GeneralDisorder

Oh - I knew that - I had a Volvo 850 turbo that had a service light that came on every 5,000 miles. Only way to turn it off is to get the dealer to do it, or buy a $300 ODBII scan tool that knows about the proprietary Volvo codes. That's one of the small reasons I got rid of that peice of crap, and a big reason I wouldn't buy another one. GD

Your tach almost certianly runs off the distributor. Every one I've seen does anyway. That's why when the disty blows, the tach starts jumping all over the place. GD

What you are refering to with the downshift destruction, is actually valve "float". This can and will happen eventually on ALL engines with spring valve returns. The engine gets going so fast that the spring doesn't have time to close it before the piston strikes it - in older pushrod engines, this often meant a bent pushrod, and probably a busted valve too. High performace engines combat this with stronger valve springs, but this is a slippery slope. Hotter valve springs cause increased wear on the rest of the valve train, and you end up eating cam shafts, and you need better spring retainers, etc. You end up having to upgrade everything to get them going really fast. SOA got a justy up to around 12,000 RPM's, but it needed a LOT of engine work to get there without blowing up. Back in the day, before electronic ignition modules, this would happen with the points in your disty. You get up to 8,000 or 10,000 RPM's and the points float - then no more spark, so the engine cuts out. They combated this with dual point systems, and even tri-point systems. The tri-point systems required a LOT of patience to get tuned right, cause the tolerances were so close. IIRC, the tri-point stuff was good upwards of 15,000 RPM's or so..... GD

Yours could be a lot different. On the EA81's you change the connector permanently, so it can't come back. It's a one time deal. Yours might - I don't know. GD

I LOVE "hispanic" yards. They don't drive soobies, and I get stuff on the cheap. Not only that, but there's never any posted prices, so everything is negotiable. hehehe GD

Right on - so is the EA82 a feedback carb? GD

Huh - you can do that? I thought you just replaced them. I guess I'll try that tho - can't hurt. My opinion of the former owner has sunk to a new low. That light has been on solid for 67,000 miles, and they did nothing about it. Amazing. GD

Must be state specific - apparently the feds call it a car, but some states don't..... weird. I don't suppose it really matters - all you need is documentation showing that SOME part of the government considers it a truck, and I'm sure any court in the land would drop a case about riding in the back - give you a warning maybe. You could make a case for yourself just saying the laws are too confusing, and contradictory. GD

Guess that shows how many times my poor Brat has been serviced. I just went out and fixed it.... YAY! I guess this isn't a big topic since most of them have already been reset. I was thinking it was a recuring type of light - comming on EVERY 60,000. Kindof strange that they would only have it come on once. This is a difference between the 82+ dash and the 80/81 dash - I just verified that the 80 dash I have does NOT have an EGR light at all. Interesting.... GD

Now that information really should be in the repair manual. If we were still on the old board, I would archive this one. My silly underwear manual says nothing about this little gem. THANKS SKIP! GD

They did in at least the Cali market - mandated by law I think. That of course is assuming that carbed stuff was even sold there... pretty sure at least in 85 they were. must have O2 sensor... ect GD

Now that is a very interesting answer - where would I find more info along these lines? Anyone know if / where I can find these plugs? ...... but you have three Brat's in your sig... do you not own them anymore? GD

Sweet - another Jag bites the dust. Always hated those leaky peices of dook. If I were you, I would find him, and beat him sensless - sounds like maybe he's got enough money not to care about the fines, but I'll bet he wouldn't forget a busted nose real easily. Give him a choice - get the holy crap beat out of him, or you sue and take everything he owns - wrecked jag included. Would be interesting to see if he's a real man or not without his fancy wheels. GD

The RX had a 5 speed D/R with locking diff option. Although not all RX's had them - some were Auto's. People do swap these in, but I think the main reason you don't see it often is because they are not easy to come by. 5 speed D/R tranny's can be found pretty cheap at the drop of a hat, but not the special diff locking ones. GD

Ever since I bought my Brat the EGR light has been on constantly. Now I'm guessing that it's probably cause the EGR isn't functioning (just guessing). The light is on SOLID all the time. Never goes out - never flashes. What I'm wondering is how this marvelous light works? I looked at the EGR - made funny faces, contorted myself into the engine compartment tracing vacuum lines.... and for the life of me, I can't figure out how the light comes on. What sensor does this job? As far as I can see there is no wires going into anything related to the EGR, or the anti-backfire solenoid. I suppose I could just replace the EGR, but I'm one of those people who has to know WHY, and HOW it works before I touch it. Am I just crazy? GD

Easy to fix that silly ECS light (I had the same prob when I went to a weber), just pop the cluster out, and remove it's bulb. hehe. Cool trick on the disty Miles.... GD

