NorthWet

Bump because of emergent nature. Scoobywagon is getting things together for a 2-day (each way) drive to rescue his wife.

Welcome the the USMB! First, some info about your car would be helpful. Year, body style/model, carb/SPFI/MPFI, transmission. "Flushing" a radiator would be more likely to add leaks rather than fix them. They either repaired the leaks or added a stop-leak product, also known as "plugged radiator in a can" (also can plug heater cores really quickly). So, I would vote for a possibly plugged radiator. This can be fairly easily checked (at least as far as really bad or seemingly OK) by placing your hand on the radiator core while the engine is at operating temps and feeling for cold (horizontal) stripes. Froth in the cooling system could be the result of "flush" and/or additives. (Most flushes today are just detergents.) All water/oil/fluid leaks seem to find their way down to the exhaust pipe. The coolant you see leaking could have come from almost anywheres unless you actually see it leaking form somewheres. Depending on engine, there are a couple of hoses that tend to leak. Unless you have a Turbo/MPFI, it is unlikely that you have a port crack. Relax, fix the usual stuff (I would recommend putting the t-stat back in after cooling system is stabilized, but that is just my bias).

My digi-cam is working fine. If I can just get them to upload... (think it is just time-of-day/badwidth issues). Paul, what kind of pic do you want compared to the pic you posted? Do you want compressor bracket to engine, compressor to bracket, or both? I have some already snapped, but nothing very revealing yet. (Yours looks just as good.) I have a pic of clutch/hillholder attachment in my gallery (you an even see a missing clip on the HH). http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showphoto.php?photo=6355&sort=1&cat=500&page=1 Hillholder cable routes through the driver's side of the intake manifold. Clutch cable just sort of follows least bendy path from firewall to back of diff-section, then curves forward.

More info: She is near milepost 228 on I-80. EA81 is puking oil from around the oil-pump/filter area. She is trying to limp to a nearby park/rec area (Fort something).

***Update: - Wife is looking for a ride from Larmie to Longmont, CO. Please see my post timestamped 5:37pm. **Update: - Looks like a rescue plan is being formed with the invaluable assistance of some local Members!!! See later posts. Folks, the wife of Scoobywagon has a problem approx 100miles outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Few details yet, as SW just called me to ask for some help on this end. If anyone in the Laramie area can help out (reported overheating problem, I think with an 82 wagon)*, please post here so Scoobywagon can check when he gets to his house. He is currently looking at having to drive to Laramie-area with a tow-dolly (mine) to tow his wife home, and would miss WCSS7 (plus work/sleep/etc) unless someone can lend a hand. THANKS!!!! *Update - 82 EA81 wagon, oil pump/filter leaking oil. At/around MP228 on I-80.

It was my understanding that putting an EJ22 into an EA81-class chassis was tough as the frame rails are closer together on the EA82-class chassis.

There is no (significant) direct connection between the A/C functioning and very low voltage. The A/C is engine driven, and its use would only put load on the engine and slow down the RPM. The only electrical use by the A/C system is for the compressor clutch (negligable) and the ventilation blower motor (would show same effect even if A/C not "on" but other setting selected). The indirect effects would be caused by slowing the engine down and/or the drive belts slipping from the load and being too loose/worn. 12-13 volts is NOT normal voltage. Again, minimum voltage for a properly charged "12 volt" battery is 13.2 volts. This is at rest with no load/charge being applied. It is possible that your gauge is misreading, but unlikely if you are seeing a 6v reading. Alternators, especially rebuilt ones, can be bad out of the box, or shortly thereafter. (A friend got 3 bad rebuilts in a row from a discount parts store.) "5-months new" doesn't mean much if it was a rebuilt. That said, a healthy battery will not let the voltage sag to 6v with minimal load. What other electrical loads did you have on when you saw 6volts? headlights, wipers, 50000watt stereo ? A healthy battery should not let the voltage sag more than a volt or so below its current state of charge. (9-10 volts would be minimum "acceptable" reading for a battery with a failed alternator and a heavy electrical load, and 11-12 is more likely.) My guess is that at this point you may have multiple problems. Alternator sounds like toast and the battery is on its last legs. OR, it could ALL be caused by bad connections. I would check the alternator's output voltage at the alternator; it should read around 14-14.5v, maybe higher. I would also check the battery's voltage right at the battery posts. Semi-OT: The "orifice tube" in car A/C is more commonly known as an expansion valve. It varies the size of an orifice, and thus refirgerant flow, into the evaporator. Problems with it will be manifested as non-cold A/C air.

