hooziewhatsit

interesting... that's a much quicker swap than what I was thinking... thanks for the idea (deej also) come to think about it.. the idiot lights did usually come on for a second or two when it first starts, but I accounted that to a very low idle (200-400ish rpms)

as a quick test, put another ground wire between the wiper motor and the body. That's all it took to fix the herky-jerky intermittant wipers on my car, and several other peoples cars IIRC.

hehehe... details :-p that's what I get for posting before I truly wake up, lol I'd still be suspicious that the distributor was installed incorrectly. I also don't believe you can use a timing light if it isn't running. (I could be wrong?)

my initial thought, not knowing anything about carbs, is that the disty is probably off. To check, you can either insert a finger, most of spark plug, etc, into cylinder 1 and crank until you feel the compression stroke. Then put it at TDC and see where the rotor points. It should point to cylinder #1. however, from the FSM, if you don't have long enough fingers to check for the compression stroke on cyl. 1, take off the passenger side t-belt cover (if it isn't off already) Line up 0* TDC on the flywheel while the dot on the cam points to 315* (North-West) It will either point NW, or SE, you don't want it to point SE. Now adjust the disty so that it's pointing at the #1 sparkplug wire. That should get it close enough in time that it will start. This will only work if the belts are installed correctly, which I'm guessing they are, since they haven't been changed. good luck

why do you need to swap the gears? I just looked through the conversion guide, and didn't see anything about swapping them. I would assume that the gears are the same and will work without swapping them Have you pulled your carb'ed distributor out yet to verify that they're the same/different?

are you handy with a soldering iron? http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26603

third page bump for the monday morning work folks later today I'm going to try swapping the disty out with one from another car. I'll have to take the connectors off and swap them though, should be fun

you don't want to know how much money I've saved by doing all the car work myself... having once payed close to $300 to swap an axle My wife points out all the money we save each time we have to do something to one of the cars bottom line, this site is awesome!

go here, and download the EA82 service manuals. http://www.finleyweb.net/default.asp?id=142 on page 34 of part2, it says code 11 is CAS (no reference pulse) and code 13 is CAS (No position pulse) From that point on in the manual, it has many guides to getting the codes, and most importantly, troubleshooting guides to find a problem with the ignition control system (page 53 of the PDF). I need to go through the troubleshooting guide myself later today

87 SPFI wagon, 259K miles, manual, Just got the engine back in after doing a HG/reseal job. Ran fine for a few days on blocks, then the tach decided to start jumping around. It always matches the engine RPM while it's running. Most of the time it will run fine until I put some load on the engine by turning on the AC, etc. At first it seemed like it ran out of gas, but even after adding more it didn't help it. While trying to start the car when it isn't working, the tach will jump all the way around and peg itself. There is also no spark from the coil. There is NO slop or play in the distributer bushings that I (or a friend) can feel. I've replaced the coil with one from another of my other cars to no difference. I put the coil from this car in the other car, and it runs just fine. So, it shouldn't be the coil. I cleaned all the grounds while I was at it also. To test the distributer, I've taken the distributor out of the engine but left it plugged in so I can manually trigger the coil by spinning the rotor, without turning over the engine. This works most of the time. Using cougars advice from another thread, I monitored the voltage at the neg side of the coil, and most of the time it changes with the spinning rotor. I've also checked all the wiring from the ECU to both the distributer and the coil, and it checks out fine. any ideas? thanks in advance -Dave ps, sorry for the long winded description edit: did some more tinkering this evening... After making it fail by adding a load, I turned the engine off, then disconnected the coil wire. I placed the coil wire by ground to watch it spark. I turned the engine over by hand with the key on, and it would occasionally spark like it should.

I can email it to you if you have an account that can accept a 4 meg file.

pretty much start at the top of the engine and if looks like it needs removed, remove it I just did this job, and it wasn't too bad. I've heard that if you don't want to undo most of the stuff from the manifold, you can just unbolt it and move it out of the way into the spare tire area. Otherwise, just make a mental note, or take a picture, of where everything goes. The AC will unbolt and move to the battery holder spot allowing you to not de-pressurize the system. The power steering will just unbolt from the engine and sit on the front grill area. It's pretty flexible, so you can put it just about anywhere it's out of the way. All the electrical connections are keyed and individual, so there is no way to mis-connect them when it goes back together. Once everything is out of the way, you can unbolt the engine from the tranny, and remove the starter. I used a jack under the oil pan with a block of wood to lift the engine slightly, then slid the jack/engine forward to clear the tranny. A combination of moving forward/raising the jack will get it pretty high and out of the way. When it was high enough a friend and I reached in and pulled it out. An engine hoist would've been really nice. Once the engine is out, the front of the tranny will sit on the crossmember just fine. On re-installation, you may need another jack to hold the tranny up a bit to aid in re-alignment. More than anything though, just keep track of where stuff goes. If you unplug/unhook it, either label it, or lay it out somewhere in a meaningfull manner (ie, lay all pcv hoses out like they are on the engine, not just a pile of hoses) good luck

sounds like the exact same thing that happened to my loyale a week ago. Huge split in the upper radiator hose. Another thing you'll want to check is the water pump. Check for any play in the shaft by pushing/pulling on it. If it moves much at all, it should probably be replaced. Mine has a little play a good whine to it now.

