dave833

Charity auctions (Volunteers of America, Kidney Foundation, etc.) are great places to find cheap subies where I live. I got my '90 Loyale EA82T wagon for $100 (+$50 buyer's fee) because the yard guys couldn't get it to start. I threw a battery in it and a used starter and it ran (and still runs) great. Later, I got a running but rusty '87 GL-10 4WD turbo wagon at the same auction for $150. It seems there are always at least 3-4 older Subarus at these auctions which are usually announced in the Classifieds section of the local paper. I bought another '87 GL10 turbo wagon at the local Subaru dealer for $200 after the salesman hooked up the jumper box wrong and fried the fusible links!

It's the '87, EA82T, about 125k on the odo. No sign of oil in the coolant or vice-versa so I'm guessing it wasn't the head gasket.

If the intake valve's stuck open, is there any way to unstick it?

The right front is zero lbs- didn't even move the needle! The adjacent one (right rear) is 105-110 lbs. I haven't tested the left ones yet.

Can a broken/jumped timing belt cause NO compression in just one cylinder? The adjacent cylinder has good compression and the engine still runs (but very poorly!)

I started up my '87 GL10 turbo today after it sat for about three days and it ran VERY rough with a bad miss. After checking the usual easy stuff (plugs, wires,etc) I determined that the right FRONT cylinder was not firing. A compression test indicated ZERO compression in that cylinder. The gauge needle didn't even move! The right REAR cylinder reads about 105-110 PSI, and I didn't check the left side cylinders. Three days ago when I last started it, it seemed to run fine, but maybe with more visible exhaust than usual (white smoke?) It was a cold day below freezing so I didn't pay too much attention. So I'm guessing it's probably a blow head gasket, but could it be a timing belt or something else causing no compression in the one cylinder? Thanks, Dave

I just pulled the tranny regulator off my '87 GL10 3AT to find that the gear at the end of the shaft is "apple cored" beyond recognition. (It got too dark to check the internal gear so I don't know if it's similarly worn yet or not.) I noticed that the shaft gear is removable-- does anyone know if Subaru still carries this part? Does anyone have a good one they want to sell? It's the metal one, not the plastic.

I was removing the turbo from an '87 GL10 wagon yesterday and noticed some brownish white fiber insulating material inside the exhaust shield behind the turbo (where the O2 sensor goes in) Does anyone know if this is asbestos, or contains asbestos? I want to minimize my exposure if it is.

I got the car running today- turns out the gound wire from the ECU was drawing a few volts of current from somewhere. Sort of a reverse short. I bypassed it and grounded the pump directly to the battery. Car starts right up now. ECU was/is fine. I was getting ready to drive it home when I found the radiator empty and the radiator drain plug missing! Held up another day for lack of a 10 cent plug. (Acutally about ten dollars from the dealer-- ridiculous!)

I just paid the princely sum of $200 for an '87 GL10 3AT Turbo Wagon from the local Subaru dealer. It's got about 125K miles, all the bells and whistles, and has very little rust, especially for a Utah Sube. They had it advertised in the Auto Trader for 2 months for about $700 with no takers so I went over the other day to check it out. The battery was dead so the salesman put on a jumper box but got the connections backward. Presto! Fusible links fried! (It wasn't really his fault- someone had installed new terminals on the battery cables with the colors reversed.) Based on the fried condition of the links and the promise that it DID run before, I offered $200 for it which was accepted. (It's the most I've paid for any of my 4 Subarus!) Anyway, I went back today to see if I could get it started. I replaced the fusible links and jumped it correctly- it turned over but no start. I pulled a spark plug, which looked new and clean and gave a spark when I turned over the car with it connected to its wire and out of its socket. I checked the fuel pump-- it does NOT come on when the key is turned. The relay clicks, but no fuel pump noise. I connected the fuel pump directly to the battery and it comes on, but the car STILL won't start even with the fuel pump hot wired. (Yes, I added two gallons of gas to the tank.) Actually, it did sputter a little and almost started after I ran the pump on battery briefly, but with the pump continuously ON it never even came close to starting. It also almost started after I sprayed a little starter fluid into the intake, so I suspect a fuel delivery problem, but why the fuel pump isn't coming on is a mystery! Any suggestions? The ECU is not giving any trouble codes that I can see. Is it possible the ECU was damaged when the salesman fried the fusible links? I really don't want to have to tow this car home-- another dead car on the property will not make my family happy! If I can drive it home I have a better chance of keeping it-

I've always been told to avoid cars with turbocharged engines because they supposedly wear out faster and require more maintenance. Is this true? What are some things I can do to keep my EA82T Loyale with 131K running smooth and strong?

