1985GLWAGON

I know you can, the dealers used to put A/C into cars that didn't get to the lot with it. I assume you could put either the factory or the add-on styles into a non-A/C car, but it would be a real PIA! Especially inside the dash and stuff. You could consider an aftermarket a/c system like the ones they sell for old classic cars and stuff, but I think they are really pricey.

Where are the test connectors? I can't remember why but I don't think my model has those, think I looked before, isn't the connector just for ECU-equipped cars?

Anyone know how to get ALL the fuel out of these via syphon? I got 1/2 a tank out but the other 1/2 is still in there, and I need it! No matter what I cannot get my hose to get further down in the tank, it just won't go and is bunching up on something along the way. I tried taking off the fuel line at the carb and having the fuel pump do it for me, but I forgot that it won't pump without the engine turning over. And since it's a new pump I don't want to mess with it's wiring to make it run.

'85 Wagon-Flare Red

So white smoke at startup is normal? For how long? This is totally unrelated but my Chevy V8 always did that for about 5-10 minutes every time I started her, used to worry about it. It was completely odorless and I think it was steam, it would condense on my hand if I put it over the tail pipe.

Mine's 13lbs., plus Advance Auto lists 13 lbs as being correct.

If you splice it into the regular ignition circuit won't it draw to much power and blow the fuse or something?

you'd have to rig up a relay that only operated when the ignition is on if you want it done automatically, like everybody else said your best bet would be just to rig a switch so you can control it manually without all the complicated wiring.

Does the gauge rise if you just move the selector lever to HOT and don't turn on the fan? Maybe it's some fan related electical gremlin. Still the exact same situation I had with my van, the heater sometimes (not always) would make the gauge rise up when I turned it on full-blast. It should do the exact opposite. who knows! Oh, did you try the thermometer in the radiator thing? It would tell you one way or the other. If you can't get it to overheat at idle you could drive it around until it got hot then park and leave it running and CAREFULLY pull off the radiator cap with a thick towel, then put a thermometer in there, it should show you the temp when the gauge is showing hot.

Hey folks, did these subies come with those vacuum valves that turn off coolant flow to the core whenever it's not in use? Mine doesn't have one and the hoses are hot all the time regardless of where my heater control is. So what would make his gauge raise up if there is coolant flowing through the core all the time?

Hey Camel, my fan's like that too, never works, from other posts I've read I believe the thermo-switch that controls them likes to go out. Mine comes on for a second whenever I turn the key to On but then never comes on again, no matter how hot it is.

My Hayne's manual gives the following method to tune the A/F mix: start by getting the engine warm then turning it off, then turn the mix screw all the way in, then turn like 2 turns out, if it will start and run then turn the idle screw until it's at the right rpm's, then turn the mixture screw out until it reaches max. rpms, then readjust the idle screw back down to where it should be, do that a couple times and it's supposed to be set. Oh, and the last time you adjust the mix screw you're supposed to turn it in about 1/2 turn then readjust the idle screw the last time.

Yeah, if your gauge says you have oil pressure I'd say your sending unit is okay, I had a similar situation with my GL where the oil light never came on. I think we concluded that these cars only used one or the other (either gauge OR light) I'd bet your oil light is lit via some electrical anomaly, Camelwagon's light only came on if he turned his headlights on. I third the engine wash idea as well, get her as clean as you can then let her idle up to temperature and see if she'll show you the leak, if you can't see anything, you might have to drive it around for a while then check and see if there's any fresh oil on anything. Oh, and I'd say you need a new resistor pack for the blower motor as well. It's right next to the motor (pass. side foot well) and only has a couple screws holding it in, mine had an obvious crack in one coil, but if you can't see any check it with a ohmeter, if you get a resistance reading then that coil is okay. If any of them read as an open circuit then that's a broken one.

If the oil is pooled on the top of the engine next to the filler neck, could it just be that the gasket that seals the filler neck to the engine is leaking? I'm too lazy to go look but isn't the #1 spark plug just to the right of the filler neck? Maybe the plug well is filled up and that's were it's pooling at.

If they're clogged there are chemicals out there that are "supposed" to clean a lot of that gunk out, you just put it in then run it for so long, then flush the gunky water out and put in your regular 50/50 mix and see if it worked. I used it on my van but since the radiator turned out not to be clogged at all I can't say if it works or not. Hey guys isn't it supposed to be an easy job to take out the rad. in these subies? Just a couple bolts and it's out I think, I'd just be REALLY certain it is clogged before bothering to replace it, I spent $200 for a new one for the van and it didn't make the slightest difference.

