3crows

I think it connects to the underside of the air filter which is a bitch to get to without disconnecting other hoses to turn it enough to see. Got a camera? Take pics as you disconnect so you/ll know where to put hoses back . What happens if you just adjust the idle screw in to increase the idle speed?

The part # I got from Subaru was 8069735070 for the 'O' rings and 806730031 for the seals. I'll be picking them up this week.

After an hour on the phone talking to parts places and a trip to Napa Auto and O'Reillys I still don't know what seal to buy. Napa calls it an output shaft seal and wants $20 each. O'Reillys also calls it an output shaft seal and wants $5 each. Someone else told me that there is an inner and outer seal but according to what I've read that's only for the 4 speed and not the 5 speed. To me an output shaft is the pilot shaft that goes into the clutch assm. So here's the latest skinny. I called Gresham Subaru and Randy says that they are called output shaft seals and you also need an 'O' ring (2) that goes around the large piece that unscrews from the differential that the oil seal mounts in (Not sure about getting that piece off yet) This piece also adjusts the lash so you have to mark it before you take it out and then again just as it comes out and off so you'll hopefully have the same amount of lash when you reassemble. The seals are about $7 each and the 'O' rings are about $3.50 each so you're not saving much by buying cheaper Chinese stuff. If you hate pulling axles as much as I do the extra few bucks for better quality is well worth it. I hope to die before I need to replace these seals again.

No, at this point I'm just going by your recommendation. I don't know how to check the seals if oil is leaking out while I'm driving so I'll replace them to see if that solves the problem. Yuk! I hate pulling axles!

Is that the UV light and dye procedure I've read about in other posts or is there another way to check the seals? Are there just 2 seals or an inner and outer on each side? Should/can I get the seals at McGuire's or Kaman or are Napa seals OK? I'd like to have everything I am going to need before I get started.

Made a trip to Richland OR in my '86' GL 5 speed, 4WD, ( about 700 mi. RT) and was about 75 mi. from home and stopped to get gas. As soon as I opened the car door I smelled burnt transmission oil. I checked the dip stick and it was on the low mark. When I got home I checked it again and it was below the low mark but still wetting the end of the dip stick. It's never leaked before so I don't carry extra .80/90wt oil. I filled it and looked to see if there was any obvious oil leaks. It was dripping on the catalytic converter but I couldn't see from where. I put a 2' x 4' piece of white metal under the engine and trans.. The next day there was just a vary small wet spot about 6" across between the cross member and the axle shafts. The area above the axle shafts showed a little bit of oil but no more than usual for an engine compartment. I looked into the timing mark hole to see if there was any oil being flung around in there but from what I could see it was dry. It seems to lose oil when I drive as I can leave the engine running for awhile parked, with no loss. A 40 mi. trip now and it's reading low on the dipstick. I don't see any leaks, just the wetness and a couple drips on the bottom of the transmission and cross member and on the catalytic converter. Should I tie my wife under the car while I drive around to see if she can spot the leak? I'd do it myself but she doesn't know how to drive a stick shift.

Even though I didn't start this thread, thanks folks! for all the good info.Next time I will just pull the engine. I wish I would have asked before I pulled my engine and trans the last time. I won't do that again unless both axles and the clutch go out at the same time! I'm still a wee bit apprehensive about putting the engine back in the car. Even with the clutch alignment tool the engine and trans have to be aligned pretty much dead nuts for it to go together and you have to be underneath and turning the trans shaft to get the pilot shaft splines aligned in and through the clutch disc. It took a little wiggling and screwing around to get it together when I had both of them on the ground. 99.9% of the time I'm a one man operation. I think I used a couple clamps to squeeze the engine and trans together just enough so that when I turned the trans shaft a bit it clicked into place and I was then able to slide them together. You just gota do it the best way you can.

Dave, you're saying that with the car up 8" you can get the engine out of the car and onto the ground without messing with the trans. at all or do you still have to lower the the cross member? It's pulling the damned axles I'm trying to avoid mainly. But if you still have to work on the clutch upside down in the engine compartment because you still can't get the engine out of the car, not as ugly as having to pull axles, but still ugly, I would do it that way.

