el_freddo

Fuse? Cheers Bennie

This sounds like a good one... a few things: - timing, yes I know you said you double triple checked it. Which markers did you use to line up the cams (don’t use the arrows, always the tabs on the rim of the cam wheel)? And this is a DOHC engine? - after reconnecting the battery did you let the engine idle for 5-10mins before touching the throttle? - after a drive when it was “normal” then not, are there any stored codes? - the spark plugs and leads new, if so, what was used? - fuel pump healthy or quite old? And on that one, fuel lines connected correctly? It’s easy to get a return line mixed up with the IN line on the fuel rails I hope some of these suggestions help or give you something to look at further. Cheers Bennie

You need to try and meet up with someone who has a Subi of the same era without the butchered wiring to cross reference. That tube fuse holder with the blue wire is a factory unit. Bugger it, I just ducked outside and grabbed these pics from my Brumby: Looking at your pics, it seems that someone has added that second circular plug. As per my pics mine is one side white and the other side blue - I had an inkling this was the case but didn’t want to give you a bum steer. I also wonder what those plugs further up the line are for - the pink one caught my attention as I don’t have any of them there, just neatly wrapped wiring. It’s either a LHD vs RHD difference OR someone may have attempted to splice two loom sections into one for some unknown reason. You might have to pull all the wires from that relay, record their colours and what they do - that will require some investigative work - but it would give us the best way to work out how everything is laid out in a factory wired vehicle by comparing what I and others have with their EA81’s. That’ll give you something to work on for now though! Cheers Bennie

Looks mean mate. What other plans do you have for your Subi? Cheers Bennie

Ah, I thought this was a post by Barney Stinson - who ironically can’t drive Welcome to the forum, I’m here all the time! Try the veil! Right back at you. Cheers Bennie

You could have a number of issues. Before GD says it, burn it and get something old school GM Serious now... you could have an issue with your HGs depending on when they were done last; there could be an air leak in the system or a stuck thermostat - or both! 25 deg BTDC is a bit much isn’t it? The MPFIs over here were all set at 20deg with some plugs connected under the dash while adjusting so the computer didn’t mess with the timing while you were adjusting it. Other things to look at, what’s the condition of your water pump? It could be worth getting the nose as high in the air as safely as you can, run for a minute then let it cool down. Check the coolant level. If it’s down it could be worth pulling the thermostat housing to see what that’s doing. Test it in some water (hanging from wire in the water, not sitting on the bottom of the pot while it’s being heated). Replace if dodgy. While that is out full the engine with coolant through the thermostat hole if coolant is needed. Squeeze the heater hoses to try and displace any air in there and top up as needed again. Refit thermostat and rad hose, back fill rad hose and connect to radiator. Turn engine on and slowly/steadily fill the radiator with coolant. Monitor temp etc and continue filling with coolant in small amounts when it lets you. Throw rad cap on, hold some revs for 10-20 seconds, let idle then shutdown. Let it cool. Check coolant level and top up as needed. The other thing to look at is your coolant temp sensor and TPS - make sure they’re working within spec and that the throttle cable isn’t holding the throttle open a little. If it is back this off and see if idle changes. Let us know how you go. Cheers Bennie

The blue/grey plug, are you talking about the circular plug for the engine wiring loom? That looks intact and fine to me. That black relay taped to the circular plug is not factory. You’ll have to trace those wires to find out where they go. It could be a relay for the fan(s) or it could be for some driving lights. As for the fusible link box, I can’t find an image with it in there and definitely can’t find one of the wiring setup in it either. This is the best I can come up with to show the brown box for the fusible links: You can see it tucked in behind the battery and hemmed in from the side with the coil. There will be quite a lot of wire tracing (label everything if it helps you) in your future at this point in time. Cheers Bennie

The first pic: yellow wire connects to the thermo switch down lower, also with a yellow wire by the looks of things. The battery pics seem to be a dangerous non-fused bypass of the fusible links for the main power. Those two wires (both grey from battery with blue and yellow connectors to the factory wiring) should go to a brown box with two or three fusible links (two for the EA81 DL wagon and brumby/brat from memory). These are designed to burn out before something causes an electrical fire in the wiring loom. Worth replacing back to factory or adapting newer style fuses of the correct rating instead. Those issues seem quite minor once you have your head around them and how you’ll go about fixing them. The thermo fan trigger switch should kick in once the engine temp shows a little over half on the gauge. The toggle switch will just go to earth. You could keep both systems in place so you have an override if you feel the need when sitting in traffic Cheers Bennie

^ that’s probably the difference between some planning for the work to be done compared to replacing blown parts ASAP. It’s probably also the difference between a specialty workshop that keeps a small amount of stock on commonly used items and someone working in their driveway with no stock to work from. Cheers Bennie

