GeneralDisorder

Generally, if the ticking has been going on for more than a very short time, you will have to replace the lifters and either MIC out the oil pump and reseal it, or just replace it completely with a new one. The problem is caused by air bubbles in the oil. These get inside the lifters and have a tough time comming out. Unfortunately they also cause the lifter to be "spongy" and this will wear out a lifter VERY quickly. To the point where it will not hold pressure and will tick forever - untill replaced. The trick to getting the EA82's to not tick is to never let them start. If you properly prime the oiling system after having them torn down, and you keep after the oil pump, seals, and cam carrier o-rings they will never start ticking. Once they have started it's almost always unfixable without replacing some or all of the lifters themselves. DO NOT add anything to your oil. This is just asking for trouble. At most you can do an ATF flush but don't leave anything in there long-term. The only thing that should be in your oil is OIL. Good clean oil. If it was supposed to be in the additive package then the manufacturer would have put it in there for you. You have no way of knowing (and probably no real idea) of what adding additives to your oil willy-nilly will do. It could (and a lot of times does) make your oil foam like shaving cream. This will just make the lifters worse. An ATF flush will clean anything that *can* be cleaned without splitting the case so just leave it at that. I've seen EA82's with a shade over 100k tick like crazy, and I own an 86 (before they changed to metal reinforced cam carrier o-rings) that has 240k and has never ticked even once. Just happens to have had excelent dealer only maintenance by the old man that owned it. And yes - RTV is Satans smelly cousin. I rarely use it in it's uncured state.... sometimes on water pumps for older engines. It has it's (extremely limited) uses, but I find them diminishing with each passing year. GD

Honda reliability is far, far over rated IMO. My experience has been about the same as any other vehicle on the road. Newer Subaru's (after the last of the EJ22's..) are no exception. For some reason, the golden era for Honda, Toyota, and Subaru seemed to be the late 80's and early 90's. After that the engineers started encorporating technologies that didn't get enough testing or something. The drive to compete bites the consumer hard at times. GD

The code 35 will not cause the ECU to enter "limp mode" or "open loop" operation. It is PURELY an emissions control device (and a rather unimportant one at that). It CANNOT in any way affect other engine parameters so ignition and fuel maps are not changed. As far as the ECU is concerned there is nothing at all wrong with the engine or it's control circuitry. It's just noticing that it can't purge the vapor canistor properly, and letting you know about it..... I can't think of any code I would rather see if I had to see one :-p I like to get rid of all codes as otherwise important codes might go unoticed. I use a $0.50 resistor to eliminate my Purge and EGR solenoids. GD

You have a feedback (computer controlled) carburetor. Either the Hitachi, or the Carter/Weber (both were available as feedback models). It's an enormously complex system that uses some sensors (CTS, O2, etc) to adjust air/fuel mixture in the carb. It is NOT an OBD type system designed to report failures in the emissions systems effeciency, but rather to alert the driver that some part of the feedback "Emissions Control System" has failed. This WILL adversely affect both the mileage and driveability of the car. Unhooking the lamp will probably leave you stranded on the side of the road somewhere down the line because you didn't fix something you should have. Also the testing station may look for the lamp to illuminate durring a "key on" as the computer will light it for a bulb check. Although most EA81's didn't have the feedback system so you could probably get away with it on that account unless you lived in CA. Read the codes - when the ECS light goes on, LEAVE THE ENGINE RUNNING and pull the kickpanel to access the ECU. There is a red LED on the front that will flash morse-code style codes to you. These can be referenced to figure out what sensor or solenoid is malfunctioning. These things are primitive, and without properly working sensors they do not have a "limp mode". They will simply cease to function properly. I had a bad O2 sensor on my EA81 feedback actually cause the engine to die completely at a busy intersection when I stopped for a red light. I had to pull the O2 sensor connector to get it to run again (poorly), and limp it to a friends house. GD

Lots of UK and Isreali Brat's (or MV Pickup's) were FWD, and they had the long-bed option as they were commonly used for hauling due to the prices of fuel.... long bed = more cargo space, and FWD = better fuel econemy. Almost all Brat's sold in Europe were FWD in fact. GD

Vicariously through all those board members that have blown them up durring my time here at the USMB - probably dozens. Personally - two. One was completely wasted when I got it (timing belt covers melted, heads cracked, etc), and the other blew BOTH sides out - no comp. in any cylinder - on a drive over the mountains. Of all the Subaru's I've ever owned (over 25 or 30 by now) I've had exactly 3 blown engines. Two of those were BOTH of the EA82T's I've had. The other was a blown rod on my EA81 lifted wagon.... too much contaminated oil and a weak pump (digidash, and I hadn't learned better yet). GD

CCR doesn't use the Fel-Pro's. They use OEM and perhaps the spray is better for those 20 year old gaskets..... Fel-Pro's are plenty good dry. GD

I generally run the WIX (Napa is the same) filters. They are larger than OEM and very high quality so...... GD

Rislone, or MMO might be good alternatives if that's true about the ATF not containing lots of detergents anymore.... but I haven't heard that before so I'm not totally convinced. GD

