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I have a 1985 GL wagon, automatic tranny, 70,000 original miles with a rebuild about 8,000 miles ago. It starts up immediatly cold or hot. When cold it will initallly have an idle of about 1600rpm, and settle down within a short period to a 900-1,000rpm. Driving it locally and on the highway it is fine,has nice smooth acceleration . Once it has warmed up and I come to a stop, it typically will idle below 900. If i shut it off for a short period, restart it, the idle is around 500 and it begins a slow rough downward spirl until it dies. A mechanic looked at it and immediatly thought it was a valve,did a compression check and found the compression to range from 110 to 130 psi. The only other symptom I noticed was the distinct smell of oil on hot metal after I have driven it for 15+ minutes and shut the engine off. Suggestions as to what to look for? Thanks,Ed

Yeah, I don't want to force it, and I don't recall what it looks like or how it is designed, I believe it is an inside release. I'm hoping he has enough gas to make it home! Thanks for the suggestion of holding the release open while another person gently pries the door.

Ok, I have a '87 waggon , my son has it at college ( 2+ hours away) . He called to say the gas cap cover won't release. Any suggestions as how he can pop it open with damaging the metal ? I was hoping to get it home this weekend so I could look at it myself if he has enough gas in it..... Thanks guys!

Ok, my son came home for the weekend with MY '85 GLSW ( he only thinks it's his, secretly he knows he will have to give it back to me someday in the same nice shape that it's in!!!Haha) . Anyway, one thing that we both have constantly noticed is that the hood release has always been hard to pop. After we popped the hood this morning I left the hood up, pressed the latch with a screwdriver back into the "locked" position and gave a tug . The handle stills needs maxo force to get it to release!?!? I'd like to fix this, my fear is that exercising so much force on the handle/cable is going to break it. I don't think the cable itslef id hanging up, can the tach be adjusted? ) Advice folks? Thanks in advance, and by the way, a big shout out ( THANKS ROB!!!) to Subruise for fixing the oil leak and the bad water pump, she runs sooo nice now! Ed

Rob, I'll get in touch with my son and give you a call later today. Thanks! Ed

I'm up on Whidbey Island, although my son just took it back with him to PLU in Parkland tonight for the next couple of weeks. IS there a repair manual you could recommend? Thanks, Ed

I'm a newb in the world of Subaru, I recently bought a '85 Subaru turbo wagon. It has 65,000 original miles, and it is very nice inside and out. The previous owner had bought it from an estate and said he had rebuilt the head on cylinders 1 and 3 as they had little/no compression,and he replaced the timing belt as well as well as other "stuff" . So this little car runs like a top,handles well, and seems to be a great daily driver, BUT! ( and there is always a but, isn't there?!?) . I noticed about a week ago the distinct smell of burning oil, I looked underneath and I could see fresh oil on the cross member, and when I popped the hood the smell of the burning oil was from fresh oil that had spilled onto the exhaust manifold. I took the car to a trusted mechanic, and the first thing he said was " a mechanic could make quite a living fixing oil leaks on Subarus" . He looked it over and said other than the recent oil the engine looked clean and tight, and thought the oil may have been residue from the previous mechanics handy work. All that said, I suspect the oil is not from older work, but is an actual oil leak and I have no experience as to how to track it down. So, can I get some advice as to where to look ( or how to look) for oil leaks? As a post script, I did wipe down the crossmember last night, it did have fresh oil on it, and the cardboard i laid out under the engine did have fresh oil stains on it in the morning. Thanks for any and all advice folks!