Yes easily repaired with engine in car. Removing rad fans and putting some cardboard (or some sort of board that’s hard) across the radiator will give you ample room for this job and the radiator will be protected. On the later models you might not even need to remove the rad fans if there’s enough room in there. Cheers Bennie

^ yep. It’s pretty sad state now many seem to believe it’s their right to have licence or drive like they’re the only ones in a race on the frog and toad. Driving is a privilege not a right, many forget this these days along with the actual skill of driving... I still love my old vehicles and will drive them for as long as possible. Cheers Bennie

Need a new harmonic balancer, and a new mechanic. The “dampener” bit as previously described above has chewed out and allowed the outer steel ring that the belts run on to walk backwards or forwards in relation to its centre half. Keyway is likely to be good still. A new cam cover section would be recommended too. Cheers Bennie

That is certainly true! And with the later models you don’t have to strip all of the rear interior out from what I recall. The Gen1 wagon is ridiculous to get the roof lining out of! Cheers Bennie

Yeah maybe. But when someone jumps on a forum and expect a quick response like it’s Facebook the second post comes across as ungrateful/arrogant/sarcastic to me (like a pissed off student that doesn’t get their way) - considering they haven’t taken the time to give us any detailed info to work with and a generic title. Kind of giving nothing, and wants what they want yesterday! I’ve seen it time and time again - only to never log in again. @Triox64 - no hard feelings mate. Good to see you’re back and I hope to read more threads and posts of yours in the future. Stress does weird things to us at times. When posting please try to include all relevant details for forum members to help you out the best we can. Many of us are backyarders. GD knows his stuff through his workshop knowledge, he’s like a FSM of all models rolled into one! All the best with those shims. A micrometer may be needed (shims should be labelled though) as would a set of feeler gauges. Try looking for an online FSM to read the procedure. If starting from scratch I think the procedure would be: pre-pull down take all your gap measurements, write them down for each valve then pull apart. After this, some maths to work out what shims are needed to get the desired gap. Refit with shim changes, remeasure and pull apart, repeat if necessary until gaps are within spec. Cheers Bennie

Headliner needs to come out to make it an easier job and so that you don’t destroy the headliner trying to fix your leak. All the best with it! Cheers Bennie

Also, any further info on what engine or vehicle model you’re talking about? My previous post was thinking along the lines of you having a SOHC NA with roller rockers. Cheers Bennie

Common problem that one. Tricky if you don’t know what to look for. The symptoms make sense as this being the issue. It’s a relatively easy fix once you’ve got the part. Cheers Bennie

First world problems! You’ve got two hands for a reason right So many options here - map holder mods to accommodate a cup holder, window ledge, something that clips to the little shelf in front of the passenger on the dashboard (could interfere with the vents). Or travel with a passenger that’s good at hold cups full of liquid Cheers Bennie

Tried an engine machine shop? Take a piston to them to size up. That’s how I got mine. Cheers Bennie

Geez we’re not on the clock being paid for giving advice! I wouldn’t stress so much over roller rockers compared to lifter arms and push rods etc. But that’s just me. I’m sure (hope) someone might chime in on this considering your sarcasm/arrogance as a new forum member of 17hrs at the time of writing this! All the best, Cheers Bennie

No timing chain on the EA81 either. Just gears (even better!). The EJ22 is like the modern version of the EA81 - bullet proof if you keep it’s fluid levels where they should be, and that’s easy to do. All the best with which ever way you go wth it. I do prefer the boxy shape of the L series Cheers Bennie

@idosubaru So at roughly what year does the TCU differences become an issue? Cheers Bennie

Being an auto could open up a whole can of worms with the potential TCU differences between the two models. Sorry, I too thought you were talking about the manual transmission. Cheers Bennie

The axle shaft/stub play will probably be the diff bearings needing adjusting. This means playing with the “sundials”. And that could induce a vibration through the steering. Swapping in a different gearbox would be way easier for the uninitiated than swapping the diff ratio in your current box! You might find the drive ratios are different between the two gearboxes depending on what your model is and what the replacement box came from. Cheers Bennie

That’s about it. You could take the knuckle out and do it on a bench but it can be done in situ. If using “sealed” bearings, I pry off the seals carefully and repack the bearings with quality high temp grease I’m happy with the replace one seal. When I put the bearings back in, I fit them with the one seal facing outwards and throw in a bit of grease with the spacer. Then the second bearing is fitted with its one seal facing outwards. This allows the inner sides of the bearings to move grease in/out as required and makes use of the seals on the outsides of the bearings. For the standard seals, prelube them with some bearing grease (sparingly) or rubber grease so they done “burn up” and chew out. After all that it’s essentially reassembly time! Cheers Bennie