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First off I know nothing about cars but my subaru would do similar things and we replaced the fuel pump and filters and messed with the carb. Checked the timing and spark it ended up being none of those things but a little fusable link in a little black box (the box holds 3 ?4) in mine it is next to the overflow water tank but i have a 86 wagon. the link would work its way out or something we ended up bypassing it as it would need to be wiggled every couple of weeks or the car would die everywhere. sometimes it would start right back up and other times it would not start at all. we spent 3 nights working on the car (yes lots of obsenities were spouted) and could not figure it out as a last resort we removed inspected and replaced every fuse and fusable link we could find. It had a very good mechanic friend of ours stumped till we removed the fusable links and put them back in (same ones) and then it started right up. I agree with the jealousy bit I keep telling my husband that my subaru only has problems because it knows he does not like it. If he was just kinder to it maybe it would not break down so much. OF course mine is must be really be mad / jealous at him now it gets new head gaskets, new cv joints, and a new exhaust manifold whenever he has time to fix it. Hopefully that will be ALL for a while or maybe I will get jealous of it. OOPS I forgot to mention NEW HOSES so he does not have to replace the head again soon. (hose blew and raditator drained and son toasted gaskets with a hot engine.)

Thanks that makes me feel much better. Hubby is off for the weekend and was NOT happy to hear about this over the phone of course he is thinking what did she toast the engine? last year I overheated our 52 dodge and blew the motor they blame it on me but really it was not my fault a rod cap fell off and well......it was not good for the engine . of course this was on the busiest day of my husbands work he could not leave and I was stranded on I-5 just a couple of miles from seattle in a do not park zone at 8 in the morning 1 1/2 hours from home. It was kind of funny I took care of things and later in the afternoon called him and he asked where are you broke down at? Ever since then when he is really busy if I call he usually asks what did you break. It has been one of those years for our cars. I guess the good news is he had already scheduled time to work on it? We have the parts for the CV joints and the manifold we just need to get some more gaskets and take it in to that nice little machine shop that did such a great job on our dodge. since the economy has down turned it has a really fast turnover. He just needs to schedule another day to put it all together and beg and plead with my brother in law with the shop if he can come over (at least our dodge is finally home (it sat there a year before it was all put back together after the engine rebuilt (he works alot) if he can get it over to the brother inlaws he's got a lift it will go pretty fast (it was not in the shop the whole year mostly out back he would wheel it in everytime he needed to work on it and alot of the time when he came to work on it someone else already had a car on the lift so he would help them on theirs. (it is kind of one of those family and friends kind of places someone in the family or there friends always has something over there. They have 20 acres and well you can find some really cool cars when you mow the blackberry bushes. like the local fire deptments first fire truck and some other cool gems. It has been in the family a long time and occasionally one of the finds (from the fields is in the shop and getting a new lease on life

Well I finally found that little leak in my radiator hose. The bad news is the hose finally (after about a week) got a bigger hole and my 16 year old son was driving alone. (we were planning on changing out all the hoses next week when he changed the CV joints? and the exhaust manifold gasket) The engine never registered as overheating because well there was no water. Any how by the time he got home it was still steaming and the exhaust is cloudy. The car still starts and the engine sound OK but. it leaves a huge black streak on the ground behind the exhaust and the exhaust is cloudy. The water is dissappearing from the radiator and the oil is dissappearing as well. (it does not seem that the water is in the oil ) there is also a small drips of water coming from where the engine sits where it is coming out I am not sure but is dropping from the timing belts, oil pan and oil filter. It also has a whistling sound coming from the engine. It does NOT clang (I have had a car with bent rods) When you turn it on it seems to instantly loose about a 1/4 qt oil and a qt of water. Of course my resident mechanic is gone for the week. HOW bad do you think he toasted the engine? He can fix the heads but if it is more then that I think she will need to find a new home. Do you think he might of warped or cracked anything???

Wow I learned alot from this thread I have been shifting at 3,000 mile have to try it a little higher. However I do not think I will show this thread to my 16 year old son it might give him some ideas. He will be driving this car and I would PERFER he thinks it is a gutless wonder. (he likes our titan V 10 better as it has more ready power. ) I already know better. However I definatly understand the oil pressure point. I can definatly see it raise the higher the RPMs. Of course he will find out soon enough.... I was always concerned about the engine and tranny in the higher rpms now I see I may be wrong..Chalk another one up in the Honey was right poster. I guess you can call me another granny driver.Of course you dont want to follow me in the V10 after I drive the subaru I forget the power it has and last time I drove it I caught myself going 70 in a 45. I perfer the Subaru though it is easier to drive and not so big (V10 is a shuttle bus) Of course if I rev it up more I may get myself into some trouble as I am used to driving pedal to the metal and where I live the patrol officers are all over I usually see 3-5 in a 20 minute drive. 5 years ago you couldn't find one when you needed one.

