wombatsauce

Well, I have put about 3 tanks of gas through this car since doing all the maintenance on it and replacing the radiator cap. I flushed the coolant multiple times - made a flushing tool out of the old crappy Thermostat so I can flush the system w/out leaks. Still left some red crap in there. I would have to hit it with some detergent and I am not sure what I can use. I am pretty sure the GM style red coolant was used in this car, and that, combined with a failed t-stat and radiator cap was the source of the coolant barfing. Engine compartment has been dry since the work. I am working on cleaning the old red coolant marks off the rest of the car now that the engine is clean... Yesterday I drove it about 100 miles, lots with the A/C on and at highway speeds. Couple times I took it through the gear shifting just under redline. Not a drop of coolant. I hope it will last for a while!!! It's been running great, nice and smooth as well. Put your hand on the dash when it's idling and you cannot tell it's running till you look at the tach.

No, it's dark deep brick red and rather thick. It reminds me of the coolant in GM products I have had. I have a gallon of proper coolant, a new t-stat/gasket, two new oil filters (wtf happened to the Suby filter - I could swallow it!), 5qts of 10w30 Castrol, oil filler neck gasket, and a radiator cap to install ASAP. I am hoping it's a combo of too full and a bad radiator cap as I have seen this happen before, but the only thing punching a hole in that is the evidence of this happening multiple times before. I hope so too!! I am planning on swapping this car, but just not yet! I need to sell two other cars to fund this project.

Wow, just checked the mail and my owner's guide is here already.. Thanks anyway! Wish me healthy headgaskets.

Until my owner's guide shows up that is... First off, I owned this car before but it's been 5 years and many other cars so I do not remember everything. I think I used ~4.5qts of 10w40 oil (Castrol) and always a Subaru filter for oil changes. I need to change the oil or whatever is in the engine and put oil in it's place... Poor car! Also, after a drive it barfed coolant out of the holding tank all over the driver's side of the engine bay. I can see that it has done this before as I was wondering what all the "rust coloured" stains were on that side. Well, now I can see that it's the rust coloured coolant that has been spraying over that side of the car for quite some time and was apparently cleaned up for me to view the car... First of all - this car should not be running GM style red coolant right?? I am going to flush it all out today regardless, with the addition of a new radiator cap and thermostat. I just got the car back a couple days ago and have not driven it much since I have not had a chance to change the fluids yet. Today is the day. Going to attempt to do oil, coolant, trans fluid and diff fluid today with a top off of the low brake fluid and power steering. Going to squeeze in spark plugs today as well. I sold this car back in 2005 when I moved away and by the looks of it, I was most likely the last one to maintain it... So if anyone thinks the radiator cap may be the reason the car is puking coolant... Let me know! From my searching on here it sounds like it's head gaskets which would suck... I hope not (at least not yet, just not financially ready for my swap yet). The radiator cap looked like hell and this red coolant stuff is very odd. That is a new development as I vaguely remember doing coolant in this car too.. In short I would like to know: - What grade and amount of oil with a filter change (4.5 qts of 10w40?) - What grade and amount of oil for the trans and diff - What kind of coolant I should be using in this car

Here's something funny... I sold this car around May of 2005 when we moved to Hawaii.. We have since moved back and I have owned a few Imprezas, but my wife (then gf) always talks about this car and how nice it was etc. Well, I saw it on Craigslist and bought it back. On the way home it seemed to stick in 4th gear, but not 5th. Made me laugh.. Hoping to swap it over to 2003 WRX running gear as soon as possible. Nothing crazy, just, a WRX in an Impreza suit. Thanks again for the help!!! How it looked when I got it home yesterday:

Nice!! I really really wanted to pick this car up but was suddenly faced with no ability to pay for or restore it. I assume you picked it up for less than the $3k asking price! Looking forward to see what you do with it - absolutely love these cars.

I have a friend with a '93 Legacy and it won't pass smog. The technician said it spit out the message of "error code 35 control purge solenoid valve...solenoid valve inoperable" but I have not been able to find any info on this and the shop didn't have any ideas. Anyone know? Thanks in advance!!!

