markjs

There is a distinct "clunk" and "thump" coming from under the front of my '84 FWD GL Wagon. The thumping noise has to be the spring as it's kind of a dull sound and does not sound like CV Joints at all. The "clunk" noise is sharper and sounds like it could be coming from the axles. I just changed the left CV axle, so it shouldn't be that. Both noises happen mostly when in reverse and or turning sharp at low speed and neither requires me to be accelerating or on the gas at all. There is also a "squeal" that just started happening. When I am turning when the car is not fully warmed up the left wheel squeals (not that loudly), it sounds like it could be the brakes but I changed them a couple of weeks ago and the sound started after I changed the CV axle. It goes away after about say 15-25 minutes of driving. Anyone have any clues?

I need a steering knuckle for an '84 GL Wagon 1800 Front Wheel Drive, and a decent conditon ball joint for same, but don't speand any real money yet as I just don't have 2 dimes to rub together right now, so it will be a while before I could pay for the parts, still I think she'll hold together ok for some time.

I finally got the nut off the bottom of the control arm!!! I had to get a puller which didn't actually fit but still worked to get the ball joint stud out, but now she's all back together and running!!! Now the one remaining trouble is that the boneyard is closed for vacation so I have to use the old ball joint which is now a permanent fixture of the steering knuckle because of the snapped bolt. Oh well even though the ball joint boot is cracked it isn't shot yet, and this will buy me some time to get a steering knuckle and ball joint from the boneyard when they are back from vacation. I should get several miles out of my badly booted ball joint anyway and don't have to worry now about my axle breaking (It is front wheel drive only so that was a concern). VICTORY AT LONG LAST!!!

I have been having a major crisis regarding my steering knuckle's ball joint retainer bolt that broke off and the bottom nut on the control arm is stipped and won't budge at all, so it seems the only way to get my steering knuckle out in order to change a defective drive axle is to remove the control arm from the top. So now I got the nut off off the end of the control arm pivot bolt but now the bolt seemingly has no way of coming out. When I turn it as if to loosen it it feels like it's bonded to the rubber bushing, and when I put the nut back on the end of it and pound on it it does not budge. People had given up on my other thread so it seemed I needed to start a new one.

Still totally ************ed!!! I can't even budge the control arm mounting bolt and the nut on the other side has started to strip. I NEED this car and it seems the only choice I have left is to drive it till the axle breaks while searching for anothe $300 pos.

The bolt that is gone is the steering knuckles bottom bolt that holds the ball joint on. There is NO WAY POSSIBLE to seperate the ball joint from the knuckle. The nut under the control arm is completely seized as well, so no taking it off at that point either. The only option I see left is to take the control arm off at it's origin pont and change the axle that way? (Is that even possible?) The problem now is I spent ALL of my money on drills and cobalt bits, and do now I can't afford the extrvagant prices the boneyards want for the parts so I absolytely HAVE to fix this with the parts that are already on it. If I don't get this fixed I lose not only my car but my job, livelihood and will to live....

No you don't understand at ALL, if you can't get the bolt out you can't get the knuckle off EVER! I am totally ************ed I know it, anyone want a free subaru parts car? I might consider it seriously because I think this is irreperable damage.

I was trying to change an axle in my '84 front wheel drive GL Wagon and the bolt on the bottom of the steering knuckle snapped! So I tried to easy out it and busted my easy out and then I tried drilling it out but the bolt is so hard that even a brand new cobalt bit can even begin to drill through that ***************. Worse I tried to drill from the other side and all I managed to do was slowly drift off the hardened bolt and bite into the softer metal of the knuckle. If there was any way to get the bolt out and knuckle off I could put a nut on the end of a smaller bolt to hold the knuckle on but when you get right down to it the steering knuckle is shot. So long story short I have two choices, try and take it to a professional and pay for the axle job and a new steering knuckle (I am destitute and cash poor like you would never believe but they might let us set up an account). Or I can keep trying to figure out how to get the bolt out, beacause it seems to me that that is the only way to get the knuckle off so you can get the axle in. I did try loosening that nut underneath the arm that the steering knuckle attatches to but I have nearly stripped that nut and looking at it I begin to think it's welded on? PLEASE GOD let SOMEBODY hvae an answer for me because it's my only car and my job depends on getting it fixed.

I have been told by a mechanic who specializes in Subaru (though I do not know for sure that even he is correct), that the ECU in pre '92 Subys is a nearly useless POS anyway. He claims that more than half of the error codes these old ECUs give are false, so you would do very well to get your car back and go to a boneyard and get and ECU (if you feel you must have it) and get a cheap Bosch O2 sensor and be done with this scam.

markjs11569@cablespeed.com

Bump! I really would like to know if anyone has any clue on this one?!?

Nobody?

