lizardbrain

Also, it's easy (but can be messy) to test for clogged radiator. There are couple of rubber section of the trans cooler lines, disconnect both (car off and not hot) and blow (low pressure) air through the radiator side of one them, if not clogged you should see trans fluid coming out the other one. You will get trans fluid drooling out of the lines so it's good to have some caps for the steel portion, or golf tees for the rubber lines, or lots of oil dry. I'd mark them before I disconnected them. I remember them being easy to reconnect either way.

I had a couple of 99 obws, both of them had flakey solder joints on back side of the instrument panel. I had the AT temp light on when the odo didn't work, and after the re-flow it only came on before the car started .I don't know if it's a problem with the 2000s. Re-flowing (and maybe adding a bit more) the solder is easier than getting the panel out, so if you do it, do all of the solder joints. Pat

That's a good question, it hasn't lasted more than a minute or so. It's intermittent, I just tried it, and it's not ticking now . When the key is in the ON position, I can hear (barely) the fuel pump start for a second or so, then shut off. It's not doing it (rapid clicking/ticking) every time I start it, and it's the first time I've heard this sound in any of my cars or motorcycles with pump in tank. I have in tank pumps fail and they didn't always do it all at once. This sounds like a relay chattering, but I don't know of any in back of the car. When I first heard it, I thought it was one of the seat belt motors, but there aren't any of them back there. So far it hasn't lasted long enough to pick through the fuse box to see what it is, or even get out and look under the car to see if there's some exhaust system part knocking on the body. The car does not have electric door locks, so it's not a lock actuator. I am pretty good at trouble shooting, I spent a few years debugging code, and have been working with stuff with engines since the 70s. I was hoping that someone had heard something like this and knew what it was. I'll check rockauto to see if they have the pump access plate gasket or seal or whatever it is, and get one and a pump. There are no subaru parts here, and it there was one in a junk yard, they would want twice of what a new one is.

Hi all, 1994 legacy sedan 2wd 5speed 190k miles. This is my 5th or 6th Subaru. I've been driving this car for 3 or 4 years (and liking it) and the last couple of days, sometimes when I start it, there's a noticeable ticking or clicking noise coming from the gas tank area. It starts and runs fine, and ticking goes away after a minute or so. I'm not smelling gas, but I haven't crawled under it to look for leaks. Is my fuel pump going out? Filter clogged? Any ideas? I'd like to fix it before it quits on me, and in a month or so I'd like to take in on a couple of thousand mile trip. Thanks for any advice, short of get another car... Pat

Thank you guys. I was in hurry, and the bolts are the same size as the EJ bolts, so I used the EJ torque. I even found my blue loctite and used it. As for visits, come on down! It's still nice here until mid July or so, then gets pretty hot and muggy. I ran into a guy with family yesterday from New York. He had a EJ22 powered VW van, with bad compression in one cylinder, and blowing oil smoke. I offered my house and garage, but I left him in good hands in La Paz, about 50 miles from here. Thanks again Pat

Hi all, I've got to put the flywheel back on the neighbor's loyale, and haven't found the torque specs. Can anyone help? Also, got the flywheel resurfaced here in Mexico, cost 150 pesos, about 12 bucks. Done in an hour. It may even be done right... The clutch kit wasn't cheap though, almost 250.00. Thanks, Pat

I just replaced an ignition module in the distributor for a neighbor. It ran bad above 2000 rpm. Also, the distributor was all the way against one of the stops to time it. I don't know what was up with the distributor, I even took off the drive gear to see if it was on wrong, but it only fits one way. The "new" module fixed the crappy running, but it's still against the stop to time it. It also looked like it was off a tooth, but a different distributor (the one from my car) timed in the middle of the slots. I gave the car back running better, but I still don't know how or why the distributor was different. Oh, and no codes either. Pat

The rubber good deal is a rubber ring that goes on the top of the distributor body, and has chunks molded into it to fill some notches in the top of the distributor body. It is also seals the body to the cap.

