Subaru_dude

BACK FROM THE DEAD. Does anybody know if it's okay to drive without this box? I removed mine and started the car and for the first time in months it actually idles smooth. Is this part not needed at all? EDIT: Tried to drive it, and it died as soon as I got out of the driveway so I'm assuming it DOES control the fuel pump. How do I replace the relay? Is there any way to test it?

Couldn't you just put a mark on the front and rear tire and see if they turn at the same speed? Seems alot easier and you get the same result.

Alright after changing both fuel filters, the fuel pump, the ignition coil and testing the ignition module, I can't figure out what's wrong. Sometimes it idles and runs good, then all of a sudden it's like it's running on 2 cylinders UNTIL you start driving it, then it feels like it's running on all 4 but there's some surging under acceleration. I used Loyale2.7's technique to test the ignition module. Got spark. I'm supposed to be having an ignition module headed this way but the eBay seller ran into some trouble or something. Should have had it on the 18th. Could the little blue box under my dash have anything to do with it? Is the fuel pressure controlled by the stupid little comp under the dash in some way? I wanna say the comp has nothing to do with it because it's not even plugged in. As of now I'm broke so no fuel pressure test for a while.

You might be able to, but you can definitely see it by getting under the car. Actually, I believe I zip-tied a piece of wood in place of the rubber and that worked just fine.

I've had many an EA82 that did this. There's a bushing for the shifter linkage that wears out and allows it to sag down onto the driveshaft.

^Do you really have to quote the whole damn link? I also think that paintjob would look fantastic on a first gen Outback.

The CVT seems to be much less capable of taking abuse aka putting a whole lot of power to the ground. But my outlook on technology is that in order to change gears, you gotta upshift which will naturally drop RPMs a bit. Once CVT technology gets moving along, it should outperform its traditional automatic counterpart in every way. Patience young padawan.

Heck yeah Loyale2.7!!!!!!! That's perfect and super straight forward. I will test it as soon as the weather clears, got some storms coming in tonight, should be gone by tomorrow.

All I have is a voltmeter and test light to test with. Had my sis crank the car while I held the test light to the positive on the coil and the light didn't do anything, but holding it the other way around (light end against negative) I had a pulse. I also had a pulse on the 2 wires on the left of the ignition module (yellow and green?). With the key just turned on I have power to everything but the white wire on the ignition module... don't know if that tells you guys anything or not. I don't have a clue what it means....

You will definitely need a donor car that is 4wd to get all the bits like rear sub-frame, rear diff, rear axles, rear brakes etc etc... and I have no idea if a later model trans like a 5spd d/r would fit in the tranny tunnel. May have to stick with the s/r that came with those cars.

It's your thread, take it everywhere you want. EVEN IN THE SNOW, LIKE A 4WD SUBARU. Post #8 is a piece of art btw. And for an EA82, one must drill holes in the floor because the bolts that come up through the floor won't have any weld nuts in the body to thread into like a 4wd version would. And also if it's a 2 piece driveshaft, you'll have to come up with a mount for the center u-joint. I just drilled a couple holes and used a couple brackets from Lowe's with a couple bolts and some washers.

I converted a 2wd gl sedan to 4wd. Well worth it because it was a d/r, but unless you plan on going out in mud or in the snow 4wd isn't necessary anyway. It's something you'll be proud of after you're done though, especially when you do use the 4wd.

So after some reading I'm pretty sure I need to test some things first with my test light and meter. It does seem to be ignition module though, but won't know until after testing. If I buy an ignition module do I need to buy just the horse-shoe shaped part or the whole thing? They're alot more expensive than I thought. Thanks for the help guys, this thing is finally coming right along. Edit: Oh lordy ignition modules are pricey... I see that there's a coupe different parts to it. Would I be better off just getting a new disty? Think I found one for $300 from Napa.

Alright switched the plugs and wires, now it's running fine EXCEPT... I know this is redundant to ask but I'd like to ask anyway. Once it's warmed up, it runs great and idles nice and smooth. However, after driving a while I start to feel surging and it acts like the choke is cutting in and out... dies at idle but sometimes rpms come back up etc.. I don't have the choke hooked up so my question is, could this be fuel pressure related? I'm not going to bother renting a tester kit, if you guys think it may be fuel pressure related I'll just buy an in-line fuel pressure gauge and stick it between the fuel filter and the carb. Edit: This is the fuel pump that has the little black box on the outside of it, and I know that sometimes when I crank it if I don't hold the key just right the pump doesn't kick on until you stop cranking. So it'll crank crank crank... then you stop cranking and it fires up. Could this be a sign of something with the fuel delivery getting old?

