Ross

I have towed a 1600kg ford on a trailer (350kg ish) with my 81 wagon, but it wasn't a pleasent experiance, and i wouldn't do it again. I wouldnt have done it at all, but it was kind of an emergency..... Rear alignment had to be adjusted afterwards.

Oh yeah, you wont be able to see the bolt with the lift, sorry. There is a bearing at the top of the strut though, which it turns on when you turn the steering. That may be your problem.

my 81 wagon is registered as a Van for some strange reason. Doesn't look much like a van to me.

sounds like my manual! covers some bits, but not others. Thanks for looking anyway!

Take cap off top of strut (engine bay, covers retaining nut) feel nut when jiggling the wheel, does it move? if so, top bearings gone.

Squeeking or grinding noise?

I mainly want to know about the distributer and related components on an '83.

yeah, good stuff, but i need the section which includes engine electrical stuff, which doesn't seem to be there.......

Anyone know of a good one that properly covers the ea81t? My haynes manual does not differentiate between the ea81t and ea82t, they both come under "fuel injected engines". This makes it hard to properly diagnose problems, as i can't tell what applies to the ea81 and what to the ea82. An online manual would be good...

who else here hates single phase mig welders?

Lets get this straight: What kind of welding are we talking about here?

I've never heard of this before..... where did you read it? I Can't see why the turbo would lose all it's oil just because the sump is empty...... Isn't it just the same as turning the engine off, as far as the turbo is concerned? Or are you specifically draining the oil from the turbo itself? The turbo bearings should still work well enough with any left over oil in the turbo, even without any oil pressure (for a short time).

My manual says early elec. ign. ea81 didn't have a crank angle sensor..... i havn't got the car here to look at the moment. You are probably right though, as my manual also says only 1984 onwards ea81s had mpfi...... mine's an '83, and it certainly does!

code#11

Pretty sure the valves wont fit. ea82 has larger valves. Both engines do have the same bore/stroke, so the pistons/rings will probably fit. Not sure though.

Anyone have any idea what this computer code is saying? I was thinking a problem with the electronic ignition? The engine will occasionally misfire under any conditions....

If the bearing is sounding really bad, check that it hasn't been spinning in the housing, or spinning agianst the inner race spacer. If it has, use new knuckle/spacer or use shims, otherwise the bearings won't last more than 5000kms! I found this out the hard way.

and your body corrosion free!! dunno about in the US, but in NZ thats how most old subies die....

Bad/incorrect/dirty spark plugs? engine running too hot/ localised coolant blockage in engine? Hot air intake stuck on? Excessive deposits on the heads/valves can cause detonation, but there would have to be something wrong to leave these in the first place.

No.

higher octane= higher self ignition temp, therefore better detonation resistance. Detonation occurs when a reigon of the fuel/air mixture excedes the self ignition temperature of the fuel, either because of too high compression, or from being near a part of the engine that is too hot, ie if you use a spark plug with the wrong temp rating.

Pantera, slayer, fear factory - anything heavy. keeps the motivation up!

ea81: 1800cc ohv, in cars '80-84 or '85 i think. carburetor aspirated. ea81t: same as ea81, with turbocharger and multi port fuel injection (MPFI) ea82: 1800cc ohc in cars '85-'91? carb, single port fuel inj. or mpfi. ea82t: turbo ea82, mpfi. ea71 is the 1600 used instead of ea81 in some cars i think?

is that RON?

am running the ea81t on 91 octane (RON) gas. seems to be knocking going up hills, just thought i'd check to see what fuel others use before checking timing/plugs etc. as far as i know, the engine is stock standard.