hooziewhatsit

I know of at least two other silver late '80s GLs in K Falls like mine. There are a ton of legacys, foresters, etc also.

How do you know it's getting good spark? Just out of curiosity... pull the distributor cap off and make sure the rotor is still screwed in. I've had that happen several times, that is, until I hit the screw with some lock tite. All of sudden the car dies and won't start again... it turns over, it's getting gas... good luck

In case you haven't found it yet, here's a thread where a guy puts a 5spd d/r in his auto. It'll give you an idea what it would take to do. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13063&page=1&pp=10 Yea, the guys here know what they're talking about. Got my last grinding wheel fixed in a day

Went to the junkyard and picked up a new hub/rotor combo. That hub had flat tops on all the splines, so I knew mine was working on being stripped. Anywho, finally got it all put back together and no more grinding However, since the new rotor is slightly thicker than my old one, I think the brake pads are rubbing all the time, causing a yummy smell. Tomorrow when it gets warm again I'll screw the piston in a little bit and see if that helps. thanks for the help. -Dave

Hey all Got the hub off this morning. Around the outer edge the splines have a flat top about the size that CraigGT suggested they should be. Although, as you can see in the picture, further in they go to a point. I assume this means I need a new hub? When I put it back on I assume I can put some hi-temp grease on the axle? The axle itself looks fine; the splines have a flat top. The bearings on the inside don't look excessively clean. For now I'll probably just throw some more hi-temp grease in and call it good? Thanks for the help. -Dave

yea, same on mine and the wifes car. I hit the motors with WD40 a while ago but didn't seem to help. Although in hindsite a cleaner switch does make sense. thanks for the solution

I assume the cone washer and spring washer are the first two washers that come off after the axle nut? If that's the case, the cone washer looks fine, but the spring washer was slightly convex and had a very small rim around the edge. I cleaned them both off and put them back in. I found a site here: http://cybrina.mine.nu/SubaruDocs/wheel_bearings.htm that details some of the bearing replacement process. I don't have the puller, but I do have a hammer I'll see what I can get apart and find out tomorrow or sunday and go from there. I assume it would be fine to drive on for a while? I'm planning on going back to folks' place for christmas which is 265 miles north. If need be I can get our good suby mechanic there to look at it. thanks for the replies so far -Dave

on my '88 d/r GL wagon I've recently been getting bad grinding from the left front wheel when going slow. As I slow, so does the grinding. It seems to be one 'grind' per revolution. It mainly does it while coasting or going slow. I had this same problem last winter on the same wheel, and discovered the axle nut was loose (thank God for cotter pins). Anyways, tightened it back up and it's been fine. Also had similar grinding on the right rear after doing a brake job and not tightening the axle nut enough. Again, tighten it up and it's been fine. So here's the current problem: I have it as tight as I can get it, put the cotter pin (which is loose) and it's fine - no grinding. soon as I drive a little bit, the grinding comes back, and the axle nut has only backed off enough to make the cotter pin be snug (ie, about 1-2 degrees of revolution). I've jacked it up and the tire doesn't rock or otherwise make noise. Tomorrow I can back the nut off a little and see if it does while jacked up or not. So is this bearings going out or what? My fix in the past isn't working anymore. lol, that got to be a long post, Thanks for the help -Dave ps, I need to stop browsing around here - makes me want to put a turbo in or do other cool mods

If anyone uses the MegaJolt system (for ignition timing), my friend wrote a windows based program to replace the java one it comes with. It does some stuff the java program doesn't, which makes it kinda nice, just an FYI...

nicky, just out of curiosity, where were you when you took those videos? I grew up on Mt. Hood, so it probably isn't too far away..

actually.... compared to my wife's '91 loyale, my clutch is really picky. In her's, while sitting in first on level ground, you could easily just let the clutch out and start moving in first, In mine, you'd have to be really careful if you didn't want to kill it. (how's that for some technical terms ) Is there an easy way to test that? thanks for the suggestion, -Dave

Ok, I'll look at trying to find some this Redline stuff I've heard about on this site So you're using D4-ATF on your manual transmission? I've also read a little bit about using their 75W90 NS also. -off to do some more research here on which is better... thanks for the replies.

Hey all I have an '88 GL wagon, D/R 5 speed manual transmission. For quite a while now, the transmission has been been rough and hard to shift when it is cold. By rough shifting, I mean it's hard to make it come in & out of gears, especially going into first when I'm slowing down. Once everything warms up, it shifts fine. An occasional roughness going into third which has been there for a long time (heard this was the synchroniser?). Each time I've had the oil changed in the past, I was told I had a tranny leak, so I'd add a little more fluid. That seemed to help the shifting for a while, then I'd need to add a little more. When I checked the level a couple days with the engine running in neutral, the fluid level was well over full. Got the tranny semi-cleaned a couple months ago and have been watching for any leaks, but have not seen anything significant. So far my only workarounds have been to let it warm up before I drive it (which isn't a bad thing anyways), and to 'baby' it until it does start shifting better. Any ideas? is the tranny shot/soon to be shot? keep driving until it does die? any idea what's causing it or how to fix it? thanks -Dave edit: I'm using GL5 fluid in it, and the car has 165K on it,

I'd find a rubber hammer and tap on your catalytic converter. If you hear any rattling when you hit the converter, then the honeycomb has broken up and is most likely your problem. My GL was doing something similar about a year ago. Had no power, couldn't get over about 40 (unless going downhill), and a very distinct squeeling noise from the front somewhere (especially if I revved it up). Turns out the catalytic converter honeycomb thing came loose and was blocking the exhaust. I fixed my problem by taking out that portion of the exhaust, cutting the converter box open, and removing the honeycomb. Just had to weld it shut again and put it back in. good luck

Cool, if it won't hurt anything I'll just let it go. I make sure to let it warm up in the morning before she drives it. I have the skills to do the fix, just not the time or a place to do it. Right now we can't really have it down while it's getting fixed. I have some other questions I'll post at some point :-) thanks -Dave

Hey all, This is my first post and first question here. So far I've learned a lot just by searching for my problem and not finding anything quite like it. Anywho, on the wifes '91 Loyale, it pings/knocks usually at least 30seconds to a minute after being started. It is much more pronounced when it is cold out. During warm weather (or after the engine is warm) it stops knocking almost immediately. Only thing I can think of is a problem with the oil pump. It's cold, has trouble pumping until it warms up a bit, etc. Oil pressure shows up fine though and still runs fine. Had the oil changed not too long ago. If it is the oil pump, I'd like to replace it before it does any real damage. Thanks, -Dave ps, d'oh, figures that after I post I find this: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4011&highlight=oil+pump+gasket+damage For some reason I can't get the first link in that article to work? Sounds a lot like my problem, any other ideas if that isn't the case?