In my pictures, the damits I have labeled E,D,C, you have capped? The one I have marked as K I believe to be the vent for the fuel bowel which goes to the carbon canister. Seems like I read on a thread that that has to be either left connected or just restricted some. Do you have that one capped also and no problems?

Are we talking about taking engine AND trans out together or just the engine? Seems to me that I had to have the trans.pretty low in order to get enough tilt to get it out of the engine compartment. I didn't think there was enough room to separate the engine and get it past the pilot shaft of the trans. before hitting the upper radiator support even with everything off the front of the engine. And if there is, it sounds like it's a two man job, one working the engine out and one under the car tilting the trans. so the pilot shaft doesn't get hung up in the clutch assm. And I think that would be the easiest part. Putting it back in and aligning the pilot shaft and trans. to the engine would seem like a real nightmare since, for one thing, lining up the splines on the pilot shaft with the clutch disc would be a real headache, and getting the angle right and the lack of maneuverability in the engine compartment. Though you say you've done it, please tell me how. I would do it in a pair of seconds rather than having to pull the axles.

Thanks for the response machoneit. Since I'm pretty sure I've got the hoses hooked up right I'm just going to start plugging them one at a time and see if it runs better or worse since no one on my thread has offered any knowledge as to what this junk does or is for. Some of the hoses are supposed to have a restrictor in them and I may have left them out. There's a little plastic widget on one or two hoses about the size of the end of your index finger that acts like a diode for vacuum. Since I don't know what the hoses are there for I don't know if I have them facing the right way. ' Spect I'll have to figure it out myself. Trial and error, I suppose. Though most people don't like the Hitachi carb and talk up the Weber, seems there's plenty of people on the forum having trouble with tuning Webers too. For a little better response and about the same MPG, I'm not so sure it's worth $300 although it does make the engine look a lot more sanitary.

I've done a couple of these but I have a barn and a lift and the tools. There's two trains of thought on doing a clutch job. One is to work underneath the car and just pull the trans, which is not easy due to the lack of working room. Getting it out is a lot easier than getting it back in. lining it up to the engine while laying on your back with the trany on your chest is a bitch. Even if you have tall jack stands and a transmission jack I still see it as the least desirable option. So the other option is to pull the engine and trans. as a unit. It's time consuming because you have to disconnect everything that's connected to the engine and trans. plus you have to drop the cross member that supports the back of the trans, header pipes, CV axles,shifter and linkage, tach and or speedo cable. The worst part is pulling the axles. Then there's all the spoob on top in the engine compartment and that mess of hoses to the air cleaner that you have to remember where they all go. The electric stuff is easy though. You can count on several hours to do this just to get it ready to pull. I think I also removed the carb because you have to tilt the engine quite a bit to get it out and slide the engine around on the lifting chain and you don't want to damage it. Now you have to have a chain hoist and something to hang it on or a lift from Harbor Freight and preferably a concrete floor to be able to roll it on. They're around $180 on sale. So here we go. The radiator is out, the fan and pulley are removed the axles are out and you've got everything disconnected except the final dropping of the cross member on the back of the trans. Don't forget the motor mounts,(ugly part to do). You can either drain the trans or wrap it up tightly with plastic and duct tape. It will probably still leak some but it won't drain all over the floor before you can do anything about it (learned that the hard way), and not a plastic grocery bag, something heavier and stronger. Connect your lifting chain to the engine so that you have about a foot clearance over the top of the engine remembering that the trans. weighs about as much as the engine. I think I used an intake manifold bolt and a bell housing bolt diagonally across, Flip the hood back against the wind shield and and hook up the lift and start to lift it up a little Now go under the car and put down a piece of plywood under the tail piece of the trans in such a way that if you don't have the engine and trans, balanced mostly, the tail of the trans will hit it rather than the concrete or ground. Put a block of wood or something under the trans next to the cross member so that when you finish disconnecting the cross member from the car the tail of the trans will drop about 2 inches or so or enough to clear the shift linkage,and then finish disconnecting the trans. from the cross member. Go back up top and start to lift. Go slowly and watch everything! You are looking for things you didn't see to disconnect. The car will come up as the weight of the engine is relieved. You may have to rock the engine a bit for the motor mounts to free up. When the engine is free and can be wiggled around, push down on the front of the engine to see if by doing so you are able to make the trans. come up. If so that's good and you can continue lifting and moving the lift backwards. If not, set the engine down and move the lifting chain to a different bolt location. You want the trans. to be hanging down but you also want to be able to make it come level when it comes out and over the front of the car. If your trans support block hasn't fallen over by now, remove it, keeping the plywood there just in case. Keep lifting and tilting the engine and moving the lift back. It's tight but eventually you'll get the engine and trans. over the front and out. Piece of cake! On the ground, break the trans.apart from the engine. Take of the pressure plate and clutch disc and inspect the flywheel. If it's oily in there or smells of burnt oil or the flywheel looks discolored from heat or grooved, you'll need to have it resurfaced at a machine shop and probably have to replace the rear seal. A little oil and dust is mostly OK. This is debatable. Some would change it just because you're in there and you won't have to go through all this at a later time if it starts leaking and ruins your clutch job. Others will say, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Wet oil is bad. If you have to re surface the flywheel, think how much fun it would have been to take the flywheel off with the engine still in the car. Impact wrenches are wonderful things. Your flywheel is resurfaced and hopefully you didn't need to replace the rear seal, and your clutch kit is installed. Now you get to put the trans. and engine back together and again, you'll wonder how the hell you could have done this from underneath the car on your back with the trans. on your chest. It doesn't just sliiiiide in. That's about the whole of it. If you do go ahead and do this yourself I'd be interested in knowing if you changed your mind afterwords about having someone else do it for $500. But like someone said on one of these posts, we all started from knowing nothing and thanks to all those who helped us along the way. It's dirty, greasy and frustrating at times and you'll swear a lot but when it's done and it works, you did it. If you don't have a Haynes manual for this car, get one before you start. Hope this helps. If worst comes to worst, I'm in La Center. I just don't do traffic very well so hate going into Portland. Hmmmmmmm. just noticed that you have a front wheel drive whereas mine are 4WD but I doubt there would be mush difference except for the drive line disconnect that I have to do. You might also want to check your brake pads while you've got the front wheels apart.

