mentis

I've come across a 1993 Impreza Wagon (91K miles, automatic, $1675). The seller is not reporting anything being wrong with it other than a few minor cosmetic things. Sounds like a great deal, though I'm not big on automatics . What do you guys think, is this worth it if it checks out? Are the Imprezas of that year as good as the Legacys?

I did come across a 1993 Impreza Wagon (91K miles, automatic, $1675). The selles is not reporting as anything being wrong with it other than a few minor cosmetic things. Sounds like a great deal, though I'm not big on automatics . What do you guys think, is this worth it if it checks out? Are the Imprezas of that year as good as the Legacys?

Well put... LOL . So yeah, it's got upwards of 215k on it btw. For a good long time it seemed like the engine ran quite well. Now I'm not sure if it's a bunch of other stuff, or if the engine itself is not doing so hot. Hard to tell when everything seems to be about to break down . Thing that I've noticed out here, is that those early '90s Subes you're talking about are hard to find. Coastal NC is slim pickings for these in my experience. Perhaps I'll just keep my eyes open and see if anything comes up. Sigh... Anybody wanna trade!?!? Edit: I'm also considering going with a '90s Volvo or Mercedes. Reason being that I really do need a Wagon which further limits my choices . I suppose the other possibility here is to pay for the clutch job, another $500, and try to do the rest myself. I did manage to finally find a mechanic that's been around long enough to be decent at working on these Subes here in Wilmington, NC. He seems to know his stuff and has been patient with me bringing my old clunkers around . Oh oh... the other day I fixed my alternator for $1!!! LOL... just thought I'd throw that in...

Hey Guys, It's been a while... and I'm trying to decide whether it's time to retire the old wagon. It's got quite a bit that it needs, and I'm facing a decision here at some point soon probably. So, let me list what's been going on... 1. Needs new clutch soon. I know how to drive it, so I can hold off a bit longer on this, but it's coming. Paid a guy $500 last year to do it, and he took the money and didn't do the job. 2. Beginning to have starting problems after warmed up. If I drive it and then park (like at the store), it's got trouble starting unless I give it a good bit of gas while starting. Check engine light's come on, but don't know if it's related. Sounds like a fuel delivery issue maybe. 3. The rattling/knocking sound has been getting more frequent. About four or five mechanics keep saying it's a heat shield that's loose but none have found the culprit. Could this be in the engine or transmission? 4. Other random minor things like rear lights not working even after replacing the pigtails. Getting some gas smell inside, possibly from under the hood. Also got a low rumble that changes with speed, and replacing bearings and a knuckle hasn't fixed it. Looking at changing strut assemblies and trans mount, too. So basically there's a lot fix. Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting even. If I have all this done by a mechanic, it's easily going to run over $1000, I know. Some of this I can do myself, but I'm not sure about the clutch. Any advice? If I had lot's of money I obviously wouldn't be thinking about what to do here, but that IS an issue. I can try to do as much work as I can on my own and pay someone else for the hard stuff. Or I can just call it good and try to get a different car. I'd be willing to put in the time to do the work, but my knowledge is limited. Would be nice to have another Subaru fan out here for help .

So has anybody actually tried these mods? Their site's full of dead links, but they do have some interesting looking products, no...? I think I changed the plugs in my sube about four or five years ago, and I know I put in some kind of expensive Bosch plugs... but hell if I remember what those were now ... Pretty good chance those might have been Splirfires ... Though I do know that she's been starting up like a champ every time since then .

Yeah, exactly. Same price for my car, and I have to wonder just how much difference those actually make... I mean they sure butter them up on their own site ...

Just came across these... http://www.pulstarplug.com/index.html Wondering if anybody's tried these in an EA82 yet, and if so what kind of results have you seen?

Thanks guys . Andy, I've actually got the rad already... now I'm looking for a knuckle...

Okay, so I've been back from my little road trip, and been pretty busy. But here's the status so far. I've finally found a good mechanic in this town (after about three years!). He seems to be decent with subes. They took a long hard look under the car and found a few issues that hadn't been discovered before. But most importantly, they figured out what's causing the rumbling/vibration. It appears that the outer bearing on the front driverside wheel was going bad. They replaced that, and found that because the bearing was loose, it hollowed out the knuckle that the bearing sits in just a little. So this means I have to find a replacement knuckle, which they said might be tough. I figured that with this great forum I should be able to do it ! So what do you guys think? Is it really going to be that hard to find this part? I'll do some searching, but if anybody's got a lead on this thing, I'd be grateful...

Thank you very much for your help. There is some wear on the rubber piece that holds the u-joint, but that doesn't seem to be the biggest issue yet. The bigger issue is a bearing on the front driver-side wheel, which has some play when you tug on it while jacked up. That is likely to be the culprit. I'm also stressed out about the radiator issue. I really need it to be done soon, and I'm worried that I won't be able to get a rad that fast. Clarification as to which rad I should get (from the above post) would help a ton. Thanks again!

Okay, so I'm a little confused. I did some searching about radiators here on the forums, and some folks say there's a 2 core, while others say there isn't a 2 core just a thicker core. In either case, I found one http://www.radiatorbarn.com here: http://www.radiatorbarn.com/search.php?product=radiator And some more at http://www.usaradiator.com here: http://www.usaradiator.com/SUBARU--COUPE-SEDAN-WAGON--1987.html (I'm assuming the "W/ Turbo" is the one I want?) The first one says it's a 1 row, while the other says it's a 2 row. I'm getting confused as to whether rows and cores are the same thing here. If I can get some input as to which one would be the right one to get, I could get that ordered tonight, which would mean that I can get it installed in time...

