el_freddo

How dodgy is the seller? Are they known for this sort of thing, or is it possible the PO had the crash, straightened out the front end, replaced the cam belt and found it a non runner so moved it on, only to have you buy a bung engine? It’s difficult to know this information but it seems feasible to me. Any chance of a replacement or refund on the engine? And how badly cracked were the cam covers? All it takes is a piece of metal in there to shred the cam belt. I had a stick almost do it to my ej22 while out 4wdn... Cheers Bennie

Neat looking Tex! Not many of them getting around anymore A guy on Ausubaru is doing one up atm. You’ll need a compatible version of internet explorer or Firefox to access that forum atm The leak you describe will most likely be the heater circuit pipe over the top of the engine block, or the connecting heater hose above the water pump (hidden under the AC compressor and bracket). This little hose is often missed when general maintenance is carried out on the cooling system. Being that it sat for a number of years without coolant in the block I’d be giving it a good flash of the system, replace all radiator and heater hoses including the two annoying little ones between the block and intake manifold and the manifold and heater circuit crossover pipe. You could expect the heater circuit crossover pipe to be corroded to all buggery and could be the source of your leak too, any EA82 heater crossover pipe will do the job. I’d replace the water pump, radiator and even look into replacing the heater core as it has plastic end tanks (genius idea Subaru!) and typically let go near the 300k km mark. I did two in my L series and it’s not fun! All brass copper units are available and worth the coin for piece of mind. If doing this work be careful not to crack the instrument cluster surround as they’re rarer than hens teeth on rocking horse crap! And pull the steering wheel and drop the column to avoid cracking the windscreen (been there, done that - rookie mistake). Be aware that the headgaskets could be weak now too, after all the above work is done you may find yourself tearing back into it to replace the pesky headgaskets... Keep up the good work and the door wedge love! There’s not many around and good examples will be harder to come by as time goes on. Lastly, get it out of the weather! Even with a car cover you’ll toast the clear coat. Do not ever cut and polish this vehicle as you’ll only be stripping the clear coat. If you want to see what crap clear coat in that Subaru blue looks like I’m more than happy to post a pic of my L’s paint Also ensure the drain pipes in the sunroof are not blocked. Very common for them to rust out here due to a blockage or partial blockage. Maybe one day you can make it to the annual Hunter Valley Cruise in May. I’m keen but haven’t managed to get there yet! Also checkout Subyclub, another Oz based forum They’re mainly into their newer Subaru’s but love hearing about old skool builds such as this And done Cheers Bennie Ps: any engine bay pics? I’m wondering if it’s got a spider manifold and flat ribbed belts. I think the spider manifold came later though.

Sounds good Souperoo. I paid $500AU for my L series back in the day. It’s now done 500+k km but is slightly modified now - and it’s not the only subaru that I now own, so consider yourself warned!!! Throw up some pics, it’s one thing we all love on here Cheers Bennie

Hey mate, sweet rides you have there and one very tidy looking vortex! That undercarriage pic shows it’s dirty side That too would come up mint with a bit of effort Is the tex awd manual as well? Love the nodded brumby too. My L series is basically the same and I’m trying to resist the same for my brumby! Keep up the good work and the pics coming Cheers Bennie

Or try soldering the broken wire back onto the solenoid... Cheers Bennie

If it’s a uni joint you’ll also get an oscillating vibration at a set speed. Uni joints are easy to check: hold the two parts of the uni joint that connect to the yoke (the centre piece that looks like a cross - best description I can give), try twisting each hand in the opposite direction. Do this in both directions and look for movement at the bearing caps getting closer or further from the two parts, or feel for movement and possibly clicking. Once you’ve experienced a dead uni joint you’ll know what you’re looking for. Youtube may have a video of this check to help guide you. L series uni joints are not replaceable without some machine work. Over here it’s common to change the uni joints to accept a Mitsubishi or old Holden unit if going down this route. If you get a ticking sound that is speed dependent in a particular gear you have a chipped gear tooth. I’ve not heard of multiple gears having a chipped tooth at the same time. I also can’t explain how you chip a tooth but have seen it once on first gear on a Gen2 ej22 liberty (legacy). Cheers Bennie

