool: Advanced Auto has no listing for them, but I did take mine apart and manually operate it, and the car fired right up. Thank you Cougar for the idea of checking the different power wires to the ECU, I would have never thought, and never tracked them 3 dead ones to the relay. I can't thank you enough for helping me out this whole time!! The Loyale lives again.

Ok, so I checked the powers for the ECU, pins 27,29,41,and 49. 27 and 49 are both at 12 volts, however 29 and 41 are both around .4 or .5 volts :-\ Hopefully I'm getting somewhere here,haha. They are both white wires. If I'm reading this correctly, it looks as if they both come from the Ignition Relay. I was thinking the whole time, if the relay was bad it wouldn't even turn over, but I might be thinking of something else.

Ahh... Disregard the last post, I'm just frustrated with electricity I will check the power leads to the ECU then.

I'm a little hesistant to just cut the wires going to the crank angle sensor, and the wire going to the igniter and just run new wires myself. It would be really nice to have this thing running :cool:

Okay, I went outside and checked for the CE light, and noticed that it doesnt turn on with the car anymore. (This is jogging my memory) The light had been on since I bought the car because it had an exhaust leak manifold/head connection on the passenger side and was throwing off the o2 sensor. I had fixed it, but never cleared the code. Now the funny part was, the night that it started to run funny (cutting out while driving), the CE light went out. Ironically, when it was running its worst. I just went out and watched the o2 light on the ECU, but it does nothing.

Well, I'm definitely going to check all the pins you instructed me to look at tomorrow morning. I'm not sure if your looking at the .PDF service manual that was on GeneralDisorder's link, but that is what I'm going by. According to that, I would also want to check pin 52 while cranking. Because that would be sending the signal to the Igniter. I'll check that tomorrow too, and see if I'm getting any juice from the ECU. If there is a signal coming out, then there must be a problem somewhere in between there, and the igniter. I'd imagine I'll be looking for some kind of a pulse, and maybe not a steady voltage. This is probably a really dumb question, but should everything have around 12 volts if there is power going through it, or will the voltage vary depending on what component I'm testing?

Cougar, nice to see your awake too The igniter in the car only has 2 wires that plug onto it 1 from the ECU,1 from the keyed power, I believe a white/yellow and black/white. Could be wrong on the colors right now, its late. And then 2 that go out to the coil. Now that I'm thinking of it though, I'm pretty sure I only had a reading on power, but not the signal wire from the ECU. I'll have to go out and confirm this tomorrow, but I think that was the case. Since I just studied the diagram a little harder, I'm understanding what I'm working with a little better.

Revbill, The check engine light is on when the key is turned to the run position. However, now that you bring it up, the car would occasionally not start. Sometimes you would have to crank it for a while, turn the key off, and repeat like 3 times before it would fire up. One day it wouldn't fire up at all in the morning, but when I got home from work and tried it, it fired as soon as you cranked it. Every time it would do this, it was definitely a spark issue, because it was getting fuel. I don't know if this can help us figure out the problem or not. Another thing is this too, kind of off the wall, but interesting. My previous Subaru to this one was an '88 GL. I bought it off a guy who was working at an older Subaru dealer around here (sadly they no longer will touch the old ones, they were the ones to go to a year ago, the owner really knew his stuff) But anyway, the guy wasn't too clear on what was done, but he said when you turned the key to start normally, it wouldn't get any spark. He said it was a common problem on these wagons and that they had wired a push button starter onto it, that utilized the ignition system from a legacy (not the coil packs and distributor less system, but something else?). I didn't get into specifics with him because I was just happy to find a nice GL that ran great, and I didn't plan on messing with it if it worked. Figured I'd throw that out there if anyone knows what he meant, I still don't.

