RickOregon

Hello, our son is going to school out in North Dakota - studying to become a physical therapist. I'm here in Oregon, and he's using one of the family Subaru's - an '87 GL-10 turbo wagon with 5 speed manual transmission and the button on the gear shift knob to switch between 4-wheel drive and 2-wheel drive. He neglected to check the tranny gear oil and it ran dry. He noticed the drain plug was loose so he tightened that, then filled the gear box with oil to the proper level. When he got under the car again, the oil was pouring out. At first he thought it was the case bolts, but after tightening them, the leak remained. He looked closer and saw a crack in the case near the bottom seam. The original symptoms that led me to suggest he check the gear oil was a "sound" in the transmission whenver he was in gear. So I'm suspecting that even if the leak was stopped by welding the case, something in the gear box is already toast. I was wondering if any of you in his area might be willing to offer suggestions on who could get him a used transmission installed cheap - he's a student, remember.. 8-) Or maybe a Subaru home mechanic in that neck of the woods could help him work on it. Thought I'd ask before I look into more elaborate schemes like flying or driving out to ND with my tools to do the work. Or trailering a replacement vehicle and hauling the disabled GL-10 back to my home garage. Any insights, help, suggestions, or a used transmission cheap... very much appreciated. -Rick

I agree with the poster on the Harbor Freight multimeters... I wait until they go on sale, then buy several. Thought initially, I'd just use them as a "disposible" tool, but often they last for several years before I need to replace one. Amazing that the batteries last that long! The extras I use as "stocking stuffers" at Christmas.. 8-)

Klaus, Did you rebore the cylinders yourself or have someone else do the job? Just curious. If you did it yourself, maybe you could give some pointers to someone else thinking of doing that. If you had someone else do it, how much did they charge for each side? Thanks, Rick

Brian, by "in the open" do you mean inside the car on the floor somewhere, perhaps, or do you mean outside the car? Thanks, Rick

Good one. My wife got me this morning, too. She said she was quitting her job. Followed with "April Fools".

It's good to be reading this board again... decided to do a search on "mouse heater" and got lots of hits. This, after my heater fan started sounding like the telltale balloon in a kid's bike trick... 8-) Just got through removing the fan, which was easy, and there was the little critter dead, but not decaying, yet. Thank goodness. Got it before it started to stink up the car. I put some decon on the floor, but I think I'll stick a bar of Irish Spring in there later, as well. Sounds like a good idea. Thanks for this thread. -Rick

When we had a leaker, we sent the offending head to Aluminum Head Rebuilders, Inc. for a rebuild. Cost was $150 and a $50 refundable core charge. Was on a '87 GL-10 turbo EA-82, and our son has put a lot of miles on the engine since we installed that rebuilt head. They do good work in my opinion. Here's a link for you: http://www.aluminumheads.com/Subaru.html Hope this helps. Rick

Hey Skip, how's it going? It's been exactly 1 year since you posted that riddle. Good one, too. Have you had to dig out your Subaru from any snow this Winter? 8-) Our '86 GL Wagon is covered with mud from the thaw we've had here in eastern Oregon. Good thing the car is brown in color, anyway! Later, Rick

Hey Dan, Sorry to hear about your ring finger. I got two of mine chopped on a few years ago while working on the auxiliary [electric] fan on a BMW -- man was that a food chopper!! I've learned my lesson, though, and I'm really careful while working around electric fans, now. Didn't realize how useful fingers can be until I just about lost 'em! Yesterday I finished installing a manual switch to control the aux fan on our '86 GL wagon. Used a push-pull switch I removed from a '73 VW Van which controlled the rear window defroster... fitted it onto the right side of that little storage shelf just to the left of the steering wheel and it works great! Now I can turn the electric fan on before the engine gets above 200F, which is where I think the thermo switch opens a path to ground... Our's has a mechanical fan that's in front of the water pump, so I don't have control of that, but I can control the aux fan in front of the condenser, and that's really nice. Especially this time of year when we use the A/C. Later, Rick