Doesn't really matter what kind. I usually stick with some name brand of Dexron.... Just run it up to temp (ten minutes or so), and then drain and fill with oil. Oil and ATF will mix fine so some residual ATF is alright. Change the oil again in about 500 miles as it will probably absorb a lot of crap knocked loose by the flush. It's not uncommon for the ATF to go in bright red and come out black.... Some folks will replace an entire quart of oil with ATF and just leave it in there to quiet noisy lifters in EA82's and other makes of engines. It's pretty common but I don't reccomend that personally. But I mention it to illustrate that using ATF is perfectly safe for flushing purposes. I wouldn't tell you to do it if it wasn't safe either..... GD

A simple search for "code 35" would have yielded many, many threads on this subject. You did enough research to find out what the code meant.... then just stopped?? That seemed strange to me. One would think you would try to figure out what a "purge solenoid" is and where it's located. You claimed you didn't know where to start but stated EXACTLY where to start.... it's right there in the description of the code GD

Lucas is crap. Personally, my opinion is that if it was meant to be in the oil then they would have included it in the additive package. Only OIL goes in my crankcase. I will occasionally consider flushing an engine with ATF, but that's generally just a idle run up to temp, and then drain again. ATF is extremely high in detergents and will eat away a lot of deposits in abused engines. I have NEVER had to do this with properly maintained engines that have had regular oil changes. My 94 EJ22 has 138k. Just hit 3,200 and I'm about to change the oil. Before I drove back from Reno to Portland on Friday (550 miles) I checked the oil and it hadn't used more than 1/4 of a quart if that. It's all about proper maintenance. And I think the short trips are causing some serious engine deposits in Ed's case. Perhaps why the seafoam is making some difference. Try a flush with ATF and get that seafoam out of there. Doesn't belong in your crankcase long term. Willy-nilly adding of additives change the properties of the oil - usually for the worse. You should see what Lucas does at high speeds . Talk about milkshake! GD

Call one of the dealers out here on the west coast. You won't get the wrong part, and last time I priced a clutch it was only $20 more than Autozone from my local dealer.... GD

Not if you have the ability to make axles for nearly free And shipping from down under.... not cool. GD

The Purge solenoid is bad or the circuit is not complete.... how is this not clear? The solenoid is located on the left (passenger) side of the manifold. Trace the vacuum lines from the carbon cannister back to the manifold. One will lead to one of the two solenoids (EVAP purge, and EGR). Whichever one it leads to is the purge solenoid, and either the connector is bad or the solenoid has failed. Replace it, or R&R the connector. GD

You have to MAKE the axles. There are no off the shelf axles that will fit this combination. You have to cut two axles, and weld them together with a sleeve. Basically you lathe the axle shaft to within a few thousandths of the ID of your tubing and then heat expand the tubing and fit the two halves together. You can perforate the sleeve with holes and weld each one to bond the sleeve to the axle shaft as well as welding the end. But the whole thing must be done carefully to avoid warpage. It's best to turn and balance the shaft once it's setup. Running it through a lathe once it's bonded will do the job too. GD

Those instructions are for EA82's and won't work for EA81's. There's LOTS more work involved with making a 5 lug Brat. Custom axles must be used for instance (EA82/XT6/Impreza are too long), and the strut tops are different as are the ball joint interface for the lower control arms. It is NOT a bolt on for the EA81's, and very few people have done it at all. It is possible, but requires fabrication, and not a small amount of it. GD

Exedy or OEM are what most people use. Both are excelent. GD

One should mention however, that this fact alone has not in any way assisted you in evicting the communist gnomes making weapons in your engine bay.... The EA82T remains a black stain on the golden reputation of Subaru engines. Though the non-turbo's are alright in most respects. I've had excelent results on all my non-turbo EA series HG's by using the Fel-Pro's installed dry. I do take the liberty (as many here do) of increaseing the torque to 65 ft/lbs instead of 57. GD

Yep - they made plows for the EA81's - they were even hydraulic and ran off the power steering pump. Pretty cool - I can't remember who, but there's a member here that found one. Perhaps he can take some pictures for you. GD

There's two bolts that come up from underneath The Carter/Weber is JUNK. Even harder to find parts for than the Hitachi. And no, it's not the same as the Weber DGV. The Carter/Weber is an abomination of a carb. Scrap it, and the manifold too. GD

According to my official Subaru parts quick reference manual, those are definately XT6 2WD front axles Which explains the weird Impreza/XT connection as the XT6 hub accepts the 5 lug style axle... but according to the part number it's an XT6 part. But it very well may have cross-referenced to the Impreza somewhere down the line. Still - an extrodinarily odd thing to have 4 of ...... hope you can figure out what Imp. they fit cause good luck finding anyone in need of 2WD XT6 shafts. LOL. GD

None of those indicate electrical "gremlins" to me. Most of those items are failed components and aren't related. Follow some of the excelent sugestions above and treat each problem as a seperate item. None of those should be ground related but you may need to clean a few connectors - IE: the horns and the SPFI sensors. The clock is the easiest to fix. Pop it out and pop the cover off. Remelt the solder on all the circuit board connections (there's only a few). Clock will work perfectly again. They used poor flux or not enough heat to burn it off when those clocks were made (by a contractor, not by Fuji). GD

We can't diagnose your problem by psychic power.... The car needs air, fuel and spark. Start there and give us some information to work with. TEST something. Obviously you have spark, and air probably isn't a problem so start checking the fuel system. GD

You shouldn't need it - they just end up failing and sucking plastic into the carb. If you are concerned about emissions police.... don't worry it will pass without it. I've ran numbers with and without and the difference is negligable. GD