MY '84 GL overheated (or nearly did so) a couple of times last July or August-- I finally realized I'd been driving around with all my lights on in the middle of the day (thanks to Subaru's better idea). The car ran much cooler with the lights OFF for some reason. At night it wasn't a problem since the outside temp was much cooler. Still, I love the fact that the lights go off when the key's off. I don't know why more automakers do it!

Apparently my EA82T Loyale AWD wagon is sorta rare- I didn't know that when I bought it. Unfortunately(?), it's got the 4EAT auto tranny instead of a 5 speed, but I don't really mind driving it that way for the time being. It's probably even more rare with the 4EAT than it would be with a manual tranny anyway. I'll have to say it's the funnest $150 car I've ever had. I do have a FSM for '85 EA82 which seems to cover most of what I need. Fortunately, I've found this board which should help cover any other problems.

This is all good to know! I got the '84 EA81 last July with about 141K on the odometer- paid $210 for it. (It's a GL 2D Coupe) Nice to know the timing will last forever even as the body rots away thanks to salted Utah roads. I bought my '90 Loyale Turbo AWD EA82 with 129k at a charity auction for $150. Guess I'll have to decide now whether I want to put a timing belt in it.

Another post mentioned in passing that EA81 engines don't have timing belts. Is this true?? Can somebody confirm this?? I've had a number of 80-84 Subes with EA81 engines and while I've never changed a timing belt on one (or paid anyone else to), I always thought I was driving on borrowed time until one broke on me! Do they have timing gears instead? What's the deal?

No, it wasn't a race, just a badly-timed left turn out of a driveway across a busy street about 1/2 block away from a traffic light just turning green where I ASSUMED the cars were all far enough away that I could make it across. WRONG!-- After I had cleared myself to the left and started my turn, I directed my attention to traffic coming to my right and was sideswiped by a guy in a 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio that came from my left and tried to pass me in the median. I think the 911's 0-60 time of 5.1 seconds had something to do with him getting to me WAY before anyone else coming away from the light did. I could have made it had he been driving a Buick or something. No matter! I was ticketed for failure to yield and the driver of the Porsche got away scot-free despite the fact that he was not carrying his driver's license, current registration, OR a current insurance card. The good news is that I drove my battered Sube 15 miles home with NO problems. Damage was limited to a few broken lights, a scraped fender, and a badly twisted front bumper. The Porsche had to be towed away because one of his $500 225/40ZR18 run-flat tires was, um, flat.

I've got a '90 Loyale with the 4EAT electronic transmission. Can anyone tell me where the transmission computer/ECU is located? Thanks!

I've got a '90 Loyale with the 4EAT electronic transmission. Can anyone tell me where the transmission computer/ECU is located? Thanks!

I have a 1990 Loyale AWD turbo with the 4EAT auto tranny that doesn't shift into 4th gear in "D" on the freeway except on rare occasions when it will hunt between 3rd and 4th gear without warning. Car is at constant speed and I'm not stomping the gas pedal to get a downshift. Any suggestions? Would too much or too little trans fluid have an effect?

Okay guys, here's another one for ya- I just realized my '90 Loyale AWD 4 speed auto trans has not been shifting into 4th gear on the freeway. (I haven't had it very long.) When in 'D' it tops out in 3rd gear-- okay, well not entirely true. Sometimes when it's cooler in the evenings it will hunt between 3rd and 4th gear with no change in vehicle speed or gas pedal position on level road, but it usually ends up in 3rd gear running about 3800 RPMs at 65-70 MPH. I'll get by driving it like this if fixing means pulling the tranny, but if there's an easy fix I'd prefer to have it working the way it's supposed to. If we were talking about Acuras, I'd suspect the 3-4 shift solenoid, which is easily removable from the outside of the tranny. Is there a similar component on a Suby auto 4 speed trans?

I have an '87 GL-10 wagon with intermittent wipers that don't work at all. I removed the combination switch and cleaned all the wiper switch contacts, and I've run battery current directly to the wiper motor and it works. The fuse is also good. Is there a wiper relay/delay unit I should check? Where is it located? On the same car, the right headlight is much dimmer than the left. I've tried replacing the bulb and it doesn't make any difference in brightness. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I have a 1990 Loyale turbo 4wd wagon which fails to start about once every 10-15 times because the fuel pump doesn't come on at all when I turn the key. Turning the ignition off/on a few times (or more!) usually results in the fuel pump coming to life and the car starts. Any suggestions? I thought it might be a fuel pump relay, but I don't know where to find it or what it looks for. Thanks!