scoobydube

That alternator likely has all kinds of internal corrosion and it does not take much to affect voltage output. Get a new one.

Single defective items that can by themselves keep the engine from starting and has put thousands of Subarus in junk yards: 1. the black fusible link is the main engine but any of them can start to break or get hard and brittle, causing intermittent and then total failure. 2. the thing a ma jig that bolts to the body, directly behind the fusible link box, that had one wire to the coil and the long black wire running to left side engine attachment next to the battery, where the ground wire attaches. The thing a ma jig also keeps static off of your radio and right before it blows, you get a lot of radio static. 3. the main engine ground wire get brittle and loses most of it's ability to conduct electricity and ground out the engine, at it's attachment to the frame. This single defect will cause the engine to run poorly when you operate any other accessory on the vehicle. For instance, you can almost kill the engine by operating your electric windows, if you have them. THIS IS THE MOST PROBABLE CAUSE OF YOUR PROGRESSIVE FAILURE. These wires may not last more that 250,000 miles. 4. a loose wire inside of the distributor cap 5. the short wire between the Positive battery terminal and the fusible link box, gets hard at the terminal end, brittle and loses most if not all of it's ability to conduct electricity, causing poor performance before a total engine failure. You splice in a new lead to the battery terminal, by splaying both ends of the two wire ends that you are joining, in order to get the maximum about of contact surface. 6. the distributor electronics just suddenly went out. 7. the hot wire that runs into the back of the alternator, gets brittle, hard and breaks, causing the engine to perform poorly before it suddenly fails. 8. bad plugs will cause your alternator to fail prematurely. Some plugs require replacement every 15,000 miles. 9. coil failure or corrosion inside of the lead wire from the coil to the distributor. 10. Bonus: a failure of the replaceable round switch below the dash board, to the left of the steering column, will cause the interior fan to suddenly fail, especially if you had just been running it at it's maximum speed. There are about 5 of these identical switches below that dash in the same location so you are going to have to get a known good switch and plug it into each switch socket, one at a time, before you find the burned out one. There may be black discoloration on the burned out one.

Single defective items that can by themselves keep the engine from starting and has put thousands of Subarus in junk yards: 1. the black fusible link is the main engine but any of them can start to break or get hard and brittle, causing intermittent and then total failure. 2. the thing a ma jig that bolts to the body, directly behind the fusible link box, that had one wire to the coil and the long black wire running to left side engine attachment next to the battery, where the ground wire attaches. The thing a ma jig also keeps static off of your radio and right before it blows, you get a lot of radio static. 3. the main engine ground wire get brittle and loses most of it's ability to conduct electricity and ground out the engine, at it's attachment to the frame. This single defect will cause the engine to run poorly when you operate any other accessory on the vehicle. For instance, you can almost kill the engine by operating your electric windows, if you have them. These wires may not last more that 250,000 miles. 4. a loose wire inside of the distributor cap 5. the short wire between the Positive battery terminal and the fusible link box, gets hard at the terminal end, brittle and loses most if not all of it's ability to conduct electricity, causing poor performance before a total engine failure. You splice in a new lead to the battery terminal, by splaying both ends of the two wire ends that you are joining, in order to get the maximum about of contact surface. 6. the distributor electronics just suddenly went out. 7. the hot wire that runs into the back of the alternator, gets brittle, hard and breaks, causing the engine to perform poorly before it suddenly fails. 8. bad plugs will cause your alternator to fail prematurely. Some plugs require replacement every 15,000 miles. 9. coil failure or corrosion inside of the lead wire from the coil to the distributor. 10. Bonus: a failure of the replaceable round switch below the dash board, to the left of the steering column, will cause the interior fan to suddenly fail, especially if you had just been running it at it's maximum speed. There are about 5 of these identical switches below that dash in the same location so you are going to have to get a known good switch and plug it into each switch socket, one at a time, before you find the burned out one. There may be black discoloration on the burned out one.

Actually not. They come with a strong tint and that tint is useless for the prevention of the slideable cover from heating up and radiating that heat down on top of your head.

Single defective items that can by themselves keep the engine from starting and has put thousands of Subarus in junk yards: 1. the black fusible link is the main engine but any of them can start to break or get hard and brittle, causing intermittent and then total failure. 2. the thing a ma jig that bolts to the body, directly behind the fusible link box, that had one wire to the coil and the long black wire running to left side engine attachment next to the battery, where the ground wire attaches. The thing a ma jig also keeps static off of your radio and right before it blows, you get a lot of radio static. 3. the main engine ground wire get brittle and loses most of it's ability to conduct electricity and ground out the engine, at it's attachment to the frame. This single defect will cause the engine to run poorly when you operate any other accessory on the vehicle. For instance, you can almost kill the engine by operating your electric windows, if you have them. THIS IS THE MOST PROBABLE CAUSE OF YOUR PROGRESSIVE FAILURE. These wires may not last more that 250,000 miles. 4. a loose wire inside of the distributor cap 5. the short wire between the Positive battery terminal and the fusible link box, gets hard at the terminal end, brittle and loses most if not all of it's ability to conduct electricity, causing poor performance before a total engine failure. You splice in a new lead to the battery terminal, by splaying both ends of the two wire ends that you are joining, in order to get the maximum about of contact surface. 6. the distributor electronics just suddenly went out. 7. the hot wire that runs into the back of the alternator, gets brittle, hard and breaks, causing the engine to perform poorly before it suddenly fails. 8. bad plugs will cause your alternator to fail prematurely. Some plugs require replacement every 15,000 miles. 9. coil failure or corrosion inside of the lead wire from the coil to the distributor. 10. Bonus: a failure of the replaceable round switch below the dash board, to the left of the steering column, will cause the interior fan to suddenly fail, especially if you had just been running it at it's maximum speed. There are about 5 of these identical switches below that dash in the same location so you are going to have to get a known good switch and plug it into each switch socket, one at a time, before you find the burned out one. There may be black discoloration on the burned out one.