Rock Auto seems to think the crank angle sensor (distributor pickup) is the same for pretty much all 86 to 94 DL, GL, GL 10, Loyale and XTs of various flavors. Maximas, Nissan Pickups, Sentras, Stanzas, Isuzu Trooper 88 to 91 and others. Different years of course, but that sure opens up the junk yard selection. Anybody know different?

Fixed! It was the distributor. After I took it out I could see someone had been in it before. The bearings seem fine, but the rubber good deal that goes around the top of dist is gone. I looked inside and could see fingerprints on the wheel. Do all spfi distributors work? I don't suppose the carb ea82s use the same distributor?

Thanks, the filter looks new, but I know that means nothing. I do have another filter so I'll do that in the morning. I guess I'll just rip the distributor out of my car and put the whole mess in there, wires and all. Is RTV on the intake manifold alright? Besides meaning someone has probably had the head or heads off? Fuel pump? I've got an extra one of those also. Pat

Me again, I also checked all of the vacuum lines that I found. I've plugged the line to the heater controls, checked the EGR diaphragm, checked the fuel regulator diaphragm, plugged the PCV port. The power brakes work, so I'm guessing the power brake booster diaphragm is intact. Pat

Hi all, The neighbor's 93 Loyale 5 speed 4x4 wagon runs bad above 2 grand. It seems to run OK at idle (750), but when it gets above 2000 rpm, it seems like it misses. Just holding a steady throttle it coughs and shakes. I give it more throttle and the rev go up, but again at a steady throttle it runs pretty rough, even with no load. What I've done so far: Checked the plugs and wires. The plugs on the passenger side are much cleaner than the drivers side (looks lean). The plugs are pretty new NGK V something GR8. They are gapped at .035"". Pulled every wire while running, and it ran worse as every wire was pulled. Took the end covers off the tbelt case and checked the timing marks on the flywheel with the marks on the cam sprockets. Both sides lined up as I turned the crank 360 from the three line on the flywheel. Retimed the distributor, it was off far enough to not be able to see the timing marks with a timing light. I did have the green connectors connected to time it with the light. Put a liter of ethanol in the gas tank. Checked the codes in the ECU. I'm getting "5s". Swapped the MAF with a known good one. Swapped the coil with a known good one. Swapped the throttle body with known good one. Checked the green connector temp sensor with my DMM. 2615 ohms cold and 300 something warmer. I also noticed orange RTV on the manifold/head joint. I could swap in the temp sensor. I did return all the "known good" parts to my loyale, and it still runs fine. Any ideas?

Thank you all. I'm starting another thread as I'm pretty sure it's not the head gasket. It's not losing coolant, and not overheating. It just runs bad. Pat

Timing belt was on, had to use a mirror to see the drivers side. The distributor was off. I timed it and it runs better, but still has a big hesitation at about 2200 rpm (bad driveability in town). It cleans up above 3000 and has ok power. I put a liter of ethanol in the tank and I'll drive it again later today. It lives here (southern baja) year round, but only gets driven in the winter. The summers here are hot and humid, and I don't know how old the gas is. I can check the plug wires even though they look pretty new, and the plugs look new. Any ideas?

Thank you guys. You're right about the head gasket, I drove it 10-12 miles on the highway, and the temp gauge came up to 1/4 and stayed there. No coolant loss either. Both of the ticks went away also. Still runs bad, with a surge. No check engine light, and it is there when the key in on, before it's started. Pulled all the plug wires, one at a time. and it ran worse with each one pulled. I checked the vacuum hoses (one not so good, changed it, no change), the pcv valve, the coil wire, and checked the timing. Couldn't see any timing marks with light, so I rolled the engine over until I found the marks, cleaned them up with sand paper and still couldn't see them with the light. It's not a great timing light, and it is bright outside, but I thought I should be able to at least see the shiny spot on the flywheel. I did have the green connectors plug together. Check the timing belt?

Thanks Gary, I'm going to go drive it. If nothing else, maybe she will sell it to me cheap, it does have 127,000 miles less than mine... Also needs a steering rack (leaking from one of the boots,) and the clutch needed adjustment bad. And that's just under the front end.

