89Ru

Good points I didn't even think about. I drove 50 miles today, lots of turns and city driving plus a few 360's in the local grocery store lot. What's that I hear? Silence? The suspiciously CV-like rattle gradually 'disappeared' going from knock-knock-knock in 1st gear pulling away straight, louder with speed, to 'nothing'. Something loose must have wiggled into place? To nail it, after a couple hundred miles I'll re-torque, I think my wrench stops at 150 so I'll stand on my breaker bar. I'll pick up an extra cone washer in the meantime and brass drift punch. Didn't touch those pad clips, the caliper and pads never left the rotor. so its back to being a rolling tool box again instead of a three-wheeled driveway ornament on jack stands. My neighbors brought over some tasty bread today, I think they are happy that the hammering has stopped. Handy tool tho!

Got the axle pressed in to the housing at a shop plus repack bearings with new seals. Between raindrops I put everything together and torque to FSM specs. Here's a list of torques with hopefully more accurate names than the confusion that I have posted in this thread Torques of wheel and related fasteners (ft - lb) lower ball joint pinch bolt, 28-37 lower ball joint castle nut, 22-29 steering tie rod end ball joint castle nut, 18-22 stabilizer bar end bracket (2) to transverse link, 14-22 wheel lug nut, 58-72 transverse link to cross member (pivot joint) lock nut, 43-51 damper strut and housing (2 bolts), 22-29 hub & disc brake assy (2 bolts), 36-51 axle castle nut, 145 Took a test drive and what do I hear but the dreaded CV knock. Seems to happen more on pulling forward but occasionally while turning. The old axle didn't knock (yet) just a torn inner boot so I'm wondering if I have a bad reman. axle. I had a bad stabilizer bar end bushing and spacer (completely gone, just keeper bolt remaining) that I replaced. Wheel bearings were not replaced (probably original with 265K on them). I'll drive on it a while and see if I can narrow it down some. Just read a post on a loose castle nut being the cause of rear knocking, will check that. I didn't bring the hub with me to be pressed on, I just used the castle nut to do that, maybe its loose? Will re-torque after more driving...

Good posts. I bashed the axle out of the hub this morning with a copper hammer, soft head with mostly square blows didn't round off the end threads so I figured I was ok, but now that it is off I see the threads are crumpled like an accordion somewhat. Maybe I hit a little hard. Is the axle that soft? A nut on the end would have solved it, holding a piece of wood to do it on-car would have worked if I had a third hand. Like GD says its going to make it hard for the rebuilder. I see what is meant by interference fit on the bearings, they are offset from each other. All good info on procedures, I admit I'm taking more apart than typical but the inner joint wouldn't clear until I dropped the ball joint out of its pinch joint (it practically fell out with three taps unlike my Legacy which took hours to bash out). I freed up the hub like Torxxx mentioned (two bolts), a few downward taps from the hammer and it dropped off the strut. No worries about an alignment. I see that the only alignment adjustment is on the tie rod and I didn't turn that nut. Thanks for the help, wouldn't have gotten this far without it and probably would have a broken car instead of just some broken tools.

Figured removing the ball joint would prevent messing with the strut but I just got over that. Hello alignment? Dave I agree about using pullers against the rotors is bad, my set fit ok over the lug nut plate. My 8" pullers broke on the first turn (guess I got what I paid for I think the set was around $10) so I need to have someone press it out. Two bolts and the rotors/calipers are off. Didn't want to stress the brake lines (original) so they are off too. Will work on removing the hub from the strut next but its too late to hammer on it and keep happy neighbors.

OK, sounds like I may be on the right track. Thanks for the comments, very helpful. Dave you remove the brakes I'm guessing so you can pull the shaft out more freely, but if you do it on-car with pullers it would still work right? Looks like I need to use my larger set of pullers or sacrifice my brass hammer (it was the thin metal extensions that broke on one arm, the end came off like shrapnel when it snapped). As you might guess this is my first axle attempt on the EA82. Thanks for the comments on bearings...I have a set (might need help on getting them in...hope to cross that bridge soon). I might end up bringing the whole knuckle and stuck axle into a shop to press out since I anticipate the new axle will be tricky to install at this point.