Cool Skip - I don't look at many EA82's - but most of the ones I see are SPFI or feedback carb. Could be that a lot came from Cali a few years ago. Heck - my 84 was a feedback too. My Brat isn't (thank god), and it passes emmisions around here same as the feedback version did. I should dig up my test report from when I first got the 84 wagon, and compare it to the Brat's report to see if there are any noticeable differences. Skip is right on looking for the O2 - that is a much better way to tell - thanks Skip. But if he's not seeing the ECU and it WAS an SPFI or MPFI..... I would guess it wouldn't run at all right? So it virtually *must* be a regular carb I would think.... I want pics too. GD

wow - I didn't know they had non-feedback carbs in the EA82's. But yeah - if you have no 'puter in there, it means you don't have a feedback carb, and you don't need the 'puter. You'll have to track down your rough idle the old fashioned way. It's most likely your carb. The Hitachi's are rather infamous about working that way. You can get a rebuilt unit, but the cost is near to what a good weber would cost, so unless you live in a place where a weber just won't do, then there's not much sense in getting a rebuilt Hitachi. Also you could rebuild it yourself, but they are notoriously difficult to work with. Most shops won't even touch them. GD

That's what the seatbelts and roll bars are for. In fact - it says right in the owners manual that if you plan on going anywhere but pavement, the roll bar is sugested when people are occupying the rear seats. GD

Yeah - never even heard of anyone wearing those gears out. I suppose it's possible, but the block would wear out long before this, and cease to run. GD

Yep - that would be a STD (lower model than the DL even) grill on Gen 2's - they had 2 sealed dual beam's that were round - DL's had 2 sealed dual beam square's, and GL's had the 4 square single beams sealed lights. And of course as stated - all Gen 1's. GD

French - Belgian - isn't that the same thing?? hehehe But ok - you have a point. My problem with it is that it doesn't seem to be very reliable, and from my cursory inspection of it (we don't have them - only 249's), seemed to be a bit heavier than the M60. I know the M60 was an old design, but why change it if it works? The M60 was shorter (I think), lighter (I think), and was extremely reliable. The SAW - well first I wasn't happy about giving up my 60, and then they tell me I can use M16 mag's in it..... ok, fine - but at least design it so it doesn't jam with them. Ok - I understand that the feed spring in the mags isn't strong enough to feed at the rate needed by the SAW..... so SLOW DOWN THE SAW when it's using mags. Maybe the M249A1 will have this?!? I sure hope so. Would help the problem of using a 16 mag in 3 seconds too. It's bad enough that you are out of belts, but must they jam the damn thing with the emergency ammo too? You would do more damage with a 249 and a 16 mag if you fed it to them, or jamed it up their a$$. I looked on their site.... how can the P90 replace the M16? It only has an effective range of 200m. They better not hand me that peice of dook - I'll feed it to someone. Never mind putting me in combat with it - it'll be a$$holes and elbows all the way to the rear. No way I'm going up against some crazed AK toteing arab carrying *THAT*. Crazy - simply crazy. GD

Well - all EA81 turbo's came with the auto 4WD tranny, so that is in fact not a rumor. As to being only in wagons, I don't know. Never seen a turbo-10 either. I'm guessing most of those have already blown a digi-dash, and went to the crush-pile. In fact - I'll bet that's what did in many a turbo wagon or Brat - dash goes, and after a while the owner just sends them off the JY. Cost too much for a dash (or can't get one at all), and who want's a car with no guages? There's a few turbo's around (very few) with analog dash's, so those are still with us, but the digi's are getting hard to find from 83, 84. GD

archemitis is correct - they are technically different things. It is kind of a gray area really - depending on many factors, but they do effect one another. With an exhaust that is too large, you will have no back pressure, and also no scavenging, because the engine cannot fill the passageway for any scavenging to take effect - even if there were an artificial venturi in the passage, it would have no noticeable speed-up effect on the gasses because the amount of gasses would be too small. If the exhaust is too small, then you have back pressure. The idea is to minimize back pressure and to get an adequate amount of scavenging effect. Changing the size of the exhaust in fact changes both quantities. My bad - I was trying to explain it as simply as possible, and used the incorrect terminology, but I still think that is the answer he was looking for. Surely he can't *really* be saying that back pressure is a myth? That doesn't make sense.... potato up the tail pipe for example - not a myth as far as I can see. Scavenging is the word we both should have used, and I should have pointed that out to begin with. GD

You have been told wrong - back pressure (scavenging is the technical term) is extremely important. A slight restriction on the exhaust causes a venturi effect on the gasses. They speed up as they enter this restriction, and help the "pull" in the next fuel / air charge - that is why for a very short time between the exhaust and intake strokes both valves are open. This alows a complete flow from the intake to the muffler, and the scavenging takes place at that time. Whoever "told" you that, needs to read up on modern engine theory. That principle has only been in use for the last 60 years or so.... GD