Rodm21

Well I think I may have done exactly what I didnt want to do, and now im stuck between a rock and a hard place.. that is putting it nicely. If you are tired of noobs like me coming around for advice, I'd quit reading now. But I dont really know where else to go, and you guys have always been so helpful, if you wanna read a long story with a sad ending, read on. I purchased my 88' GL wagon in portland about a month ago, I was semi-forced into it because I only bought a one way plane ticket (planned on driving a new car home) and I had been there living at my brothers house for a few days and thought at the time this red wagon would get me back to Idaho. It turns out this "88" actually has an 87 engine in it, or at least I think it does, all I know is that it is a Carbed 1.8L with who knows how many miles on it. The body has 187xxx on it and the more I think about it, kinda shows. Overall the body is in great shape, no real rust to speak of, and no dents. I drove the car home from portland (400ish miles) Ran fine, I mean didnt have much power, but hey its a little four so I expected that. I paid 900 for the car, once I got home, I changed the oil/rotor/cap/plugs/wires so add on 50 bucks for that, I changed the fuel filter and started driving it, I quickly noticed that it stutters really badly from about 1300-1900 rpms when you start up from a complete stop, 10x as bad when its cold.. as it warms up it slowly seems to go away. After I drove it for a week or so, I noticed a high pitched squeeling noise which I was told was either belts or the water pump, and the squeeling noise only occured when the car was warmed up, so I figured water pump. So it was a sweet catch 22, it stutters badly when its cold, and squeels like a pig when its warm. However after a day or two , that noise went away, so I have not replaced the water pump and actually breathed a sigh of relief. All that aside, a few days ago (3 weeks after buying it) I started to notice a rattle that seemed to come from the power steering pump... but today as I was looking into it I took off the d belt and started up the car. The noise continued. It sounded alot like a screw or something banging around in the timing belt chamber on the pass. side.. I turned the car off and on a few times to get a better listen and the last time I did It just sputtered out and sounded like total hell, as if a vaccum hose fell off or something, Im assuming this is when that rock or god knows what was in the timing belt area just knocked the belt off, or got stuck in the belt or who knows.. now im afraid to start up anymore but it is my only means of transportation at the moment so im in a real pinch.. To add to the mess I crawled under the thing and found that the whole timing belt caseing is falling apart, it has a huge hole on the under-side and on top of ALL of that, right next to where the exhaust pipe bolts onto the engine, there is a whole the size of a penny, there is a hole in the engine...and while it did run it got about 19mpg.. As you can see.. for a noob with subarus im really up ************ creek, so I came here to see what you would all do. I was going to take it to a mechanic but I really dont want to drive it, it sounds like its firing on 2 cyls at best.. I have a feeling I just wasted a nice $1000.. I guess at least I know what subaru to look for next time.. So what im asking is what would you all do in this situation. I dont really have a garage I can do any mechanic work in, and on top of that, im kind of an idiot when it comes to mechanicing anyway. My delema is if I should pay to tow it to the mechanic and see whats wrong with it, or just try to sell it/ part it out and start saving for a new car, while riding the bus to school... Any advice is appreciated, sorry for the long post. I figured if I got as much info to you guys it would be easier to help. -Drew

Hey guys, quick question - I have an 88 GL wagon, auto, good old ea82.. Today I started hearing whining noises sounding just like a water pump problem, I checked all the belts to see if that is the problem, and it seems like it is the pump, when I looked up how to change the water pump it seemed easy enough. However when I popped the hood and looked it seems like I will have to take off the main pulley just to get to the water pump?? Is that the case and if so how hard is it to replace this dang thing, Im considering just taking it to a local shop and have them charge me 100 bucks to put in a 50 dollar part.. sigh.. Any help on what exactly it takes to replace this thing would be appreciated Thanks again for being so helpful USMB (Also I was wondering, none of my metric or standard wrenches seem to fit, what kits do you guys use for unbolting alternators etc) Drew

Hey guys, Im kinda confused about adding fluid to the differential on my automatic 88' gl wagon, There are two dipsticks underneeth the spare tire, one on the right *that looks like it goes to the transmission* and one on the left, that looks like it goes to the differental, but im not exactly sure and the haynes book is kinda confusing on exactly which is which.. so which one should I add my 90W to, (which one is the differential fluid) Thanks again for all your help guys Drew Edit : The one on the left is a short fat stick with a L and an F on it, and the one on the right looks like an oil dipstick

Thanks for the advice ! How hard is it to use a coilover in the spark plug hole? (what exactly is involved in the process of doing that)

Hey everyone, first off let me apologize for letting my first post be a cry for help, I have been reading these boards for a couple months while I have been hunting for a subaru, and never really had any helpful hints to post on other topics. Anyway I finally found myself a nice little wagon it is a: 1987 Subaru GL 4WD Auto 182k On the body 80ish on the engine (or so Im told) So far I have changed the oil, checked most of the rest of the fluids, and changed the spark plugs / wires (ngk / Bosch wires). When I was driving it home today all of a sudden it sputtered out and died. Started back up fine, and then continued to idle / run really rough. I came to these boards to see if anyone else was having a problem similar, found that the first thing I need to do is check vaccum hoses, and when I did that I found one that WAS NOT CONNECTED! So I ran down to my local bow-wow parts store snaggged some new tubing, hooked it up- problem solved. Now for my new problem- While I was changing my spark plugs I noticed on cylinder 1 the plug was wayyy too tight, so I eased it out and quickly relized the last person who changed the plugs had cross threaded them, I looked at the plug and saw that it was burnt half way through, my question now is: What do I do about the shiny aluminum head that now has the wrong threads fpr that single spark plug. I just screwed this new spark plug in the old hole, and it still runs fine. However there is a stall right when you give it gas from a stop, nothing more than a second or so, then kicks right to 2000 rpms and takes off - no problems at higher speeds etc. Could this be related to the bogus plug? Any help is appreciated Thanks in advance!