Fang

The car sold today. Thank you for your interest. -Fang

I wrote a whole lot about my Subaru in a different place in this forum and here is a link to it: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?p=434768#post434768 I have a bunch of cool pictures... some with a big roof rack and some action shots too. -fang

la la la... I'm singing to the choir, but I fixed it. IT turns out that it had NOTHING to do with the relays under the hood as I had previously thought. I an out and bought two, but there was no change. I dug deeper with the multi meter and still was stumped. There was something that I was overlooking. You know: the sort of thing that would be a lot easier to find with a good wiring diagram! I made a jumper to circumvent the disassembled dash controls and was experimenting with that when I head a faint <click> under the steady mummer of the fuel pump. I did it again listening more carefully this time and it defiantly was there -- the missing relay! It was coming from somewhere by the fuse box, so I jumpered it about a hundred times each time zeroing in a bit closer to the invisible relay. I removed the fuse box, laid down on my back neat the pedals with a flash light and VOILA! there were relays up there! It turns out that the blower(?) relay was a major part of the problem. It was switching, but apparently the main load's contacts inside it burnt up. My forensic analysis is that the busted dash controls were intermittently shorting out themselves and that relay. IT was one of those expensive relays: about $27.00 at O'Reilly's (the local parts store), but when it all boils down to it, that's a really inexpensive a/c repair. Besides I was just happy that they had it in stock. Yes. The air conditioning is blowing strong and COLD again. Whoo hoo! Off too Houston, and now I can scoff at the 97F afternoon outside! -fang

Well, I found the passenger-side, mounted to the strut under the hood a/c fuse and relays. I think it is th a/c relay... A funny thing happened while running test: The blower spontaneiously came on when it was all turned off. This has never before happened... The compressor diddn't kick on when this happened. I'll run over to the parts store and replace both of those relays -- just for luck -- and I think it should work for the next few days until I can focus on it again for a while. I am about to drive to Houston. It is only a 4 hour drive, but it is already about 93F outside. The AC will be a big help. I'll post again before I go to tell you how it all is working. -fang (steve)

I've been looking for one too. Try not to fall over, but you can pick up a copy today for the one-time low Low LOW! price of just $119.50 HERE. -fang

I did a forum search and there is a sudden surge of A/C questions... You can tell summer is near! My 1988 wagon (SPFI, 4x4, 5-speed... and its red) is giving me a/c trouble. IT was working great a few days ago, but now I have nothing. NO blower fan, no ac clutch. I would just live with it, but I live outside of Austin, TX, and I am a bit concerned about how well my 7 month-old boy can handle the heat. So I jumpered the compressor and did a pressure test and hi/lo is 100%. I thought that it was the buttons on the dash, so I pulled that all off. Yep, the buttons are broken... the old white plastic has oxidized and died a horrific death. THe problem is that the dash controls have been broken since I got the car about a year ago. I was hoping that they just broke a bit more, finally rendering it all useless. However, with it all disassembled, you can operated the directly and I still have nothin' -- still no blower, no compressor. I have checked the fuses and they all seem fine, but I do not have a manual, and I don't even know what fuses do what (I looked at ALL the fuses, and they all seemed fine...) I am suspecting a relay, but I don't know where they are. So, in summary, the a/c doesn't work, but the physical system is intact. My dash is in pieces, and I suspect either a dash control or a relay. Thanks for the help! -Steve

I took a good look at everything today. (Thanks for the warning about the screws -- you're right!) It turns out that the solenoid is history. To add to the fun I spent most of the afternoon/evening driving to junk yards looking for the part. I just moved to Austin, TX, so I don't know the local junk yards yet. You know the drill: I call a junk yard and ask, "hey, do you have one of these cars?" They say, "sure we've got several of them. Come on down!" I hop in the car and excitedly drive 30 or 45 minutes, and when I get there they say, "Subarus are out in the back left corner somewhere..." An hour later (after a thorough and exhausting search) they say, "Oh, I thought we had one..." Then I drive to the next place in the opposite direction to repeat the same drill. Dang! I’m pooped and still need the part. I will be in the greater Dallas area tomorrow... Maybe I’ll find one there. At this point I am interested in buying one from anyone who has a spare. I can PayPal you the funds if you promise to mail it our quickly! -Fang