Did this have a snapped timing belt? If so it sounds like bent valves to me. That means swap engine for known good one or pull heads, inspect damage and go from there. At the very least this would mean a full overhaul of the heads. Cheers Bennie

If you’ve got a round plug alternator (Gen1 legacy’s), these can drop a phase and not charge properly but will manage to maintain the battery in general. I’ve “upgraded” my ej22 alternator to a Gen3 square plug unit as I’ve heard these are a better design/unit that doesn’t have the same issue. So far so good. Could be something to look into. Cheers Bennie

Try unplugging one headlight at a time when the issue is present. If things become brighter as they should be with one light unplugged, you know the issue is with this light. From here, inspect the globe. If the filament/element looks dodgy, replace the globe and check for normal operation. If not globe, check the relay for that light in the fuse and relay box in the engine bay. If one is dodgy, replace it. To check, individually pull the relays and see if there is a change in the performance of the remaining light. From here I’m no use... Other thing to check are your earth mount points on your wiring harness. Clean and replace any that look dodgy/crusty/rusty. All the best, please report back if issue is resolved Cheers Bennie

If it’s a head gasket you typically won’t see coolant dropped on the ground or pouring out of the engine. My bet is you have a dead water pump shaft seal - most likely due to the water pump wearing out from incorrect service (read: replacement) intervals. Personally I always go with genuine water pumps, they have a cast impeller that reduces cavitation compared to the pressed steel impeller found on aftermarket water pumps. However, for a daily driver that is not put under a lot of stress such as regular high revs or hard acceleration, the pressed steel impeller will be fine If you choose to do the cam belt yourself, make sure you align the “|” mark on the cam wheel and not the arrow And always rotate the crank twice after the belt is installed, check alignment again, if good reassemble, if out a tooth remove belt and start again Cheers Bennie Edit: a head gasket will typically blow bubbles into the radiator. How small/big will depend on how badly blown the HGs are. Not fixing this coolant loss issue could result in a blown hg or two... After replacing the water pump, run for a week if issue is resolved then change the oil if it’s been cooked or you don’t know the history on it

Your GL will have a low pressure pump if carb or a matching high pressure efi pump if MPFI EA82. I had a similar issue on my ej’d L series running the same efi pump. Once the fuel got hot during sand 4wdn the engine would fade out and stall, it wouldn’t start for at least 5 mins depending on weather. Swapped fuel pump for new and no issue since. Cheers Bennie

Gday Brian, Firstly, what model Subaru are we talking about? The four and five speed are quite different. It sounds like an odd issue, I’m looking forward to working out what it is Cheers Bennie

If no hoist or A frame, three blokes can do the trick to pull the engine out no worries. Seems like you’re 99% of the way to have the engine out so might as well go the whole hog in my opinion for easy access to other general maintenance areas such as rear main seal/oil pump and front crank seal etc. I know as a “back yard mechanic” I like to pull the engine in the MY series and the gearbox in the EJ series for this job - it makes it easier as a one man show and I can check other things out in the process. Each to their own at the end of the day Cheers Bennie

EA81 wagon and brumby/brat tailshafts are different sizes. Brumby/brat is ~10cm longer than that of the wagon and hatch. Probably not that much different in weight between the two but it could be the difference between one postage category and another... Cheers Bennie

Temp sensor for instrument cluster is near the thermostat housing on the engine. The “sensor” in the radiator is the Thermo fan switch, nothing more. The L series runs a two wire unit where as the MY brass radiator runs a single wire switch. Make sure your heater core isn’t blocked. It could be worthwhile dropping the exhaust off the heads and checking your exhaust ports for that cracking that GD showed in your other thread. If it’s there you need to look into another set of heads - MPFI NA heads can be used but may need some mods for the turbo. Use the cams that are in the engine now as these will be turbo specific from my understanding. Sparkyboy, you’ve got an XT (Vortex “door stop”) and Jaysus has an RX L series, while symptoms and issues may be the same the layout of the wiring and location of the ecu are very different. Just a heads up so things don’t get confusing between both of you Cheers Bennie

