Singlecoil

I may be guilty of a thread hijack, but here goes. My dieseling came back. Not all the time, today it did it when I shut it down when warm. The General was right again, looks like I got taken by the local shop. I then paniced, since I had to fly out of town in a matter of hours, couldn't drive the thing 52 miles to the airport (due to a different problem, see below) and wanted to fix the damn dieseling so the wife wouldn't have to deal with it while I was gone. After numerous near random adjustments, it seems that it won't diesel as long as the idle mixture screw is turned clockwise far enough that the engine idles slightly rough. It basically starts to run a little rough, then you turn it about another third of a turn to make it more rough to get it to not diesel. This has me wondering about the vacuum advance, which GeneralDisorder mentioned. I had a factory new EA82 dropped into this baby up in Anchorage about 20,000 miles ago and it has idled rough ever since. I took it back to them, but they said it was the best they could do. This car had the feedback, Cali carb so they were probably not used to that setup up there. Maybe with the Weber in it now, whatever was causing the rough idle has caused the engine to run even worse with a Weber on it? How can I troubleshoot the vacuum advance? I'm going to have to buy a timing light so I can get this nailed down precisely as well. The other problem could just be another bad CV joint. I had both axles and both front bearings done one year ago or about 10,000 miles ago. One of the axles went bad and was replaced under warranty. However that one still has LOTS of play in all directions on the tranny side. It seems the other one is going out now. Loud clank, clank, clank on turns and when braking. I'm using a different mechanic now than the one who did the front end work, because he took much longer than he said he would everytime, and was weak in the diagnostic area. If it is another CV, what should I tell the new mechanic about which parts to use? Are OEM CV's clearly better? How much more expensive are they? The only thing that is worrying me currently is that it might not be a CV and might be something I somehow screwed up when I did the carb. I drilled out the intake manifold with larger holes and tapped in threads for the Weber plate. I was careful not to get anything into the manifold and vacuumed it out thoroughly. However, the timing access hole under the spare tire was not covered. I'm guessing that is the flywheel that is spinning right there. Is it possible that if something fell into there that it could damage something in the tranny? The reason I ask is that there is an audible clunk when engaging and disengaging the clutch that I don't think was there before. This only happens in two wheel drive; in four wheel there is no clunk. Could that just be the CV? I've put at least 3 axles on each side of this baby in the last 12 years and I'm getting tired of it. My paranoid mind is racing and imagining a washer or something that is stuck down in the tranny from the timing window. I certainly hope not. It's about time for the subie to run good for a couple of months.

Well, I might have it backwards. He may have said I had it at 20 and he set it to 8, I honestly can't remember. All I know is the dieseling was driving me crazy and that seems to be fixed. We'll see on the mileage.

I finally took the subie to the local mechanic to set the basic specs. I got tired of having it diesel on shutdown and have been working too much to fiddle with it any further as it is the wife's daily driver. According to the mech, I had the timing at 8 degrees when it should have been 20 and there were way too many hydrocarbons in the exhaust meaning it was running too rich, which they adjusted. They charged me one hour of labor or about 80 bucks. So far so good. Good performance and no dieseling. I'll post the mileage figures when I get them in about a week.

Sounds like you may have the nut holding the throttle body on too tight, which the Weber manual says is the number one cause of issues. My EA82 dieseled as well until I adjusted the timing and mixture. I did it mainly by ear, but my mileage isn't the greatest so I think I'm going to take it in and have a pro set everything up.

You must have used the silver ones. I would have used those as well, but I would have felt guilty after reading this thread. After seeing for myself how poorly the silver ones seated I set out to buy 6mm bolts with the larger heads. Unfortunately I was tackling this on a Sunday in a small town and couldn't find the bolts I was seeking. But I could find the 8mm tap. I didn't want to remove the manifold from the car so I just stuffed a rag into the intake, grabbed my cordless drill and went for it. I was careful not to drill too deep with the 17/64 bit. Then the tapping the threads part was pretty easy. I just kept it as straight as I could until it seated itself and used a 7mm wrench to turn it into the manifold. I did each hole twice because the metal shavings seem to get in the way a little. I then got the Dyson vacuum out (over the wife's objections) and vacuumed the whole area very thoroughly. I'm sure nothing got inside the intake. ...and yes, I do like the animated pic on the engine very cool. ...and thanks General; if it wasn't for your comments on my thread about the 3 codes on my ECU I wouldn't have known about the Weber solution.

