grandam88

I got to dig around under the dash this afternoon. The cruise control has both the clutch and brake switches(brake has two switches total). I did notice a mysterious green connector just disconnected hanging out under there. The rubber bumper was intact and appeared to be activating the switch, whether the switch is in working condition or not, I have no idea. My clutch pedal does seem to have play left to right though. I will try and check more into the clutch side of the switch with a DMM to see of all is working the way it is supposed to and go from there. I appreciate the help.

I appreciate the replies. The main focus of my post was to figure out what was normal with my car and what is not. My voltage gauge pulsates with my blinker too, lol. I did not know cars of this age could feature ac and cruise control. I have no idea what idle motor your talking of, maybe your speaking of the idle air control valve? I have been suspect of it for sometime, I went ahead and checked and cleaned all the houses connected to it and the intake. I also pulled the "motor" portion of the IAC off and sprayed some cleaner in it. I have also sprayed some cleaner in the main tube of the IAC. I do know it opens and closes. I have had some issues with my cruise control, I have a post about that on here, If y'all have some knowledge on the system, i would appreciate it. My post is from today.

I have owned this car now for a couple of months. Have been posting here on the USMB forums along the way. It is a 1987 Gl ea82, spfi, manual 2wd. 212000 miles. When I purchased the car, had hot start issues along with horrible throttle response. I changed out the tps sensor as I check the innards and they were shot. Tps was replaced with new. This fixed the majority of my issues and I am now getting 32-33 mpg consistently. This is the first Subaru I have ever owned, so far I am already attached to it. It is fairly easy to work on once you get used to it. I have spent the last 5 years working on a jeep Cherokee, so working on a 80hp Japanese car older than me is a new experience. I have the normal quirks to work out. Shifter linkage, TOD etc. I am mainly writing this for some enlightenment on expectations from this car. No, I am not talking about hot rodding it. I plan on babying this car into what hopefully turns into 400,000 miles. I have never driven a car with so little hp. I have noticed that when I use my AC, I seems to lose a decent amount of power. To the effect that I can literally feel the car lose power in mid acceleration. I have never experienced such a thing in a vehicle. When I use my cigarette lighter, or turn my ac blower motor above about 2/4, I see a voltage drop that usually affects the lights on the dash and voltage drops for a second. My voltage gauge drops below 12 volts at times. Especially when using the ac,lights, and slowing down. (I am also having idle issues that may be affecting this) I have tested the voltage at a normal idle, with EVERYTHING running, voltage drops to high 12's low 13's. I have a low idle issue, oddly enough, when the car is fist started from cold, it shoots way up to almost 2000. When I tap the gas, it drops to around 700, but then comes back up to around 2000. After car warms up, idle is decent. Most times it will stay around 700 at a red light. Sometimes it will also drop down to around 250, and the engine seems like its barely running, but it never dies. You can imagine that this could affect my voltage when I slow down. I have also had some issues with it wanting to stall and a loss of power. This issue is intermittent and I would say it may even happen every 400-600 miles. I had it actually stall one time. When I started it, it started right up, but ran sluggishly. After a mile or so, it was back to its normal self. Lastly, I am aware that newer vehicles generally adjust their air to fuel ration via feedback from the upstream o2 sensor. My gl is equipped with an upstream sensor and I was reading that there is some of the ea82s who actually do use the o2 sensor for feedback. Is my car one of those? Would I benefit from replacing this sensor, even though I do not have a code for it? Only engine code I have is a 35, I am having some issues with the canister purge and EGR solenoid. I have deleted them for the time being. I know some of the above issues are probably part of owning this car, being old and low in hp. I know some of it is just the character of the car.

I recently found out the white canister belongs to the ac system. My ac and vents work fine. As far as the cruise control, I have checked all hoses, leading all the way to the gas pedal. I do not see any leaks and all hoses are intact. An explanation of how the system actually works would be helpful, I posted in a previous post my assumptions on how it works. Also, previous owner said it worked fine, but on occasion he would have to pull up on the clutch with his foot in order for it to set. As you can see in the picture, vacuum line from engine feeds the box with the wires going into it. From there another vacuum line runs off it, that line runs into the cabin. It appears that same line is the one connecting to the gas pedal drum. My assumption is that the box is some sort of actuator, when given power it open and allows vacuum pressure to go to the vacuum drum on the gas pedal. This electrical signal to the box is dictated by the press of the button on the dash and steering wheel and the switch and or switches on the brake and clutch pedals.