That's a sweet RX. I have wanted one forever, but CA smog laws would make it not too fun I imagine. As far as removing your headlight and such for colder air on a turbo car - seriously, especially with an intercooler, it won't make a differece. Go get a cheap digital thermometer with the in/out and the sensor on a wire and prove me wrong.

Haha.. No worries, just wanted to make sure you weren't looking for a reply somewhere else. Yeah, the Justy is a different animal altogether. I tell ya, if I could find a GLF or even better an RX in OK shape, I would jump on it. The Justy is a blast and I hope to keep it always, but it's very rare and hard to find parts for... It would be hard to free myself of my '01 Impreza though. It has the same spirit and quirky attitude of my old RX but feels more up to date and modern. Plus, it hauls arse and goes around corners very nicely. Subaru always for me either way. Oh yeah, another dreamer would be an '82 4WD hatch. Love those...

Did you post in the right thread? This is a Justy...

I am hoping. I know the older 5spds were notorious for this as well. Sort of like a stick in a bucket of rocks... Redline MTL has for all intents and purposes "cured" a 300ZXT B/W 5spd, 2 Celica 5spds, an older Impreza 5spd (tho requires GL-5...) and a few others. My Z was horrible - loud CRUNCH in 2nd and nearly impossible to downshift into 2nd (thankfully my tractor experience helped here). After about 200 miles with the Redline, smooth as silk - seriously I could powershift on boost and it was smooth. I am hoping for similar results. I was excited to see the Justy requires GL-4.

Yeah, I think we will probably end up making a cover. I changed the spark plugs this weekend and broke my intake pipe in the process... Grrrr... Just the blowby tube that comes off the pipe, but still - that sucks. I patched it with some rubber hose and hose clamps, but am trying to find a new pipe if that's even possible. This thing needs rear struts really badly, and I noticed both outer front CV boots are shot, so I am going to take care of those items first, then a timing belt job with water and oil pumps as well. Thanks for the tip! I will probably end up spending a ton on this little car before too long, but it is SO fun. I finished the whole tune-up except for the fuel filter which I just didn't get to yet. It runs so much better and stronger, though it still seems to have a slight miss which is odd. The only thing left to change are the plug wires. It needed two rear tires too, which I thought wouldn't be a problem... Wrong! I got laughed at by 3 different tire people who all said "we don't sell anything that small" to my request for a pair of 165/65-R13s. I found them on tirerack.com for $48 each, so they will be here Wed. Also picked up some Redline MTL for the tranny, it's GL-4 rated and has smoothed out many crunchy trannys in the past for me. 2nd is a little crunchy on this one... Just about done catching up with the last 3 years of neglect this poor little fella saw! It's a great car. Always wanted one, and it's been awesome so far. So is there any source for parts for these cars anymore? I am pretty bummed at how hard it is to find parts for it. I am going to try to contact some old friends in Israel to see if they can help. Tons of old Subies over there... I actually came back with a lot of parts for an older Impreza I had on a trip over there.

Thankfully it was actually worth $2500 and it's mine now. Loving it. Great car. Needed some things, needs a few more, but whatta blast. It cleaned up nice - interior is perfect except missing the luggage cover. Cheers!

Wooo! Got the Justy I wanted and just finished a few maintenance items. It only had 50k miles, but the girl that owned it didn't really maintain it for the last year. A thermostat, cap, rotor, oil change and plugs has woken it up. Such a fun little car! Major stokage... Awesome little city car. Cheers!

This is awesome! I love the Justy and always have. I have known Subarus since birth as my dad used to work on them. My mom had a red '74 4WD wagon and from that car on we probably had over 500 different Subies. I had pics of me working on them when I was a teeny kid. My first car was an '88 RX. I currently drive an '01 Impreza coupe. My friends call me the Subaru Whore... Haha.. I have been searching for a Justy for so long. A friend of my dad's bought an '88 4WD 2dr 5spd when I was a kid and I would always ask him for rides in it. It was my favourite Suby because it was teeny, a blast, and still 4WD!! Anyway I may have found one, if so I will post pics if I get it. I hope so - I drove it and even though it has a lot of problems, it made me laugh and chuckle the whole time - it's so awesome...

