spamanon
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Posts posted by spamanon
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Thanks! I will do that and report back. I appreciate your patience with me!
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46 minutes ago, subaru1988 said:
If you were running the car without draining the tank, you ran it on 5 year old gas. You'd think that after 5 months all the crud would be gone, but you have yet to verify a fuel filter, which means from the day you drove it first until now, all that crud that was in the tank had to go somewhere, and so far we can say it wasn't the fuel filter. I don't know if Subaru put a filter on the tank outlet/sending unit like old American cars have, but sometimes those can get full of gunk.
If it's like any other carb, which it might not be in every single aspect, do the side with the choke valve. Hold the choke and throttle open when you do it, obviously. Speaking of that, did you happen to see what that valve did when it was running ok? Was it open? That is the PRIMARY side of the carb.
The point here is if you're adding gas manually to the carb and you have decent spark and compression, it should do something because you're eliminating the tank, lines, fuel pump, fuel filter that should exist, and accelerator pump from the equation. I'd try it choke open and choke closed. Some cars are pretty choke sensitive.
So that butterfly valve in the picture I shared is called choke valve? I do not think this car has a manual choke, at least I have not ever seen one. I understand the point of the test, I just don't want to put gasoline down the wrong side of the carb. The two sides look totally different and so I am not sure what will happen with gasoline down the wrong side, if anything.
I made it simpler:Here is a picture looking down the carb throat. <Click To See Picture>
Do I put gas in the side with the red rectangle or the side with the blue oval? Thanks! -
Alright, just to make sure, which side am I supposed to put a thimble full of fuel in? The left side with the valve or the other side?
Here a picture. Left side or right side?
Thanks
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Ok, I can see I need to do a complete update and restatement of some of the facts of the case. I appreciate everyone's help so far!
No, the gasoline is not 5 years old. As I said, the car sat for 5 years and then, after that, the car ran for 5 months of almost daily use before the day it wouldn't start. Thus, the gasoline is no more than a week old.I do have tools (I mentioned my timing light) and I also have a compression check gauge and a 500 piece wrench/socket set. I was simply asking how it could be than the engine suddenly, overnight, lost compression enough that it won't start (or even catch!) when it had no symptoms such as loss of power and it ran nearly daily just fine for months before that. I also wonder about the need to check to coil when I visually verified a bright spark on each of the new plugs before seating them into the engine. If the coil were bad, wouldn't that mean no spark?
When I said that I tried to start it with the "gas filter cover" off, I meant the "air filter cover" was off, and thus it should be getting air (because of my job I tend to frequently refer to either gases like air, or liquids, not remembering that "gas" is also short for gasoline in some contexts). I will head out to check the compression next.
Again, I do appreciate the time people have taken to try to help me.
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43 minutes ago, Dee2 said:
Something's not right, so you have to keep verifying until something is found....
Once it's found then we can figure out why....
Right. At this point I am wondering if it is more worthwhile to just sell it, rather than spend months trying to get it going. The body is in decent shape, and as I said it only has ~60k original miles.
Is there much of a collectors market for these cars? I looked up the value but there is apparently a difference between the hatchback and the wagon. My car looks just like this one, same color and everything. Is this considered a wagon or a hatchback?
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54 minutes ago, Step-a-toe said:
I missed the post where you found the fuel filter....behind a cover?
Now it is no longer a no start thread, you say no longer dying at idle???
No, I never found any fuel filter. Why do you say it is no longer a no start thread? It hasn't started since this thread began. It hasn't even caught one little puff of starting.
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1 minute ago, Dee2 said:
There are four things needed to fire an engine
-fuel
-spark
-air
-compression
Do compression check. If there is still no fire then your timing is way off. Check to make sure the plug wires are in the right order. Check the timing belts to make sure they haven't slipped.
Ok, so I checked spark and that is good. I also tried to start it without the gas filter cover on, so I think it is getting air. The carb cleaner should have functioned as a fuel, according to others who replied, at least to catch a few times. This model has push rods, so there is no timing belt. Why would the compression suddenly be way off? I mean, it ran daily for 5 months with no problem and suddenly wouldn't start.
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O.k., update:
I changed the plugs and all of them are visually confirmed to spark. Still no start or even sputter when spraying the carb cleaner down the carburetor for a few seconds before trying.
Next steps?
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2 minutes ago, naru2 said:
That is baked on oil.
Change the plugs and check resistance of the plug wires.
It will run.
