el_freddo

Interesting stuff. Side question: do you guy carry or use diamond pattern wheel chains? Over here they’re mandatory in our small snow field areas - very useful and effective even with regular road tyres which many visitors run with due to the short period of their visit. Cheers Bennie

When looking at a larger vehicle for our growing family we initially liked the Tribeca, not the original series as they were fugly in our eyes! When it came down to it, we couldn’t afford a second hand one because they were too expensive (buying outright), plus it didn’t really fit our needs with going bush. One vehicle that caught our attention was the Gen3 onwards Mitsubishi Pajero/Shogun/Montera (I think that last one is correct). Things we liked - all independent suspension like our Subaru, comes in Diesel, 2wd/AWD/4wd/lo4wd, has 7 seats and can tow a decent load no worries. Many grey nomads drag their stupidly big and heavy caravans around Oz with these without issue. So we know they’re good for this. Plus there are LOADS of them out there, so parts are not an issue and there are plenty of aftermarket support for mods - like auxiliary fuel tanks (we now have 170L total fuel capacity). We got a second hand 2005 NP diesel auto and love it. We got it with about 30,000km less than the commodore it replaced. Now it’s caught up at 350,000km. Plenty of life left in it. I also like that our model isn’t stuffed stupid with electronic doo-dads all over the place. No buttons on our steering wheel other than the horn pad. The later you go the more electrical stuff you get, and at some point they upped the tow rating. There are plenty of other models out there that will do what you need. This is just one example and we love it. I’m sure GD will have other suggestions that might be more relevant to your needs and the US taste towards larger vehicles. Cheers Bennie

Make sure you don’t have an LED fitted. Many early units were non dimming - that could be your issue. Cheers Bennie

Could also be bearings around the centre diff area or the rear output/transfer setup. Or it’s a driveshaft - especially if the swap left to right trick was done. Has this issue when engine braking. Sounded very nasty! Cheers Bennie

I couldn’t get the first two pics to come up. Anyway, I can’t remember if this device has any wires going to it. It is not the choke, that’s on the RHS (vehicle’s) of the carb. This is on the back of the carb. Where does that wiring go to/come from? Your no run issue could be the ignition switch. Ensure you’re getting 12v when in the “ON” position. Cheers Bennie

Looks super good mate! Typical of a LPG fed engine. M&D’s classic Range Rover did 460,000 km on gas, it’s first 40,000 km on petrol. Was pulled down at this point (500,000km). The specialist pulling it down had some others in the industry visiting that couldn’t believe the engine had done the half million kms. It needed a new timing chain kit and a cam as this had worn out of spec. Everything else was good. After the rebuild it did another +200,000km before the vehicle was retired. Drivetrain was good, the body was falling apart, interior mainly (other than crap paint!), suspension needed renewing. This thing did loads of towing to horse events and totalled 11 roos in its time. The bull bar certainly saved it many times. Goes to show how clean gas is to run with. It’s all good until you run out of it and don’t have petrol on board to flick over to... worse if you run dedicated LPgas! Cheers Bennie

You might have a leaking injector filling a cylinder with fuel when it’s not running. check your oil and see if it smells like petrol. This theory doesn’t work if you tried starting immediately after. Two other things that come to mind - an issue with your starter motor or a sticky/stuck IACV. Is it cranking the engine over at a good speed on initial start up and there after? Cheers Bennie

Yep. Clean all mating surfaces first (except the HGs - they come straight from the bag onto the prepped block deck face). Follow that procedure and you can’t go wrong. Cheers Bennie

You guys had an outback sedan and don’t get the Levorg? Weird. Levorgs look the part. I wouldn’t mind one but there’s no way I’ll be able to afford one while they’re still useful and not failing in the engine department etc. Cheers Bennie

I got bored half way through. He didn’t go all out early on to say why it failed until he got to the sump side of things, even then... EJ251 - good engine in my book. Too many people neglect to properly service them and then they fail. Next step is to blame the equipment before taking responsibility for your own actions (or inactions). My 2c anyway. Cheers Bennie