Hey Kirk, thank you for posting this thread. And I big thanks to Josh for pointing to his website where I could find out the somewhat complicated (to me) procedure for reading, clearing, and resetting codes. Our son has an '87 GL-10 turbo 5-speed wagon, I have an '86 GL carbed 5-speed wagon, and our daughter recently purchased a '90 Legacy FI 5-speed wagon. All super cars. The "check engine" light has been on since Jenny bought the Legacy. I tried to use the procedure in the Haynes manual and failed to even locate the wire they said should either be disconnect or connected... frustrating. Your description, Josh, is clear, concise, and complete, and I'm now confident I'll be able to find the necessary wires under the dash and resolve the check engine light problem. Much obliged to this forum. Sincerely, Rick Johnson

Hey northguy, Our '86 GL 5sp carbed ea82 wagon has 244125 miles, but I put a 50K mile Japanese takeoff engine in it at 217314 miles. I'm not sure how long it will last - probably as long as I want it to and as long as I can find parts and am willing to do repairs. I think you can keep just about any vehicle alive, if you're willing. We have a '92 Geo Metro XFI with 176000 miles on its little three banger that still gets 60 miles per gallon, and all I've done so far is replace the clutch once, did a brake job, regular tune-ups and oil changes. We have a '93 Metro with over 200000 miles on it, but I had to put a $295 50K mile Japanese takeoff in it at 175000. I suppose I could get a million miles out of that car, but my wife would probably kill me by then... she really would like to get a newer car. 8-) Good thread. Shows how much folks like their Subarus. Rick

GD, that's interesting. Subaru dealers must be getting more competitive on their parts prices these days. Usually, I can get parts for about 50% to 75% of the dealer cost at either thepartsbin.com or autopartsgiant.com. When I just checked (out of curiosity) for price of clutch cable (for 4wd) at autopartsgiant.com, they want $20.37. Normally, that would translate into the dealer wanting as much as $40. And you say the price is around $18. I hope things have improved that much. That would be great. I'll probably need to replace our clutch cable soon, so the information you provided is very helpful. Thanks, Rick

??an, I had a similar problem with our '86 GL 5sp EA-82 carbed. At first I thought it was fuel related. I was thinking carb wasn't getting enough gas. Turned out it wasn't getting enough air! Normally most of the air is drawn from the air stove around the catalytic converter when our car is warming up. In my case, all the air was coming from the cat, even after the engine warmed. Eventually, because the suction was so great down by the cat, dirt particles caused it to become partially plugged, and if there was any water or snow around they'd try to come up that pathway, as well. So what we had was a carb that was hardly getting any air and sometimes it would get a mix of air and water vapor... wouldn't run well - acted like it wasn't getting enough gas - poor performance and sometimes would die and not start for awhile. Really frustrated my wife, Kate, who drives it most of the time.. See my earlier post for what I did to fix this. Might be a problem on your car, too, if it's similarly equipped (with pre-heater hose that goes from air cleaner down to exhaust). Here's the link: http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11280 Hope you find the problem. Rick

Hey Torxxx, First off, I'm not a Hitachi carb expert or carb expert of any sort, but I was reading in a Haynes manual the other day, and I believe the mixture screw you're talking about is for idle only. Others will correct me, if this is wrong.. However, I think I saw something in there (don't have it handy right now) about adjusting secondary valve based on the angle setting of the primary choke. Maybe I've got it wrong, but I think some adjustment to cruise speed air/fuel mixture can be accomplished using that procedure. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe others have.. For what that's worth, Rick

