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My car was doing a similar thing ... Mine ended up being a bad radiator the old one was not leaking did not seem to have cold spots... the hoses seemed to be the right temps.. it looked fine and water ran out it fine...it was not loosing water.. compression was good... was a EA82 car I know I am not a mechanic. but when we changed it it was fine..( until the hoses started leaking a week later) maybe it is the used radiator? On the heat issue have you flushed the core? mine after it overheated got clogged with some goo and no longer let out hot air. the hoses were both hot but aparently it was just going in and out. Of course yours may be another problem.. took a few times switching hoses (flushed it off the heater core hoses with a garden hose .) before the goo got disclodged maybe 10-20 minutes of flushing. just about ready to say it was not the issue when it came out. mine I could drive around. it rode at about 1/2 on the temp gage.winter 3/4 summer..but when I stopped at a light or was in slower traffic it would rise but rarely overheat (until it hit the 100 temp this last summer then I could not drive it 5 miles.) unless I was out driving it for hours without stopping then I would have to pull over.. I really could not see the raise in temp at a stop sign in the winter it only became aparent in the summer. I also could idle it in the winter and sometimes when driving for no real reason would climb to 3/4 but I really noticed the issue in the summer..I usually drive less then 30 minutes at a time. now it runs at about 1/4 and has good heat.

yeah every parking lot we stayed in we unconciously parked next to a subie. Did not see too many brats though.. sad part is we were in a suburban..It made me miss my subie the whole trip. but you cannot fit 6 adults comfortably in a little subie. especially when 5 of them are men. tried to play slug bug subie version but there were just to many of them.. and yes alot of them were EA 81 and 82's we went as far north as mount baker and saw 2 subies up there (out of 8 cars in the parking lot) tried to go tubing in the rain and went flying instead (literally got airbone) I am jealous.. found my subie last year in that area. my nephew is looking for a EA 81 motor and if we would have been prepared could have picked one up on our trip .. (no room in the car though) he has only been looking less then a week though HOPE he can find one cheap in our area. he toasted his last week.. over 300,000 miles ( I think closer to 400,000) and the last owner was hard on it only reason it went he forgot to add oil and it loses it really fast. cute little 83 wagon though with almost all the factory options. it was only running on 3 cylinders though before it went.

I took a trip to Bellingham this week and I could not believe all the subarus in Bellingham to Edmonds... (took the kingston/edmonds ferry) no wonder all the good ones on craigs list seem to be in that area it is covered with them...seemed like every 3rd car I passed was one and they were not all new either. Mount Baker skiing was closed at the time too. so it was not like all the snow bunnies were on the way to the mountian or from it for that matter. Made me a little jealous..

WOW I was looking at a job in CA. in WA I don't even have to do emmissions.. (Rural area)..I was looking at the DMV web site and I think the only car I could move would be the 65 dart and the 52 dodge as all the others have been modified to much ......or would not pass emissions.maybe I will just stay here.No wonder everone moved to WA from CA of course they are bringing there politics with them.... soon we will have it bad too. I lived in CA in the 90's ...( I was born in WA)we could not get any out of state vehicle we had passed.. we ended up to get a newer car and mess with it till it passed..of course we were lucky we found a good inspector that told us tricks to get the car passed,,,,, (small town grass valley CA)

The unfitting rims do fit the last owner did some swapping of parts on this (little frustrated) and we have had to redo almost everything he has done... we have had more issues with this 2wd. then I care to mention.....he did the weber swap and did not cover the water port in the carb... so we had water in the intake for a while ...GRR..

yes I think I will be looking for new rims. I would hate to grind them down everytime I do the brakes..... unfortunalty it has new tires. any one looking for some EA 81 rims? willing to swap... P.S. I wasn't saying it was not the pads.. I think it was I was just trying to think through all the maybe possiblities.. after I wrote that I got to thinking I might have made it sound like I was not hearing you...I really think it is the pad.

or maybe it fits because of the worn pads (2wd) who knows?