grr... a car I'm getting ready for a friend just started running real rough, tach & engine rpm bouncing around. It eventually stopped firing altogether. Since I had a good coil lying around, I swapped it in, to no difference. So... now it looks like the disty decided to die on me. I'm not getting pulses on the - side of the coil like you're describing. btw, what frequency should those pulses be at? so.. anyone got a spare disty for an '87 SPFI wagon? This distributor has a clip on cap, not screw on, and a different connector than my other two cars.

is it possible that the tube isn't sitting centered in the water pump? could it just need 'tweaked' to get a better seal?

from the FSM, if you don't have long enough fingers to check for the compression stroke on cyl. 1, take off the passenger side t-belt cover (if it isn't off already) Line up 0* TDC on the flywheel while the dot on the cam points to 315* (North-West) It will either point NW, or SE, you don't want it to point SE. Now adjust the disty so that it's pointing at the #1 sparkplug wire. That should get it close enough in time that it will start. good luck

I think my car is doing the same thing :-\ I just got done replacing HGs, and resealing everything elsel. The oil appears to be dripping from one of the exhaust studs on both heads onto the exhaust. Tomorrow I'm going to take the exhaust off and see what it looks like, where it drips from, etc. bumpage

a pinout is a guide to where all the wires in your car go, ie, a wiring diagram. In this case, it will show where all the connections from the TCU (transmission control unit) go.

I just finished this same job; just got the car running this morning :-) the seals you need really depends on what all you want to reseal. Personally, I resealed everything. list of everything (I think) 2x HGs 11044AA013 2x cam tower o-ring (between head & cam tower) 13089AA010 2x cam o-ring 806958020 2x cam seal 806738040 1x front main seal 806738070 1x rear main seal ? (I didn't order one) 1x 'mickey mouse' oil pump seal 14066AA000 1x oil pump seal 806718090 1x oil pump o-ring 806945020 1x oil pan gasket 11121AA001 1x water pump gasket 21114AA000 1x water pump o-ring 806927010 2x intake gasket 14035AA150 RH valve cover gasket 13270AA001 LH valve cover gasket 13272AA001 optional: timing belt cover gaskets if you need, I can dig up SOA part numbers for most of these also. terminology: o-ring = uhh, an o-ring . Seal = 1/4" wide, 1/4" deep seal, like the front main seal. gasket = flat thingy. good luck and take your time. Hopefully you're taking the engine out for this if it's your first time. EDIT: Added SOA part numbers for all the seals/gaskets. Word of warning though... when you order these, make sure they are the correct ones. I had to cross check prices with the part number with the drawing at 1stsubaruparts.com to get some of them, since I already used the seals and just had empty bags!

I'll take a SWAG, as I just had an engine apart and saw all this stuff. I don't think it would make a difference. Assuming there are no leaks in the oil system between the pump/filter and lifter, and the anti-drain back valve in your oil filter is working properly, there would be no where for the oil to drain to. Similarly, for the oil to drain out, there would have to be air to replace it, correct? Where would this come from? I suppose if the check valve/spring thingy in the cam tower failed, the air could come from there. Now, on the other hand, since we know how many soobs don't leak a little oil here and there... If the O-ring between the cam tower & head was bad and leaking, it seems possible, however unlikely, that air would be able to enter there, or allow oil to leak and a faulty check valve to allow air in the other end of the system. I dunno, just some random thoughts on the subject

I've had the most luck by taking the calipers completely out of the car. This gives you (much) less backpressure on the brake fluid, and gives you a better angle to wrench from. If you don't remove the calipers, undo the bleeder valve - this will make it easier to screw in. In the past I've done it with a large open-ended wrench, half a turn at a time. My latest brake job included removing the calipers and using the special tool on a drill. Took about 3 seconds per caliper to reset the pistons :-) good luck, don't get too angry at it edit: for rear disk brakes (if you have them) all you do is push them back in with a C-clamp or similar. Again, this is easier if you unhook the brake line to the MC. If you don't unhook the brakeline to the MC or release the bleeder valve, make sure you don't overflow the MC with the new fluid.

that's pretty cool. I saw my very first RX in person a few nights ago while out on a walk. Was a white/gray trim one, and looked real clean

you say it 'seems' like the AC compressor is kicking on. Have you looked under the hood to verify this? All you're looking for is whether or not the compressor is spinning. IIRC, I thought the only times the compressor should be on is when 'AC' or 'Defrost' are selected. Beyond that, it shouldn't be on

it's on the back of the intake manifold. Follow the hose from the driver's side valve cover to a 'T' Follow the bottom side of the T to the back of the manifold; the PCV valve is what it runs into. The other side of the T goes to the intake tube. IIRC, it's a 19mm wrench to remove, and I've had more luck unscrewing it from the intake manifold before I remove it from the PCV hose. The hoses are usually brittle by now, and tend to break unless removed carefully.

have you/can you check the compression on it? sure sounds like a headgasket to me.