pyromanic

I said oil pump noise, not HLA. You know. HLA's up on top, oil pump down at bottom, get it? Oil pump noise.

Quote "I always thought these things were junk, but.." I sure run into that a lot. Funny how many folks don't know just how cool these little cars are! We have two parts houses here in Podunk Oregon. A NAPA and a discount generic. The NAPA guys get it. They are enthusiastic and helpful. The discount guys look at me like I'm nuts when I say '85 Subaru and don't even try very hard to help. They give up half the time and say "don't know". Guess who's getting most of my business? Anyway, enjoy and good luck!! Hope you find parts guys that get it! Pyro

I took one that was not working apart a few weeks ago. As expected the brushes were no longer in existence. Probably could have found brushes somewhere, but had a spare I stuck in. Replaced the resitor pack while I was at it. Pyro

I wouldn't call it a light tick. And it goes away when engine is warm. Thank you! You da man.

Torxx I see that you are getting a touch frustrated with me. In a way I don't blame you. Please try to understand that I am one of those people that take the time to fully understand an situation before taking action. When I was youger, (a long long time ago) I would rush into things. Caused me lots of grief. I have three grown children. (well sort of, they look grown anyhow) and I has been amusing watching learn to take the time to figure things out. Any way, THANKS to all have shown patients with me. I have read dozens and dozens and many many hours of posts and info on oil pump and the TOD. I do not recall ever reading that the ticking would be eminating from the bottom of the engine, so when I dicovered that it came from there, it threw me. I still don't see how this could be lifter noise. With the stethasope, (or a screwdriver in my ear fro that matter, ) I can pretty much hear allt he lifters. THEY ARE QUIET! I did start another thread, yes, asking about noisy oilpumps. The answer is yes, that they tick when the MM gasket is bad. Ok. That is the first time I'd heard that. Always before, bad pump, noisy lifters. Get it Torxx? I was getting conflicting information. It was pixxing me off. And Torxx, you are definately one of the many people here whose opinion I respect. Well, enough said. Dam snow. Pyro

Do these EA 82 oil pumps ever clack or tick? Pyro

Convert vehicle to remote radio control. How much do you weigh? Just kidding Pyro

On my EA 82 wagon, I take it off and throw it away. Got in the way of roof racks. Actually, I tried to put it back on once, and would have been successful had I been willing to find new clips. It was held on with little metal clips that did not seem to be re-usable. At least mine were not. Wonder if a dealer has them? Pyro

I thought I heard somewhere that pinging, or detonation, can sound like a can of marbles. That would be on acceleration too I think. Probably of base here. Just thought I'd mention it. I could be wrong. Pyro

Yupper, can't find phones for crap, they can be under a coat on couch right next to me. Sucks. I sure HOPE I don't have a bad bearing too. Of course I have read for hours and hours the old posts regarding lifter noise, cause thats what I thought it was. I don't recall ever reading that the pump itself gets to clacking like this. I hope it's just something I missed, and that that is what it is. I don't need no stinking bad bearings! Even best case, oil pumps aint cheap enough be sticking in new ones if if really a main bearing. And probably fron main from the sounds of it. Still, it's a tick, or clack, not knock. Please somebody, tell me if these oil pumps can clack or not. (I already know about lifters. Mine are quiet!!!) Pyro

Ok, oil pump gasket not sealing. Since I have not had one of these oil pumps apart yet, please tell exactly what makes the noise? Look guys, I get that oil pump problems cause underlubricated hydrolic lifters. I KNOW what collapsed lifters sound like. And where they are. And I know that when the micky mouse gasket gets old and flat and stuff, you suck air, and the lifters don't pump up. Buy the noise is coming from the pump itself. Do these pumps (the pump itself) get noisy and clack when the micky mouse gasket fails? Thanks Pyro

Dude have you read none of my post whatsoever? Or are you trying to tell me that lifter noise is loudest from under the engine and comes from the bottom of the oil pump?