Looks like we're getting it narrowed down. I had it checked out, and as it turns out one of the bearings is loose. That seems to be causing the rumbling vibration. The overheating issue has been determined to be most certainly due to the radiator, just not exactly sure why. Now I am in need of another bit of information. I desperately need to know what type of radiator goes into an 87 GL-10 Turbo Wagon. Apparently there are three thicknesses of radiators, and we need to figure out which one is the right one. In addition, this may be hard to find. Any suggestions where I can get one of these ordered in a pinch would be appreciated. I hope I can get this things done in time without breaking the bank...

Thank you very much for the reply, msteel. And I made the mistake of calling it a "ball joint" when what I meant was the ball bearings. So yes, bearings on both sides have been replaced already. Is there a center bearing on these subarus? I went to new mechanic today who came highly recommended and seems to at least know something about subarus. I figured I should get a third opinion. He was leaning towards the rumbling being caused in part by break/rotor issues, and the overheating he says is almost certainly radiator caused. A month ago one of the radiator side tanks ruptured and I had it fixed. The radiator itself is fairly young (about 5 years maybe?). But now it's possible that when they welded it something got clogged maybe. So that would make sense.

Sorry for reviving this old thread, but I thought I'd try again and see if any new folks have popped up from the Wilmington area .

It's been a while since I've posted, but my good old subie is having some issues that nobody's been able to identify. And they're getting worse. First... The first problem started last year. It began as a somewhat quiet and low rumbling noise, coming from the front somewhere. It would start very slow, and as I would speed up the rumbling would also speed up and become more of a vibration. This was most noticeable at about 35mph, and was noticeable through the steering wheel. The mechanics ruled out CV joints as the issue, and two mechanics said it was the ball joints. Replaced one, didn't help, so got the other replaced as well. Still no go. Then I also got one CV joint replaced, as the other had already been replaced just a few years back. After a short road trip, the problem persists and is getting worse. The rumbling is starting to turn into a knocking noise on occasion even at low speeds. I asked if this could be u-joint related, since there was an issue with that a few years ago, but they said no. What do you guys think? I'll be going to a mechanic today to see if they can re-diagnose the issue. I need to be driving on a 3 hour trip again in a few days and will need this fixed asap . Second... Another problem that has come up now is overheating. Yes, this car has had heat related issues for a long time, but not like this for many years. There are no leaks and the gauge starts climbing after 30 - 60 min driving on the highway. Most recent work on this was to replace the intake gasket which was definitely leaking. While doing this, the mechanic told me that the thermostat was old and should be replaced as well, so I agreed. At first the car seemed to run better and just a little cooler which made me really happy. But now when I go above 60 mph for say 5 - 15 min the heat gauge starts climbing until I go down to 60 or below. My suspicion is that he didn't put a very good thermostat in, and I do recall that the construction quality of an oem is much better than others. Worse yet if he put a used thermostat in as a replacement!!! I'm beginning to doubt the trustworthiness of this mechanic... . --------- Anyways, any insight and help would be greatly appreciated from you guys. Thank you in advance!

I suppose it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I just rigged it, but I think I may have found some spares from another forum member. Better that than trying to hunt them down locally .

Okay, well that's worth a shot. The place I went to was Advance Auto, and I tried pretty much all they had (four or so) and they didn't fit at all. The clerk said that I'm not going to have much luck finding something in retail for my year, it being old and all. I kind of didn't think it would be much different at Autozone or Carquest, but I guess I can still try them.

Aww...anybody?

It's time for me to get my inspection done, but I won't pass it with my left tail light out. Little did I know that the local auto shop doesn't have the replacement socket for it. I've ruled out the bulb, and the socket is definitely bad. So does anyone have any idea where I could get one of those? Anybody got a spare for a GL-10? If you got a working one, I'd love to buy it .

From my previous experience, the second you remove the fuel line, gas starts spraying everywhere. So trying to plug that line would result in getting gas all over the place no matter how fast I am at it. That's kind of what I was trying to avoid .

Sorry, I forgot to post after figuring out the problem. This was quite stupid really, so read on for a good laugh/rolling of the eyes . Since my wife has been driving the car a little more lately, I don't always catch this kinds of things right away. I didn't actually know about the idle problem until a few weeks after it started. When I finally got a chance to inspect the above mentioned components, I noticed that the connector that goes to the sensor on top of the AAV (pictured above) was just plain old disconnected. I don't know how this happened, or why I didn't notice it sooner. I suspect that the last time I had the mechanic work on it he must have fogotten to reconnect it or something, becuase I think it started to happen at about that time. I just never put the two together. So I cleaned the connections off, plugged it back in, and voila! Problem solved. Sigh...all that worrying and commotion of such a stupid thing....

Oh? I'm sorry if that was a joke, but I didn't get it . Unless you were just being informative, in which case nevermind .

Ah, well, that makes more sense . I knew there was an Asheboro somewhere and I didn't know why Google was having issues with it .

Hey, where is Ashboro anyway? I tried to find it on Google maps, but it didn't come up.

Around here I do see a lot of 4WD cars, but mostly just Jeeps and trucks. A lot of people like to drive out on to the designated areas on the beach. And since Subes I think would do well with that, I was hoping there'd be more of them as a result. Guess not though . Probably more of them up in Asheville and thereabouts.