TPain

Pinout as in what each part on the circuit board does or are you referring to the pins on the plug in?

Yes very bizarre. Fuel pump works fine, ground signal to fuel pump does not. The ground is sent via the ECM but I don't know absolutely 100% that it works and I'm not taking Jeff's word for it; the ECM works in every other way but the ground signal does not. Is there a way I could test the ECM itself? It opens right up and just looks like a circuit board. All the main grounds to the engine, body, transmission, etc. are all there. I don't know what other grounds there are besides the ones that I can see. The fusible links all work and appear fine. The fuses under the dash are all good.

Is there a way to test the ECM itself? I'm not an electrical whiz or anything but is it possible to test it with a tester? I don't trust Jeff at all.

Itd be nice if i knew 100 percent if my ecm was good. is there a way to test it?

If i opened up the ecu would i be able to tell if something was wrong? all the visiblle grounds under the hood appear in tact

I'm gonna check all the obvious grounding points. I believe there's a main one on the manifold?

Hi guys Car: 1985 GL-10 4x4 Turbo Wagon Automatic; 51000+ miles I'm not getting a ground signal INTO my ECM which is preventing my fuel pump from working; as a temporary fix, I grounded the fuel pump at the source. I'm about to check all the visible ground locations under the hood but wanted to get you're thoughts too before I begin trouble shooting. Thanks!

Got my car back today. Finally! I had to ground the fuel pump at the source, a temporary fix but the car runs fine and there doesn't appear to be any faults on the ECM. Moral of the story, I'll never do business with Jeff Mackin again. I strongly caution anyone about to do business with him to reconsider and find another qualified mechanic.

It's not so much that he's taking my money and not doing the work, it's that he says he can fix something but can't and takes forever to do it. He sucks you in and then your at his mercy. The jumping issue was my fault, I jumped it. Jeff insisted on having car towed to his house so he could look at it. That's where I made my mistake. He does everything on his own terms, he isn't flexible. He won't drive to get parts, he won't do anything he does not think shouldn't be done (grounding the fuel pump directly at the source), and yes, in a way, he's holding my car hostage. I'm kinda stuck. He says my axles are non-OEM and there is "play" in both of them. I was going to just reboot and regrease buy why not just install new axles? They're only $50 each. While I'd love to have someone else do the repair (I'd do it if I had the time), the car is at his house already. Skagit Subaru quoted me $575 to install and regrease the boots! I can't imagine what they'd charges for an axle job. See my dilemma? I'm probably going to sell the car anyway (too small for the fam) and I don't want to dump a bunch of money into it. I'm leaning towards having him install the axles then my going down and grounding the pump and fixing the wiring issue myself.

I looking at two EMPI axles for my 85 GL-10 Turbo Auto wagon. I can't seem to find the correct part number online, all the resellers have different parts want to be sure I order the correct part. EMPI's catalog says 80-5504 but that number show up online. Any ideas? Thanks!

The situation continues to get worse. I'm now considering getting my car the hell away from Jeff and having it towed back to my house or a dealership; at least I know they won't jerk me around and they'll fix the problem. Jeff will not answer phone calls or return emails any longer. I had to call him under a "private" number to get him to answer his phone. He said he spent 5 hours of his own time diagnosing the ECM issue and still can't fix it; he says he needs the correct manual. I told him to ground the pump to the body, he won't do it. He says it will damage the car. I call BS. As far as the axle, I asked him to repack the inner joints and put on new boots and not install a new axle. Guess what? He won't get those parts until Thursday and then take who knows how long to install them. He said he won't use any non OEM boots. He also said he won't leave his house and go drive to a dealership to pick up the parts. Are you kidding? WHAT DO I DO? I've had it with Jeff, I'm extremely pissed. This guy is a joke, a laughing stock of a mechanic, totally incompetent and useless. I have no idea how he has any business. He is unprofessional, doesn't communicate, and has excuses for everything. What do you guys think?

No no, there's no need for that. It's not anyone's fault. I don't blame anyone, except the mechanic . I (and General Disorder) just though sharing my experience would be helpful for others. Hopefully, I can spare someone else the frustration. In hindsight, I would have taken it to a dealer or attempted the repair (with the boards help) myself; would have had my car weeks and weeks ago. The warning signs were all there, it's just been so long since I've had a car worked on that my mechanic instincts were dull. Live and learn. But thanks for all your guys' help. I really appreciate it. General Disorder rocks!

Yes it was unfortunately. I posted a thread on good mechanics in my area a while back.

Thanks Miles. Good advice. I've already paid him for some of the repairs. He said he would repair the axle for free since he didn't fix it originally (which he should at the very least). The the wiring issue he's clueless on. He wanted to dump more hours diagnosing it and I told him "No" yesterday. The simple fix is to ground the pump directly at the source. Basically, this guy talks a pretty good game but isn't nearly as knowledgeable as he says, and like you said, he should have known better. It's very frustrating, I pride myself in making good decisions . I'm a pretty mechanically inclined person so I could definitely fix it myself. The reason I didn't fix it my self is for lack of time. We'll see what happens. Thanks!