I just bought my 86 radiator at NAPA for $125

It only has the one on the passenger side I am assuming it is electric. AC came with the car and you can see the bolt holes where it might of been at one time but no fan. The Ac works pretty well but I can never use it. I have been running it all summer with the heat on or at least on low If I leave it on low the temp stays low but If I put it on cold even when it is on low with AC off it heats up.

I cannot believe I messed that one up. OK will do as you say I used a test kit to test for the carbon and it was by someone who knew what they were doing (my dad he is a chemist and has done it often. I am a little concerned though as it has boiled over twice and that cannot be good. SO I am watching it very faithfully. I am planning on trading the themostat out tonight for a OEM one. I think that is the main problem right now as it takes so long for it to cool once the therostat has registered. Fan wise all I have is a little one on the radiator is that normal??? It seems to come on at the right times though but not totally sure (it is one thisng I have not replaced. or fixed in the cooling system

Ok so it looks like where the head attaches to the cam towers. (red goo) like you said. then the next segament is the valve covers.

I could be wrong it is not the first time. I don't know much about cars. But everyone that has looked at it thinks it is the heads BUT they are also used the chevys and such. One is a great diseal mechanic. BUT they have not dealt much with this engine> I will try to get you some pictures tommorrow and maybe you can clear this up. It does look like maybe the valve covers at the ends?? so maybe it is the cam tower? So If I see it it is the cam towers and the heads are UNDER that??? Sorry for my ingnorance....

I know they are supposed to be installed dry but it seems the person who did it decided they wanted to insure there method. (I am not saying it is right) there is a big red patch of silicon/ plastic/ calking type material that is apparently heat resistant that is around both heads the right head is a little better but the left one they really had fun with the substance before it hardened. IT is oozing (but dry) out of where the gasket should be. I am not even sure they put a gasket under it. Hubby thinks there is though. I am possitive it is the heads I am not mechanically inclined but several who I know do know something about cars. they assured me it was the heads. The same person who "fixed" this installed the weber carb and did not take care of the water opening under it they had it rigged so that the water went down the manifold? with the gas. It was the guy we bought the car from . I do not think he knew what he was doing. But hey since we fixed that I get 3-5 mpg better gas milage. He "fixed alot of stuff on the car alot of it appears he did a great job but..... The timing was off when we bought it enough that it ran decent sounding but so that it messed everything up and eventually broke the timing belts. (we got 2 mpg more when we fixed that) along with LOTS better power. However I did the test for carbon dioxide? is it dioxide or monixide) none in the water and we tested the water pump with the pipe method and it sounds good so ........I think I will first take out the themostat and see if that makes any differnce. It did not overheat of even get hot today but I did not do any stop and go traffic it also had no water loss today.. I did however drive it a hour one way with no problems. We probably will change the head gaskets just so we can figure out what the guy did to it.weather he put a gasket in or just sealent. Hey the good news I think I will be dangerous when I can get this car running I will know just enough to get me in trouble.

replaced radiator and cap, replaced the gasket under the carb the one that goes in the manifold.(is that the intake manifold gasket?) Will check for leaking under water pump. I do still need to install a subaru thermo. but we are planning on taking it out and running without one to check if that could do it. I thought you changed both but.... was not sure the heads were redone before we got the car but it does not look like they did a standard job.... there is red gluish stuff all around both head gaskets like they sealed it with a high temp calking or something. I do not think it is normal. (we have had the car since Feb. and I think I know why they got rid of it.) Yes the fan is coming on however I have only one little fan should I have a bigger one too? My nephew with this year has two on his?) Maybe with the AC my car cannot handle the added strain someone mentioned on the board (another post)about a AC fan where would this be located?

