cnc

Haven't gotten any guff from neighbors for some time, now.

It does climb like a tank, and I should know. I also have a tank. :-0 The Subie gets better mileage, though.

I second that. On a boxer engine, you don't have access to the head bolts to retorque them. With NeverTorques, you don't have to, because they don't relax over time. When they relax, there's less clamping action and they get blow-by and fail. cnc

I had a dual range 5 speed installed in place of my single range 5 speed in a 92 Loyale. Love it. Guy said the swap was very straight forward. No drama. He did say the backup lights would no longer function due to incompatible connectors on the two trannys. I figured out the wiring and it's fine. Just need to jump a few wires at the connectors. Here's how I did it: Find the switch wires for the backup light switch that is inside the tranny. Use an ohmmeter. Then locate the wire that feeds the backup lights. To do that, remove both backup bulbs and use clip leads to put 9v (battery from a radio or toy or old smoke detector) where one of the bulbs were. That's so you can do tracing and find it because the only 9v in the car will be from the backup light sockets. Once you find that wire, jump it to one of the two backup switch wires and the other switch wire goes to +12v that is conveniently located at those sockets somewhere. Done! I hacked up the connectors to get the pins out and used those to make the connections. You can also use butt connectors, crimp splices, or whatever. cnc

I got a Cardone reman off of Amazon for $52, delivered, no core deposite, either. Problem disappeared. It's a little disconcerting that there was no warning sign. Guess I'll just loosen the belts and wiggle the pulley every few months. cnc

If there was a rubber seal, it's no longer there. The view in the picture is what you see when you remove the pulley hub. Now that you mention it, I have no idea how the bearings are lubed. cnc

I'm sure it's better to remove the belts, but more likely to be actually checked if I can just quickly put a bar in there and see if it wobbles. Wondering if it is possible that the actual cause of the problem was the stamped metal keeper wearing out by rubbing on the balls, then bending and jamming in the balls. If the balls are not evenly distributed (that's the job of the keeper), they could clump together and allow the shaft to wobble. I don't have any idea how many miles were on it. cnc

Found it. Bearings were shot, shaft wobbled, stamped sheet metal keeper between the balls got caught, bent up, and pieces jammed the balls and stopped it. Couldn't detect the wobbly bearings by hand. Need a crow bar to try to wiggle it with belt tension present.

Oddest thing happened today. After driving a half hour or so with zero problems, I make a brief stop and when I start back out, I got a terrific belt noise from the area in front of the engine. Pulled over within a block. Things starting to stink. Figured it was a seized AC pump, so pulled the clutch wire and started back up. Same thing. Bolted for home, a half mile, squealing all the way. Opened the hood and poured water on the belt area to prevent any fires. Dang hot. Started engine and ran out front to see what's stuck and it's the power steering pump. Pulley just sits there locked in place. Let it sit an hour or two and go to restart it and it purrs like a kitten. Huh? The fluid may be a little low, but it's not out, by any means. Yanking the pulley around, it seems like the bearings are fine. The engine never got anywhere near hot while driving. What could cause this? Why would it fix itself when cooled down? Probably should replace it, of course. I just like to find smoking guns, so I know the problem. cnc

Question: Are all of the door lock actuators the same? In looking at some info, it appears that they all use little DC motors to run a leadscrew or similar. They will burn out if left engaged for any period of time. The most likely scenario is that one or more just finally bit the dust. cnc

Thanks for the tips, guys. All seems to work perfectly until at some point, none of them work. I don't know when it's going bad. I do have a clamp-on DC ammeter, so I could conceivably test each one individually, to see where the big current draw is. Even simpler but not conclusive would be to just substitute an ammeter where the fuse goes and read it as I hit the lock switch. If I find that the total current is anywhere near the 20 or 25 amp fuse rating, then it's just a matter of time before it cooks off the fuse, anyway. I'll report back. Stay tuned. cnc

I keep blowing the 25 amp fuse that runs the door locks. They work for a day or two and then quit. I fixed the driver door switch that sends the lock/unlock signals to the other doors and that works fine. I suspect the problem might be in the wires that span the gap between the driver door and the body, since those flex all the time. One of them may have shorted to ground. Any other ideas out there? That fuse also runs something else. Can't remember what, though. I can make a current measurement. cnc

This is great news! My 92 Loyale drags it's butt and I've been looking for something to stiffen it up a bit. I installed a trailer hitch, and any tongue weight makes it worse, of course. Do you have the part number handy? I'd like to get a pair of them. cnc

You're welcome. Yes, I've fixed the driver's door multi-switch a couple of times. The only trick is to do it carefully, over a large pan to catch all the contacts that fall out. Looks scary, but it only goes back together one way, so just keep messing with it until it fits back together. cnc

92 Loyale wagon with power door locks. Doors suddenly failed to lock or unlock. Fuse was fine. What failed was the switch. It can be repaired. It is located in the driver's door and is operated by a rod that comes down from the locking mechanism. See the picture. It is a sliding switch mechanism and over time, the spring tension gets weak and the sliding contacts fail to engage the contacts. Take it apart, bend the contacts slightly, scrape any crudd off of the contacts and put back together. Total time to open up the door, pull out switch and fix it, plus reinstall is under a half hour. See the pictures. Hope I can save someone's day when the door locks just fail on them. cnc I forgot to mention that to get it apart, you take out 4 little screws to open it up, then carefully bend the white plastic arm up to get it off of the slider. Remove slider and clean and rebend the contacts. Good as new. New switch costs over $100, and nobody has them anywhere near me or for 500 miles.