Trying to replace my front half shaft (torn boot) on my '89 EA82 Coupe D/R. Its mostly torn apart (tie rod, stabilizer, pivot joint and lower ball joint free. For some reason the inner splines were stuck? somehow and wouldn't pop out until the ball joint was out. Inner splines are free, now I'm really struggling with the outer. I didn't take off the rotor (??). Hitting the outer CV shaft end with a brass hammer moved it a bit, not much, then I got out the pullers and they broke after pushing the shaft in a little, its sticking out about 1/2". My Legacy was easy compared to this, it just popped out with a few taps on the hammer and didn't mess with the tie rod end or pivot joint. Maybe I messed up the bearings, hate to look and see. :-\ Thought I was following the procedure, thought the brakes and rotors were optional if the split ring behind the 36 mm castle nut didn't break free (in my case I got the split ring out easily and the tapered ring behind it came out too). Any help is appreciated. Didn't touch the 'no touch' bolt (yet).

After weeks of intermittant starting problems ('89 EA82 SPFI) I'm back to normal operation. Would run bad, stall, no power for a few miles then mysteriously the CEL would go out and like a switch had been thrown, run fine after that. Figure after 17 years was time for new coil (accel), didn't help. I'll keep the original in the on-board spares. Ended up replacing the coolant temperature sensor yesterday and no problems in three starts (a bit early to pronounce success?). ECU was blinking code 21. Thanks to Jamie at subarugenuineparts.com for tracking down the part 22630AA030 and other folks who posted on this subject.

Ha! Must be. After drilling out a broken bolt, I tried to cut some new threads and they got botched. So...my fuel pump plate is hanging on by one bolt and a c-clamp. Still holding after two years. Uggh. drilling out a broken hardened easy-out tip I don't even want to think about it.

Might be something, but my EA82 fluctuates between just above the C and 1/3 up on a regular basis. It used to drive me crazy, now I try to ignore it. If it spikes into the red, then you've got problems. Try loading the engine and see if it climbs. I had a clogged radiator once and running the a/c on the highway with a full load on the roof rack would send it up in a hurry. Check your clamps for leaks, if the pressure drops a bit you might see a little temp rise..

Nice pics. Looks like the same size pump as the 2" diameter 'Ford truck' pump P74028. Don't know flow rate but if it keeps a Ford truck running... Nice 90 degree bend, I didn't do that and you don't want to see the pics of my install.

I just did my 95 OBW driver side axle. For me, the hardest part wasn't the axle, it was pulling the ball joint (to get to the axle). Other folks have posted ways to get the axle out without pulling the ball joint. I used the famous "pickle fork" tool to get the ball joint out and then replaced it ($22 @ NAPA). My half axle was $75 from autozone (limited lifetime warranty) plus $40 core or $55 from cvaxles.com plus 2x shipping (new axle + core). I did a lot of searching and the general agreement is that replacing the axle is easier than replacing a boot...although some might argue that the inner boot can be done by only tapping out the inner joint's spring pin and somehow manipulating the inner joint from the transmission and not having to separate the outer CV, however, the majority seem to do the whole axle. If I had to repeat it I would again replace the entire axle. If you keep driving Subaru's chances are it won't be the only time you have this kind of opportunity. Tools you will need: 3/16" punch, 3 lb. hammer, sockets (32 mm, 19 mm, 14 mm - preferably 6-point, breaker bar) Things to think about before turning wrenches: if I remove that bolt, will I need an alignment (apply to control arm and maybe others)

Done. :banana:The gap was my imagination. Pressure from the scissor jack under the control arm was enough to seat the ball joint head with a few light taps to widen the pinch gap. Key point of finishing a job is to know when its done.

Well, hammering the control arm with the castle nut on the ball joint shaft finally popped the ball joint head out of the pinch joint (took all day, hammering and spraying pyroil about once an hour) RUSTY! This car spent part of its life in the northeast. Unbolting the sway bar was a great idea. I didn't need to remove any other control arm fasteners. The new axle didn't have a grease seal on the inner CV so I hammered the old one off. Sanded out all the crud in the pinch joint, slid in the new axle and fit the ball joint (shaft is tapered so it went into the control arm easily) -the pinch joint gave me some trouble. The ball joint head was hard starting into the joint. Trying to minimize hammering...I apply pressure from a scissor jack under the control arm to re-install the sway bar and also to help seat the ball joint, with additional pinch spreading from a screwdriver tapped into the pinch joint. Dilemma: The head isn't fully seated into the pinch joint. It has maybe 1/10" to go or less. Pinch joint bolt is loose. Either I hammered too much on the removal and damaged the surface, or I haven't applied enough pressure to overcome residual rust in the joint. I even installed and lowered the tire and torqued all the bolts. Pressure wasn't enough. I tried a short test drive, no movement. Something clicked/rubbed for a while while driving straight, worse on turns (rebuilt CV axle? ) but then quieted down and became silent. Thought I might have left a tool in there somewhere but nope . Maybe too much grease in the CV seal(s)? Back to the 1/10" gap. Anyone know of a ball joint press that works with Subarus? Does the Autozone rental press work? Lots of others on the market from $60 to $$$

