alaskaloyale

The engine does not seem to be popping from the intake or backfiring. Even when it stalls out, it doesn't seem to misfire, just kind of dies and then starts back up once the RPM drops. I did lose some coolant, because the line to my overflow tank was broken, so when it started to overheat some steam and liquid was able to escape that way. The engine is holding regular temp with no problem now. I'll take a good hard look at the front of the engine, but since I was just messing with the belt up front I don't think I could have messed up anything important. It's -40 degrees outside right now though, so I could believe just about anything breaking. Things get pretty brittle when it's that cold out. I'm towing it to my friend's garage tonight and I'll let you guys know what we find.

My car just broke down again today, 1988 GL, fuel injected, 5-speed dual-range. Earlier in the day, my belt came loose and caused the car to overheat since the water pump wasn't turning. I caught it pretty quickly and the engine never reached red, but was elevated for a while. It was running just fine after that for a few hours, with no unusual symptoms. Then when I was driving home, the car began to stall out under load pretty badly. It would idle just fine, and would Rev up normally in neutral until hitting 3000rpm, and it would abruptly stall back down to 1000rpm. Under load this happened at much lower engine speeds, making the car almost undriveable. What do you think would cause this? Fuel delivery issue? Distributor? Timing Belt?

Interesting, I have a non-ac 88 Gl that has a mechanical fan. I wonder if it's the original engine, the car does have 370K miles on it.

The Subaru lives!!! It turned out, after all my panic, that Ferox was right. The screw on the rotor had come completely loose and was causing the bad running condition. On the bright side, I now have a timing belt kit ready to install at some point and I've removed the timing belt covers for easy access.

I just ordered a timing belt kit off ebay, hopefully it's of acceptable quality, dramatically cheaper than getting the parts from NAPA. Taking the car apart tonight to confirm that the belts are the problem, but even if they aren't they definitely need to be done. I've never changed them and I have my doubts about the previous owner either.

Thanks, it could very well be the rotor set screw. I replaced the cap and rotor quite recently and may not have tightened it as much as I should have. The engine runs very rough, constantly misfiring, and dies as soon as I take my foot off the gas for a couple seconds. I'll get a good look at the exhaust in the light of day today and really give it thorough once over. I was pretty tired and frustrated when it broke down last night, saw the white stuff on the oil cap, and jumped to conclusions.

1988 subaru gl, fuel injected , 5-speed dual-range.

1988 subaru gl, fuel injected , 5-speed dual-range.

How possible is it to replace your own head gasket on an ea82?i just drive my car to a restaurant, was running fine when I went there. Sat in the cold for an hour or two, and then when I drove it away it was stumbling and misfiring, smelled like burnt rubber, white pasty looking stuff on the inside of the oil cap, oil was much lower than it was before.

Does anyone have sections 3-6 of the 1988 FSM by any chance? I've acquired the first two sections as a pdf, and would love either a digital or physical copy of the remaining sections.

You can get the Haynes manual absurdly cheap on Amazon. I ordered from this store, arrived brand new in shrink wrap for $6 shipped to Alaska. The Chiltons manual is similarly cheap, but isn't supposed to be as good as the Haynes for these cars.

1988 GL Wagon 5spd DR - 368,000 and counting!

They have never worked, I'll take a close look at that. If that's the only problem that would be great.

Finally gave the 88' GL Wagon a real tune up for the first time since I bought it in June: New Cap, Rotor, Plugs, Wires, Fuel Filter, Air Filter Put some seafoam in the gas tank Cleaned the interior The car is running much better now, less vibration from the engine and a bit more power, especially on the low end. My list for this weekend: New 195 degree thermostat Backflush coolant Change Brake fluid and front brake pads Test all the winterization gear to make sure it works (Freeze Plug block heater, battery pad heater, oil pan heater) Once all that's done this thing just might be ready for another long, brutal interior Alaska winter!

The car is a manual, 5-speed dual-range. Fuses are not blown or rusty, I swapped them with known good fuses to make sure and the lights still did not function.

Winter is approaching in Alaska, and since it is suddenly no longer light out 24/7 I discovered that the backup lights do not work on my 88' GL Wagon (no voltage at the bulb sockets). I don't have a wiring diagram for the car so I'm not sure where the circuit goes. I'm guessing there is a sensor on the transmission that goes to a relay inside the dashboard somewhere that sends power to the backup lights? How do I go about testing the sensor, and where is the relay located? Also, if anyone has a pdf of the chassis electrical part of the factory service manual that would be awesome to have, all I've been able to locate is the engine manuals. Thanks for the help, this forum has been invaluable to fixing up this old 367,000-mile subaru

Pardon my ignorance, what is the cts? I tried googling it but all I find is a million pages about Cadillacs.

Are fuel system cleaners like seafoam and the like actually any good, or would I need to pull the injector and clean it outside of the car?

I'm thinking it's possible that I sucked up some gunk or dirt out of the tank when I ran it dry, and that that's impeding the fuel flow, I'll rent a pressure gauge and check it out later today. I hope it's not the fuel pump, that's the one part that's broken on my parts loyale.

My 88 GL Wagon has some fuel system issues, and hesitates and drops in rom under load, especially when the engine is cold. I replaced the fuel filter, which seemed to help, but after I ran the car out of gas the other day it got worse again, and replacing the filter again didn't help. I replaced the spark plugs today and they are all white, powdery, and burnt,so the car is clearly running lean. Most of my experience is with carbureted engines, so I was hoping you guys had some good tips for where to start on figuring this out.

Replaced wheel bearings, ball joints, brake pads, and tie rod ends today. It ended up being a much bigger job than I anticipated. I got the hubs off, and packed and hammered in the new bearings in about an hour, and was feeling really good about myself untill i tried to remove the ball joints. They were spectacularly seized, ended up having to use a pickle fork and a sledgehammer. Then came the tie rod Ends, which were even worse. Ended up having to use a Map gas torch, a pipe wrench, and a 4-foot cheater bar to get the damn things unscrewed from the tie rod. It was quite the workout, but the front end noise is gone and the alignment is almost perfect still. Might bring it by a shop and have the pros line it up a bit better, but it feels good at highway speed.

Third and first gear are definitely rougher than the others, so the transmission probably could use some work. It's good to hear that most of my problems are probably the clutch or throw out fork though, will be a much easier project to tackle first.

I'm thinking about rebuilding the 5-Speed DR in my 88' GL because it is sometimes hard to get into gear and lurches a bit, also seems like a fun project for the end of my summer. I think it's the original transmission with 365K miles on it, so it could definitely use a refresh by now. I'm curious where you guys recommend picking up the parts. I haven't had much luck googling for a kit. Thanks for the help

What comes in one of those dealer rebuild kits?

This roof rack came on the car, previous owner made it for a welding class. It's extremely beefy, and held on by two big bolts going through the body on each end of the rails. I've strapped a full-size couch onto it and driven 50mph with no problems at all. Thinking about welding on some sort of basket in-between the two rails to make it easier to mount bags and smaller items.