I drove this car. I have wanted a Justy for sooo long, and have been searching Craigslist for a while. Anyway, the thing that bummed me out the most about this car is that it is NOT as advertised. There are a lot of 'contact scratches' like parking marks on each corner of the bumpers. Deep scratch on the LR quarter. Very dirty interior, turned on the fan and chunks of who knows what flew out of the vents. It has two new front tires, the rears could be the originals - dry and cracked. Struts make a weird 'hooting' noise every time you take off from a stop - rears are gone. The clutch is also gone and engages at the top of the pedal travel. 2nd gear has a sold CRUNCH which when I got back from the test drive I started to mention, but the owner said it first "second gear?? yeah it's an issue." She said she 'works around it' which says it needs a transmission. Finally, she would not budge on the price. My offer was around 3x it's actual cash value. I still want it, but it needs a good amount of work. I want a Justy really bad... I can't wing $3800 for it no matter what though..

Well after waiting forever, my oil still hasn't gotten here. So, I went to a local store and got 4 qt's of Redline MTL. I came home and made a foil wrap to keep oil off the exhaust... Love that design! I drained the oil, and this time jacked up the rear of the car too, more oil came out. I had another unmarked qt of Redline - the label fell off while ago. I poured this through to flush the tranny. I think it was 10/40 I used to use in my Z. Anyway, then I put the plug back in, and poured in 3 qt's of MT-90. I lowered the car to the ground and let it idle in neutral for a while, shut it off, and checked the level. It was just about right. Took I'd say another .3 qt to fill up. This is odd, the book says 4.2qt. I will check it again after a few days. Anyway, I spilled some of the oil that came out - the Shell Spirax HD gear oil. On my slanted driveway, it didn't even run. This stuff is THICK. I drove the car on the freeway for a while - the same way I went when it first stuck in gear after the oil change. It was shifting slicker than it ever has, and never stuck in gear or even hinted at it. I drove @ 90 the whole way back for 10min straight, and it was still slicker than ever. My g/f drove it to the store and commented that it was WAY smoother. Nice. Don't use Shell Spirax HD oil I guess... -Jacob

I pumped out oil from the tranny to bring it down to the F on the dipstick. I drove the car around for 2 hours running errands. Used 4-5th a few times, and never drove over 60 for more than 2 minutes. Tranny was fine and didn't show symptoms at all even once. My g/f told me the car stuck in 4th once last week tho.. Still waiting for my oil to get here. SO weird.. -Jacob

I know my father ran (IIRC) half ATF half either 10-40 or possibly higher motor oil in the older Subys with good results. Those all have the same style tranny w/ diff. A friend has some extra Redline MTL so I will try that first and see what happens. I see just as many people saying to not do it as have said they have done it and it works great. Just have to try. I have read up on this SPIRAX HD oil and it seems it has some heavy duty EP and shock resistant agents since it's designed for heavier duty uses and big rigs (certified for MACK truck requirements). I also see a lot of Alfa people using this same oil in the newer trannies. I dunno. -Jacob