I got the K731 about two weeks ago from http://www.racetep.com/web2004pl.html for $370 including shipping. The only thing I had to buy were the 17/64 drill bit, the 8mm tap and LOTS of vacuum caps.

Thanks, General!

Well, my subie is now Weberized! What a difference. As advised I took the 17/64 drillbit to the intake manifold, enlarged the 6mm holes, then tapped in new 8mm threads. It was surprisingly easy and I hadn't ever tapped in threads before. My car had California emissions and an insane number of gadgets and vacuum tubes all over the place. I removed a bunch of stuff, bypassed other stuff, and ended up needing the carb cleaner to chase down a couple of vacuum leaks, but it runs great now. Here is a pic of the right tap to buy and a view of how the two different bolts in question fit the adapter.

Well, I kind of expected a bunch of replies by now, but I guess not. Luckily I was able to finish the job myself without too much cursing. I basically capped off absolutely everything, ran a line from the disty to the Weber, chased down a couple of uncapped ports with carbuerator cleaner and I'm good to go. I removed some solenoids that didn't look too important and some other stuff. I fully expected things like the heater not to work because of so many vacuum items being disconnected, but I lucked out. What a difference in power, idle, and accelleration. My Subaru is gone, now I have a Superu.

I feel pretty good about the progress made today, especially because it is a Sunday and the only auto parts store in town is closed. This car has is an '86 EA-82 with California emissions and no power steering. I got the old carb off without too much problem, but the old gasket was a pain. I used the dremel tool to basically sand it off. I removed the mounting bolts, drilled the holes wider with a 17/64 drill bit, then tapped in new 8mm threads without any problems. I was worried about that part because I've never tapped threads before and I obviously didn't want to screw up the intake manifold. I got the adapter plates on and mounted the carb without too much trouble. However, I seem to have more gadgets on this engine than others I have seen pictures of. What vacuum lines need to be routed somewhere and which ones can be capped? The instructions says to plug the vacuum advance from the disty into the weber, but my disty has two vacuum lines coming out of it. Which one do I use? I'm going to get a new vacuum line at NAPA in the morning for this purpose. The ones from the disty seem to run from rubber to copper lines that go under the intake manifold somewhere. The picture has some gadgets highlighted that I have no idea what purpose they serve. There are also two vacuum lines highlighted in the front of the carb. Any ideas? Is there a fuel return line that needs to be capped or is that not the case on this engine? What do I do with the hose that ran from the exhaust area up to the old air intake? Thanks!

Thank you very much for resurrecting this thread. I've decided to buy the Weber today and put it on my '86 EA-82 (no power steering so that'll be easy). I am a little leery about drililng and tapping in the 8mm screws as I have never done machine work like that. Is is absolutely necessary?

I never thought I would say this, but thank God I don't have power steering!

Thread resurrection! I have a couple of question before I take the plunge and buy the Weber. I have these three codes: 24 Coolant Temperature Sensor or Circuit 25 Manifold Vacuum Sensor or Circuit (1985-1988 Models) 65 Float Chamber Vent COntrol Valve or Circuit So, if I buy the Weber kit for $375 I can essentially ignore these codes and other ECU codes in the future? Does that mean the Hitachi uses some kind of electric input to the carb to alter fuel flow and the Weber does not? I'm guessing the Weber uses a simpler fuel delivery system and a superior design to get the added performance with fewer inputs. Is that right? Does the ECU still function via the electronic ignition or does swapping the carby fix these types of problems for sure? Do the kits include detailed instructions for installation? How long will it take a handy newbie to install? I live in an area with no emission tests so that is not a worry. The wife is tired of pulling out into traffic and not knowing when the hesitation will occur so I have a green light to get more HP out of the car. It sounds like the Weber is a good place to start. The car is also not starting as well as it used to either. Thanks!

Thanks, looks like I'll be getting re-acquainted with the search function Does the new carb use the old air filter? I just put a K&N filter in the thing, hopefully I can still use that.

That Weber sounds pretty intriguing. How much are they and how hard are they to install? Is that the carb or the distributor or ? I know Weber makes carbs but that's about all I know. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, is that a job for an intermediate level wrench? Where do I get one and what kind should I buy? Thanks again.

