Frank B

Check all the before mentioned things, then rebuild/clean your carb. There isn't much rebuilding to it really. Just a new accelerator pump, new needle and seat, and gaskets. But cleaning it is the most important part. Get some good cleaner, not the $1.00 stuff. Follow the sheet in the rebuild kit to set the float and choke linkages. If you feel up to it, drive out the idle mixture screw block off pin on the front of the carb while it's out. After the rebuild and re-install, let the car get up to temp, check/adjust the ignition timing, set idle speed to around 800 rpm and turn the screw in untill it starts to stall. back it out untill it runs smooth again. Re-adjust idle speed if needed, then adjust the mixture screw again the same way, then idle again if needed. My worn out Hitachi carbed 89 hatch gets me 30MPG highway, 25 before the rebuild.

There is a sensor in the radiator that switches it on and off. Trace out the wire and you should find a relay. Check it or replace it to see if it is the problem. The problem could be the sensor too, very common.

I have purchased axles with the threads worn out before. The threads were good enough for the nut to screw on, but but too much torque and it would slip. Now I take the nut and thread it on at the store. If the threads don't look brand new and sharp to the touch, if the axle doesn't come with the nut and cotter pin, or the roll pin for the DOJ, I simply do not buy it. It shows a lack of attention to detail, and a lack of quality. What was the brand of axle you picked up at NAPA? CCW, CC something? That brand is junk, and they are out of business now. That same brand was sold at AutoZone, Advance, Federated, and a dozen other parts stores. But the lack of quality shut them down. I am not sure about NAPA, but I know AutoZone sells some really good NEW ones now, and good reman units. Depending on the folks at the store where you bought yours, you may have a hard time proving that it was a faulty axle, and not an improper installation. Your best bet is to ask for, and expect only a refund on the axle, don't push it and demand that they pay for a tow bill, and a professional mechanic to fix it with OEM parts!

Well, it's good to see that the problem revealed itself, at least now you won't be going insane trying to figure it out! Your stress level just dropped a ton didn't it ?! Sorry to hear it's a HG, that just opens the can up, with all the other parts your gonna want to replace while your at it, the repair bill is going up. Have you considered putting the EA81 out of the crap wagon itnot it? just temporarily so at least you'll be riding in something nice.

The micky mouse o ring is the oil pump o ring, or mounting gasket. If your doing all that anyway, and have to remove the t-belts, go ahead and replace the oil pump, and water pump too. I possible, clean out the threads in the block for the oil pan bolts. then use some lock-tite on the bolts so they won't back out again. If you have the time, get a large drain pan or something and place the oil pan(upside down) and the valve covers in them with some kerosene or gas to soak overnight if the gasket is stuck solid on them. So you won't have to worry about gouging the gasket surface or yourself when scraping them off.

I agree with GD, your gonna have to do some serious detective and/or archaeological work to get rid of it. The obvious places would be the carpet, and under it, and the ducting. I had ran my first Soob into a nasty ditch once. The car was resting on it's side more than the wheels and everything from the center of the center hump over to half way up the passenger side was full of black swamp-rump roast stinky water when I got back to it with a tow truck. I had to remove the carpet, the padding under it, all the seats, door panels, etc and wash them. I threw the carpet over the clothes line and hosed it down with a strong mix of Simple Green. I did the same with the seats. Just turned the hose on them to saturate them, the poured Simple Green over them to soak in. After rinsing everything, and using 3 gallons of Simple Green, that car smelled great!!!! It never stank again!

What would you need an FSM for when you have the USMB .....

I think it was posted here before that are only two. A one wire, and a two wire.

I have to disagree. I have never had one apart, but there has to be a divider in the header tank. if not, the hot coolant would go right out and there would be no flow in the core and it would act like a clogged core all the time. At first the core would be full of hot coolant, but the fan would quickly remove that heat and the output would be barely warm. In the picture posted above, you can see the crimp or divider.