A neighbor's 93 loyale has a pretty bad miss, with lots of low power. I pulled the plugs and they were all clean. Compression was down on number 1, about 120 psi, and all the others were 155 to 165. The car has 108,000 on it. Before I tell her it needs a head gasket, is there anything else to do to see if it really does need a head gasket? Also, one of the local mechanics changed the timing belts a while ago, could having the timing belt off a tooth cause it to have bad compression? I haven't driven it enough to see if it over heats, 'cause it runs so bad. Also has a pretty bad tick, louder than the normal lifter noise that I get out of my loyale. Any ideas?

Yes, somewhere around there. Wouldn't bet much on it, but that's close. I'm going to spending a bit time with/on this car, so if you have any ideas, I'm willing to try.

Yes, I checked the oil level, and it was up to the overflow hole. I'm sure it needs to be changed, along with all of the other fluids. I wrapped a 1/4 rope around the tire, and while the roads are so bad I couldn't hear the rope (without driving a couple of mile to get on smooth pavement), I was able to look out the window and see it going around, and the noise is NOT in time with the tire speed, so it must be at drive line speed. At this point, I hate the noise, but I'll live with it until I get to the states later this summer to go to a real junk yard. Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it. Pat

Thanks for the help, nipper. Just to be clear on the noise, I don't get any when stopping or starting, or when going forward to reverse, but it is there in reverse. Now that I've decided it wasn't going to grenade any second on me, I drove it at about 55 (speedo doesn't work yet,) and the sound does get to be a roar. Sometimes it goes away for a couple of seconds at steady speed, but it's always there on accel or decel. I did take off the heat shield and took the drive line out, it's fine, or at least it's not loose or crunchy feeling. I drove the car around in tight circles, forward and reverse, and there was no tires scuffing or other bad things. I tried to count the clunking, and it's between 4 and 5 per second at 1500 rpm in first, which by my very not precise calculations, could be tire speed. I'm going to tie a piece of rope around the wheel, cross ways, to see if the thump of the rope has the same frequency as the sound. I still have not drained the diff oil to see it there's chunks in it, but I guess I had better. The front bushing on the left rear control arm is toast, so that may be why it sounds so bad in the car. The girl friend says she didn't hear the sound as I drove away. Another question: does anybody know if a control arm from a 95 brighton will fit the 99OBW? And do the control arm bolts come loose with a long enough cheater? Thanks again, Pat

I've had good luck with sticky traps, the big ones catch several mice if you just leave them there. Kinda gross, but no resetting and baiting.

I'll run it on the stands again, and see if I can count clunks while watching the tires to see if the noise is in time with the drive line or the tires. I have to straighten out the heat shield under there anyway, so I may as well take it off, and really look at the drive line. Which bushing should I look at, all of them that holds the diff in place? Thanks for the response, Pat

I just changed a separator plate on a 96 2.2, I used one from a dead 99 2.5 liter because I had it, and it fit. Also, I had a pretty big leak from the cam end cover, on the rear of the right side head. There's an o-ring there, and only 2 12mm head bolts to change. Pretty easy while the engine is in the car also. Pat

I've got a clunkclunkclunk noise coming for the back of my well beat 5 speed 99OBW with 125,000 miles. It does increase in frequency the faster I go, and goes away when the clutch is pushed in. No sound when not moving I've just started driving this car, so I don't know how long it's been making the noise. I put it on stands and let it idle in 1st gear, and put a piece of steel tubing up to the the rear hubs and diff, and it seems to be coming from the diff. No clunking coming from the rear hubs, and I can hear the clunking from the carrier bearing and the rear of the trans, but much softer. Seems loudest at the left side of the diff. I haven't opened the drain plugs to see if there's any oil in the diff, but there isn't any traces of leaks that I've seen yet. I'll check that in the morning. Anybody have any ideas? Bearing in the diff? Bad axle? ?? Thanks in advance, Pat