Well the 86 2wd Has older BRAKES.. but they work good the 4wd has NEW brakes. the 2wd the tires fit with lots of clearence. Is it possible that the 2wd still had the older style brake system? (didn't the EA 81 stuff come out in 85 When did the rims change? 85?) Or maybe the last owner ground down the calipers when he redid the brakes? or put the older style calipers/ brakes on?? The brakes do have lots of pad left... I am not sure when they were last changed as I have only owned it less then a year. Maybe I will never know. Thank you for the info on the rim differences.... not sure yet wether I will grind down the calipers or just swap back... GRR.

They ran great on the origional cars... I think they are hitting the front Brakes.. on the 4wd.. but they clear it on the 2wd... The rear tires are no problem just the fronts. I was shocked they LOOK like they fit.. until you drive you can see where the rims ground down the brakes calipers on the front...Both sides...Rubs pretty bad I drove it maybe 200 feet.. and there is a 1/4 inch wide groove where it hit. about 1/16 deep. (car came with steelies that work fine with it ) I thought they were interchageable too..The car does have new brakes do the old rims fit on the newer cars? maybe someone put a non standard caliper on???? Car ran awsome with the steelie rims..

Ok I have 2 86 wagons one is 4wd the other is 2. One has steelie rims the other has the older subaru rims with the white spokes. I thought I could just switch them over from one vehicle to the other. but....When I went to do so the older rims rub on the 4wd making it shake and wobble even under 5mph..What is up? The steelies however can be swapped from one car to the next. Is this a difference between the 4wd and 2wd rims or did someone do somthing aftermarket to it (the 4wd) ? Has anyone else had this problem? Just curious and a little bummed......i sure like the look of the older rims better...

I have exhaust coming in my heater at stop sign/ lights. If I turn the fan off it is fine. I do have a small exhaust leak in my car (exhaust manifold gaskets ) 86 sub gl. Is that enough to do it or is there something else amiss. (planning on changing the gasket next weekend. ) .. Also any tips on getting the gaskets to LAST longer.....

I asked a similar question but mostly about operation .. here is what I was told (mostly about adjusting) My friend loves hers. I still have not rehooked mine back up. BUt the other day on a steep hill I wished I had it. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=106462&highlight=hill+holder

I think it is the 32/36 it is on a EA 82 engine. ..Thanks for the diagram I have seen this in the past but could not find it when I needed it....Will try to find the home for the spring. Maybe I can get her running DECENT again. "Check if there is the Return Spring on the Secondary Stage's Actuator" How would that make the engine run or what does it do? Just curious? Isn't it amazing what one little spring can do?

Ok so I am blind I know it is on here somewhere but I have spent the last 15 minutes looking to no avail. Problem my double barrel weber carb when we were moving it all over a spring popped out and I cannot figure out where it goes.. i just need a diagram to put her back together. It runs.... just not well. Ok so I can drive it but everyone looks at it like it is going to explode.. it sounds really bad.. Anyone know where any good weber diagrams are hiding? Spring is on passenger side of car. Sounded good till spring came out.

Got a new subie 86 GL 4wd wagon this one has the Hitachi carb.. it gets 25 so far (first time checking ) that also included several 5 minute warm up times. I am betting it gets closer to 30 with freeway miles. ....I am so happy... way better then the other 86 wagon with barely 20 mpg I am at sea level.

Maybe I will try the pen.. Right now it is not working at all. (still need to make sure that the power is there light comes on up front nothing happens.). My other subie 3 lines are not working so not as bad.

Thanks this helps me out alot too. I was thinking of asking the same quesion myself..and YES in WA you need a defroster.

BIG CLOUD it hid my car and I think the neighbors thought I had really messed up my car. Everyone outside decided the inside of the house smelled better.. (and I live on 10 acres). DId sound better though for a while. ...mine also left a BIG black streak on the ground that took some cleaning up....