I am not sure I understand, did the EJ18 and 4-speed DR bolt up without an adapter plate?

If your temp guage readings are affected by the heater, then you either don't have a thermostat, or it's faulty. For under $10, and less then 30 minutes of your time, it's worth it to replace it. That cheap little part could fail and destroy your engine. Stay with the OEM temp, 195, since it's computor controlled. Also try flushing your heater core. Go to the hardware store and buy a garden hose repair end, the female kind that will screw onto your garden hose, a short pice of heater hose, like 12 inches, then you clamp the heater hose onto the repair end. or you could cut the end of a garden hose off and use that. Remove both hoses from the heater core and clamp the hose you just made onto the outlet pipe, to back flush, the one that goes to your intake manifold IIRC. I like to turn the water hose on, crimp the hose in my hand to stop the flow, then hook it all up. It's tricky but you don't want all that pressure going into the heater core. If you have a helper, just hook it up, crimp the hose, have them turn the water on, then slowly release the crimp to slowly increase the water pressure. You will see all kinds of crap come out of it! After the water runs clear, hook the hose to the other pipe and do it again. Reinstall everything and enjoy. If water doesn't flow though it, flushing won't help and you need to replace it. If it's in real poor condition, corroded, you may burst a hole in it and soak the carpet, but I have never had that happen, yet. You MAY gat lucky and get the same results simply by reversing the hoses on your heater core. It doesn't matter which way coolant flows through it, bt reversing the flow can break up the deposits. If it works, flush your coolant out after you've run it that way for a while to get that crap out of the system. Good luck.

Here's a link to Autozone's copy of the haynes manual. But it helps. Use the thottle body link to the right to see the testing of the TPS, and the rest of the components. The scroll down menu obove that gets you to the rest of the components. http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1c/65/02/0900823d801c6502.jsp It sounds like the injector is sticking open, that would explain the crappy running at low speeds(too rich), black smoke(too rich), and great running at high rpm(turbo likes rich mixtures). I doubt cleaning it will help, it rarely does unless you have an ultrasonic cleaner??

There's one on DC craigslist very similiar to yours.... http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/car/236410192.html