You see, I am almost totally deaf in one ear. No kidding. The other one is only so-so. What this means is that without bi-lateral hearing, I can not determine where sounds are coming from with any degree of reliability. And I bring this up because I have have been treating TOD since I got the AT swapped out to the 5sp in my 85 NA GL wagon. Heavy oil, light oil, in-between oil (lots of oil changes seemed good as the car had sat for five years), MMO, Valve medic. No affect. The darn ticking, or clacking pretty much disapears when the car is FULLY warmed up. Shut it of for 20 minutes, it's back. I even annoyed some board members by investigating possible piston slap with lots of question here. Pulled plug wires one at a time while running cold engine, it did not disapate. I've been picking up tools here and there. Picked up a mechanics stethascope today. Suprise suprise. The sound is DEFINATLY coming from the oil pump. It is at it's very loudest if the contact is made right where the filter meets the pump. Did this from under the car. Put it on the pan, or back on the block, less noise. This scares me. Front main bearing should knock, not tick, or clack? My mechanic buddy (but not Soobs) does NOT think it is bearings. Says sounds wrong to him, and should get worse when engine hot. He better be right. So I guess the logical question is, is any reason that these oil pumps (Iv'e never been into one) can make clacking or ticking sound like this? Ideas? Am I screwed? Oh, for what it's worth, engine runs great. Smooth, plenty of power. Pyro

Can you believe it? I don't know what you mean by a "Y pipe setup so you promote scavanging." When you say performance will suffer without it, do mean as opposed trying to run true dual? (which I have heard over and over is a very bad, non functional idea on these motors, THATS not the plan) I thought it WAS a Y pipe setup, just that the "Y" terminates in that stupid cat. Which I want to get rid of. And to further demonstrate my ignorance, what do you mean by an "X pipe"? Is that a cross over?

My buddy can do a complete custom exaust for me. I've already modified the airbox to breathe much better. (weber will have to wait) The cat was gutted when I got the car. So do I want to go two inch pipe fom the gutted cat, or lose the cat entirely? I can't think of any reason to keep it. NA EA82, DR5sp, 85wgn, PK lift ordered, MSD Blaster, De-emmisioned Hitachi PYro It steers ok now! (warped rotor and E-brake cable too tight-duh!)

Sat down with coffee for 20 minutes thinking about all this. My donor car steered and drove great. How much easier and cheaper would it be to just grab the knuckles and axels from both sides and swap them out? Rebuild the others as time and money allows? I know I know, not the peace of mind of new componets, but at least it would put me on the road faster and cheaper, yes? Pyro

86Subaru, I take it you found no visible "issues"? Yup, logic seems to dictate now it's time for allighnment. Torxx, your guess is duely noted. I am suspicious of that too. On one hand, I wonder why I don't hear anything, if it is a wheel bearing. Wouldn't I hear a growll or grumble if one was on it's way out? Did I mention that there is a bit of "pulsing" when braking"? My Hayes manual says this in troubleshooting: "Brake pedal pulsates during brake aplication: 1;Wheel bearings not adjusted properly or in need of replacement, ect, ect, rotors, drums, bent, blah blah blah so on and so forth. Adjustment? Thats something I don't get about Soob bearings. What adjustment? I'm used to to wheel bearings that take a specified preload, and a cotter pin throught the castleated nut. But with these, I'm told tighter is better, at least give them 140 lbs. So where is the preload? I just assumed that the preload was built in to the tolerances in the knuckle. Have I got this wrong? Look, this car is my keeper. I am about to lift it, and have tons of bling work already completed on interior and engine. So I'm thinking this morning I should run to the parts house and buy what. Two sets of wheel bearings, two axles, (boot on one is starting to rip) two ball joints, stabalizer bar bushings. I see a torn grease boot on one tie rod end. Should I replace both ends? Lots of questions, sorry. Dam snow. Crap. Pyro