Those are both great ideas, thanks guys! I'm going to get on those tomorrow, hopefully it doesn't rain on me. Cougar, I am definitely getting the 12 volts to the b/w on the coil, I had checked that before. Another thing I did, I'm not sure if it will make a difference or not, but on my spare ECU, I took it apart and inspected the circuit board for any broken circuits, loose solder, etc.. and couldn't find anything wrong. I figured it couldn't hurt. Now here's another question, if there is a problem in the circuit wiring between the disty and the ecu. I really have no idea where it would be because most of it is hidden. GeneralDisorder provided me with a really nice wiring diagram on the SPFI system. So it seems that there is 2 wires between the disty and the ecu. If there is a problem somewhere in there, would it be easier just to run 2 new wires through the firewall? Or is it not a good idea to splice out of the harness? Like I said, electronics aren't my best friend or anything. I really do appreciate you guys walking me through this, it means alot to me to have people as knowledgeable as all of you posting in here to help me out!

Positive on the links, fuses, and cables, thanks for the idea though! As for the ground, I've been trying with that, but don't seem to have luck either way. I'm going to run back outside with a light and give it another shot. :-\ Starting to get frustrated though.

That would be the one, bracket and all Not a bad deal I thought

Ok guys, I got 4 igniters at the junkyard for $4, and I'm really doubting all of them are bad :-\ None of them made a difference. I tried hooking my voltmeter to the negative side of the coil while cranking it, here's what I got. With the key on (and jumping the car at the same time) I got 13.5 volts, when I crank it, it goes down to a solid 8.5 to 8.7. Any ideas from that? Electronics really are not my specialty :-\

Bill, thanks for the idea, but I did try another coil wire to see if that would help. But no luck, can't be that easy for me I'm going to go out and try some of the suggestions today, hopefully I'll have some luck. On the good side, I have 4 junkyards, all within 10 minutes, loaded with old subarus, so I shouldnt have a problem finding an igniter. The one has a whole bunch of the older 2 door hatches, I guess I can dream right?

I have to agree with ellets, that dual range I had would go anywhere too. I've had the push button 4wd 5spd, the push button auto, and the dual range. And I would definitely take the d/r over anything. Last year we had a storm here right around Valentines day that was really bad, and the roads took forever to clear up. But I drove through all of it with no problem. Low range is beautiful when the weather isn't

Hey guys, my name is Bret, I just joined the forum the other night. For a while I was looking around for a forum for the old school Subaru's but could never find one. Needless to say, I'm really glad I found this one! I have an electrical problem with my Loyale and within an hour or two of posting I got a bunch of great responses. So, I just wanted to say how glad I am to find a forum full of guys that are Subaru crazy like me, and just to say hi to everyone

The hill holder on my Loyale kicks rump roast, thanks for asking But the one on my 88 GL never worked, I tried adjusting it, but never had any luck...

I don't know if it helps at all, or it may have been covered already. But I used to have an '88 GL Wagon that was 5 speed, dual range, and throttle body injected.

Well then, I'll definitely check out the grounds when I feel good enough to go outside. It's pretty damn cold out right now. The parts are definitely for the Loyale though, like the distributor,coil, and ECU. The ECU was a spare that was given to me with the car, the coil is an oem replacement, and the distributor is a remanned with a new crank angle sensor. I think you guys are probably correct with the ground problem, or possibly even the igniter. If it does happen to be the igniter, anyone has an idea where to get one?

Wow, thanks alot for the responses already! This dizzy is definately spinning, I have checked that. And the timing belts were recently changed, about 15k ago. As for the fusible links, I'll have to check them out! Hopefully I can get to them tomorrow, I've been that sick for the past few days I've barely moved. I really appreciate all the responses already though, you guys are a huge help!

Hey guys, this is my first post on here. I've been into older subaru's for a couple years now, and its just hard to find a good source of knowledge on them. I know these cars pretty well, but this problem has me lost, and it's going to snow very soon. My 1994 Loyale has no spark right now, so far I have swapped on a brand new coil, brand new distributor, and I've swapped the ECU with a known good one. I've checked all the fuses and I have power to the coil. But I have no spark from the coil. I'm open to any ideas. The night before, I had been driving it home and the motor died a few times randomly (This is while driving,any speed from 10 to 60mph,randomly), but as soon as you pushed the clutch in, it would go back to idle, then if you left the clutch back out it was fine. The next morning I tried to start it, and there was no spark. I could really use some help right now, if anyone has any ideas! I also checked over the wires and couldn't seem to find any breaks in them or anything. Thanks alot in advance!