Yeah I hauled some on mine this summer too. I do not have the kayak roof rack so just tied them on real good to my snowboard roof racks. Nice and easy to reach. HOWEVER I do not like the roof top bike racks it was way too much of a reach. I went to the hatch bike rack instead

Ok it is me again. I replaced the radiator, oil pump fuel pump, timing belts and a few other things I am still having occasional higher temps> they are irrational sometimes it gets too hot sometimes I can spend all day in the car, and it is just fine. Both times it can be the same type of driving. The other day it sqealed 2 times like some belt??? any Idea what that might have been? I have not replaced the water pump and I am replacing the theromostat to a subaru one instead of the napa cheap one. Compression is fine I seem to be losing a little water (not even overflow in a 30 minute drive is low)but in a couple of days it does go down a little. and when it overheats it definatly goes down. No bubbles coming up the radiator or overflow and no oil and water seems to be mixing. If I turn on the AC sometimes it causes it to get up there temp wise. I am also having trouble with the idle too, sometimes it is fine and sometimes it is either too low or it races. This does seem to go along with the overheating and it seems to "FIX" itself sometimes when I drive it. Then it will be fine for a drive or two and then all of a sudden it will either idle too low or two high. ( I almost think that is a sending unit problem?? any ideas on that one??(I have 2 hoses that I am planning to replace as they are very worn but do not appear to be leaking (one was the other day but I shortend it till it did not leak anymore) Do you think it is head and if so which one would you replace? both?? how could you tell where the cuprit is?? we have tested compression and the spark plugs all seem just fine. Grr we have almost replaced the whole cooling system and they all seem to fix it for a while. You can see when the thermostat clicks on and watch the temp drop a little. (very slowly)

I love the chalk would definatly lead to comments. -at least then if you got sick of the paint job you could just get out the hose and then recreate something. I think my boys would have a blast with that. we did a similar thing with cans of spray paint when I was growing up (our own cars only) . bummer was you went to border crossings (BC canada ) and with the spray paint we were often detained. At least with the chalk you could hose her off before you got to international crossings and avoid the prolonged searching. Hubby would definatly not stand for it though he likes his cars with a standard paint job.

We have replaced the radiator, put a new gasket under the weber carb, replaced the spark plugs, put a new thermostat in, fixed a leaking water hose, messed with the carb., It no longer overheats but now we have other problems. Oh I forgot the timing belt and oil and fuel pump and all the filters we put in in June. ( they know us by NAME at the parts store and we get a discount we bring them so much work) engine runs good though and she has a clean body NO rust and the interior is in decent shape 86 wagon. white with a roof rack. under 200,000 miles. We still need to .. fix the exhast leak (new gasket, fix the cv boot and replace some bearings) My sons 12, 14, and 16 are starting to learn alot about cars one wants a subaru some day but I hate to say it my 16 year old keeps asking why is your car the one that is always in need of some part. He drives it but.... wants a dodge charger daytona. 1969 version. ( he does not realize all the work older cars take) Of course our other cars have needed one $1000 part + but this one just nickles and dimes us. (our 1952 dodge needed a new engine last summer (2,000 later and we did 90% of the work) our 1998 ford V10 shuttle bus need new spark plugs $1000 (NEVER GET A TITAN V10 they run great but changing the spark plugs kills you hubby couldn't do it without taking the car apart and the friends we took it to swore never to touch it agian) for something so big though that thing hauls. It has great power and makes a nice RV. Hope to keep the Subie for a long time. at least till I can get collector plates for it (only a couple more years 7 to be exact.)

Ok here we are again I get one issue fixed and then she acts up again.. This new one is different. however the other day I was driving into town (45 minutes ) and about 1/2 way there anytime I had to stop or take my foot off the gas it would wait about a second and then die like it was not getting enough gas. then later the shift on light just kept flashing on for about 30 seconds and hten off then in about 5 minutes later it would flash on again (this is going down the hwy in 5th gear at 60-65 mph. so i ended up having to drive with my foot on the brake and gas whenever I came to a stop or slowed down. then to make matters more confusing. it quit doing it for a while and then a day or so later it started 1/2 stalling every so often dieing but not as predictable. and the shift up fhashing off and on again. Now that shift up indicator usually when it comes on when it is not needed in my car it has always ment that the fusble links were loose and I would take them out and mash them in and then it would run fine for months (it was stalling back then too but the fusable links would fix it) We have a new carb, a new fuel pump, new fuel filters, I only buy premium as reg runs bad. she has new oil pump new timing belts, new radiator, the heads were done recently. However the person we bought her from I think redid some wiring and the battery has about 3 things connected to one of the ends they were corroded but I cleaned them all up. She is starting to act like a money pit. but I like it when she runs right my son is supposed to take his driving test next weekend so we are trying to get it in top shape so he can pass his test. (other wise this 1/2 stalling would not bug me as much. ) I almost want to say that it is some wiring or some computer part. or ????something to do with the both the fusable links sit in. Do they go bad in the older subaru's?? mine is a 86 with the E82? engine. Any sugestions she has good compression and gets good spark. We just replaced the spark plugs too. ANyone else had this issue. I know my newphews car had trouble with the fusbale links but he just needed to take them out and put them back in and then his car ran fine. anyclues would be appreciated as everything looks fine and I do not want to go out and buy more parts only to have it be something else we have already done that way to many times with this car.