I'll try to clean it and either come back begging for one or bragging about what a swell job I did.... now where exactly is the Air Control Valve? -fang

I am looking for the best/cheapest place to buy an Air Control Valve for my 1988 GL Wagon. Yep, it is 4WD, Manual with OHC and SPFI. I live near Austin, TX Thanks! -fang

HA ha ha. I always wondered what that switch did! When the guy rearended me (no more virginity references here...) My first responce was to wildly hit all the buttons in the dark, trying to remember where the hazards are!!! ...and now I clearly remember flipping that switch. I guess I can go and reconnect the battery now. Thanks guys, you've come through again! -fang

I have a 1988 GL 4x4 wagon with the fuel injection. I'm not sure if this is how it is for all Subarus, but my lights used to automatically be turned off when the ignition was turned off. I leave the lights on all the time because they always turned off when the key was off. Yesterday, like magic, when I turned the car off, the lights stayed on. Pretty neat, eh?! It's just the driving lights(the beams seem normal), and suddenly I can not turn them off at all. Ever. Two interesting things happend to me yesterday between the lights being normal and suddenly being always on. 1. I drove across a paved low-water crossing (about 4" to 8" deep) about four or six times, once sort of fast, at about 20mph. 2. I was in a super-minor rear-end accient. some guy clipped my driver's sied, rear corner of the bumper so slightly that it barely left a mark. The bumper didnt even budge. There is no visible damage, but it happened. What an exciting day. So I am disconnecting the battery everytime I get out of the car. Any help is appreciated!!! Thanks. -Fang (Steve)

Yeah, you're right, FlowMaster. It is an '88. All my other cars are '86 models and I just got excited and typed the wrong thing. I normally would jsut fix it, except for the lack of cash. It runs fine as it is, so maybe I should just save up a little and but the correct repacement parts. I already need both front axels. As far as the check engine light, I think that it ::might:: be burnt out. I'll have to check again. -fang (TheFang.MP3)

Thanks mates you are fast! I am not looking to rebuild the motor or build a rocket. Instead of "Neck Snapping" I'm think I am looking more for "toe tapping." Currently I am getting about 19 or 20mpg with the current setup. What is normal for these throttle-body injection setups when they are working ideally, and what might I expect if I get the carb set up correctly? I forgot to say that the Weber is a 32/36 DGEV with the electric choke, and it already has the brackets/ base plate adapter. The kicker here is that I am looking for an efficient INEXPENSIVE fix. I like Carburetors. For me they are "field serviceable." I like that, and I have one here waiting for a little love. -fang

Hi there mates. I am relatively new to the forum. I was recently given (yes given) a fairly nice 1986 Loyal 4x4 wagon. It is red, has a transfer case, overhead cams, and fuel injection. As you might imagine, this made me very happy -- I love old 4x4 station wagons, and I have always wanted an old Subaru. Its a great car, but it runs fairly poorly -- It seems that it always is a bit underpowered, and it runs like crap until it warms up. I have given it a little tune up -- new timing belts (correctly installed), plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor, etc. and it runs better than at first. I have never owned a Subaru before, so it might be running great, and might just ::feel:: underpowered to me. I believe that the cold-start valve might be at fault, but that costs a bunch of money, and I have almost none. My buddy owes me some money and has a basically new Weber 32/36 that he bought for an ea82 that he used to own. He ran it for a week, blew up his motor, pulled it, drained it and blew it out with compressed air.... He had a mechanic buddy help with prepping it for sitting on the shelf, and now he is willing to pass it on to me. I am a motorcycle mechanic, so I have tools and more or less know how to use them. Gee whiz I can even make a few brackets, re-route fuel lines, and buy a used Honda Accord throttle cable from a junk yard -- all without any real trouble. So the big fat question is this a wise swap? How would this affect power, and how will this affect fuel economy – I tend to try to drive fairly fast and aggressively most of the time, but my wife does not. Thanks for your input! -Fang (download Nervous Norvus’s song “The Fang” by clicking here”)