briankk

It's my understanding that the 160 lsd is geared something like 3.73, my Loyale is 4.10. If there were a 4.10 lsd that would bolt in, I'd be looking for it. Can't imagine the struggle of changing both the diff and the tranny to get 3.73 at both ends, I reckon buy one so equipped is less bother..

I have kind of an odd job. I drive all over three counties photographing houses for RE investors, banks, etc. 100-200 miles a day in the Sierra foothills, from 3000 to 5000 feet, mostly windy little back roads, dirt roads, snow, ice, occasional stream fording. Little white wagon is nearly invisible to traffic cops.. My Loyal is nearly ideal for the task, small, agile, good mileage and traction. But, naturally, I'm trying to figure out how to improve it. The only weakness in all this is that the Loyale doesn't have an LSD in back, and the engine is kind of puny at or above 5000 feet, and I really could use all terrain tires a lot of the time, and there seems to be no such thing as 13" all terrain tires.. Obviously, I need to replace the Loyale with an RX turbo sedan. Obvious to me anyway, anybody have any second guesses for me? Has the LSD, turbo will still work at altitude, still stuck with 13" wheels, still a little white box 4-dr that attracts no bears.. Am I being practical, or nuts?

Finally got the new belts and water pump on, drive 10 miles down the road and the new pump vibrated itself off the block, dumping the entire coolant load on the new belts. On reflection, the new WP had the fan mounting flange about an inch closer to the block than the old pump, so I spaced it out with washers and assembled the whole thing. I can only think that I must have neglected to tighten the bolts... Got the car towed home, replaced the new pump with the old pump, put it all back together and drove away. Will presently find out the long term effect of coolant on new belts. About 50 miles on this setup now, runs just like it used to.. When I pulled the plugs to center TDC for the belt installation, I noticed that three of the plugs looked about perfect, but the plug from #2 cylinder seemed a bit off. Local Soob specialist said the SPFI on the EA 82 starves #2 because of the manifolding. Anybody have a fix for this?

After a week or so trying to carefully remove the plastic belt covers, I got my BFH and wrecking bar and removed the whole lot to the nearest dumpster. The belts look pretty good, both the idler pulleys had seized, and the driver-side one had spit its bearings out, causing that belt to jump. Keeping the belts for drive-home spares, if needed.. The new idler bearing are pressed together, so I can't re-pack 'em with real grease to replace the OEM Yak fat.. While in there, replaced the contacts in the starter, which had become intermittent, and the voices that told me the oil pump is OK thought the water pump wasn't, the bypass hose was soft and the water pump o-ring was leaking in spite of liberal quantities of silicone, so, new pump, gasket and all the bolts and the bypass hose. I think I understand the belt timing, but the book says to apply 18 ft/lbs of tensioning torque to the belt while tightening the idler pulleys. There seems to a special tool for this. Is this actually required? Why?

'90 Loyale, 386364.8 miles today...

I'm replacing everything in the belt kit, and the water pump, just for grins. This engine has always had excellent oil pressure, I don't reckon to fool with the pump unless something is obviously wrong with it.. I've always been told tha leaving the covers off invites rocks and things to bugger up the belts. Not so? Whole thing would be a lot simpler with them.

My old '90 Loyale tossed a belt, I've got a new kit coming by FedX. Trying to get at the old belts, several of the small bolts (10mm bolt heads) that screw the front of the plastic belt shield to the rear plastic belt shield, are turning the nuts embedded in the rear shield, and so can't be unscrewed. What to do about this? TIA

This tranny has a front seal leak, I keep an eye on the fluid level, and was/am puzzled by the lack of leakage around the loose stub shaft, have been speculating on some kind of separate oiling there.. Hmm.. at least I thought it was a front seal leak.. most of the time, when I shut it off, there is a cloud of gear oil smoke and stink, but in the last year, hasn't needed any gear oil added..

My '90 Loyale wagon, w/pushbutton 4wd 5-speed, ran out the driver side front axle last year, I replaced it just before the rain started, I never got to install the right side axle, though I have a new NAPA one in a box, ready to go. During the winter, the R side axle started making noise, I didn't worry too much about it, since all I needed was a few days of clear weather to install a new one. As winter went by, the noise became louder, so today, after the snow melted off the car, I pulled the spare tire and grabbed and shook the axle, to see which joint was bad. To my surprise, the whole axle moved, it seems the transmission stub shaft is moving in the transmission housing, both up and down, 'bout 1/8", and in and out a like amount. Any body else seen this? I can't find a blow-up diagram of that box to see what the problem might be, Soob says replace the gearbox.. 376,000 miles, and counting..

Mainly, because I haven't a clue. What's involved in that conversion? The whole idea of different diameter wheels is improve the variety of tires available, not a lot of selection in 13" tires..

OK, this sounds reasonable, but if the hub splines are different, then the axle has to be changed as well as the knuckle, no? (Growing fonder of 13" wheels by the day...)

Over in the "Subaru Retrofitting" forum, I found this: roostema4328's Avatar roostema4328 roostema4328 is offline USMB Regular Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Belgrade, MT Age: 29 Posts: 111 Re: Subaru EA82 to Subaru EJ205 "You can literaly use any front knuckle assembly off any newer subaru. They all have the same ball joint and strut mounting. You can even swap to 5on4.5 if you wanted if you used a knuckle of an SVX or a newer STI ha ha" If the knuckle assys are interchangeable, why not just swap the hubs and be done with it? Confused...

