Tom63050

Got a question about a puzzling situation with my Loyale. Sometimes, not always, when I'm driving straight there is a clunking sound from the rear of the car, that changes with speed. Slow speed, slow clunk; speeds up when the car does. If I turn left or right, it goes away then comes back when I straighten out. When I had a left wheel bearing go in my VW van, the noise went away only when I turned left, i.e. took the weight off the left axle as the body rolled right. That noise sounded like an aircraft propellor, though, a constant noise, not a clunk clunk clunk. Looked under the car and didn't see anything loose. Any ideas? BTW it does have a lift kit on it.

Coils: do a search on "jegs coil" in this forum. Good info there. Wires: any set would be better than wires that are old. I replace them every 100K miles. Oil: The cheapest oil you can find is good enough. It all has to meet increasingly tough standards. High-mileage oil has seal lubricants built in, but it's probably cheaper to buy cheap oil and add seal lubricant every year or so.

Probably the best translation would be Spirit of Japan Machinery Co.

I'd take off the inner door panel, cut through the plastic, and try working on them from that side. To get the door panel off, you: 1. remove the inner mirror cover--pops off B. remove the door latch plastic plate/cover--one screw, or maybe it pops off too, I forget 3. remove the armrest--two screws under the little covers--pop the covers out with a flat screwdriver d. lots of little fasteners hold the door panel on--just pull the panel away, most will still be OK 5. pull the door panel up and away, and separate the electric window connector

Oh duh. Went to this website, from there to the Japanese version, found Nippon Seiki in Japanese. Looked up in dictionary. Means Japan Spirit (or Energy) Machine (company).

I will research this further. I know for sure that "Nippon (or Nihon) sei" means "made in Japan", but the "ki" bugs me. So I made an educated guess. I'll try to find which ki is being used, and which sei. These syllables are very common in Japanese, and are used for many characters. I might find these four characters in Japanese somewhere on the car. I'll try tomorrow when it's light out.

Actually, Nippon seiki means "made in Japan".

I wonder about the "new coil", as I have been burned by aftermarket coils in the past. Is it a known good coil? Can you swap another one in to see if there is any difference? Recent threads have covered coils, or you can do a search on "jegs coil" in this forum to learn more. I'm inclined to think not the cat. My experience with clogged cats is they still run, but with less power and gas mileage. And you wouldn't notice probably unless you had the car before the cat started getting clogged. On my 86 MR2 when I replaced the cat at 212K miles, the mileage went from 28 to 35 on the highway, and noticeably more power. But I bought it with 186K miles, the cat was already clogged, so I didn't know any better at the time. Holding the old one up to the sun, you could only see a pinprick of light, but it still ran "fine". BTW I'm also in St. Louis.

Anyplace you can stash it, either at a friend's place or in a garage or out of the city's jurisdiction, to buy yourself some more time?

thepartsbin.com has the muffler too.

Update: after a 375-mile trip from Gloyale's house, at 65 mph the Loyale got 32 mpg. Windows up, no a/c, 185/80x13 tires with 32 psi, ignition advanced 4 degrees, 45,000-volt aftermarket coil and larger plug gaps. Frankly I expected more, but still it's fantastic that an inexpensive, reliable, easy to work on 4WD vehicle can do this. I nominate the 1985 - 1994 EA82 cars (especially with SPFI) as one of the best overall practical car designs ever! Pardon the overexuberant use of smilies.

I've been using my coil from Jegs' for a while now, but I keep the stock coil and the necessary tools in the trunk to stick it back on, just in case. I've been burned by the yellow Accel, the red MSD and the Pertronix. All made overseas, I found out later. The Jeg's (part #555-40105 red $19, 555-40100 chrome $20) is made in the USA. They also sell MSD, no mention if made here or elsewhere, for $39 - $50 depending on model.