At one time I was deadlifting 465, and that summer I also pulled an EJ22 out of a junkyard car with help. When I got back to my house, I moved it out of the back of the EA82 turbo wagon I was driving at the time and walked maybe 30ft to a tire to sit it in. It's hard to judge weight because when deadlifting you're keeping the weight close to you, but when lifting something like an engine it's impossible to compare. The only problem is, it's just very awkward. I would say it was nearly as "difficult" as lifting my max deadlift weight, just becasue there's no real places to hold onto it. 262 sounds about right.

I road tripped from E. TN, to Missouri Valley, Iowa, then down to Golden, CO. Stayed a couple days, same route back. This was an '87 Subaru GL wagon, d/r 5spd with a not so well tuned Hitachi, and it was low on power and didn't get over 25mpg. My main complaint is the seats. I didn't regain feeling in my right a$$ cheek for a week, and still to this DAY there's times my butt cheek goes numb for several hours. That trip was over 7 years ago so those seats literally did permanent damage to my butt cheek. So either bring a pillow to stick under your thighs or get some better seats.

Yep, that's it!!! One "arm" goes to the fuel filter, the other I have plugged, and the bottom of the "y" goes to the tank I think. I'll have to get a fresh look at it when I get over there... but either way the car is running and played around with the tuning yesterday. I've gotta get a spark plug and wire, one of the wires was arcing straight to the exterior of the plug. I forget what the phenomenon is called (if it even has a name). I thought the stumble was it STILL running lean but after tuning it and driving it, I knew right then and there I was getting plenty of fuel. So I just stood there and listened to it run, and followed the sound to the #3 cylinder and sure enough that's what was causing the miss. With the hitachi it was running brutally lean, almost certainly because of the ultra grey used for intake gaskets causing a giant vacuum leak. I'm sure it wasn't quite in time either. Hopefully this is all straightened out... the only thing it needs is a working choke. This one is wore plumb out!!!

Are we sure this isn't a 4EAT? I had an '88 turbo GL and it was the 4EAT (wikipedia doesn't even recognize it was ever used in any ea car except the XT). I could get 24 mixed with 27 being my high on the hwy, so I'd say you may want to check for a dragging brake caliber and do all the basic tune up stuff like plugs, wires, disty cap, rotor, air filter. And BE SURE that thing never overheats. New water pump, new SUBARU ONLY thermostat, upper and lower radiator hose, heater hoses, and any other coolant hoses you can find. REPLACE THEM!!!!

I'm thinking of a different t-fitting I think... there's a fuel line coming into the filter from the pump and one right next it coming out of the filter straight to the carb. The line the fitting is on comes straight out of the top of the filter. About 8" long, goes to more of a Y than a T fitting.

Yeah I noticed that T back near the fuel filter. Line comes out of the top of the filter down to a T thingy. I blocked one line but like you said, I think it would be much better to just have the one line running back to the tank. I'm gonna give it my best shot at tuning. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard, just have to get it idling and mess with the mixture and maybe get some jets to mess around with...

Thanks a bunch. I had no idea which one was the advance port. It's currently connected to the passenger side port.

Oh yeah, when my dad bought a well used 1993 Toyota camry years ago and changed the oil for the first time, he drained the trans fluid and added 4 quarts on top of what was already in the car. So he drained the "oil" again and checked, still too full. So he just drove it that way. Ended up blowing all the oil seals out and having the transmission rebuilt.

It was painful reading some of those replies guys. Google is your friend... He should not be turned away from working on the car. You now know more than most people on the planet on how to change the fluid in the trans AND he now knows where to look for the oil drain plug. Once he gets his head wrapped around how that boxer motor sits in the car it'll be a breeze. Glad you got this cleared up.

That's much better!!! However I still need to keep the mixture quite rich to run the way it SOUNDS like it should... next on the list is fuel pressure check. Thanks for the timing tutorial, it was very helpful.

Less resistance means MORE electricity flowing... thus frying things.