It can be done on the car, that's how I've always done it so I didn't disturb the strut mounting, which will effect the camber/castor. You will have to remove wheel, and axle nut, then the brake caliper and hang it up out of the way so it's not hanging from the brake hose, use a small bungie hooked to the coil spring. remove the bracket for the caliper, remove the hub(with the wheel studs) by backing out the four bolts. Seperate the lower ball joint from the control arm by removing the one bolt and use a screw driver from the top into the groove to seperate the clamping area. then using a short piece of wood and a big hammer, place the wood on top of the control arm and hit it with the hammer untill the ball joint comes out of the control arm. The sway bar will keep the control arm up, and spring it back onto the ball joint so after you break it loose, you will have to push down on the control arm while pulling up and out on the hub assembly to get it out. I have used a jack under the hub assembly before to push it up, just don't lift it too high because you'll lift the car off of your jack stands! Next you have to remove the axle, put the big nut back on backwards just so it is flush with the axle end to give you a good wide surface and to protect the threads, and lightly tap the end with a hammer and maybe a piece of wood on the nut to cushion it untill the axle pushes through the bearings. It will only go a little before you can pull it through the back. You will also have to pull out on the hub assembly to clear the axle. Then just lay it to one side. Now pry out the rubber wheel seals, inner an outer with a screw driver. Dont worry about destroying them because you have new ones, right? You'll see the bearings and a spacer inbetween. Reach through with your punch and catch the edge of the bearing with the punch, get you big hammer and whack away. Move the punch from one side to the other with every whack to push it out evenly. Even though it is a snug fit, you can get it lodged sideways a bit. After the inner bearing pops out, push out the spacer and clean up some of the grease. Now turn the steering wheel to the right to give you better reach to get the outer bearing out the same way, reaching around the backside. Clean out ALL the old grease. Now pack the new bearings with high temp disc brake approved grease, the better the quality, the happier you'll be. Put a light coat of grease in the hub where the bearing will go in, and position the bearing. lightly tap the bearing along the OUTER EDGE only in a circular pattern untill it's flush with the outer edge of the hub. Now take your punch, brass if you have it, and keep tapping the bearing around the outer edge untill it seats. You notice a distinct difference in the sound when it bottoms out. place the inner wheel seal on and lighty tap around the outer edge with a dull, blunt screwdriver or dull chisel, this gives you a flat edge but won't cut the seal, untill it's seated. Now turn your steering wheel back. Glob in grease around where the spacer will be and put the spacer in filling all aound it with grease. Now place the outer bearing and start tapping it in just like the inner, in a circular pattern untill it's flush, the use the tap around the OUTER EDGE only to seat it. Install the outer seal the same as the inner, but you may not need the screw diver because of the flat shape of the seal, just use the hammer lightly. Now the fun part, the part where mistakes are made, and damage is done, getting the axle back in. Pull out on the hub assembly and put the axle in throught the rear, put a light coat of grease on the axle shaft, untill it stops pushing through, and it will stop. Push as hard as you can to get it as far as you can. I have made spacers out of a piece of pipe in various lengths to aid in pulling the axle though. The pipe needs to be small enough to go though the seal, and rest onto the bearing. Short enough to allow the nut to be placed on the axle too. Subaru made a tool for this. With a washer under the axle nut, crank away untill the axle pulls through, and you run out of threads. Now remove the short spacer, and put on a longer one, tighten some more. Keep going with spacers untill you can install the hub(with wheel studs) and use the washer and nut on it to pull it the rest of the way. Watch the inner wheel seal as you do this, it can be folded over or pinched as the axle is tightned. This will allow water in, and you'll have to replace the bearings again. After you have cussed and thrown your tools all over the yard getting the axle in, you have to get the assembly back onto the ball joint. You can use the jack again, but you'll also have to push down on the control arm to get it down far enough. Once it is in, tighten the bolt, put the brakes back together, the wheel on, and your done. The first tim I did it, it took most of the day, a lot of swearing, too many beers, and a WHOLE LOT of patience!!! Now, I can do it in like 10-45 minutes. That should cover it, next time I do this, I'm taking pictures...

Have you checked for fault codes yet? it may be ignition or timing related.

Every soob I have had, or worked on, I had to back the oil cap off a bit to snug it up. I never looked into it further than that. If you remove the cap while it's running, you will notice an air pulse from the crankcase pressures. Essentially from the pistons pumping the air around. The oil you see coming down the tube was originally vapor that condensates at the top of the tube. You may have excessive blow by from worn rings creating more air/oil vapor movement. Or maybe just a cloggged or just dirty PCV. Does the engine use a lot of oil??

I agree, you remove the engine and tranny and you don't have much. I have thought of swapping an Isuzu 2.6L and rwd 5-speed into one(since I have it), but whats the point? It would be RWD only, way loose in the rear, too heavy in the front, have to destroy the tranny hump to get it in, re-engineer the front suspension to carry the cast iron block, etc, etc. I would like to have a small turbo diesel in my hatch, that would be awesome! The only problem I can see, is the gear ratios of the tranny. A diesel likes low rpm, 3000 rpm max. Our little subies really don't do much UNTILL 3000 RPM. That or find higher ratios for the diffs.....

I have used Macs before, I should have thought about that since I have managed two NAPA stores . But I think I'll try the baking soda deal. it's cheap, available, and I doubt it will kill anything when I pour it on the ground. Hey, maybe it will get that tranny fluid out of the gravel in my driveway too....maybe not. Thanks for the replies.