Something like this is what I need: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Electric-Turbo-Oil-Scavenge-Pump-12v-DC-Scavenger-Twin-Turbo-Return-Line/151065464535?epid=1158587890&hash=item232c340ed7:g:FsgAAOSwwpdW2QLo&vxp=mtr Not the exact one I had in mind but it’d do the job. Hooked into a switch you only use it when climbing Cheers Bennie

Other trick is to slightly overfill the gearbox oil if you don't want to split the case and go through this much work. Not as effective but may help - or show up some new oil leaks. Cheers Bennie

Have a read of Phiz's build thread. He's done exactly what you want to do, only his is with an EJ25 - I'd recommend an AWD box with that setup! Cheers Bennie

Yep it's been done a few times over here. This is my dual range EJ cased L series AWD box with the low range oil feeders: The oil pickup comes from the rear housing where there's a redundant switch (single wire hanging out) - perfect for oil collection on hill climbs. This is the switch bolt in the pic where the oil pickup comes from. I don't have an image of my oil pick up line or the pump (that I can find yet): You can just make out the barb fitted for the oil pick up in this pic: The pump I use is not ideal at the moment - just a jiggler fuel pump that's found in any MY or L series carb'd version. I only use it when the gearbox is up to temp. I need to get a brass geared unit some day... Main aim of this mod is not to lubricate as such, but to reduce the heat in the gears with lubrication as a bonus If you have a whine this may reduce it a bit, but it also may not as the damage is probably done already but it'll reduce any further heat related damage to the gears and that's a good thing. Personally I'd do this to the L series 5 speed box and leave the 4spd alone. Drop a front LSD in there while you've got the box out Cheers Bennie PS: Welcome to the forum

The touring wagon came out in the EA81 and EA82 models. The car in question is a GT version - turbo variant. This is where the 1500 release number in the states comes from. There will be loads more GL touring wagons kicking around in the states with the EA82 carb and MPFI variants if the engine options are anything like what ours were. The high roof continued over here in all liberty wagons (up to Gen3 - I'm not 100% sure about Gen4 onwards), there were no flat roof units over here. Where as the states got the flat roof legacy with very few high roof units around. The legacy name was not allowed in Australia due to the returned solider's Legacy organisation/institution. So it's very easy to spot an imported legacy over here. Cheers Bennie

Bugger

Did you do the one crank rotation between fitting each belt? I didn't do this back when I was learning about these engines and while it ran, it wasn't much fun and didn't like to idle. If you lined up the three marks and installed both belts, you'll need to line up the three marks and the cam mark, remove one belt and rotate the crank 360 degrees and reinstall the cam belt as per alignment procedure. Then re-tune the timing I know the hotwire AFM needs 20 deg BTDC static, I'm not sure if this is correct for the flapper AFM setup as I never played with these. Cheers Bennie

I don't think it's going to work out fellas, thanks for the offer though. I don't know anyone in Singleton or near that area and it's just too far north to justify a quick drive to pick it up Thanks again though! Cheers Bennie

I'm running an auxiliary loom that references the factory loom to switch a set of relays from high to low beam etc. This reduces the amount of wiring the voltage/current has to travel through to get to the lights. This also provides better/newer wiring for voltage/current to run through to the lights, increasing light output intensity. You can get these cheap on fleabay and may have to swap some wires around to make it work properly. I can't remember what I moved but it's all working well and throws really good light now. This is the sort of thing I got: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/H4-H1-Headlight-Wiring-UPGRADE-Harness-Unloads-Lamp-Switches-4-LAMPS/152814036916?hash=item23946d27b4:g:560AAOSwN8FZqosp ^ This one wasn't available when I got mine, otherwise I would've gone with this kit. Cheers Bennie

Hey Al, That would be awesome but I don't know anyone in that area or who frequents that area I've got the 6 gauge cluster and matching wiring, I just don't have the dash to house it in... The 5spd shifter knob would be awesome though if you've got one! My mother in law needs one - she once drove my L series for 2hrs in 4th at 100kmph because her brumby was a four speed! Cheers Bennie