Replaced sensor for temperature gage. YEAH it made it work.... on the 86 GL 4x4. Also had fun sliding all over the road this morning (ICY) it was only fun as I did not hit anything. Had to try out the new cars reaction to ice it did much better then my sons car. (Ok honestly only the 2nd and 3rd slides were from testing the first one was on accident.)

I used to have a 80 4wd subie that I drove over Donner pass all the time never had a issue with power we were always passing people.. .so I think that is a personal opinion. The manual is great as you can downshift and not ride the brake on steep hills... preference. I also could go anywhere with it was awsome in the snow even when the 4WD popped out of gear (tranny was going so you had to HOLD it in gear in 4WD) HAd relations in Reno and we lived in Grass Valley. Loved that car (hope she is still on the road down there somewhere)

should have said leaks a little oil. Smoke is white upon start up then clear. Oil burns off parts on passenger side near alot of the gaskets there is so much oil cannot tell which spot it came out of Also it lost so much oil when the heads went that it coated everything so I am not sure what is new and what is old. EA82. knowing my luck the Head gasket didn't seal all the way when I did them and it is coming out there. But right now I am not worring to much about it it is about 1/2 qt of oil for about 200+ miles of driving. not too bad Unfortunatly until the heads went it did not leak oil at all so I probably messed something up when I put it back together or when the heads went some other gasket? went too. BUt the water levels are great not loosing any at all. Should probably clean it all off but so busy right now and just happy she is back on the road.... The overheating this summer was mostly due to the spot under the weber carb, then a bad radiator and various hoses leaking one right after another then one opened up and she blew the heads. (hindsight says I should have changed those hoses when I did the radiator..... but...they looked so good and the guy we bought it from said he changed them all recently.. )

GOt her running again monday YEAHH took her out for a long ride today got stuck after a accident and waited 20 minutes no overheating first time that she has sat so long in traffic and not thought about overheating since before last summer. (I do not sit in traffic often) I could have turned it off when I was waiting but I wanted to see what she would do 2hr drive and she just burns a little oil...... not sure about that one.....

My spouse used to drive tow truck and he has seen that. THey are VERY Safe and do not roll often. unlike the ford explorer or Jeep that tend to roll in almost any accident. We bought our Suburbans for that factor too unless you are in the 3rd seat you have a good chance of ending up in one piece and not rolling. Every car has its bonuses you have to get the one that is right for you. The caprices are fairly safe especially if you get a older one. (compared to a GEO they used to call them coffins at my spouses work. The other bad one was VW buses they tend to catch on fire. ) the newer ones are OK. Then there are the 90's ford Vans that spontaniously catch fire (I knew 2 people it happened to now the part is recalled but if you buy it used you don't know if it has been fixed or not. I do tend to like american made too. MOST of them have a good working history. You do not have many choices though if you need AWD or 4wd. but you would be amazed at what some of those american cars will do in the snow. We had friends that lived on top of a mountian in PA (steep hill for those western washintonians.) they had a caprice wagon (80's) and had little problem making it up the hill in the winter. (of course they did need a running start.) but they were the only family on the hill that could make it without 4wd. they did fill the back with bricks though. however I can tell you you would not like the 65 Dart my son has it is horrible in the snow it fishtails all over of course the cool tires do not help. it has a LONG rear end and you hit a mud puddle and it is all over the road. Even my 2wd subaru can almost go anywhere. (I know it is not the same as 4wd I want one of those)

if you watch creigs list you could get a 90's legacy for about 500 if you found one with the heads or timing belt toast. I have seen several of them recently (of course that was Tacoma Seattle creigs list) There is one right now that is really temping I think $450 in bremerton just needs a radiator.(probably needs heads) Also most people won't buy them with the heads gone and there is a good chance you could get a newer one with blown head gaskets or the timing gone if you offered them aroun $500 for it or under just a thought...

