snoboy

Check your PMs Rich. I'm in Rossland, and I have something that might be useful to you.

EA81/82 and EJ22 FSMs... http://www.ch701.com/Builders%20Resources/builders_resources.htm

I had the classic, in both cars actually, the fan worked on 3/4 only. I was able to repair the resistor block to some extent. The wire in the middle coil was broken about 1/2" from the end. I clipped off the short piece, and cleaned up the end of the coil. I was then able to solder the original coil back to the lug where it was originally attached. It did not solder well, and was difficlt to get the resistance wire to take solder, even though I cleaned it quite througly. I'm not sure how long this fix will work, but it is nice to be able to make the repair for almost free. The dealer wants $45 for a new part. The odd thing is that I only got 2/3/4, but not 1 back, even though I am sure that there was no other damage to the coils... still that's good enough for now. I just came in from getting the heater control vacuum line rehooked up - almost ready for winter!

Undo engine mount bolts, jack engine up an inch or two, and use a long extension with a U-joint on it and you can get in there with some patience.

One tip that might help someone down the road: I found with my aftermarket that I put in a few weeks ago that the pins and bolt holes weren't really lining up properly. I ended up having to trim the little rubber bumpers that fit on the bottom pins so that the fixing bolts on the top would line up properly. A small problem, but vexing none the less. I guess that I will possibly need to find new ones for the next rad that goes in that car, but I expect to have it sold by then.

When I was into the timing belts on my recent engine work, I noticed that one had warped from the engine heat, and had a nice groove cut into it from the back of the passenger side camshaft sprocket... might be something to look for?

Think about doing the camshaft seals while you are in there too. They are actually easier to do than the crankshaft, although they require a bit more stuff to be removed (the timing belt sprockets...) Get the seal retainer O-rings at the same time. IMO, this is a pretty easy job. PVC pipe or pipe fittings is a great tip. I drilled a small hole in the front of the crankshaft seal and threaded a wood screw in there to pull it out. Just be careful not to damage the seat of the seal. Study the new seal to see what you will be drilling.

I found that there needs to be more slack than you might think on the cable... I adjusted mine to what I thought was just less than tight, and had the same symptoms as you. Loosening it off fixed it up pronto!

1 hour SW of you apparently... Rossland.

Thought I had a headgasket issue, but when I got to the intake manifold gaskets they were shredded... so I replaced them, and we'll see. In the meantime, here is what I learned along the way... >Use OEM intake gaskets... I just did those last summer, and they were completely toast. I expect the ones I replaced last year were probably the originals. Yes, this is all over the forum if you read about it, but I didn't check here for that job, as it was obvious what needed to be done. >You do NOT need to unbolt the oil pickup to remove the oil pan. If you undo the pitch bar and the engine mounts, and jack the engine up just a couple of inches, and TURN the pan 180° it will slip out easily. >It IS possible to get the driver's side cam cover off with just a regular box end wrench - ratcheting style would be VERY nice, but not neccesary. >It's easy enough to make a special tool for the camshaft pulleys. I took a piece of 1/8"x3/4" flat bar and drilled two holes in it. The holes were spaced the same as two adjacent holes on the cam pulley. This was very useful for holding the pulley while torquing the bolts, and also for tensioning the belts. >It's not a big deal to pull the rad, and it makes working on the front end a whole lot more pleasant! Hope something here is helpful to someone...

Well, I got home from Colorado to BC. All the suggestions were put into play, and it went quite well really. Thank you all very much for your help. Next week I'll start pulling it all apart and see what has happened in there.

Sounds like my situation. Oil looks good on the stick, but I assume antifreeze will float on top if I drain it? Thanks for all the great advice everyone.

Say "hypothetically" that I was many miles from home, and I suspected a blown head gasket in an EA82... If I kept the temp in the mid range, and made regular stops to refill coolant, how much damage could I expect to do to my head/block? If I lost that cylinder all together am I likely going to be able to keep running on 3?

I'll tack on to this thread becasue it's very closely related to my question. I just test drove a 5spd 92 Loyale Wagon. Coming slow into a corner (snowy downhill) I found that I was unable to shift down to first (huge nasty grinding noises), but was going too slow to pull out of the corner in 2nd. I had to clutch and rev the engine to get out of the corner without lugging badly. Is this normal for this car or does it indicate a problem?

Progress... The car is home, and running, but I am not quite sure what did it! I think my assumption that the engine should fire on either the gas poured in or on a shot of ether may have been mistaken. I belive now that the fuel pump may have been not operating properly, or the fuel line was frozen, or a bit of both. I was lucky enough to be offered to bring it in overnight to the shop at work to warm up and see if that helped. Well, since I don't often get to work indoors on my car I said yes right away. Getting it in the shop was a bit of an adventure due to the fact that it is intended for snowcat maintenace, and thus has lots of snow outside the entrance. Let's just say that the senior cat operator was allowed to push my car in with his blade. Timing belts checked out OK on visual inspection. Decided to confirm fuel pump function. Pulled the pump and tested it with 12V - it worked fine. Checked for voltage at connector - none... checked wiring diagram, realized it is hot only when key is in start position. Connector was also corroded, so I dissasembled it and cleaned it up. Now I had power to the connector. In the proccess one of the blades of the plug snapped (corrosion) so I have had to splice the wires directly. this will give me trouble in the future I am sure. Hooked everything back up, cranked for a while, still no start. Then it started to fire a bit, then it started! :banana: My feeling is that it was a weakened (due to bad connections) fuel pump coupled with a frozen fuel line. Getting it inside and renewing the connections to the pump seem to be what it needed to get going again. TIPS: If the "nut" in your timing belt covers breaks free from the plastic, you can apply gentle outward pressure to the cover while turning the bolt, and it will drill itself out of the back cover. QUESTIONS: How does the fuel pump work if it only receives power in the start position??? Is there a block heater available for the EA82?