I'm trying to eliminate the mystery of what these things are and what they do and if they can be disconnected or eliminated to possibly improve the performance. The Hitachi I have on my '86' is new and was originally bought for my '87'. When installing it on the '86' I found that the elect. connection on the carb has 4 prongs and the wire harness on the '86' only has 3. So I took the solenoids off the old '86' carb and put them on the new '87' carb because I didn't know what to do with the extra wire that goes to the solenoid on the lefl side of the carb I have marked F. I've had this carb for several years in a box unused so I'm not going to buy a Weber for another $300. As stated in many threads, the vacuum hoses and such are plum confusing and and possibly unnecessary since I don't have to do the emission test. I'd like to remove as many as possible so I've also marked several things on the carb and engine that I don't know what they do or are there for. In another post I said that after hooking everything up it wouldn't idle smoothly, It wouldn't stay running at 800 RPMs and RPMs had to be around 950 to 1200 and vacillated between these two to idle. It revs up fine but comes back down slowly, about 3 or 4 seconds. If I were diagnosing this at first I would say a vacuum leak somewhere but after spraying starting fluid all around in there and not having any increase in RPMs I'm baffled at this point. The timing is about 8 to 10 btdc, a little hard to time with erratic RPMs. I was also going to use a disty out of an '87' but found that the plugs from the '87' and the '86' are different and don't have the same number of wires either so it's the '86' disty with new cap and rotor and new NGK plugs. So, can someone tell me what these things are for? Would be much appreciated. And one other thing. There are 2 plastic cans, both on the passenger side, one on the fender well next to the carbon canister and one on the firewall, with hoses connected to them that go to the intake manifold. I couldn't get a good picture so didn't include it. Chokes the brain! And one more question. Is '87 the last year of carbed Subaru's?

Solved it!