The story I had some issues with my front axle in my 85 GL-10 turbo wagon. The car also had bad CV joints as well. I took the car to Jeff Mackin of At Your Service Autocare in Snohomish (I heard he did great work at a great price, I was sorely mistaken). FYI, Jeff is an very high-strung stressed out individual and as I found out, he makes his problems, your problems; this only complicated things further as time went on. I dropped my car at Jeffs. Several days later, he told me that in addition to the axle and CV issues, there were some other issues that needed fixing, valve cover seal, rear brakes, leaking muffler, and a few other things. These were minor repairs and I had him repair a few of them. Approx. 2 WEEKS later, yes, 2 WEEKS, he said the car was done. I went to pick the car up and after about 20 min on the way home, the car began shaking again. I couldn't believe it. I called Jeff and told him he didn't fix the axle, he gave numerous reasons (excuses) of what he thought happened. He ended up telling me that he confused my car with someone else's on the car lift. What? I then drove the car to my house where it sat for a few more days, I was coordinating with Jeff to have him come pick the car up. During that time, the dome light was left on which killed the battery. Anyhow, I went to jump the car and then blew a fusible link. I still don't know how it happened, I did not cross the wires when I jumped the car. Jeff came to pick up the car and he brought a fusible link, we replaced it, still nothing. We determined the fuel pump was not working properly. He then insisted to have it towed down to his house. I agreed. Things went from bad to worse The problem was simple, the fuel pump wasn't working. Although power was getting to the pump, the ground signal was not; the ground signal is given by the ECM, the pump is not grounded at the source. I contacted General Disorder and got his opinion on my situation, he was very skeptical. He said my ECU was probably fine and that my mechanic was the problem. Finally, Jeff called me and said we should order another ECM, it took almost a week and a half to get the part, the snow delayed things a few days but still, way too long. He got the used part only to realize that it didn't work. He then had to order another ECM. Finally, he got the ECM, but guess what? The ECM wasn't the problem, my ECM was fine. Then, yesterday, Jeff called me and said he didn't know what was wrong with the car. Even more bizarre still, he said he didn't have the proper Subaru manuals he needed to fix the car. He said he couldn't locate the grounding points in his Chilton and Haynes manuals. He also said he's only worked on a few models similar to mine in the last 30 years of service. Huh? Totally frustrated, I got a hold of General Disorder again, thank God for him. I spoke with him at length and he essentially diagnosed and fixed my car on the phone. Solution? Put a ground wire at the fuel pump and call it good for now. The axles he said, needed new grease and new boots at the DOJ (inner joint), not replacing. So, here I wait, my car still at Jeff's house and he won't return my calls. My plan: get the car out of his garage as fast as possible and take it to someone who actually knows what they're doing, or fix it my self. That's my experience, I thought I might be useful for some of you.

Yes. I have been talking with General Disorder, straightened a ton of stuff out. Unfortunately, my mechanic Jeff hit the wall. He didn't how to fix the car.

I posted earlier about an electrical problem. My battery died after the dome light was left on. I went to jump it and blew a fusible link; I did not cross the wires and I have no idea what happened. I replaced the fusible link but still, the car would not start. I learned that the issue was related to the fuel pump. The fuel pump is getting power but it's not getting a ground signal, the ground signal comes via the ECM. We swapped out the ECM to see if something was wrong with it. After the swap, still no ground signal. My ECM appears to be fine. It's got to be something coming into/not coming into the ECM. What else could it be? All the fusible links are good, all the fuses are good. Thinking it's a grounding issue but none of the Subaru manuals, Haynes or Chilton list all the locations of grounding point up to the ECM. To make matters worse, I have to hold my mechanics hand all through this process and I've lost all confidence in him. After all, I originally took my car into him for an axle problem. Help, anyone? I could really use. Thanks.

Thanks Miles! I'll try that.

Thanks! I'll try that. You you guys think the ECM could be fried? I just can't believe something as serious as that could happen just from jumping a car.

Oh, I thought you meant there were additional fusible links under the dash. I checked all the standard links, they're all fine. All the fusible links appear fine as well. Power, however, is not getting to the fuel pump. Do we think it's the ECM? Boy, I really hope not.

Thanks! Where are the fusible links located under the dash??

1985 GL-10 4x4 Turbo Auto w/51k on it. My battery died last weekend so I attempted to give the car a jump (did not cross the wires, absolutely positive) but it did not work. I did notice that I burned up one the 1.25 fusible links though (attached to the washer fluid) reservoir. I replaced the fusible link but the car won't start. I'm not getting any power back to my fuel pump and I don't know what happened. A friend was telling me how finicky these cars are with wiring, he said he thought the computer got fried in the process of me jumping the car which I find this very hard to believe. Are there any other fusible links/fuses between the fuel pump and the dash? Otherwise if the computer is bad, I'm going to have to find one, no idea where to even look. Thanks!

So my battery died last night; I left the door open and it drained out. I tried to jump it, very carefully, as I was told that one should never jump a old Subaru for risk of doing damage. Jumping didn't work but what happened in the process is that I started seeing smoke coming from a little box mounted to the drivers side. The little black box on the on the drivers side contains 4 fusible links; 1.25, .50, .85, and .50. The 1.25 was what caused the smoke. First, is this a quick fix just replacing the link? If so, who has them? Second, did I just damage my car? Thanks guys!

Yes. The DOJ inner axle joint for an 1985 GL-10 Auto... Or should I have them rebuilt?

I mean OEM parts. Non-oem are still available. I'm looking for an OEM inner axle...