mine was doing it also and it was the fusable links I cannot remember which one I just ttok them out and jambed them back in and it works fine for a while and then we have issues again.. Mine also has the shift up light come on and off whenever I have this problem. we replaced the fuel pump all fileters and worked on the carb for hours before we found the problem

yeah we still need to replace the gasket to the exhaust it is leaking pretty bad when we did the seafoam thing it really smoked out the nice thing was I could tell where the exhaust leak was. I want to get the a headgasket kit just to have on hand because I think i will still need it soon running it so hot all summer probably was not good for the engine. The engine DID get hot today ONCE for about 1 minute then it dropped down to normal the weriod thing was it was really not idling today. everytime I took my foot off the gas it would die then later it came near to overheating for 1 minute then it went down to normal and idled fine and everything. Does that sound like maybe something was stuck and then got unstuck??? any ideas it was a little bizaire. I drove it all day and it was not until I was almost home that it got hot still under the red and the radiator never bubbled. or lowered. a 1/2 a tank of gas later driving. Engine sounds good though execpt for the exhaust leak. I also need to put a new CV boot on and fix the bearings on the right side in the front. ?? IF you have the weber conversion make sure that it is NOt leaking under the carb that was where my water leak was. I was loosing about a gallon of water in 20 miles. Some was going into the engine most was leaking down the side it never hit the ground though so there was no puddle. You almost had to have it on and look really close to see it.

changed the oil and added seafoam to car runs great NO water leak No overheating and I could run the AC. YEAH I do not think I have to change the heads YET. Ran it for about 30 minutes. Also when we actually changed the oil there was very little water in it. No seperating that you noticed.Put on a new oil filter too. Really noticed a difference with the seafoam. alot more quiet. Ran the seafoam through the carb and boy did it smoke there was a big black carbon line on the ground out the exhaust. along with alot of moisture.

I will reiterate the fusable links in my car they regularly come undone and have to be pushed down. they can do weriod things to a car. Mine does not get enough gas to the carb when they are not in all the way and then the shift up light comes on. 86 My nephews car he got free because they could not figure out what was wrong with it it would not start at all. (81 sub) All that was wrong was the fusable links needs to be pushed in as they popped up a little. his did absolutly nothing other then click when he turned the key in the ignition. (it is not a perfect car though it runs on only 3 cylinders) little black box by the overflow tank pop off the top and pull them out then push then down all the way. mine loose conection about 1 time every a month or so. However it usually is just one fusable link. HOWEVER I AM NOT A MECHANIC. But we spend a week trying to figure out what was wrong with ours. and $200 in unneeded parts. We even had our mechanic friend stumped and he is really good most of the time.

Done no water leaking into the engine now to check out if I still have a water leak elsewhere? I am hoping I do not have to replace the heads. Will test her tommorrow and hopefully she will run great.

Well we replaced the gaskets under the carb and plugged the hole that was leaking water into the engine. Not sure if we fixed it yet but will try her out tommorrow. IF it does not work then onto the heads. we kind of made our own gaskets (hope they work) they seem to be though so far no water is leaking out but I have not been able to test drive her yet though. we actually do not have that much water in the oil and none seems to be in the radiator or overflow tank. I think that is a good sign compression is good in all the cylinders. Both heads look like they were redone recently (although that might not mean much. )

One more question when you take off the carb and look down the water hole you see a little tube that seems to come to the top does this get sealed off or is this needed? Checked compresssion was good in holes.

THANK YOU THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I Needed to know.

I do have another question? can you just cut off the water from that port? or does it need to go through it still? In other words are you just blocking off one spot and does the water still go in there or could you just reroute the water line? (sorry I have not looked at it it was a question my spouse had when looking at it) I have been trying to find some coolant diagrams but have not been successful. I know they are out there somewhere. I will pass on the info in the above post. anyone got any best sites for reading about the conversion?