mjrvideo

Thanks DaveT, I'm in that same camp. Plus it's for my teenage daughter and image is everything :-) LOL. The relay is certainly forefront on both my brain cells. You guys are great!!! My daughter is a happy camper too.

Wow GLoyale..... your harsh... Thanks for all the input regardless. Just don't see anything wrong with not jerry rigging everything even if it costs a bit more. Not debating anything away. The solutions everyone offered are terrific and helped me trouble shoot it down to what I believe is the actual problem. If I can not fix it any other way, I said I would go the way of the bypass. Not sure that is a crime. I75eya, DaveT and mikaleda, thanks for the patience and it was never intended to be an insult or waste of anyone's time which Gloyale seems to believe. Guess that's his perception, which makes it his reality. All you people helped me get it back on the road for my daughter's school tomorrow. THANKS TONS!!!!!! I believed in coming here that the forums were to bring multiple questions, multiple answers. Not everyone has the same experience and holy cow GLoyale, you bring a ton of experience to this forum. Didn't think I would be chastised for asking, and reasking. I apologize if you were offended at my wanting help and sorting through the multiple solutions to arrive at the answers that I needed for my repair. I work with lots of volunteers and understand that each persons level of understanding is different. Some take more or less to explain. Sometimes a person comes up with a method of doing something our organization hasn't thought of and we adopt it. They bring different levels of experience to each project. So, as my knowledge is limited on the Subie I came to this group. I'm not a pro mechanic. But love to work on cars and just about anything with my hands. And now I have several options, as solutions to the problem. For that I am grateful and hope to pass along the information gleaned from all this expertise to others that need it, like I did from all of you. However, I don't appreciate being sworn at on this forum regardless. Drive safe! Thanks to all who have helped. It is appreciated. Mikaleda, you aren't far from me... if you are ever down Spokane way.. look me up. Message me, mjrvideo@bigfoot.com. maybe we can talk subies...

Thanks Gloyale... My hesitation in the button is my daughter attends a high school and I don't want anyone finding out the car can be started without a key and it ends up on some punks joy ride. But the push button sounds good and is my last resort. I want to do this the original way if possible first. So, here's what I did so far... Replaced spade connector at starter, jumped to battery. Starter triggered. Took jump to ignition switch, black/white tracer... starter triggered, checked at fuse box, blk/wht tracer, starter triggered. Re-attached blk/wht tracer at starter spade. Pulled ignition switch out, flat blade screwdriver and turned it. Triggers starter. Reconnect ignition to column, used key to turn to starting position and nothing... Starter does not engage with the key. Dim headlight corrected with new bulbs. Guess it was just failing cuz they r both bright and shiny now. Noticed two wires coming off the top of key side and am wondering if these could be not making proper contact internally... Thoughts? Thanks for all your input...

Thanks Mikaleda, will try that next, it's a 5sp. Cleaned the grounds on drivers side engine to frame, also got the ground on passenger side from harness to strut... Also got the ground from tranny to spare tire support, but still need to clean the contact on the tranny itself... no change in the dim headlight. Gonna chase black with white tracer from spade connector on the back of the starter tomorrow morning when I can see better. You may be correct on the ignition too... I will pull the one off my parts car and try that after I try the connector reseating, and find the remaining grounds to clean up...

DaveT, Did the wire test... Fired up right away! OK, so I will try and trace the wire as you described.... I will triple check the connector at the spade... not much wire to work with :-) Thanks tons!!! Any ideas on the dim passenger head light? Or was that in relation to your ground suggestions? Thanks to both of you. Will update you on the starting thing as soon as I can.

Spade was hooked back on.. pretty cruddy... cleaned it and used electrical cleaner. Used very thin flat blade to scrape out any crud inside as best I could before re-installing... Will double check it... I try to make it a habit of cleaning thoroughly any parts I can when removing "just in case" scenario's... Thanks Forgot to mention I puiled hot and neg. wires off battery and cleaned everything up shiny and pretty. Baking soda is my friend! Put car on battery charger all night too...

Hi folks, long time stalker of the forum.... Now I need some help. GOt my daughter an 86 GL Wagon, I have an 85... Love these little tanks! But her's developed a couple of symptoms I'm trying to trouble shoot. Few days ago, her passengers headlight went very dim... Checked fuses, replaced out of principle. Nothing... couple days later at school it wouldn't start. Tried jumping it, nothing. The OS lights all come on, the electric fan kicks on, radio powers... but when ignition turned to start, nothing. Fan stops, lights go out... release starting position and all lights and fan come back on, figure that is just an interrupter mode while starting. maybe not. So, thought maybe starter... Replaced with good one from my 85 parts bin... Same symptoms. Starter does not engage... Took old starter to parts store, tested bad. Again, replacement starter was tested (good) before installing. Could be ignition switch I guess, but several people have told me that would be a long shot... Any help with gitting my girls little tank back on the road is much appreciated. I have read about the grounds and am going after them this weekend... Some where on this forum a guy listed 7 grounds to be checked and corrected. Plan to do that asap... Anybody have diagrams of exactly where they are located... I got an idea, but details always help. However, the starting thing is a bit odd to me. Car is an 86 GL Wagon Dual Range, 5sp... Hicrappy carb, no AC, No accessory lighting...

Posted this at the NASIOC site too... told to post here... so.... here it goes. Got an 85 wagon gl 5 speed, dual range, with ea82, non-turbo... won't fire... We think we have narrowed it down to distributor we believe... But more than open to suggestions. Checked fuel flow, it's peachy, checked timing to see if belts slipped, appear to be right on. Appears to have spark at coil, cranks but won't fire. Won't fire with starting fluid either... It will sputter occasionally when being cranked but no fire... Crazy thing was I drove it in the garage to re-adjust the timing and shut it down. When tried to fire 10 minutes later it was a no go... Any suggestions? What year/model distributors can I pull from at a Pull & Save? Any special gotcha's I should be aware of? Also, if I decide to replace my coil I'd like to go new... suggestions on brand, model specific would be most helpful... Wagon has A/C as well... Just re-sealed the motor, new clutch, timing belts, oil seals, oil pan, cam seals, crank seals, only has 130k and very strong compression, just replaced CV axle, and need exhaust gasket and I'm calling it quits. Just gotta get it running properly again... Am fixing car up for my daughters first daily driver. I love this little car!!!! But it needs a doctor right now... Thanks for the help in advance... Joe