I have an '87' DL and I 'spect the GL is similar. The wire harness that operates oil pressure and temp.gauge also operates some widgets on the carb on mine. It plugs into the main harness in the engine compartment by the distributor and coil. If your Soob runs OK otherwise then that harness section is probably OK. If it doesn't, then it's ugly and it's something in the main harness before it goes into the engine compartment, meaning there's no power going to that smaller harness. Had that problem with another '87' and never figured out a fix even with a post on this forum. It also affected the dash lights.

I just put a new carb on my '86' GL. Since the car is old enough that I don't have to go through the emissions stuff I've tried to disconnect all the emissions stuff and plug them. It doesn't idle too pretty good, ( a bit rough) and has to be set at about about 1000 + rpms or it dies. And at that, it vacillates between 900 and 1200 rpms. I played with the timing but nothing changed. It runs like it has a vacuum leak but I've sprayed starter fluid all around in there and there's no change in the rpms. My thinking is based on if I was putting a Weber carb in, none of the emissions stuff would be connected to it. It seems to run fine when I'm driving, it's just the idle that's humbug. Did I miss something or is it not possible to disconnect the emissions stuff and have the car run right? What can I disconnect and what do I have to leave hooked up?

Hi folks, I have a Clarion radio and cassette deck, PF 8044U in my '86' Soob That I just bought. It works fine after spraying the pots but I can't figure out how to set the preset channels. I use the tune lever to find the station, then press the memory lever and the station lever at the same time until the 'M' in the channel window goes out. When I push that preset lever again it hasn't changed. It just stays at the old preset station. Since you have to take the radio out to see the model #, this radio has the station window in the upper left side, digital. Beneath it is a row of rectangular chrome colored levers,(5),each about a half inch long and a quarter inch wide for the presets. Next to them are the 'Tune Down-Tune Up' levers and then the 'Memory' lever. Above that are the 'Tuning' and 'On-Off' knobs. Clarion says it have no information on it anymore. Any of you have one of these?

Turned out that one of the front tires was at fault. Dealer replaced both front tires and no more shimmy. Who'da thunk?

When I brought the car back the owner checked the balance and showed me that one rim was bent but it was on a back tire. I brought in another rim a couple days and he remounted the tire. So I guess the employee who mounted them first was terminally stupid for not seeing it or not caring. Specs DaveT? Do you know what the specs are for this guy? As far as I know there is only toe adjustment with the tie rods and the only specs I could glean was '0' toe for a '92' or a squeek toe-in. I'm about as close to '0' as I could get but I'll check it again. It's been awhile since I repacked the wheel bearings but I'll check that too, scoobiedubie. I certainly would like to able to solve this without having to go to a Subaru dealer. Probably have to take out a loan from the bank to pay for it.

Hi all, Bought a set of tires on my 1987 DL 4WD wagon several years ago which included rebalancing whenever. Started to get a shimmy at about 45mph about 4 mo. ago so took it in to be rebalanced and all was fine. After that I replaced the bellows boots on the steering and then noticed that it seemed to be pulling to the right some so I checked the tire inflation and did the string alignment and that took care of that. I also replaced the balljoints and struts reciently. I just bought a set of new tires and on the way home it started to shimmy at about 45mph. I turned around and took it back to the shop where they took the tires off and rechecked the ballance and said it was fine. The car has 209K mi. The shimmy doesn't get stronger as the speed increases but you can see and feel it in the steering wheel. My experience with unbalanced tires is that as the speed increases, so does the shimmy. Then there seems to be a short time when there's no shimmy and the steering is smooth. That may only last for 30 sec. though, then the shimmy comes back. So, what's the possibility that the rack and pinion could be at fault and why would it just show up now with a new set of tires? I've read here that there is a lash adjustment but I haven't gotten back under the beast yet to check it out as I just got the tires a few days ago and now it's raining. If there is, what's too tight? I might add that the tierods seemed to be tight but I'll check them again. It's not power steering.