And the loyale is an EA82, best to post in the older gen forum Cheers Bennie

If you have AC the evaporator could be very clogged up with leaves, pet hair or lint. Pull the fan unit and clean out the AC evaporator of any crap that’s in there. Won’t be an easy job but it could be the problem. Cheers Bennie

GD, I don’t doubt the later model dash boards are more involved, I was talking about the MY dash since that’s what the vehicle in question is. My comment was regarding the older models. Not many Subi specialist shops would be well versed in removing dashboards from the old school Subaru. I’ve had the pleasure of removing a Gen1 Liberty dashboard but we never reinstalled. In some areas they were a massive improvement over the MY and L series dashboards but on the flip side there were loads more connectors to sort out too. Miss one of those on reinstall could see you tearing hair later. The MY unit was clearly not designed to be removed with the windscreen in place. They rectified this in the models after the EA81. Cheers Bennie

Too much tyre pressure is a killer in sand! The softer the sand the lower the pressure. With low pressures, no sharp turns or you could roll the tyre bead off the rim and have a complete flat that’s got sand in it. That or you end up with a slow leak due to sand between the bead and the rim. Been there done that a number of times! Cheers Bennie

All the best finding your beast in one piece abandoned somewhere that it’s not then trashed. Cheers Bennie

That’s a business’ way of politely saying they don’t want the job. And it’s money for jam if someone pays! Cheers Bennie

Yeah I have no idea on that Dfoyl. I’ve never looked into it. Cheers Bennie

Trapped air won’t cool. And it can allow the cooling system to push fluid out the rad overflow as air will expand more than the coolant. No overflow reservoir will see your radiator lose coolant over time until it reaches a certain level where it can’t push any more fluid out. By all means, block off the throttle body warming circuit but I’d be keeping the block to thermostat housing hose. Cheers Bennie

Yeah do it! Bugger cracks, deal with that later! First I’ve heard about the cracking issue - but then again I don’t deal with them on a regular basis, or at all for that matter. 6 speed would be highly recommended! Cheers Bennie

I think you made the right choice not to just run with this block as it was. Cheers Bennie

Welcome mate. What sort of Subaru do you have? It’ll either be EA or EJ - that’ll give us a big clue. Cheers Bennie

Don’t lever on it. You need a quick punch to the spanner/breaker bar/whatever you’re using as this will break the hold on the threads. Alloy is good for holding steel. Cheers Bennie

I replace cam and crank seals as a part of the timing belt service. You don’t want to deal with a leaking seal because you didn’t put in the extra bit of time and effort to swap the seal. It’s not like the seal is easily accessible. With the EJ timing kit the crank and cam seals come as part of the kit from what I remember. I now buy the parts individually as I get genuine when I can. Better bang for buck in my experience. EA82, I’d run whatever timing kit and have a spare kit on hand with a set of tools to do the job on the side of the road if needed. Cheers Bennie

Certainly did - L series dual range in Gen1 dual range EJ cases. Worked a treat. That box was swapped out for an AWD L box with phase 2 EJ gearbox front cases and gearing. Yes. Front diff stubs are held in by a circlip on the inside of the spider gears. L and EJ interchange. Driveshaft lengths are still different so a custom length shaft is still required. Over here we got the NA MPFI EA82 L series that has the EJ spec 25 spline front diff stubs and the good 1.59:1 L series low range. It’s all Lego! Back on the 5 stud swap with bigger EJ brakes, you still need to work out something for the rear hub as the L and EJ rear hub setup is completely different. Cheers Bennie

JesZek, 2020 is not a good year to say the least. You’ve put into perspective how lucky we are over here during the pandemic and I wish Melbourians would quit winging about it. Very sorry to hear about the loss of your Dad, especially so unexpectedly. You have fond memories of him and I’m sure you will keep them alive, same for the Mercury. While it might be painful to look, work on or drive it, that vehicle is one very huge link to many good memories with your Dad. Look after it and in time you will enjoy driving it because of your memories with your Dad. All the best mate. Bennie