Ok, thanks for that Ross. I asked because thats the only obvious thing I see wrong. Didn't really seem like it could be causing the problem. I think it's probably a combination of things. Maily, neglect. I aim to remedy that. Got my work cut out for me. Snowing now too. Oh boy! Pyro

Torxx, that is great to know!! Sure wish I had known that, or figured it out before I started. Thanks for ideas guys. Miles, jacks were behind front wheels, under body. No problems there. Yes, I did drop the tie rods, BUT the ends held their position. Nothing turned. Tie rod adjustment-length stayed same as before. One problem here is that I don't know how many problems there might have been before all this. Never drove it on blacktop untill after all this work. Again I ask: Could the bent sway bar bracket and crappy bushing there cause this? Tomarrow I intend to replace bushings, ball joints, inspect wheel bearings and such. This will be pretty much over my head, I have not done this kind of work before. Wish me luck. Any tips appreciated. Pyro

That wasn't specific enough I know. Try this. When I did all the above, I had yet to learn the correct and simpler wayt o get the axles away from the tranny to do the tranny swap. So instead of backing off the top strutt bolts to get slack I needed, I erroneosly dissconected the stabilizer bar from the lower control arm. It worked of course, just harder that it needed to be. And when I put it all back together, I tightened those connections while up on jacks. Another mistake, now I know. Thing is, I can see that the plates are bent some on the passenger side. Bushing lookes pretty nasty too. Question: Could this be causing the car to pull to the left? I'm tearing into it tommorrow. Thanks Pyro

Hey guys, I don't know how my 85 gl wagon steered before I did the 5sp swap, cause I had to cripple it home with a bad auto tranny on dirt roads. Of course when I did the tranny swap, I had to tear enough of the steering down to pull the axels back. I didn't take anything apart I didn't have too, just enough. I just found out that I wasn't supposed to tighten anything untill I had it on the ground. Could that be why it doesn't track so good and pulls just a little to the left? No wierd noises, just trys to drift a little and doesn't seem to track like it shood. Brake disks run cool. What should I do? Pyro

OKOKOKOK! Got it. I'm convinced. I believe. Sorry to be so stubborn. My ancestors are from the "show me" state. I take little at face value, and it makes sometimes hard to get along with. I apologize for being annoying. After several hours of reading and research, I ansewred my own question. Apparently it's true that most bottom end sounds will "evaporate" when spark is removed. Not so with valve train sounds. As usual, I recieved good advice here. I should learn to trust more. You know, "old dog, new tricks". Thanks Torxx. I was gonna start tearing down the front of the motor this morning, but two inches of fresh snow!!! Crap. Pyro

and if it WAS piston slap, the ticking would shut up without spark? Pyro

I forgot to mention that I have pretty good oil pressure, for what it's worth. 70 when cold. never drops below 20, hot engine, at idle. This is on a good full sweep mechanical guage, new. between 50 and 60 when curising. does this hel with diagnosis? by the way this is one, quite loud ticking sound. Not a clatter. One loud ticking. Also, best friend is a very experienced mechanic. (I'm not saying he's good, just experienced, though not whith Soobs) Tonight he told of his "test" to determine piston slap from lifter ticking. He said to start engine, pull plug wire. If you find one that makes the ticking goes away, it's piston slap. If it doesn't, it's a lifter. Is he full of beans? I went out and pulled them one at a time. Ticking remained. So would a collapsed lifter keep ticking if that cylinder had no spark, or not? I get his theory that if it was piston slap, it would shut up when not under power. But I don't know if it's true. Comments please Thanks guys.

How do I tell the difference? Whatever it is, the engine runs quiet when it is completely up to operating temp. Not untill then. Shut it off for 1/2, the darn ticking is back. Pretty loud too. Have tried MMO. Gunk brand "valve medic". 10w30. 15w50, and others. No help. This 1985 NA, EA-82. Pyro