If I were going to buy parts from one place, I'd want to see common items available, as well, such as fuel, air, oil filters, belts, spark plugs, radiator hoses, caps, etc. Why? Because I live quite a ways from town and I buy most everything via the internet. If I order a "kit" I'd want to stock up on some other common things in order to make the shipping cost more worthwhile. I usually buy discount OEM parts from thepartsbin.com or autopartsgiant.com, and always "fill out" my order with these common items to reach a $50 total order - that's when their free shipping kicks in. Just my 2 cents worth. Some items I've needed but haven't seen online in the same place as other Subaru parts are: -small items (like spring that makes the gas door open when you pull the lever inside the car) -specific vacuum fittings and lines -decals -mufflers and cats -other emission control stuff I'd even be willing to wait for you to special order some parts to complete my order, if I knew I could get special order parts at close to cost. Are you sure you want to do this, though? It's a lot of work. And you'll have to work with situations where people get the wrong part and then have to deal with returns. Hopefully, you'll take extra care to make sure people get what they need at a great price, but that's going to take considerable effort. Wishing you well if you decide to undertake this great challenge. Sincerely, Rick

Hey SoobyDaddy, If it turns out you need to purchase a new cylinder head, here's a link to a thread I posted when I was doing the work on our '87 GL-10 a couple years ago and was looking for sources: http://home.centurytel.net/venice/cheapheads.html (Note: I searched for this thread on the USMB board, but couldn't find it. Maybe some of the threads from the old EZboard site didn't transfer over.) Hope this helps, Rick

Hi SoobyDaddy, Sounds like you got a good deal on that '87 GL-10. I got a similar deal on same year/model a couple years ago, also because it had a "blown head gasket." So, I replaced the head gasket (with lots of good advice from Skip and the gang here..), and it still leaked. Turned out to be a very small crack in the head was the actual culprit. Even though the group here suggested I pressure test the system, I didn't do it... So, you asked what to look for when you do the job. Based on my experience I'd check carefully for cracks in whichever head has the leak. Make sure it's not cracked. Here's some pictures of the cyl head we had that had a hard-to-locate crack: http://home.centurytel.net/venice/SubLeakPath.html Once it was determined that the head was actually cracked, I bought rebuilt head from http://www.aluminumheads.com/Subaru.html -- a couple years ago they cost $150 with a $50 core charge. I've done the cylinder hear removal both ways - with the engine in the car and with the engine removed. If I were you, since you just got the car and it may need other items replaced, I'd pull the engine this time around. I agree with others - it's much easier to get at everything with the engine out. Have fun, take your time, and enjoy the project. This board is a great resource, and I learn something new everytime I visit. Kind regards, Rick

Skip, Perhaps you sliced off the oil pressure sending wire and fan belts/wires when you were shoveling out the snow or maybe they got caught on the snow and pulled off as you were driving out? Rick

I indicated earlier that the "air stove" baffle on our Subaru has four inlets. Upon closer inspection I see it only has two: one on the top front and one on the top rear. This baffle goes around the catalytic converter. Sorry for the earlier error. Has anyone else had similar problems with water getting "sucked" into the air box via either the normal fresh air inlet or the hot air inlet? Thanks, Rick

Thanks for the feedback, Partsman. Unity gets pretty cold, I understand. Well, Kate is staying home sick today, so I guess I've got another day before she'll need to take the Subaru back out into the elements again. I was wondering if anyone has ever blocked off the front intake areas of the "air stove"... There appear to be four areas where air flows through this device. Two in the front (upper and lower) and two in the back (upper and lower). It seems to me that the front intake allows water and/or snow to enter and vaporize before the air/steam mixture is drawn upwards into the air intake hose. If there's too much water or slush, it seems that this stove could be overcooled leading to a cool, rather than a warm, air mixture entering the carburetor. This would cause the temperature sensor to further increase the vacuum resulting in even more of the intake air being directed from the air stove, causing even more cool/wet air to be "vacuumed" up into the carburetor. I'm thinking about hammering the front air stove intakes nearly closed to prevent this unstable air flow situation. Or maybe making a cone-shaped "diverter" that overlaps the air stove intakes in the front and forces any water/slush away from this air path. Has anyone done something like that? Or maybe there's supposed to be some protective shield on this car, and it's been removed. Could that be a possibility? Your insights will be greatly appreciated. Just curious. Thanks, Rick

