GeneralDisorder

Ya know, if that thing is running well enough that you think you can make it back to your tools, go shopping for one of those solar battery trickle chargers. Neat to have anyway, and might just solve your problem long enough. Dealer doesn't carry the rectifier's - they just replace entire alt's. You will have to source the rectifier through another source. But if you don't have tools to dissasemble the alternator with..... a replacement alt (hopefully with a lifetime warrantee) would probably be the best bet. Go with a parts chain you have near your home, and you'll probably be good to go. Get a small cheap set of tools to keep in the car with you too if you go that route. Best to have at least a few tools just in case - especially with older cars (of any brand). GD

From some places. I see at least 2 to 5 every day, and those are just the one's I notice. It seems that *most* sedans are 2WD for some reason. It's comparitively rare to see a 4WD sedan. The 4WD ones I see are mostly turbo's. I did see a 4WD Loyale sedan a few weeks ago. But 4WD D/R sedan's like mine don't seem to be very common. I guess the people looking for 4WD were mostly in the market for wagons for the added cargo space for camping and such. I see hundreds of wagons every week, lots of sedans, and relatively few coupes. Not seeing a lot of EA81's anymore, but still the occasional hatch or wagon. GD

There's a whole ground wire system, and there's quite a few pins on the ECU usually that go to "ground". What that generally means is they all meet up and get grounded through one bigger ground wire. On the SPFI it's the wire to one of the manifold bolts (or thermostat housing), and then there's another that grounds through the coil bracket/engine block ground at the coolant pipe mount off the water pump. I'm guessing the EA81T is probably similar in it's routing. What I'm saying is you aren't neccesarily looking for a lot of grounds, but probably just one or two where all the ground wires meet up and flow to a single connection to the engine block. GD

The point is that the belt ribs are NOT "supposed" to line up, and this is NOT a factory "mistake". The difference in the belt routing (and thus the length) from the crank to each cam sprocket makes them completely seperate entities. Their alignment in relation to one another has no correlation what-so-ever. It is PURELY a function of the belt ribbing size, and the distance the belt must travel between the crank and cam. Which is different for passenger and driver cam's. This is just more irrational crap from BDG. He is unable to understand that the two belts, and cams are 100% seperate from one another, and so assumes that it must be a conspiracy against 2WD sedans. It's utter non-sense. GD

Sometimes they are a real pain to get out. I have a special tool (very, very special), and so I haven't tried to make any. I would think a peice of bar stock with a hook bent in one end could reach through and pull the pin out. Sometimes they slide right out, other times they require pretty strong hammering to knock em loose. Carfreak85 had this problem a while ago - might ask him how he handled it. The factory tool is a slide hammer setup IIRC. Mine is a split arbor tool that's very unique, but it's not something you can buy. Mine was made by Shadow on his mini-lathe. I think he made three of them total, and one was for himself GD

Flywheel/Clutch Tranny (85 to 89 if you want a D/R) Tranny cross-member and mounts Front section of the driveline (rear section is the same) Linkage/console Pedal assembly/clutch cable Rear diff if it's not already 3.9 Possibly the front axles if they aren't already 23 spline. If they are 25 spline then they won't fit the N/A tranny. They will fit a turbo 5 speed, but not the typical D/R. If you are already swapping out a bad tranny, then it's really only a couple extra hours to do the full 5 speed swap. It's completely a bolt up, with the only change being you have to jumper two pins on the automatic shifter plug to disable the park switch that prevents the starter from engaging. GD

You need to replace the rubber return lines as well. The SPFI fuel pump for example puts out 50 psi of pressure, and a TON of fuel. The regulator on the side of the TB steps the pressure down to 21 psi, and you STILL have 21 psi of pressure in the return system. Think of the fuel supply on the FI vehicles this way: It's a river of fuel flowing by at high speed, and high pressure. The TB regulator just "drinks" from the flowing river of fuel. The pressure in the supply and return are equal and thus both require the same high pressure hose. Go to a junk yard and puncture the return line of an FI subaru.... you'll find out real quick that there's plenty of pressure on both sides The vent lines are not pressureized. They simply carry fuel vapor to the carbon collector. Regular non-FI hose is fine. The hard lines are fine - the 20 year old steel lines in my Brat haven't shown any trouble carrying the FI pressure. And they are plenty large enough. You do have to step the sizes up from the tank to the pump. But really, this should be done at the surge tank fittings anyway. The tank in my Brat has no baffleing as it was carbed, and the FI does not like sucking air when the tank sloshes at stop lights and such. I have "ran out" of fuel before my fuel light even came on because the pump sucked air when the fuel sloshed around. If you sit for a minute and let the tank settle down it will restart, but it's annoying to not be able to use the last 2-3 gallons in the tank. A small surge tank will solve the problem. I found a web article where a guy made one from a houshold tap water filter canistor from home depot. I'm probably going to go that route as no one really sells anything appropriate for our application. GD

And what resistor is that? On the SPFI there's the coil bracket (ignitor transistor), and there's a capacitor in the wireing harness (black rectangular unit) for the coil ground..... but there's no resistor on an SPFI coil. Are you talking about the carbed coil, or maybe you are refering to the ignitor on the bracket (it's not a resistor though)? GD

Not really - you need to pull the piston wrist pins to get the block halves to come apart. Some say you can get to the rod bolts with the halves only split a little, but I couldn't on the EA81's I've taken apart. GD