I had the same condition on my '90 Ford van, I replaced everything but the water pump and the gauge still went up to hot. Looking back with what I know now I bet it was a bad wire or gauge. If you have a Haynes manual, there's a chart in there that shows what the Ohm resistance of the sensor should be at different temperatures. If you have a multimeter just check it and watch as it warms up and compare to the chart. If it's bad then that's all you need is a new one. If it's good then I'd bet it's a wiring or gauge problem. Another thing you can do is temporarily eliminate the heater core from the circuit, just remove both hoses and loop one so one end is on the outlet and the other end just loops back to the inlet side, then you can drive around and see if that makes a difference in the gauge reading. If it does you can leave it that way until you can change the core, I have had my chevy that way for years, just can't drive it in the winter.

Don't know if the F/I cars are like the carbed but you should have a vacuum line running to the EGR valve right? I tested my valve by just applying vacuum to it with a vacuum pump, if you don't have a pump you could just find a long enough vacuum line with full-vacuum at idle and put it to it, it should die if the egr opens at a cold idle.

Hey guys I know you're not supposed to drive on pavement, I'm not doubting that, and I never use 4x4 on anything but gravel or grass, but I thoroughly read my owner's manual and it actually doesn't say anything about where you can and can't put it in 4x4. I just think that's weird, most pickup's manuals that I've read give the "don't use it on dry pavement" speech, but the subaru manual just says you can engage/disengage 4x4 Hi at any speed but use the clutch to enter or leave low-range, nothing about road conditions. I just thought that it's odd there's no warning at all, you'd think that back when they sold these at the dealers some idiot owner would have put it in 4x4 right off the lot and never taken it out till the diff. blew up.

Ended up not having to sell her, just found out today that the state is taking my home and 1 1/2 acres here under eminent domain, and since I rent I'm sh*t out of luck. Was gonna sell her to buy heating propane, but no need now with no home to heat!

Actually it's a GL not a DL and it's mine! Hey, I'll give you some more details on her, I can only guess but I'd say anywhere from 20-30 mpg between city and highway. It has the usual problems for a subaru that age, the shifter has the slop that most of these do, and the choke doesn't work the greatest. It needs new horns too. But mechanically it's pretty sound. It doesn't use a whole lot of oil it's just a hair below full right now and I changed it about 3 months ago, but like the mpg I haven't driven her enough to really tell. If you do a search on here you can see all my posts about any problems I've had. No oil in the coolant either! Temp. gauge takes a while to get up to half-way then just sits there, the cooling fan doesn't seem to work very often but it has the A/C fan which seems to compensate just fine.If you have any other questions just ask.

Yep, carbed. The schematic shows the middle outlet on the thermovalve going to a "T" one leg of which goes right to the EGR valve. I'll have to play around with it and try applying vacuum to that hose and see if the egr'll open up or not. I guess I didn't know it was called the thermovalve, I'll have to dig out my haynes and see if the federal-spec diagram is the same.

Yeah, can anyone tell me what that thing is for? Is it anything to do with the EGR valve? My EGR doesn't work at any temp or throttle position so I've been trying to track down the problem, and I saw that that thermovalve looks like it's connected to the egr's vacuum line.

Yep, definitely the choke, mine does the exact same thing, I just hold the pedal down a little until it warms up and it idles fine. I hate chokes, i've never been able to adjust them right, even when I bought my Edelbrock carb brand new for my chevy it never seems to work right.

Hey, tried my flash card again, and it must have just needed to dry out or something. Here's a pic of what I was talking about: It's circled in red. You can see the plugged line I was talking about circled in green, is yours plugged too? Something else I noticed is that all those metal lines have little sections of rubber line connecting them all together in a big maze of tubes. The temp sensor on mine is just rear of the water outlet, it's bolted into the manifold, and has a single amber colored wire with a spade connector. It's just like the oil pressure sender's wire and should be wrapped up with it. Oh, and just a thought but since you're in WA, I assume that most of the junk yard cars there are federal-spec emissions, so a California-spec car might use that plugged port on the carb, I don't know for sure, but it'd explain why there was a hose on it.

Not the gauge sender but a thermosensor that opens up and allows vacuum to flow (or not flow) when the engine temp gets to a set point. Nevermind anyway, I searched and found your post that had that pic and it's not the thing I was thinking it was. Your's has wires, probably a feedback sensor for the computer or something.