Syonyk

Feel the radiator (where you can) when it's up to temperature. The entire radiator should be a fairly uniform temperature. If there are significantly cooler spots, you've got a clogged/bad radiator. The good news is that a brand new radiator for an EA82 is only $90 or so, and about a 20-30 minute install. -=Russ=-

I'd be interested in helping with that. And is MAF cleaner anything special? Or would standard brake cleaner/carb cleaner/etc work? -=Russ=-

I would be a bit hesitant to buy a Subie where the owner implied that it had been burning coolant for a long time, unless I had a new motor to swap in, or a lot of time to find out what's wrong & fix it. These engines really don't like running low on coolant. At best, you'll just have to do head gaskets. At worst, you could be looking at warped/cracked heads. -=Russ=-

How do I do that? I haven't seen a check engine light, and I looked for stored codes, didn't see anything. -=Russ=-

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32721 Some of that relates to SPFI stuff, but most of it should hold to the carb'd ones. And the best way I've found to find coolant leaks is to get the engine up to temperature, and use a flashlight to look for steam. If you're getting bubbles in the coolant, or you can't find a leak yet it's eating coolant, you're probably looking at either an intake manifold gasket or a head gasket (not too bad to change, but not trivial either). -=Russ=-

I'm not totally sure. It's partial throttle at low RPM, and seems to clear up as the engine warms up (so it may be my coolant temperature sensor), but it seems to clear up at WOT as well, at least to some extent. I haven't had a lot of time to poke with it, but I'll definitely check my TPS for a smooth sweep. -=Russ=-

I should try to change/test my TPS. I have an odd hesitation at partial throttle, mostly when it's cold. -=Russ=-

Fast? My Loyale is *quick* - under the right conditions. And I've got some other people I'm going to get together with in a few months & prove it. I plan to beat up on a Magnum, a G35, some Hondas, etc. The trick? 6" of snow/ice on the ground, and me with snow tires, them with their all season tires (which they think are just fine in the snow). -=Russ=-

The box is 10-15 lbs. It's not that heavy, but I don't think any of the weight goes away as it cures. I would assume it will help with insulation, though I don't know for sure. Doing the floor/roof would be really expensive, though. I may eventually do the floor/firewall. I'll see. That'd be a while down the road, though. -=Russ=-

What's your oil pressure look like? If it's 45 or so when running after warmed up, your oil pump is fine. If it's much below that, look at replacing the oil pump while you're in there. Personally, if *I* had the engine out of my car, I'd reseal everything I could get my paws on. Front seals, cam cover o-rings (you'll have those off to do the heads anyway), rear main, make sure the crankcase plugs (for punching out the wrist pins) are well sealed, etc. I agree with you on the timing belts as well. If the engine is out of the car, I want to do EVERYTHING when it's out, so I don't have to think about it for another 50k miles. -=Russ=-

Oh, yea. Totally forgot about HTKYSA. http://wombat.sevarg.net/Subaru/HTKYSA.PDF -=Russ=-

So you lined up the middle of the three scribe marks with the arrow, set one cam to "vertical" lined up with the mark, rotated the crank 360 degrees, and set the other cam to "vertical", right? My next guess would be the distributor - if it's off by a tooth, or off by 180 degrees, the car may not start. Also, swapped plug wires will cause this - it'll sound like it's ready to start, but won't actually start. Find TDC on a cylinder's compression stroke (with a plug removed, you can feel the pressure with your thumb over the plug hole, or listen for the hiss with the plug mostly removed), and make sure the distributor rotor is pointed the right direction to fire that cylinder. Finally, if you've been cranking it for a while trying to start, the battery may be low enough that the ECU isn't able to come online, and/or it may be flooded. Disconnect the fuel pump, crank at wide open throttle for a while (preferably while connected to another vehicle), and then reconnect the fuel pump & give it a shot. I don't know if EA82s will flood that bad, but that's what we do with rotary engines over in the RX-7 community, and I did something similar when fighting with getting my 'GL started after it sat for 6 months (bad disty). I was cranking it a lot before I realized the distributor plug wasn't fully seated (is yours?), and I drained the battery most of the way. I jumped it to my Loyale, and cranked at wide open throttle for a bit until it fired. You could also try a shot or two of starter fluid. That'll tell you in a hurry if it's fuel or spark that's the problem. -=Russ=-

