The Yellow Dart

I feel that the guy who sold me the car was an idiot. Thus absolved from most responsibility. Luckily we didn't pay much for it (we brought him down from $300 to $200) We knew that it had a problem with the heads and front CV joint when we bought it. I replaced the bad CV joint. I also replaced a head gasket on the drivers side upon inspection of its plugs. That stopped the white smoke and made it run a lot better. We changed the oil and I believed the problem solved. But then I noticed steam/water coming out of the breather valve. Water in the oil. I hoped that it was just left over water from the previous problem and would work itself out. It didn't seem to be using any water so I decided to drive it a little and see how it acted. After driving 10 miles or so it began to get hot. I checked the water at a gas station and it was low. I put a couple liters of water in it and started home. I figured it was either the other head gasket or maybe it had been a cracked head after all. I never made it home. After putting water in it the temp went down so I thought it was okay to drive it home. At the bottom of a hill it made a terrible noise under the hood. Pretty much sounded like I was dragging a metal gate under the front of the car. I pulled over and of course the engine had died. I tried to crank it but all it did was make all the dash lights go dim. I assume that the engine is seized up since the starter couldn't turn it. I haven't had time to look at it since.

I have been wrenching on a 1983 2WD wagon that I just bought for a few weekends. I thought I had all problems fixed until it (I assume) threw a rod this weekend. I was driving it to put new tires on it and begin it's new life as my commuter car when it made a sound like I'd ran over a fire hydrant and quit. The engine will not turn over anymore, siezed up. Does anyone know where I can get a 1.8L engine on the cheap? I guess it wouldn't have to be that engine, any engine that would bolt up to my automatic tranny would work. Or, would anyone like to buy a 1983 2WD wagon. It has a straight body and only a little rust around the bolt holes where someone installed the roof rack. I'd like to fix it but I can't justify spending much on a new engine. If you have any questions email me. woodmattc@yahoo.com

I haven't really driven the car much since I bought it. I bought it for $200 because it had some problems. We have replaced the passenger CV joint and driveshaft, and put a new head gasket on it. After that at least it would drive. It idles pretty good and has as much power as I'd expect it to with 217k miles and only 4 cylinders. But when I put it in gear it kicks like a mule, it seems like it's worce when it's cold. Also, when slowing it lugs down and stalls out if I try to put the brakes on and stop when it is in gear. To be stopped is to be in neutral or park. It does also have a tendency to stall at parking lot speeds. I don't know what else it could be. Any suggestions would be helpful.

You are my hero! Sweet job on the upgrades.

How hard is it to put in a torque converter on an 83 2WD wagon? I have reasonably good mechanical skills but I have never pulled an engine. Will pulling the engine be necessary? Maybe I just have a mental block about pulling an engine, it seems like too many things can go wrong. How many misc parts (i.e. gaskets) will I have to buy if I disconnect the engine and tranny? Any advice that you can provide will be truly appreciated.

I recently rescued a 2WD '83 Subaru wagon with a 1.8L engine. It had a nasty sputter and blew white smoke out of the tailpipe. After replacing the drivers side head gasket it quit smoking and began to run better. An electical system tune up also helped significantly. It had a shimmy but a new CV joint and driveshaft assembly fixed that. There are still a couple of problems with it, the most serious probably being the transmission. When I put it into reverse, it kicks in really hard, like I popped the clutch but it is an automatic. It seems like it gets a little better when it is warmed up but I can't be sure since we haven't driven it much. It also stalls the engine out when I slow down to make a sharp turn. In other words, it won't idle when it is in drive or reverse, the engine luggs down and dies unless you give it gas and hold the break. We would just put it into neutral when we knew we were going to have to stop. The idle is already kind of fast but adjusting it either way didn't seem to help. We think maybe it's a torque converter but before I go buy one and install it, I thought I'd ask you guys. Problem number two is this, water still comes up from the breather valve into the air breather. You're probably going to lecture me about not fixing both head gaskets and you're probably right but understand that I am working on a very limited budget and need the car as soon as I can get it. We changed the oil and filter and it definitely had water in it. When we cranked the car for the first time with the new head gasket it smoked pretty bad for about 7 minutes but then it stopped completely and hasn't smoked since. We really haven't driven it a lot since we got it back together. We have checked the water after driving it about 10 miles and it doesn't seem to be losing any. I am hoping that it is just working the water out of the system and it will possibly stop. Is this possible? This is a weekend only project for me and the car is in my dad's shop an hour away from where I live. I fully intended to drive it home this weekend but it still seems to have problems. Next weekend starts round 4. Any help you can offer will be appreciated.