New tires and windshield on my 373k '90 Loyale wagon, thinking time for struts. I see available from KYB, Monroe, Sachs and Gabriel. Any reason to think any one or the other is better, on a normal, road driven old Loyale? The tires I got were Michelin Harmony radials, from P'nP for $80 the set. Any opinions?

This sounds like a really good idea. Unfortunately, its 34 degrees outside just now, gonna have to wait for a warmer day.. FWIW, still looking for one only 14" steel Peugeot wheel..

Oh, BTW, car is a '90 Loyale wagon with a mere 373k miles on it. The driveshaft looks fairly new, I can't think of a way to test the center bearing without taking the whole wretched mess apart.. Current plan is to drive it until whatever it is destroys itself, by then it should be obvious what ails it, but I hate to do this...

I thought it was a wheel bearing, grinding away back in the RR corner, and sought advice Now I don't think its a wheel bearing. I live 10 miles up a windy road, and the noise does not change, cornering left or right. It does follow wheel/driveshaft speed. I got home, jacked up the car and checked for wheel movement, grinding, etc., nothing, either side, all smooth and quiet, not loaded. I checked the diff drain to see if it contained oil, smoke or chunks, but could not get the fill plug loose, even using a 1/2 drive air gun. Sigh. This makes 3 wheels required air gun to get loose, now this plug is just stuck. Halfshafts look good, no tears or leaks in the boots, shaking by hand, they feel tight. Noise is now a constant whisk, whisk noise, no grinding... I'd rather fix it before it breaks. What am I missing here? TIA

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks! All things accounted for, I'm going for the rear arm change, will fool about with the bearings during the snow season, predicted to begin here tomorrow night. Still have no 4th 14" Peugeot wheel, going to fit the 14" Hakka 4s to my old Mercedes and hope for the best. Left to wonder whether 4wd Soob w/o studs will work better than 2wd Mercedes w/studs, in snow and ice. The Merc worked pretty well on cleared icy roads, with the studs, but couldn't make it up my snowy driveway. Not looking forward to exploring ice in 4wd with bald snow tires..

Thanks for the tip, but that's for a front bearing, mine's a rear. I found that post quite helpful when I recently replaced my LF axle and bearings, BTW..

Given that you have the bearing, tools, grease, etc., how long should it take to change a rear wheel bearing on a '90 Loyale? Now that I can hear it, how long might I get away with not changing it?

Glad to hear that. Now I'm thinking I should do the other side too, just because.,,

I don't know anything, pro or con, about Koyo bearings. Thats not the point. The point is that the bearing in the box should be the same brand as name on the box. I hand packed the Timken/Koyo bearings with Amsoil synthetic wheel bearing grease, I couldn't find any Valvolene synthetic.. The new Cardone axle is guaranteed for 3 years, I hope not to have a look at the bearings before the axle dies.

A few days ago, the LF corner of my '90 Loyale wagon started making expensive noises, so I took it apart to see if it was a problem with the bearings or the axle. It was the axle, I went to my local AP and bought a new one. Got the bearings while I was there. Box said it was a Timken, bearing inside was a Koyo. Disclaimer on back said the bearing was "selected" by Timken, made in Japan.. I've seen a couple of online stores selling "Timken" bearings at a slight premium, I texted a rep an APW and asked what brand of bearings lived in their Timken boxes, may as well have asked him about the mating habits of gophers, the guy didn't know a Timken bearing from a Thompson SMG.. Might want to keep this in mind next time you buy a "Timken" bearing, it might be a phony, look in the box before you pay the money..

OK, found it, read it. Enquiring minds want to know, WHY is a discussion of EA82 engines "off topic"? (boggle)

What the general said. Aluminum engines are very touchy about overheat, and turbo engines are known for making a lot of heat. I'm kind of new here, and have noticed a lack of enthusiasm for the EA82T, bu not much about actual failures. Obviously, overheating is a big no-no, and I'd guess if the thing blows w/o overheating, it would be a head gasket problem, but that's just a guess. There does not seem to be a sub-forum for mechanical issues with these engines. What breaks first under load? Valves float? Piston failure? Sucky oil pump aerates the rod bearings? What are the EA engine mechanical weak points?

Finished up the front brake work, which consisted of replacing the damaged/seized, rusted out and jammed parts. i.e., replaced both calipers, both rotors,(Brembo!) and all the pads, and most of the brake fluid too... Pulled codes this AM, got a 32 and a 35. Expected the 32, had to look up the 35. Went to AP store and got an oxygen sensor. Manual says to replace it hot. Drove up on ramps, got under with 22mm wrench, found entire exhaust system wrapped in bolt-on heat shielding, a possibility that Haynes didn't mention. 3/4" ratchet and 12mm deep socket had the shielding loose in a bit, but the upper shielding cant' be removed because the oxygen sensor is so long that the heat shield hits the bottom of the car before it can be slipped off.. Or, to put it another way, the exhaust system has to be dropped to get the thing off. Sigh.. Looking up on line, the gaskets between the block and the pipes cost $12 each side ! Recently, at the the P'nP, found some kind of GL, not wagon, with rear disks. Will just any of these replace my rear drums, or just certain ones? If so, which ones? TIA