Thank you all for the replies. I know it doesn't make too much sense to think so heavily about the oil, it's just that I drove this car quite a bit and the trans never gave me cause for concern once - till I changed the gear oil. I found the bottle of oil I used - it's Shell "SPIRAX" HD heavy duty 80-90w. Says for heavy duty trucks and such, though it is still GL-5 rated gear lube. I got it because the shop that did my timing belt and such said to use the 'cheapest gear lube I could find" and this was it. I used Valvoline 80-90 in my '03 WRX and it was fine. I think I am also going on about the oil because I really can't afford (time, money, you name it) any more $@#$ car issues. I would really like to go a month or so without having to babysit a mechanical contrivance. But at the same time, I cannot find any logical explanation as to why - suddenly - I would have a hard time pulling it out of 5th when the trans has been spinning @ greater than 3k rpm for a period of more than 5-10 minutes. My g/f also mentioned last night that this has only happened when she has tried to downshift before slowing down. Seems like the oil is 'wicking' or something after the tranny internals have been spinning higher rpm for a period of time. I am not joking, you can run through the gears all day long around town with no issues. So odd. If I had a hard time pulling it out of any other gears (say 3rd when 5th is difficult) or if it would grind, anything - I would just acknowledge that the trans is gone. It does none of this. I need to spend more time with it, but can't during the week.. Thanks again for the help. Just to clarify - This is a 1995 Impreza L "Brighton" coupe - 1.8L, AWD, 5spd "aegean blue" w/ 140k miles. We had planned to drive it until June, and then sell it. I have added a RH mirror, tach, WRX alloys and a stereo. -Jacob

Yikes.. This was supposed to be an interim car for my girlfriend as hers was totalled in a San Fran sewage flood. So far I have spent more than I paid for the car on it, and a tranny will prolly break the bank. It's a nice little car but yikes. Anyway, I have been thinking about it, and we have had this car since last June. It has never done this before until two months ago when I changed the tranny oil (Valvoline 85-90w IIRC). My g/f says it has only happened very rarely and it hasn't happened in a while, yet it happens right away when I drove it. Well, I was going about 85 or so and then slowed to about 60 when I went to downshift. She doesn't usually drive that fast, and she doesn't usually go to downshift till she has slowed way down (normal driving I believe). A few people have told me to change the fluid as this points to the higher RPMs 'collecting' the gear oil and causing a problem. Sounds pretty far fetched to me, but I can't ignore that this never happened before I changed the oil (and I overfilled it). BTW when we bought this car last June, the girl that sold it said that the transmission went out and was replaced with a used one, and it was really expensive becuase it was hard to find... I was hoping that meant the car would make it the year that we needed it. But, whoever buys this car from us will be getting a pretty nice car. Just had the timing belt, water pump, and every seal, gasket, tensioner, everything changed. I will change the gear oil and go from there I guess. Thanks for the suggestions, hope it's not dead.. -Jacob

This is really weird.. The car is a 1995 Impreza L AWD Coupe w/ a 5spd. I drove it last night, and I was on the freeway for about 10 minutes. I went to downshift from 5th to change freeways, and it wouldn't come out of 5th - felt as if I didn't press the clutch. I pressed the clutch again, and the tranny IS disconnecting from the engine, but it till won't come out of gear. So I yank it out, and after that - it was fine for a little while. Went down to 2nd on the onramp, 3rd, 4th, 5th and back to 4th again - just fine. Get off the freeway, and drive around city streets to drop off a friend and it's still fine - I spent more time around between 1st to 3rd than I did on the freeway, and it was fine the whole time. I went back out on the freeway home, and it did the same thing again. It seems like once I reach 60mph or so, the tranny won't come out of gear. Seems like maybe an AWD diffy issue but then again I have no idea. Maybe the gear oil I used is too thick? I was thinking it might be the WRX alloys I put on recently (maybe the air pressure wasn't even) but my G/F said it did this before I put the rims on (it's her car). The only other thing I have done is I changed the trans fluid a while ago (maybe 2500 miles). I used Valvoline 85w-90 gear oil. It was a little over-filled, but I didn't think that would hurt anything (maybe 1/8" over F on the stick). Anyone have any ideas? I really can't afford a tranny but oh well.. Hopefully it's something simple like the fluid or something. I will check tire pressures tonight, but I am pretty sure that's not it. My first thought was a failed slave cylinder till I realized it's a cable clutch... DOH. Thanks in advance for anyone with any ideas. My dad said something like he thinks it could be the oil since he remembers older Subys using thinner oil. I am really hoping that's all it is. -Jacob