You're there. The Haynes/Chiltons I gave you has wiring diagrams in the back, and most questions can be easily answered by people here. The "USRM" link in the upper right has a lot of good stuff, and searching will generally net you an answer. If not, ask, and people are usually really good about getting you info, or asking for more info to be able to help you. Any of the old gens tend to rust away around a working drivetrain. Beyond that, a bad radiator/thermostat can cause the car to overheat. Overheated EA82s blow head gaskets or crack heads. You might want to change the thermostat in that one - it was sticking a bit for me. Haynes. Under the dash, below the steering wheel. Also be aware that if you're screwing around down there with the battery connected and dinking with relay connections, it's possible to blow the ECU fuse. It's not labeled in the fuse box, but it shares a fuse with the horn. If you're screwing around with stuff & the car cranks but won't fire when you're done, try the horn. If the horn doesn't sound, replace the fuse, and it should fire right up. Pull the spare. You'll see the clutch cable running into the clutch actuator lever (passenger's side on the top of the transmission). There are (should be) two nuts on the end of the cable - loosen the lock nut, and adjust as desired. -=Russ=-

A video of my Loyale autocrossing (from inside the car): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6536562942678863311 -=Russ=-

I've been making slow but steady progress in my "Luxury Loyale" quest. The muffler that didn't have holes pointed at the body was a good start. The new stereo head unit is nice, and beats the pants off the stock unit (plus has a proper aux in). And the new speakers are, surprise, better than the old factory ones. After reading some threads on Dynamat/etc, I decided to give it a shot. I picked up a "door kit" of Hush Mat from the local car audio store. It's very similar to dynamat, except you don't have to heat up the door to apply it. After looking at how the door access is (very limited), I decided this was going to be a lot easier than trying to use a roller inside the door and heating the dynamat. Plus, I like to support local business, and I've harassed these guys a lot with questions. So, I pulled everything off the door, and started applying the stuff. It goes on fairly easy, though it's STICKY - getting it into position is difficult for some of the farther points. Also, I was only able to get 85-90% of the door - I flat out couldn't reach the rest of the areas. I covered most of the outside sheet metal, and wrapped a bit around the side bar (not sure if that makes a huge difference or not, but I couldn't get much down behind it, so I covered it to help dampen any vibration getting through to it. I didn't do anything on the inside panel, because it seemed the power window mechanism used most of that. It took 4.5 sq ft to do the driver's side door, if anyone was wondering. With smaller hands, I could get almost everything with 5 sq ft, or maybe 5.5. Results so far: 1. The door thuds shut. It's noticeably heavier (not much, but enough to feel when opening/closing it), and the sound it makes when closing is a much more "expensive" sound. No reverb, just a solid "thud" and it's done. 2. The driver's side is quieter. Running down the road, I couldn't *hear* a huge difference, but I had that feeling of my left ear being semi-deaf. It was only when I was moving, though - at a stop, my ears were fine. I assume this is my subconcious going, "Uhm... this should be louder. Something's wrong." However, there was less road noise from that side. 3. I can't hear the driver's side lock mechanism anymore. I have power locks, and even over the clanging of the rest of the locks, I could previously hear the driver's door lock snap open/shut. Not now. I locked the door after I put it back together to test it, and my first reaction was, "****. I managed to jam the lock mechanism with the hushmat. How'd I do that?" Then I realized that it may have just silenced the lock mechanism. The lock works fine, but there's a definite difference. I'm going to do the passenger's door tomorrow. That will use up most of the rest of the hushmat I have. I'll probably do the rear doors next month, and then the rear quarter panels & hatch in another month or two. I may eventually do the roof, though that'll just be annoyingly expensive (I paid $90 for the 10 sq ft that will do both doors). I'll post more thoughts after I get more done, but so far, I'm excited. It's definitely a major improvement over the bare metal doors. -=Russ=-