Thanks, that at least put me on the right track. One of the pushrods wasn't installed correctly, it was compressing the spring of one of the exhaust valves constantly. I guess that is one of the reasons everyone recommends taking the engine out so that you can see everything. It now runs without using water or smoking, although the plugs are seriously fouled. It ran for about 7-10 minutes before the white smoke cleared up but when it did it never came back. We drove it for about 30 minutes and saw no evidence of the previous problems. It does run a little rough but I guess that's to be expected after sitting for over a year and having bad plugs. Does anyone have any quick tips on tune up? It runs rough and has a tendency to die when moving at parking lot speeds. It doesn't smoke and doesn't have a noticeable knock. We got it up to 55 and it had a little shimmy, but we can have it fixed when we get new tires and alignment. An interesting side note, it will kick into passing gear with a very noticeable change in RPM's, but it seems no power results from it. Any suggestions? In closing, if you're looking to replace head gaskets in a 1983 1.8L Subaru, here's my recommendation, the heads can be removed without pulling the engine if you feel more comfortable with it that way. But be very careful installing pushrods, there is no clear guide or hole to put the pushrods in that I could see, you kind of have to go by how it feels. Make sure they are in correctly before putting the valve cover on and/or attempting to start the engine by putting a wrench on the main pulley and turning the engine, making sure that all valves move. It is also tough to get some models of torque wrenches on the bolts that attach the rocker assembly but after you get them as tight as you can I suggest you try, we got ours on with only minor difficulty. Remove the rubber pullout plugs built into the frame in order to remove rocker assembly bolts and pushrods, they are located directly across from the bolts that attach the rocker assembly and aren't obvious at first sight. Thanks for all of your help!

Okay, so I got the new head gasket on and put the head back on, but it won't crank. It almost cranked after a little bit but then died. Shortly thereafter the battery, which was not good to start with, was too low to spin the engine fast enough. This car is at my parents house and I cannot work on it during the week due to my job. Unfortunately, when the battery died it was time to go back to my home an hour away and I still do not know if something else could be wrong. Here's my question. Is there some special secret to putting the pushrods back in? I made sure they went in their original order but it didn't really feel like I was putting them in the right spots. I put them in and had no problem tightening the rocker arms onto the ends of them. With other heads I've worked with, there was an obvious "hole" (for lack of a better word) to put the pushrods into. I didn't see anything in these heads that was quite like that. I didn't pull the engine. I did remove the alternator and all parts attached to the drivers side head that were in the way. What mistakes could I have made putting this thing back together that would keep it from cranking? It cranked before and it was spewing water out of the cylinders of the drivers side. This is so frustrating because it may crank after being on a slow charger all week but I just don't know. I might have just flooded it. Any advice you guys can offer will be very helpful as I enter round three this weekend. Thanks, Matt

Looks like it is the head gasket. We took the drivers side head out (without taking out the engine) and two of the head studs were very loose. The gasket had a black stain between the cylinders where it appeared to be burnt. Unfortunately this is where we ran out of time and had to stop working on it. I won't be able to work on it for another couple of weeks. What should we do in the meantime to deal with the rust that is beginning to form inside one of the cylinders? Thanks for all your help.

How rude of me to not include a picture. Here it is. You can keep up with my progress on this website. http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/690941 Thanks for your help. We'll see how it goes this weekend.

I have a 1983 wagon with a problem. It is an automatic 2WD with a 1.8L V-4. It cranks okay but when it reaches operating temperature it blows white smoke out of the tailpipe. We took a spark plug out and turned it over and it sprayed water/gas about 7 feet. I believe it is a blown head gasket but that is just based on a best guess. We have put a lot of water in it and it seems to disappear. I know this is a common issue but mostly I want to know about this specific engine. Two questions: 1. If it's not a blown head gasket, then what is it? 2. How much trouble is it to replace a gasket on this engine? Are there any online tutorials? Okay that was technically three questions. I have replaced head gaskets on a 1980 Chevy 350 and a 1993 Chevy Corsica v-6. How much different is this engine than those? We are breaking into it this weekend but I'd like to know a little bit of what I'm getting into beforehand. Thanks