"Replace your mastercylinder"... yet again. Sounds like easy advice as long as you are not the one who has been frustrated for a month just trying to get your car running, and having a succession of improper or non-working parts installed. If I were this guy I would be pretty near the end of wanting to deal with these problems. In my 35 years of working on cars, I have never had a master cylinder, either new/rebuilt or one that I have rebuilt myself, fail to work after I have installed it. (Well, until recently.) I have never had to bleed the master cylinder, and wheel bleeding has never failed to give good results (I have probably been lucky on this score). I imagine that most peoples' experience with brakes are similar: You get the parts replaced and they work. So, after spending $100+ for a master, plus paying the mechanic to install it, I wouldn't think that the best advice that we could give him is to put on another master... at yet another $100+ plus labor. I am not trying to upset anyone , but Mr. Roberts seemed frustrated in his "transmission" thread, well before this brake problem reared its ugly head. I know it can be hard to diagnose from a distance (my last post showed that I couldn't do it with my hands on), but hopefully we can help Mr. Roberts before he decides that the best fix involves a gallon of gas and a match.

Sorry Paul. I had trouble uploading pictures that day, then got distracte... OOOHH!!! Pretty lights!!! .... cookies....

The hillholder has 2 brake lines running to it: One front brake, one rear brake, diagonally located from each other (I can't remember exactly which). It has a valve in it that either lets pressure pass through it or holds the pressure until the valve is deactivated. The valve is activated by both vehicle inclination (has to be nose-up a certain number of degrees) and cable movement from a cable connected to the clutch release fork. A little story: 82 wagon, brake pedal went to the floor, no obvious sign of a leak. Bled the system, no change. Changed the master cylinder with a believed-good used unit, still the pedal went to the floor. Got distracted for a week, came back to bleed the master and brakes more thoroughly, and found the brake pedal rock hard (in a good brake sort of way). I do not know what happened. Maybe a dry seal swelled to usable again, maybe an air bubble worked its way out. I do not know. Simple brake systems sometimes act strange.

I could try to get you a picture of my 82 2-barrel manifold, but last time I tried to upload I had some difficulties. On my EA81 2-barrel, the PCV valve is on the back side of the manifold, basically horizontal and around a 45degree angle to the centerline. If you follow the valve cover hoses, one will lead to the PCV valve; on mine, the driver's side goes to a plastic "T", with one leg running to the PCV valve. I do seem to recall looking through a Chilton's (yech!) that the EA71 might have an odd PCV system. I'll see if I can find it.

AFAIK, all of the EJ22s use distributorless ignition. My 90 for sure has no distributor, and has the crank-angle sensor mounted above the crank-snout.

That is weird. The "clean and bright" part sort of rules out blow-by (which should be heavily laced with carbon particles). Almost sounds like it is a distillate, as in some volatile material (Seafoam???) is in the oil and is just being evaporated from it.

Bands hold the exterior of a rotating component still, typically the ring-gear (I forgot the proper name) of the planetary gear-set.

An EA82? Typo, or lack of info? Either way, everything since you and I were in elementary school have had PCVs. The smoke out the tailpipe make me doubt that the PCV is the problem, as it seems that you are still getting oily gases into the intake (or at least the combustion chamber). Still the PCV was my first guess and a good place to start and rule that out.

I do not have a manual that covers the 4EAT, but I assume that it has a forward/reverse band? Has this band been adjusted?

Nominal voltage for a "12 volt" car battery is 13.2 volts. When the car is running/charging it should be about 13.5-14.5 volts. If just turning on the A/C (what blower setting? also, idling or above idle?) drops your voltage that far, then you have probably have either an alternator issue of a wiring/bad-connector issue. Or, if this is happening just at idle, you may have loose/worn/slipping drive belts. If this is at idle, does the idle speed drop significantly?

I have heard that overheated ATF looses its lubricity, so maybe their reasoning is that with less lubricity, the clutch/bands will slip less. If this is the case it still doesn't sound like a good tradeoff.

36mm socket, unless you have a reman axle that has had its threads cut-down.

Yes, the timing-belt procedure is the same for all EA82s. There are differences for setting the ignition timing depending on carb, SPFI or MPFI.

Yes, pretty much the same for all of the EA82s.

Its a little more involved than just slapping on the turbo, but we are talking engine swaps... Depends on what you want. The turbos are relatively gutless when off of boost (7.7:1 CR), and have other quirks. If you want to do anything where low end throttle response is important then you might want to reconsider a turbo. (Yes, this can me mitigated, but requires some more "slapping".) You might be able to go Nissan for engine and tranny if you want just RWD. The other problem other than engine compartment length is height. Subaru worked at getting a low hood line.

Also, since you are new and may not have seen the info, consider coming to the USMB's West Coast Subaru Show 7 (WSSC7) THIS weekend in Shelton, WA. Lots of info on here about it.

I don't remeber what the "approved" method is, but I have read here that disconnecting the battery and depressing the brake pedal (electrical drain from brake lights???) is supposed to do the job.

Ditto.