Oh I don't need a new radiator, if I did I would just buy one. What I want to do is remove all that yellow powdery slime out of the cooling system that was left by the old, too old coolant that was in it. It really isn't going to be done on my subaru either, the hatch is fine. I need to flush the 97 lumina I just bought for my girlfriend(the 89 GL-10 was a bit small for a 6' 2" blonde!!) This think is terrible. I had to replace the thermostat, coolant temp sensor, and rad cap, and next the manifold gaskets. But untill then i need a good flush. What chemicals did the EPA ban?? Not that I would find them and use them myself or anything .

I've used the usualt prestone and zerex 10 minutes flush, and the system cleaner that is left in for 6 hours of driving, or several days. But they really don't do the job. They never get that yellow powder residue that's left from old neglected coolant, or the crusty mineral deposits from the water. I've read that a capful,or two of dishwasher detergent in water only(coolant flushed) does the trick. Being formulated to soften water, break down mineral deposits, cut grease, etc. What have you folks used with success?

I was just looking at my copy of the 89 FSM and even though it is for the hot wire MAF, it does say " The CO content adjusting screw of the air flow meter need not be adjusted as the air-fuel ratio is feedback controlled". And it shows a chart for troubleshooting if the CO content is outside spec. The things to check are, the ignition, compression, EGI system, faulty injector, improper fuel pressure, clogged air filter, degraded catalyst, faulty muffler. But if someone did adjust the screw on the MAF, I guess the only way to adjust it, or to check to see if adjusting it helps, is to find a willing shop to test it while you play with that screw. Unless someone that knows which way to turn it to lower the CO will chime in.......

Have you done the usual, tune up, new O2 sensor, air filter, etc?? I can't help with the MAF adjustment, but I know you can't swap the MAF with a hot wire one. Maybe your catalityc converter is toast??? Also look for exhaust leaks in the uppipe(between the cylinder heads and the turbo) and turbo gasket exhaust leaks as well. If you have a leak, it can actually pull in clean cool air and throw off the reading at the O2, tricking your ECM to run a bit rich to compensate.

I think the spring inside the plastic choke housing does that, but I can't remember if it's internal or its external on the hitachi. I don't have one in front of me at the moment.

A quart, or less, isn't going to have catastrophic results. It isn't much more than adding any additive into the oil like MMO, Seafoam, Valvemedic, etc. None of them have the ability to do the job of motor oil. That's why you don't replace the oil with it, you ADD it into the oil. You still have 75% or more of the oil capacity in the form of motor oil. Besides, any additive like that that has high detergents, and you do expect it to clean it out, you should drain it after a few hundred miles anyway, just to get all that junk that got cleaned out of there from circulationg around your engine. If your engine isn't brand spankin' new, or has a ton of deposits in it from years of neglect, I can't see the point in worrying about your oil all that much or what not to add to it. The damage or wear has been done a LONG time ago and no matter what kind or brand of oil you put in there, or don't.....it's still worn. I have personally drove a subaru EA82 with 0 oil pressure for 70 miles thinking the gauge was wrong, not the oil pump. And it survived. New oil pump, new oil and filter, and not a knock, whine, rattle tick, or peep out of the engine for another 30,000+ miles. If it can handle that, I have no fear of a little ATF. Cheap oil, and cheap filters (to a point) for me unless the engine is perfect. Oil pumps fail with just oil going thru them, it's obviously very common with Subarus. Seal failure is just as common. I'd bet that the accumulation of deposits and hydrocarbons in the oil is more corrosive and abbrasive than atf, or other additives. But anyway, I think we're getting off topic a bit here. Sorry

It has to be the carb, choke kickdown linkage, throttle cable, or the throttle return spring. Start with spraying carb cleaner on all the linkage, make sure the linkage operates smoothly, check that the return spring and throttle cable aren't getting hung up on anything. The throttle cable may be frayed at the end and getting stuck. The throttle plates may be getting hung up too due to worn throttle shafts. or there is some wierd vacuum leak. it may help to halve someone operate the thottle while your looking at the linkage and such.