You need to have a backup distributor because they "go" without warning, and then you are going to need a tow back home, because the Subaru dealer won't be open or won't fix it for a reasonable price.

Les Schwab carries winter and summer 13" tires.

If you have a GL10 or some other model with a sunroof, I found that the sliding cover is painted black on top that absorbs a lot of heat from the sun and then radiates it into the cabin. And the bottom of the cover is the hottest part of the ceiling on a sunny day. So the solution to that is to apply aluminum faced tape to the top side and you will be amazed in the results. Then the bottom of the cover is the coolest part of the cabin ceiling and on hot days you don't get that heat buildup radiating down on top of your head. Which is particularly annoying when it is over 100 degrees and your A/C does not work.

Try John's Subaru in Laurelwood, Oregon

My guess is the $20 Exhaust Gas Temperature sensor that screws into the catalytic converter. Your welcome in advance.

John's Subaru in Laurelwood Oregon has parts that you cannot buy anywhere.

It probably needs rebuilding at this age. Which is a new circular seal ring, a new boot and they through in a metal ring to seat the boot inside of the caliper.

A bad exhaust gas temperature sensor will cause all of your bad engine problems, which you do not appear to have changed. About $20. It screws into the side of your catalytic converter coming out of your turbo.

3 idlers plus 2 belts in a kit are available on EBAY for the best price that I could find.

I believe that the engine runs off the battery during ignition and switches to the alternator once the key returns to the run position. So you might check the alternator wiring for it being in place, and then the alternator. There are also three wires that go bad in the same area. The ground wire gets hard and goes bad where it is bolted into the chassis, just in front of the battery, causing the engine to run rough with headlights on or working any other accessory. The wire that comes off of the bottom of the hot battery terminal wire and goes to the fusible link box, gets hard and loses it's ability to conduct electricity. The wire that is bolted into the back of the alternator also gets hard and loses it's ability to conduct electricity, causing the engine to kill.

As I recall, once you remove the boot to uncover the ball bearing assembly, there is a circular wire clip that wraps around everything, that you pop out in order to disassemble it enough for the ball bearings to fall out onto your work table.

I have had this happen a number of times on my 1986 GL10. There are about 5 silver 1" diameter x 1 1/2 long gismos that I believe are switches, under the dash board and just left of the steering wheel column. They plug in and pull out. If you take a look at each one by unplugging it, you may find one that overheated and is slightly dis-colored. That's the one that is fried. You can swap it out with another one that is working but obviously, you will want to get a good one so that everything is working. They last a long time, so used ones are Okay to plug in.

And the inner joint pin only come out one direction, and then only goes back in in the opposite direction. A taper around the hole is at the exit and entrance end.

I put the nut back on and this put a 2x4 flat over the nut and hit the 2x4 with a heavy hammer. Obviously, the inner connection to the transmission, should already have been disconnected.

If the genuine subaru mechanic did not smear brake fluid on the rubber cv boots, then how else are those boots going to both crack and require replacement at the exact same time. As I recall, they did it too my vehicle twice.

Look for rust in the frame around the bottom of the windshield, once you remove it. You may need body work.

I bought refurbished front CV axles from both O'Reillys and Autozone. Put them both on at the same time. The Autozone axles went out in 30,000 miles. The O'Reillys axles are still going strong. Apparently Autozone uses chinese axles, according to O'Reillys. If you wait until they start making noise, it is too late to just add grease. Auto mechanics will smear brake fluid on the rubber so that they crack in 30 days, simultaneously. So then it's back to the auto mechanic again. Funny how that works. Tip: stuff as much axle grease into the wheel bearing area as you can because it helps with the longevity of the wheel bearings. Pressure wash the inside of your brake area so that you don't get dirt into the wheel bearings when you go to reinstall the cv axle.

Do you clean them with brake fluid or acid? I have never had any grommets crack. They will get hard and not seal at maybe 40,000 miles. To make them seal better, I use high temperature gasket maker. Same with the rubber cover seals to make them seal better. It is especially important to keep them from dripping oil onto the exhaust pipe or the left side exhaust gas tube. I use the grommets that I buy with full gasket sets on EBAY and they seem to work fine.

The subaru dealer used to recommend changing the water pump at 15,000 miles. No doubt because they were failing in 20,000 miles when the grime is not kept out of the water pump bearings by plugging the top hole, but not the bottom hole. I had total bearing failure at 25,000 miles with no top plug. Just changed one at 40,000 miles with a top plug and no bottom plug and the seals were getting a little sticky, so it may have made it to 45,000 miles with a top plug. Leaving the bottom hole open, lets you know about when the seals are shot.

The water pumps will not likely last longer than 25,000 miles if you do not plug up the upper weep hole with gasket maker, or 40,000 miles if you do plug up the hole. In my experience. And when they go out, the fan wobbles so badly that it will cut into the radiator, requiring a new one. A trick to setting the timing belt over the camshaft gear, is to temporarily set the tension adjuster wheels so that the spring is fully extended. Then you can install the camshaft gear without having to deal with the timing belt. And then the timing belt slips on easily over the gear, afterward. Otherwise, you will be fighting the timing belt while trying to line up on the pin that puts the gear in the correct position. For back cover clearance, trying taking them off, laying them flat, put some weight on the high points that have warped outward, and apply heat from a heat gun until the warp is taken out of the back cover. For attaching the front cover, use plastic washers beneath the bolt heads in order to keep those bolt threads from seizing inside of the back cover threaded inserts. 1986 GL10 Wagon 480,000 miles original owner