Ok so cleaning the plugs is not enough?
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14 minutes ago, naru2 said:
oil
Burning oil? Could it be running rich? I ask because, as I mentioned in the first post, this car sat idle for 5 years before I got it running again. Initially, it kept dying at idle and so I took it to the autoparts store to get a Haynes Manual for it and the dude behind the counter got to talking with me about the car and what it was doing. He suggested he could come out and turn up the idle for me, which seemed to work - it stopped dying at idle. I am now wondering if the dude actually adjusted the fuel air mixture and it took a while to impact the plugs from carbon buildup.
The screw he turned can be seen in the from side view of the carburetor video I posted earlier, at the lower left of the screen.
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7 minutes ago, naru2 said:
The plugs are complete garbage.Of course it will not run.
The filter is near the pump underneath.You did not look hard enough.
What would cause all that buildup?
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Ok, so update time.
- I checked, and there is a DL on the back of the car, so it is a DL
- I sprayed Valvoline carb and throttle cleaner in there and still not catching, at all - nothing but cranking.
- I took out 2 of the plugs and they look like this. Obviously there is some nasty stuff going on there.
- I checked to see if the plugs were sparking by setting them on the block, connected to the spark cable and turning the engine over. I saw no clear spark.
- I filmed the engine compartment and it looks like this. If you spot a fuel filter, please let me know.
I forgot to add that after I did the spark plug test, when I picked up the plug that was tested and still connected to the cable it shocked me. Not sure if this is relevant.
Thanks
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13 minutes ago, Step-a-toe said:
It does not need to spray fuel from pump circuit in order to start but this will be a problem to drive safely, normally
Leaking is a problem, but usually not starting issue. If you can get it started it may not leak or flood.
That porthole meant to be viewed level.
Looked under dizzy cap for points. At points?
Points seem to be fine. No gunk or debris. Things look kinda shiny.
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Ok, I looked under the car and traced the fuel lines - still no fuel filter. I am guessing this car has none at this point.
I found the view port on the carb. The car is on a slope away from the window but if I rock the vehicle my wife says she sees fluid sloshing in there.
Here is a video looking down the carb while the wife pumps the accelerator. Nothing seems to happen. I.e., I see no fuel squirting anywhere.
Here is a video of the side view of the carb. I see fuel leaking out. A clue to why it won't start??
Thanks!
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3 hours ago, moosens said:
Is this a DL , with the elder external voltage regulator ?
I know some of the early 80’s still carried the old style forward but as I know it typically the low end of the product line.
If that’s the case I would investigate the alternator and voltage regulator which power the pump.
By saying yours doesn’t have the fuel filter where shown in the picture , that may indicate this is a DL or STD (fleet type).I think it is a DL, but I am not sure. It is front wheel drive and a hatchback. The stamp on the engine indicates it is EA81.
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Where is the carb site glass?
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2 minutes ago, subaru1988 said:
O.k., will do. Hopefully there is one back there!
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Perhaps this model does not have a fuel filter, since it looks nothing like the one posted by lonstorm66?
Can anyone else suggest what to try next? I'd like to get this thing running again.
Thanks!
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Thanks, lonstorm66, but as I mentioned I am not sure where the fuel filter even is. Did you look at the images I took?
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So I have an EA81 engine that won't start suddenly. It barely has 60k original miles. It has been used daily for the last 5 months with no problem but before that it sat for 5 years.
I have checked:- Spark cables are sending their signal as verified by timing light.
- Battery is good
- Starter is cranking
- No catching at all - no sputtering - nothing but cranking over
So I am thinking maybe the fuel filter is clogged? Problem is that I do not know what it looks like in this vehicle. I took some photos.
Does one of these photos show the fuel filter?
Any other suggestions as to what to try?
Thanks
1981 Subaru FWD won't start.
in Old Gen.: 80's GL/DL/XT/Loyales...
Posted · Edited by spamanon
Update:
Pouring a spoonful of gas got it started, and it stayed started. I noticed that it is pushing out quite a bit of black smoke. The front bumper on the car parked behind the Subaru turned black with soot. This makes me think I was right about that guy adjusting the wrong screw. And this would explain why the plugs were so overcarbonated. Now to figure out how to undo what he did. (And keep looking for the fuel filter.)
<Luckily, I found this in the trunk so that may help Click to See Image>
The car was my wife's grandmother's - she bought it new off the lot in ~1982 - and apparently she bought that book somewhere along the way.
Thanks again to everyone.