I know how you feel the caprices we have had we have barely put any money into and they ran forever. on the other hand my EA82 Subaru we have put around $2000 (exhaust system, radiator, timing belts, water pump, oil pump, fuel pump, head gaskets, hoses, exhaust manifold gaskets, wheel bearings, CV joints, carb work, alterator, tires, various bolts that have worked out of the engine or been stipped and helicoil parts (50 for head bolt helicoil kit and almost nobody sells 11 metric kits)sending units for oil pressure, new thermostat (several in fact) in parts (not including labor)in the last year and seem to be working on it every weekend. but the parts are easy to install. When my caprices went it was rods which were alot harder to fix and it was worth more money even non running (we got $600 for our caprice with a rod through the block in 97 it was a 77) We bought the caprice in 90 for $1000 and got 7 years out of her with I think tires and maybe a alternator?? with never being stranded on the side of the road even when the rod went we landed in my sisters driveway and immediatly had transportation home. It had lots of bells and whistles and got about 20 mpg (same as my subie)(it was also completely restored when we got it. On the one hand I want to sell mine too but then we have almost replaced everything but the engine and tranny (ok that is a exageration) and what more can go wrong right?? Besides I cannot even begin to get my money out of it. I almost want to keep it just so I can see what happens next. (the body of mine is in great shape and the engine only has 190000. only bummer is no 4wd) I have thought of the 90's legacys but right now my spouse does not want to see anything subaru. I do however love the 5speed tranny and do not really want to see another automatic for a while. I love my subie but....Cash is a consideration too. I do not know how much longer I can keep fixing it. I do like the fact though that 4 tires where only $300 versus $200 each.. I love driving it though and it is not the boat that the 80's caprices are and I love the ease of manuverablity. (my 77 caprice was a wagon too but it was almost like driving a suburban it was so big. )I got it running for now though so I will probably drive it until it dies again. (I do need to flush the heater core again I have no heat again)When its running I love it. my mom bought a caprice (92) 2 years before I bought my 86 gl, She has had nothing break on it since they have had it 3 years ago..... it is tempting. Sometimes transitions are hard but you got to do what you gotta do. all cars do have problems..I think I would deal with a bad head gasket any day before fixing a bad rod. We switched to the subaru last year because I was sick of American cars and there Trannies going out. We have had our 90' ford with 100,000 need a new tranny and our 96, pontiac needed a new tranny at 100,000 and at 200,000 that isn't cheap either. now our 65 Dart that has a newer tranny is leaking fluid... GRRRR. Come to think of it our subarubans have almost all had the Trannies replaced somewhere along the line too.and we have replaced exhaust systems on EVERY Chevy we have owned. (especially the caprices we have had 3 caprice classics, 3 suburbans, 6 Dodges (1 truck 2 van 3 cars), 3 fords (all vans), 3 buicks, 2 pontiac, 2 subarus, and I know I am missing some in the 17 years we have been married. (I think there was a few hondas but do not remember them well) that does not include the cars someone gave us and we did not keep. 2 ford feistas 1 ford truck, a pontiac car etc..) everything has its own issues you just need to be prepared to pay and fix the costs. IT seems the subaru has minor issues and American cars when they go it is major...probably not always true but it just seems that way. just whatever you do do not buy a 90's dodge car they had tons of recalled parts (but they are not fixing them) and a friend just spent 5,000 in parts and labor to get hers running again (hindsight is 20/20 she would have sold it if she would have known) most of the parts were recalled but the way the recall was worded they would not pay for it....I think it was a stratus with about 100,000 miles.TO be honest I think the best car we have owned was the buicks the engines never had issues no minor parts went but the accessories that was where the issue, power window went, trunk leaked, Ac went, radio went, power mirrors fell off, molding fell off, and it was only 10 years old and well taken care of)power seats broke.It got to the point it was annoying car ran great but all the options you bought it for fell apart...We called it the self deconstructing car. just weigh the costs and check out out the bad of any vehicle before you buy one. Those 90 subarus are looking better all the time....