Hello Older Generation Subaru Folks, I think (hope) I've found the solution to a problem that has plagued our '86 carbed Subaru EA82 for the last couple years... every time the wagon goes through water (or slush) it wants to die. After waiting by the side of the road for awhile, one can start the beast and continue, but often it will take considerable fuel to make the few remaining miles to the destination.. After a recent occurrence, I decided to take drastic action. I got a spray bottle of water and started the car. Then I sprayed copious quantifies of water on separate sections of the engine hoping to find what would kill it. Let me tell you, I know the coil, distributor cap and spark plug wires on this Subaru could swim and *still* that engine would run! Finally, using this technique, I discovered the air control valve in the air intake was not opening up to "fresh air" after the engine warmed. Instead, the air was being drawn (all the time) from the "air stove" around the exhaust pipe. This warm air is only suppose to be used when the car is warming up, then a mixture of fresh and air-stove air is drawn in to keep the carb air in the range of about 100 F to 130 F. In my case the carb was sucking *only* air from the air stove. Problem with sucking only heated air from the muffler region is whenever the water spray from the road overwhelms the air stove (right at the bottom of the car), the carb sucks in a lot of water/steam, sometimes warm, sometimes not-so-warm. The result is poor performance, poor gas mileage, or engine stopping entirely. So, I found a spare temperature sensor for the air box (the plastic part you see when you take the air filter out on the right/passenger side of the housing). Happen to have a complete intake/carb/air box in my barn... I installed the new sensor, and there appears to be flow from both the fresh air intake and the air stove near the exhaust pipe. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this fix will solve the problems we've had for quite some time. (Note: I could have just disconnected the air intake hose to the air stove at the exhaust pipe, but I was concerned this would lead to carburetor icing. One of the benefits of having 100 F air coming into the carburetor is you don't have to worry about any ice buildup during cold humid intake conditions.) Anyway, what do you think, folks? Will Kate make it to and from work tomorrow? It's snowing here, and there will be a lot of wet roadway conditions when she heads that way.. Glad to be back. Sincerely, Rick

Good ideas. I would think that rubber electrician's tape would work, too. Not the plastic kind, but the natural rubber type that's used to waterproof a connection. Usually comes with a paper backing that you peel off as you unwind what you need. With enough turns, the rubber layers will actually blend together into a single contiguous material with all the attributes of rubber (pliable, stretchable, etc.). Might be a good thing to have in your tool box. Then again, maybe it wouldn't work... 8-) Later, Rick

Sorry, I don't have the factory repair manual, but according to my Haynes, Chapter 4B, Section 6, paragraph 12 - 16, you should do the following: 12. With engine idling, disconnect the elec. connector from the air control valve and confirm a change in rpm. If the ile is not affected, check for voltage to the air control valve. Note: The engine rpm will vary greatly when the air control valve is disconnected with the engine cold. 13. Disconnect the electrical connector from the air control valve and turn the ignition swithc ON (engine not running). 14. Install the voltmeter positive probe (+) to the BW terminal. There should be 10 volts or more available. 15. Disconnect the air control valve electrical connector and measure the resistance working on the air control valve side of the harness connector. It should be 7 to 13 ohms. 16. Measure the insulation resistance of the air control valve. Install the positive probe of the ohmmeter onto each terminal with the negative probe touching the body control valve. It should be 1M ohms or greater. If continuity exists, then the internal coils are shorted to the air control valve body. And for Replacement: 17. Detach the cable from the negative terminal of the battery and disconnect the electrical connector from the air control valve. 18. Remove the two mounting bolts and detach the air control valve 19. Installation is the reverse of removal.

Here in eastern Oregon the roads are cleared fairly quickly after a snowfall, either by the state/county road crews, who do a great job, or by mother nature. The sun usually shines so brightly here that the snow just melts away, especially fast on blacktop. Where cinders are spread, it's usually on curves and hills, and there, only sparingly. Main things that damages cars over here seem to be those darn suicidal deer and antelope... Rick

Interesting thread. Anyone aware of a good yard in the vicinity of Grand Forks, ND? Our son moved there to attend Grad School in Physical Therapy and took the '87 turbo GL-10 5sp. He'll be doing work on it. Water pump has a leak right now... Thanks, Rick