Related question...Driving down the road in my 91 Loyale on a long trip, my gas gauge doesn't go down hardly at all. Looks like I'm getting 50 MPG or so. Woohoo!!! But when I shut the motor off, then restart it, the gauge then goes to a much lower place on the dial, indicating something like the true amount of gas in the tank. So if it does that, why does it not go down normally when driving? Is this just an odd variation on stuck float, or is it corrosion on the float wiring? Will Seafoam or something else fix this or do I need a new sender? Can the dealer get these senders?

A couple of years ago I went to look at an XT6 a guy was selling. When he started the motor, one of the pulleys self-destructed! Hideous timing for him, great for me. (I didn't buy the car.) About 30 years ago I was selling an Austin-Healy Sprite. None of the electrical gauges in the dash worked. No doubt a common-ground fault, caused by corrosion, but I didn't know about stuff like that back then. So a guy comes over to check it out, I start the car, and all the gauges magically started working again! Sold the car.

Do a search on "jegs coil" and go to my post under the thread "Coil problems..what's going on?". It will give you good info on what coils to get and avoid.

So it needs work huh? Good! You'll value it more for all the TLC you put into it. Rust: KBS Rustseal (formerly POR-15). Coolant issues: easy fixes. Get a new thermostat from the Subaru dealer, new hoses, and a radiator from a good source such as radiatorexpress.com.

Check out thepartsbin.com. Un-check the box that says "Show universal parts", or you'll see a lot of irrelevant stuff. They have the full exhaust. I recommend the Catco stuff. You should order new exhaust studs & nuts too. Often the old stud will come out when you turn the nut. Locktite the studs in & antisieze the nuts. Makes any future removal (like for a clutch) a snap.

The Weber is worth it even if you can't get your cruise control back. More power + better mileage. Plus you get to clean up the engine bay a lot; it just looks cooler and is easier to work in there. See my thread "Weber jetting at high altitudes". If I had a Weber again, I'd set the main fuel jet a little lean for better mileage and more versatility at altitude--say a 135 jet or even a 130, if that wasn't too lean at sea level. The secondary fuel jet I'd leave at 140 or whatever, it's not so important.

I'd start with a can of fuel system/combustion chamber cleaner in the gas tank, and make sure you have a good tuneup, to eliminate the simpler and more obvious possible issues. Also of course how you drive is a biggie. You could also have a clogged front or rear cat. My Loyale's front one started clogging at about 170K.

I'm averaging 33+ mpg on my 91 4wd 5-speed Loyale, combination city/highway. My tires are at 32 psi or so, and I drive for mileage not speed. Also I turn off the motor at stoplights and other times when there's no need for it, like long exit ramps.

The mixture screw is only for idle anyway, so will have no effect on gas mileage when driving down the road. You can change the primary main jet to get better mileage. It's not all that hard. If you have a 140 main jet for example, get a 135 and a 130 and experiment. Don't bother with the secondary main jet. If your foot is into the secondary, you will want the power it will give you anyway. And at altitude, you will want a leaner main jet anyway, to keep the mixture from getting too rich since there's less air up there. Search for posts with my logon name to find the one with jetting recommendations at altitude.

Unless you're sure there is a leak at the oil pan gasket, I'd leave it alone, especially if it's the silicon type. I unnecessarilty pulled the oil pan on a friend's 95 Camry, only to find it was silicon and was not the source of the leaking after all. Replaced it with a cork gasket, and now I have to check & tighten the oil pan bolts a little every time I do an oil change on it. Shoulda left well enough alone.

Easier solution: keep a spare key in your wallet. Concerning slow power windows, yeah I got 'em too. I usually put up or down one at a time, they go faster that way.

You should also look into Rustseal, formerly called POR-15. It's a paint that you put directly onto rust. It bonds with it and stops it from spreading. Seems to dry nice and hard, like it strengthens the metal. http://www.kbs-coatings.com

Upper and lower radiator hoses; intake and outgo heater hoses; and I think you also mean the two little hoses attached to the intake manifold? I had one of those leak on me. A little pinhole leak that only spewed coolant after the car warmed up.