Thanks for the tips! I'm mainly interested in getting rid of the hesitation. I live in Eatonville, WA now, and don't have to take IM tests at all! I bought this car in Seattle from somebody who bought it at an auction (I found out later) in Cali. So when the coolant sensor goes, it reverts to some sort of limp mode or something? It feels like someone is flipping a switch on and off that robs you of about 20% of your horsepower. The partsbin has a water temperature sender, is the what I would replace to fix code 24, coolant temperature sensor?

I've had one code for about 8 years on my carbuerated California 86 GL. The dealer told me it wasn't anything special and a new part was about $300. I've had black tape on the light ever since. Lately the car has been hesitating after it warms up so I've paid closer attention to the codes. According to the listing on the site, my codes are: 24 Coolant Temperature Sensor or Circuit 25 Manifold Vacuum Sensor or Circuit (1985-1988 Models) 65 Float Chamber Vent COntrol Valve or Circuit There wasn't a separate chart for California emissions cars so I'm guessing the codes are the same. I want to keep this baby on the road since I have about 20,000 miles on a new engine and 181K total. Can anyone offer some tips or cheap fixes for these ones? Thanks much.

Great tip! I pulled the idler pulley out in about 5 mins, drove to NAPA, had him remove the old bearing and after about 15 minutes of measuring and searching, find and install a new bearing. I thought it was my lucky day until he told me he didn't have the belt . The next closest auto parts store was 20 miles away. Anyway, I got the idler pulley fixed for $30, $20 for the bearing and $10 to press it in. A new belt will be about 10 bucks so for under $50 bucks I have A/C again! Thanks again.

Thanks everybody! That sounds like a great fix.

I have an '86 GL Wagon 1.8, carb, california. When I lived up in Anchorage, the pulley (tensioner?) for the A/C belt seized up and wouldn't allow the belt to rotate properly. Since a new pulley was something like $150 and you don't need A/C up in Anchorage, I just had them leave the belt off. The car has been like this for about 3 years. It has one belt that goes around the engine, water pump, A/C, and alternator. The A/C has pulleys for two belts. The pulley that seized was not the one on the A/C, it was the one all by itself. So I was diagnosing a loss of power in first gear problem, which I still haven't figured out, and thought the A/C pulley might be seizing. The car feels like you are trying to tow something heavy, then it goes away after a few seconds. Not good when pulling out in traffic. Anyway, I pulled the lone belt off to turn the A/C by hand to see if there was any resistance. There wasn't, but I noticed a blue wire harness that was unplugged by the A/C. I plugged that back in, put the belt back on and to my surprise the A/C worked great with only one belt on the car. My question (finally) is this: Is it OK to run the A/C with just this one belt? I'm guessing there are two belts because there would be too much strain on one belt under some conditions. Would it be OK at low RPM? High RPM? Or is this just a really bad idea? Thx.

Thanks for the tips. It definitely wasn't my fault. Especially because I was in the passenger seat The wife was driving, stopped in a 35mph zone for two fire engines to cross our path and our family of 4 got plowed by a Ford F-250. I was the only one that got any injury and that was minor; a slightly tweaked neck. The repair estimate I got was for about $3000, but that was for new parts. I was able to get matching parts thanks to mtnman38 and can get it fixed for less than they are offering, but the rear will be pulled and pounded instead of being replaced. It just irks me that they think it is only worth that despite its excellent mechanical condition.

I got rear-ended last week and the insurance company says it is totalled. It is an '86 GL 4WD Wagon in excellent shape. All the glass is good, the interior is good, everything works, etc. It does not have power windows or locks. It has 178,000 miles, but only 16,000 on a factory new engine and clutch. Rear shocks were done 4 months ago as were the front bearings and one front CV. Also, this car has NO RUST! Hard to believe, I know, but there isn't any rust in any of the wheel wells. That was a big reason why the decision was made to put the engine in. The insurance company is offering me around $1500. Does this sound reasonable? The motor and clutch cost a little under $3000. I'm thinking they should give me a little more credit for the engine than they are. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

I think it was about $150-200 for the two rear struts including shipping. The $607 was for just the rear.

Thanks guys. My shop found them in New Jersey and quoted me $607 installed up here in Anchorage. I need to find the time to do some of this myself, but that won't be happening anytime soon.

Yeah, at first they thought they were air and $350 a piece, but now they say they are the externally adjustable ones. I should have said I'm somewhat of a newbie (though I did rebuild my resister block ), do you turn them from the top or the bottom?