ok, chisel and lots of pb (I have pyroil, works good). that's good advice. So installing the new ball joint doesn't need any kind of press tool, just a hammer? I can do all this in my driveway, sounds like... I just got the ball joint boot off to inspect the innards. It seems like its possible to just replace to boot, although its probably not worth the trouble. It was barely torn but there is a bit of sand in there... There seems to be a lip that keeps the upper rim of the boot on, I have a wide pickle fork as part of the set, 1 1/16 I think, maybe I can use that to encourage the ball out although it might not be strong enough. I'll try the hammer and torch idea first. Thanks!

Firsty '95 legacy CV axle removal was a success (outer boot was torn). I followed the steps on cvaxles.com after reading a mix of helpful procedures on this site from edrach and mpvsubaru87. My apologies, some of my vocabulary may not be standard. Background: I used a long 3/16" punch with a 3 lb. hammer from harborfreight.com to drive out the spring pin of the inner CV from underneath. Now, my lower front ball joint needs to come out (bj boot was initially torn, now mangled by the 'pickle fork' tool, I used 11/16 fork which might not match the width of the ball joint shaft exactly...crude but overall effective if you are going to replace it anyway). After removing the cotter pin and 19 mm bj castle nut (rusty!) I used the fork to separate the ball joint shaft from the lower control arm. It took a lot of hard shots from a 3 lb. hammer. I also removed the 14mm bolt that compresses the split joint ball keeper. Once the ball joint shaft was free, the axle popped out of the hub with a few light taps from a copper hammer. Now the ball part of the joint is hanging from the socket in the hub housing. Question(s): Pressing in/out: How do I get the ball joint out of its housing socket (pressed in?) Is the ball joint shaft also pressed into the lower control arm? Other folks have written that its perhaps best to bring everything to a machine shop to press in/out. Do I have to remove the control arm as well for pressing? Alignment: What about the two bolts that fasten the hub assembly to the strut tower? Folks have written about scribing alignment marks before removal...where? thanks in advance, Michael

Sorry to mislead, I was reading a quote from the manual, it didn't actually outgas. Powered up fine this morning at 14.24 volts just like its happy state before. Dashboard voltmeter was back at its normal level. Car got out of the driveway for the first time since May 20th. Brakes were rusty! but that was cured after a handful of stopsigns. Thanks for the overall concern. I will definitely keep an eye on battery health since it is listed as one of the worst performers

Great advice. Jehovah Jirah. I come to find out that my neighbor has one of those commercial battery chargers. Put 20 amps in for 40 minutes, now the battery reads 12.5 volts. Manual says not to charge if the capacity goes above 75% (12.4V) or spits excessive gas Seems like the alternator was having a hard time with my low battery. Wooh. The more I learn the more I find out I don't know. Poor little alternator, she's not strong like Atec. Now I digress...

Battery sat during a month of many failure-to-start cranking cycles (took me that long to correctly diagnose the problem) so it could be just doing a deep charge...or could have plates shorted together? (batt is a discount-store special, two years old, no abuse other than recently) the load test is a good idea, I'll do it before doing something drastic

Just finished a major repair which involved alternator removal and when I started up the dash voltmeter is running low. Have read good posts that suggest replacing the body ground (all my wiring is original ) Meter across battery reads 13V at idle, goes up to 13.6 at 2000 rpm. Slight (0.15V) increase if I measure voltage at the alternator (battery terminal to alt body) My '89 GL had its alternator replaced 2 years ago w/o problems so far and I took measurements of 14.24 volts at idle so I'm suspicious here...the belt is good and tight (if anything its too tight so maybe the bearing is getting hot?) Is the alternator overloaded or is running hot 'normal' (too hot to touch after a few minutes of idle) My non-stock fuel pump may be a power hog but other than that nothing should load it badly. Might there be a marginal short that doesn't blow a fuse - would have to be only when running (switched relay or otherwise) since the battery isn't dead. I might try a clamp-on current meter if I can borrow one

Woohoo finally done with the belts change Didn't want to start and ran bad for a few minutes (good test of my motor mounts) but somehow the ECU got the vibrations out, I did a crude timing adjust by rotating the distributor but it ended up right where it started...can't find my timing light. So my crank angle module must be working? No codes while running. I am curious about how the engine would run if I pulled the crank angle connector...