Any chance you left the parking lights on? The switch on top of the column.... You shouldn't be seeing the AC voltage, but sometimes with an older alt you will get a little AC current riding on top of the DC. If it's not enough to make the indicator lamps on the dash glow (brake fluid, etc) then it's probably not enough to stop you from using the alt till you can source a replacement. Your mileage may vary though GD

Does the car say "Full Time 4WD Turbo" on the side? If not, it's a typical 3AT. Only the FT4WD's were 4EAT's (or some manual's). You should just convert it to a manual anyway. Easy, and much more reliable, and better performing. GD

Incorrect - D-Check is the prefered way to verify codes, and to test that they have been repaired succesfully. It does not require the "dealer" to operate it. You connect the green connectors, turn the ignition ON, depress the accelerator pedal completely, return to half throttle for 2 seconds then start and drive the car till either you get a code, or the systems flashes the CEL repeatedly to indicate no codes were found. It is MUCH more accurate than U-Check, and will find faults that will not show in U-Check.... to "prevent uneccesary uneasiness to be taken by the user".... directly from the FSM. It's quite useful, and very friendly to the home mechanic. GD

Fuel level in the bowl does affect the mixture. The level dictates how much fuel pressure flows through the jets. Think of it as a siphon effect. The higher the level in the bowl, the more fuel will flow when it's sucked out into the venturi. You can adjust the float for off-road, there's a seperate measurement for that, but it does not mean you won't have to change jets or air bleeds to compensate, or possibly just live with crappy mileage. The measurements for the float can be found on the web - I can't remember where I last got them, but you hold the carb top vertical and measure it with the float dangling. GD

The CAS distributors rarely fail unless the bearings go bad. Check for shaft play. Have you tested the coil, and tried another one? They can test good but still not function sometimes. Basically you just have to trace it down - you have three parts that could be bad - coil, ignitor, and distributor. Check each one with spare's (junk yard is fine). And verify that the coil is getting voltage, and the bracket is grounded well. If the bracket is not grounding, you will get NO spark, or intermittant like you are experienceing. GD

That's a real possibility actually. I've seen pictures of it more than once - where the rear coil-overs just bust right through into the cargo area. Makes a nasty mess. If you have enough rust that you even suspect something might break DO NOT lift it. The lift will put stresses on the frame rails in ways that can rip apart a good body if you aren't careful, let alone a rusty one. It will all bolt right up. Just did one a few months back actually. You have to swap the entire rear suspension, but it's not difficult if you have the space to get them both up in the air. Wagon is better for off-road anyway as it's got some cargo space for tool and equipment. The sedan would be really tight. GD

No problem. It's annoying to have that dieseling. GD

To put it bluntly, No. The castings and guts are different to such an extent as to make it virtually impossible. At any rate it would be far more complex than just swapping the gears. GD

Yes - 3rd and 4th are geared higher on the 83+ 4 speed. People complained about the 81/82 giving poor mileage at speeds over 55 MPH so subaru changed 3rd and 4th - the jump from 2nd to 3rd is much too high in the 83+ and makes driving at 25 Mph a pain in the butt. Either you are reving out in 2nd, or bogging in 3rd. And it is the WORST transmission for a lifted rig as 4th gear is almost unusable. The 81/82 4 speed is much better. Best solution is to just go with a 5 speed. It's the best of both worlds as it's first 4 gears are like the eary 4 speed, and you also have 5th for high speed cruise. Plus the 5 speed does not suffer from the same syncro problems the 4's have, has better reliability, lower LO range, and has a vastly superior shift linkage. Dollar for dollar, the 5 speed D/R is the best upgrade you can get for an EA81. GD

It can and has been done. But without custom heads you still have basically the same problem. You have eliminated some twists in the intake runner, but the head itself still has ports that are too small, valves that are too small, and too many twists and turns to it's internal runner. GD

Um - you can't change the gear ratio's of a manual tranny. They are set in stone from the factory. On the carb issue - get a new Weber from Redline. You'll be much better off going that route. Otherwise you'll spend an eternity tinkering with that old Hitachi and probably still end up with a pile of loose, stumbling, garbage. GD

Changing the front seals is easy. Don't worry about it. Just thread a wood screw into the seal and yank it out. Push in the new seal and you are done. Doesn't that kit from ebay come with them? GD

The hidden truth is that this is THE way to derail BDG's threads. Turn them into a circus side show. Hey - at least we get to laugh a little. GD

What exactly does driving it or owning it have to do with anything at all? Actually taking one apart and (successfully) rebuilding it might give you some insight, but you haven't done that have you? You have fallen into the same trap as BDG - just cause you own it, it MUST be ok. You have a low mileage CVT - it could go at any time, or it could last a while. You have no way of knowing. But the point is that it's going to do whatever it does REGARDLESS of you being the owner or not. You are taking our comments personally when they are not even directed at you. And exactly where are you going to source the fluid (dust)? Don't you suppose there's a good reason Subaru told the dealer's not to open them up? Besides ALL of this, what's wrong with a manual? Why bother with a questionable CVT auto when plenty of reliable manual tranmissions are availbile. It is widely agreed that the CVT had problems in the Justy. Subaru still makes the CVT in japan, but only on it's "micro" cars - smaller than the Justy. It was not appropriate for a car that size, and that's why it's no longer offered in one. GD

Well said, well said. You definately need to adopt a new avatar title in lieu of your new found knowledge and inebrieation... GD

Fix your codes before you try to set the timing. You could have an intermittant wireing connection at the manifold harness connectors or something. Without the IAC, it won't run in test mode. It *may* run when not in test mode, but not well. The computer is telling you what to do - follow it's lead. GD