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I do have one code. It is the 35 code. Which is irrelevant to my issue. I will drive around without a gas cap and see what happens. If I do need a strainer, does anyone know where to get them? Or a part number? Thanks

1987 Subaru GL SPFI. Car runs great 95% of the time. When it is started cold, the first couple of times I accelerate from a stop, I get some sputtering. I was thinking CTS. Day before yesterday I ran the tank below 1/4 for the first time since I have owned it. Sputtered during take off again. Then Yesterday I took off from a red light, motor was warm and had plenty of gas, as soon as I hit second gear the car lost power, sputtered a few times, then died. It started back up just fine, had a loss of power for a little bit, then went back to driving normal. I am thinking this is a fuel issue. I have a reasonably new fuel filter on the car, fuel pump could be culprit, but I have never been into the gas tank, and don't know if there is a strainer in it. Maybe that could be part of the issue? Looking for some opinions or something i may be overlooking. Thanks

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Alright guys, I appreciate it. I will order that kit and see if I can get this tick to go away.

1987 subaru gl wagon ea82. I have the notorious ticking lifter. Goes away after have been driving for about five miles or so. I have ran seafoam in the oil and changed it with 10w30 still, ticks but have great oil pressure and not low on oil. I figured it is time to replace the oil pump seals. I found a kit by beck and arnley. I wanted to make sure it was the right seal kit before I ordered it. Rockauto does not show it fitting my 1987 gl but I'm pretty sure it is the right kit. part number is. 0396320. http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=478288&jnid=298&jpid=0 Just looking to see if someone can confirm these are the right seals before purchasing. Thanks

I just checked under the hood. I have a little black circle box with several wires that run to the other side under the hood toward the service and test connectors. Also attached to this box is 2 vacuum lines, one comes off the same vacuum line that run to other misc item on the motor the other runs to the other side of the engine compartment and seems to go to a drum on the gas pedal assembly. So, i would guess there is not a pump for the vacuum on my car, instead it runs off the engines vacuum and the box maybe controls the vacuum to the cruise control? Second thing under there is a little white cylinder, had a vacuum line in, and out. Same as the other black box except it has no wires running to it. The line is also very small, maybe an 1/8". Lines runs from it, then under the dash. When i push in the cruise button on the dash, nothing seems to happen outside of the light on the button,

I have no idea if it is dealer or not. I have all analog gauges, only thing to keep track of trip mileage is the tripometer. The switch to turn on the cruise in on the dash by rear defrost switch and the other cruise buttons are on the steering wheel, right side of horn button. I will check the for the issues yall have mentioned and report back.

1987 subaru GL, standard 5 speed ea82 spfi. I purchased the car about a month and a half ago. Has cruise control. Problem is cruise control doesn't work. Car also starts without clutch pushed down. I am assuming this may be the reason cruise does not work as I would think cruise would shut off with clutch pressed down. Not sure though as cruise didn't work when I purchased the car. I have looked at the clutch switch and have not had time to test it yet, but it does seem to click when I press it in manually, and clutch pedal does seem to make contact with the switch as it it supposed to. I have also checked the fuse linked to the cruise. Fuse is good. I am hoping someone with some knowledge of the way the cruise system works can chime in. Thanks

1987 subaru GL, standard 5 speed ea82 spfi. I purchased the car about a month and a half ago. Has cruise control. Problem is cruise control doesn't work. Car also starts without clutch pushed down. I am assuming this may be the reason cruise does not work as I would think cruise would shut off with clutch pressed down. Not sure though as cruise didn't work when I purchased the car. I have looked at the clutch switch and have not had time to test it yet, but it does seem to click when I press it in manually, and clutch pedal does seem to make contact with the switch as it it supposed to. I have also checked the fuse linked to the cruise. Fuse is good. I am hoping someone with some knowledge of the way the cruise system works can chime in. Thanks

I finished installing the new tps yesterday. Everything fit and adjusted out perfectly. No more tps engine code and cars drives a lot better. I also confirmed everything is identical on this sensor besides the connector. This sensor can be had new for less than $200. Best way to handle the connector issue is to solder the wires and use shrink tubing. Wire colors are identical also.