A similar thing happened to my #1 plug although it took many many turns to remove the stripped plug with a breaker bar. I bought both a thread cleaner tool and the helicoil kit. Thread cleaner is a threaded bolt with divots that you can pack with grease to catch the filings. Use carb cleaner solvent with a toothbrush to clean the crud out. It has held for a year, probably time for a new plug if I can get it out... Haven't needed the helicoil kit...if you need it crank #1 to BDC (valves closed) and try filling the chamber with shaving cream to catch the chips and then crank again to pump them out (compression stroke) Make sure its not an exhaust stroke (valves open) Search for the firing order...can't remember

I think I should rename this thread...frontyard shadetree attempts timing belt job#1 Took me 7 (yes, seven ) leisurely hours to get the '89 GL plastic belt covers off and I'm only half way there- Yep, driver side belt was broke. The driver side cover was coated with a thick sludge so I'm glad it was there - I'm rethinking my idea of running bare belts. Thanks to Miles for the tip- after numerous failed attempts to lock the m/t flywheel, I tied a heavy rope between a passenger side oak tree (square) and a breaker bar on the 22 mm crankshaft pulley bolt. Bumped the starter twice and was able to unscrew the bolt by hand! Took out the passenger side fan and driver side fan housing. I didn't take out the radiator or A/C like Miles suggests- would have cut down on the overall hours if I did the radiator and water pump pulley first...lots of time spent on getting the last couple of top fasteners off the driver side cover, finally took off the p/s pulley which was easy enough (jam a screwdriver through the pulley to lock it first and then remove center nut). Don't do like I did and back off the water pump pulley LAST! Hold the pulley (driver fan) with a side wrench on the shaft and remove the four 10 mm nuts. next step, cam positioning: follow the procedure! http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=37951&referrerid=4725 ...Meanwhile, back to the original topic (crank angle sensor module) which got me started on this job I got a very helpful note from Larry at Forecast Products (mfr of the 7029 and 7030 in quantities of 50+): Although both units are 4 terminal, the best way to identify them is by looking at the bushing design. The 7029 has threaded through-bushings while the 7030’s are smooth. (Historically, the 7030 is the more popular of the two). You should be able to purchase these from your local retailer (AutoZone, O’Reilly’s, etc) under one of the following numbers: FTC7029 (unit with threaded through-bushings): BWD: ME570 NAPA: MP415 GP: 11-5109 NIE: WA933A SMP: LX-652 FTC7030 (unit with smooth through-bushings): BWD: ME571 NAPA: MP418 GP: 11-5110 NIE: WA933B SMP: LX-653 The bushings he mentions are the 3 brass bushings on the plastic encapsulated module itself...to see them you have to disassemble the distributor (use a vise with soft wood to lock the gear-shaft while you remove the center screw, the four-wire connector unplugs with a little encouragement) Of course if you are going to buy a new module you should consider Kerry at Rubuilders to do the whole distributor rebuild since the module is $$$.

Whoops, I got off on the wrong track. Distributor isn't the main problem, its the driver side timing belt! Must have broken or slipped (hitachi rotor isn't turning, why didn't I check this first?) It only had 55K on it... Never done these before. I have found some great posts on how to do it with pictures...looks like a lot of stuff may have to come out first (alternator, radiator, A/C) Car has 257K, should I do this? How many hours for a novice?

Correct, died while driving. Tach went to zero on the crest of the bridge. Thanks for the confirm on the wiring. I'd like to get a little deeper and dig into the part to replace the amplifier...I hate to throw things away...but that would be a research project (is it already?) I found a site that offers reman. distributors for 22100AA440, D4P86-03 www.ccrengines.com/roobuilders/ Oops forgot, this whole car is a research project

Glen, Reading dneufelds post has me wondering about my hookup He states "red power / black reference / white position / green ground" My hookup: red power / green reference / white position / black ground I base this on my FSM which says: GB power GY ref sign BW pos sign B ground I suppose '87 and '89 could have different wire colors...just wondering. The CAS was drawing 31 mA at 12V on red --> black Michael