Nope, no cruise control. I took the horn pad apart and straightened it out so it fits snugly on the steering wheel. I tested the horn button to make sure it was working as it should and put it all back together, started the engine and the horn went on. I unplugged the turn signal widget and started the engine and the horn went on, I changed the ignition key unit with a spare, started the engine and the horn went on. So, by process of elimination, I've concluded that there's a short somewhere in the wire harness deep down where you can't get to. The only progress I've made so far is figuring out how to remove the horn pad without bending the bejesus out of it. If you push in and up firmly you will release the two clips that hold it at the top. After the top is released, push in firmly and down. This will release the spring loaded hook pieces on the bottom. To reinstall, the two top clips go into slots in the steering wheel. Push them up and in, then down until the clips hook onto the top of the metal plate in the steering wheel, then press down and in on the bottom and it should snap in and fit snugly. Shorts and wiring seems to be a problem for solving for everyone. If I can fix it, I'll post it.

In my 86 GL 4wd wagon: Bought this a month ago and replaced the engine. The horn didn't work. Checked the fuse first thing and it's OK. The hazard lights work but the clock and the horn didn't. Tinkered around with it for awhile and ended up putting in a spare horn and it worked, well, sorta........ I tested it by shorting between the horn spade and the steering column and it worked. I connected the horn pad. Hit the pad and the horn beeped. Thought I had jumped slick until I flicked the turn signals and the damned horn beeped! Not continuously but just enough to let me know that I hadn't. Then I turned the steering wheel and got some more slight beeps. Was working on something else about 10' from the car and got another slight beep. I disconnected the battery and came running to you! I have a spare clock that I tried but it didn't work and I don't know which pins on the clock connector from the clock to use to see if the clock is bad or the wiring to it is bad or which wires in the harness plug to check to see if it's powered up. I pulled the widget for the turn signals, hazard lights and horn to steering wheel ground off and I didn't see anything that looked burnt or crusty. I might add that somewhere I read that to take the horn pad off, you just get a hold of the top and pull. Tried that but found that it required brute force, which I am more than capable of after about the third try. Things got bent. I tried straightening things out in the pad but not knowing what they're supposed to look like is a real handicap when you're trying to fix it. It fits a bit loose now and I might have put a wow in the pad itself, though I don't think that would explain the slight beep when I was 10' away. If it's a short, I would suspect that it would be in the steering column where things are exposed and can go wrong and not in the harness itself, but.......Anyway, the horn plug has a green and a green and black (ground?) wire to it. The turn signal etc. widget also has a green wire that goes inside and a green and black wire sorta side by each that goes to the steering wheel ground lever. I'm wondering if the easiest solution would be to just ground the horn to the frame and power it up with something else or directly from the battery with a fuse to that green wire? I suspect I need to put in a relay. Or did I screw up the horn pad sufficiently enough that that could be the cause? Someone might suggest the proper method to remove a horn pad.....

I think the way I did it was easier since the engine was in the car. I pulled the #1 plug and rotated the engine to compression stroke as suggested by rrgrr said ( I KNEW THAT! I just forget things.) and set the flywheel at 8 degrees BCD. Then I did my static test as stated above. Found that I had to turn the distributor all the way counter clockwise to get the engine to fire at all but it wouldn't run. I backed it off one tooth by moving the distributor one tooth clockwise and it started right up! Thanks, all of you, for the input and taking the time to respond.

If anyone is still looking at this, here's what I did. I did a static test by attaching a piece of brass shim material (.004) to the rotor that extended just enough to make contact with the pin in the distributor cap ( a small 1/16th in.). Hooked up my multimeter for continuity, turned the flywheel to 8 degrees BCD on #1, rotated the distributor all the way to advance (clockwise), then rotated the distributor back until the meter signaled contact with the pin in the cap. Found that I was a tooth off. Made the correction by moving the distributor one tooth clockwise and the old man came back to life! Put the timing light on and it was 'dead nuts' on 8 degrees BCD. PS: The brass piece on the rotor of an '87' extends out beyond the bakelight so is easy to attach the shim material to by wrapping it around then cutting it a squeek longer. The rotor on an '86' is different and you have to remove the bakelight that extends to be able to attach the shim. But it works. Thanks for the help

Done it twice on a DL and GL wagon. Dropping the main cross member allows the engine and trans.to come out and go back in at a steeper angle which is a good thing. The cross member only goes down so far because of the rack and pinion but once you've got the the engine nearly in you can lift the trans. up and push the cross member back in place. Forgot to mention, take off carb if so equipped and alternator before hooking up chain.