I finished installing the new tps yesterday. Everything fit and adjusted out perfectly. No more tps engine code and cars drives a lot better. I also confirmed everything is identical on this sensor besides the connector. This sensor can be had new for less than $200. Best way to handle the connector issue is to solder the wires and use shrink tubing. Wire colors are identical also.

Finally got my tps in today. I ordered part number tps4085 from autozone. Casing is marked as sera484-2 but has a different connector. Sensor is from a 1989 isuzu i-mark and is a 4 pin connector. I ran the checks from the FSM with a multi-meter and found everything checks out. I have not been able to check with the different feeler gauges as of yet, but based on the initial tests it could work just fine. The ohm readings go up in the right direction and at the right ohm levels as noted in the fsm. I will report back once tps sensor is installed on the throttle body and adjusted with feeler gauges. As far as the connector goes, I will be soldering all connections and making a pig tail out of the old sensor by desoldering the connector of the old sensor and soldering onto the new sensors wires. This sensor can be bought for $179 through auto zone. Only subaru shop I could find offered the original sensor used at $150, and lowest price on a new sensor was around $300. Here is a link to all part numbers that cross reference to this sensor http://www.yoyopart.com/oem/11350979/wells-tps4085.html

Well after more research, the casing on the i-mark 4 pin tps is marked sera484-2, subaru tps is marked on case same exact number. Why would these two sensors be different when their hitachi numbers match?

I have done a ton of cross referencing, the tps off the gl part# sera484-2 hitachi is commonly used on the lotus elan from the early nineties. From there is cross referenced the part other tps sensors used on this vehicle and found the tps from an isuzu i-mark from 1989, http://www.rockauto.com/info/903/5S5200__ra_t.jpg original number is sera484-2a. Four pin style instead has a pig tail. Will this work? If so i found this part number ec3107 from bwd. It seems these tps sensors were used on alot of foreign cars in the early nineties late eighties.

I have craigslisted for other gl's. No luck, If i could find a cheap parts car I would go for it. I did not know parts would be so expensive for this car, but I will have to deal with that. If you find a tps up your way in San Antonio, let me know. Their few and far between at the junk yards around here.

1987 subaru gl, spfi non turbo, 2wd, 5 speed. This is my first subaru. I already love the car despite its issues. So far i have a lot of idle issues and loss of power. Car does have exhaust leak but no 02 sensor codes. I have read and cleared the codes several times, i am getting 31,34,35. (tps, egr, canister purge) For now, i have bypassed both egr and canister purge as both valves are bad giving no reading on a dmm. Had coolant sensor code, but cleared it after cleaning the contacts and testing with dmm for resistance. Has not returned..yet. My main issue is the tps(throttle position sensor), I have tested it, i have continuity on pins one and two when I am supposed to. The problem is I have tested for resistance as per fsm, and haynes manual. Tests render no reading. So, i decided to take the sensor cover off. Found corrosion, and the pins that ride on the traces are all bent up and stuff, now not making contact with traces. I am sure I could fix it if i tries, but I don't want to chance further messing up the sensor unless I have another. Im sure yall know that a new tps sensor is upwards of $300. I have searched part numbers and such, I have the single connector four pin tps. I have found similar sensors but with an extra connector for the loyale. My main question is, does anyone here have one they are selling? If not, where can I find one for a good price? I live in Texas, and Subarus are not common around here so their not something you can easily locate in a junkyard. Also, is there possibly another tps from another vehicle that might fit? I found one for a justy that is much cheaper on rock auto. I have also found some from a nissan that have a similar part number and looks basically the same. All help is appreciated.