That's not too bad. It usually runs $300-$500 for a new replacement windshield (installed). -=Russ=-

I think someone's comment was, "Damn... you could fit a bowling ball in the space between the tire & the fender." Body roll to the max! It was a lot closer to neutral than I was expecting in the corners, and I did get the back end to step out a bit under some trail braking. -=Russ=-

Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6536562942678863311 Pics: -=Russ=-

Welcome. You can check out any time you'd like, but... you can never leave. Welcome to the Hotel UltimateSubaru... er... sorry. Yea. They're addictive little cars. Yup. It's a boxer engine. They sound unique. It shouldn't be shaking much. All the forces are balanced, so... theoretically it will be nice and smooth. A bit of a wobble is OK (just worn motor mounts), but shaking isn't normal. And, yes, they leak oil. It's possible to reseal the engine & stop this, but in general, if an old Subaru isn't leaking oil, you'd better make sure there's oil in the engine. I affectionately refer to my oil leaks as "the external dipstick" - I can tell by the size of the spots under the engine if I need to add oil or not. 250-300k miles is normal. They generally wear the rings out around then. Yes. And wait until you try to swap parts around between cars - they're built like legos. You want rear disk brakes? Get a set, bolt 'em on. Engine swap? Pretty darn easy. WRX drivetrain? A bit more difficult, but still pretty much bolton. They're *incredible* in the snow/ice/mud. The fact that they're light doesn't hurt either. Snow tires around. I use Blizzaks, but I'm mostly driving in town. For more rural/mountain stuff, I hear the studded Nokian Hakapilitas (I'm sure I butchered that spelling) are incredible. You want the same thing on all 4 corners, since the 4WD system has no center differential. Well, the first step would be to adjust the cable, but changing the clutch isn't too bad - if you have an engine lift, just pull the engine out. That would be a good time to replace all the seals on it as well.

Must not be an engineer... Engineer's motto: "If it ain't broke, fix it till it is." Then back off a notch and rebuild it because you know the absolute limits of whatever you're trying to do. -=Russ=-

It's a weep hole. Any coolant that gets past the waterpump seal will, ideally, leak out from one of those holes. That said, any coolant coming from those holes means the water pump is in need of replacement. Usually, but not always, you'll get weeping from the holes before the water pump seal totally fails & just dumps coolant everywhere. So, yes, you want to replace the water pump ASAP, and keep an eye on your coolant level until then. -=Russ=-

That is a BEAUTIFUL RX... And my RX-7 has a coolant level sensor. If there is any air in the top of the radiator, it sets off one hell of a loud buzzer & a warning light. It's an absolute pain in the rear to bleed all the air out of the cooling system & get the thing to shut up, but it's saved my rump roast on... *thinks* at least 3 occasions, where I had a very minor coolant leak that I wouldn't have noticed without the warning. I think all cars should come with coolant level sensors. They're a lot more useful at telling you that you're losing coolant than a temperature gauge is. -=Russ=-

I'm down to one Subie... the '92 Loyale. A friend of mine needed an inexpensive car to drive the wheels off for a year or two, wanted a 5 speed, and so snagged my '87 GL (d/r, 5 speed). I got the car from a junkyard, put a new fuel pump in it (the pulsation damper was leaking), replaced a rear wheel cylinder that was leaking, and drove the car from Iowa to West Virginia a week later to look at a project RX-7. It ran great, and this guy was one of the people who came with me - he was quite impressed by it then, and now owns it. I'll miss the low range, but the Loyale is *clean* and has A/C - which matters for the working world & owning ferrets. Anyway, he should be joining the forum soon. *waves* -=Russ=-

I saw it last night. Basically, it showed how to chop the pulsation damper off the end of the pump & fill the gap with solder (if the PD is leaking). -=Russ=-

Being in the middle of this project... You can use a breaker bar & a 22mm socket propped against something and bump the starter (WITH THE COIL DISCONNECTED SO THE ENGINE DOESN"T START!) to pop the crank pulley nut free. And make sure you clean all the old gasket off. Also, old o-rings seem to have a way of disintegrating when they come off. -=Russ=-