The best fix I found for this same problem is to take a 7/16th tap (assuming the original was a 10mm diameter bolt) and tap out the stripped hole with it. Works perfect with no drill or pricey Heli-coil. I used a fine thread (7/16-14) and used a dual thread (fine and course on opposite ends) stud.

No mine is just plain inconsistant, sometimes on steep hills nothing, and sometimes on barely-hill-at-all-hills, perfect e-brake effect. What do I need to lube to make it not stick or is it that simple?

Well it didn't work quite that way. The left side tightened to where the wheel and adjuster screw locked tight simultaneously, and so I backed it off one half turn. The right however kept turning and turning and turning until finally the adjuster screw locked tight. Long before that point the wheel would be partially braked through half of its rotation and free through half. At the point the adjuster screw was tight the wheel was still only braked through half of a rotation. So I backed it off 1/2 turn (two detents) and left it at that. The brake holds tight when the pedal is depressed and the brakes feel ok (excepting the "brake feel issue" topic I started). So I guesss I am going to leave it at that unless someone knows specifically why the right side would act this way, and what I should do to fix it. P.S. I hate it, but for some reason things always seem to go this way for me on cars. The book and the experts say if you do, a., b., and c., you will find that such and such is as so, and when I follow procedure I find such and such is rarely rarely so. For example when I timed the ignition on my Chevy Citation (two cars ago), the spec was like 8 BTDC or somesuch and I found it ran like crap until I timed it to 20 BTDC. This is on a car with timing gears not a chain so slop is impossible. This same type of occurance happens to me all the time....I must be cursed.

Ok I just did the brakes on my '84 GL Wagon and the brakes feel pretty firm and have good stopping power, however when you press the pedal once it sinks about an inch or so more than if you pump once then press the pedal, also if pumped one time then pressed the pedal feels even more firm. Is this normal? I don't recall any other car being like this except my last car, a '75 Plymouth Duster, and it was exactly the same. I have attempted to bleed the brakes and I just get a steady steam of fluid with no bubbles.

I have an '84 GL wagon and I just did brake shoes and pads. I have the style with the square adjuster stud on the inboard side of the drum and I also wonder if they adjust automatically? The Haynes manual says next to nothing about the subject?!? In my experience Chilton is a worse manual so I don't even bother with them, but I notice the Haynes is vague in many areas. This has not been my experience with American cars. Anyway the brakes seem to work but the only adjustment I did was to back it off enough to get the drum back on the axle. PS the way the axle and wheel bearings are greased and exposed is LAME rump roast!!! I could not avoid getting a touch of grease on my shoes. I am glad most braking power is front brakes, and I hope the shoes are not wholly ineffective due to my sloppiness. It seems impossible to change the shoes cleanly without cleaning and regreasing though and I just didnt have the time patience or money.

My hill holder is irratic.....I did my best to adjust it but it works sometimes and to varying degrees. Is this normal? It's an 84 GL Wagon if that matters.

I got one thats split but the joint barely clicks at all (almost inperceptable and only when it's under extreme stress). Trouble is I drive 50-100 miles a night for my job and some of it is on dirt and gravel roads. I have mentioned this in another thread but it seemed appropriate to make a new one for this specific question. Basically my problem is that my payday is around the 7th of next month and I can't afford anything fix wise til then. I have a backup car for work but it's a last resort only proposition. It seems I could get a new boot, but then doing that is nearly as much trouble as just replacing the axle isn't it?

OK now I am confused.....I just rotated the tires and found that I may have been wrong, and found that the left outer CV boot is ripped. So maybe I am hearing the left side click....In any case the clicking is VERY minimal as yet but I suppose with the boot shot that's soon to change? I need to know if I should park the car til payday or continue putting 50-100 miles a day on it til payday (approximately the 5th) as long as the clicking does not become much worse?!?

Ok so the maintenance records on this $400 car are nonexistant, so no idea when or if it has ever been done. The car has nearly 140K miles on the clock. Anyway, I just noticed a slight clicking on slow (1st gear only) turns to the right or left, and only very sharp turns. The noise seems to be coming from the right side. Is the right side usually first to go? (I would assume so because right turns are often sharper). The boots look intact so far, but this worries me because temporarily I am helping a friend with a motorized paper route and I do 60-100 hard, stop and go miles every day. So what I need to know is, do I have some time, say a week or two til payday? How much time have I likely got under these grueling driving conditions? I intend to do both sides at the same time whether it absolutely needs it or not, because it seems logical to me to get it done rather than mess around individually, but really that will depend on the cost..... So that brings me to the next two questions; how much are both side CV joints likely to cost me, and on the 84 model, how hard of a job is it for the home mechanic? Mind you I do ok with most simple mechanical jobs I come up against and I have a decent set of tools and jacks and stands. I do have access to a mechanic that will do the job for me dirt cheap if it came to that, but I prefer to do this myself and learn. I briefly read in my Haynes manual that there may be some issue with a 'steering knuckle' (I think that's what it was called), that may need to be pressed on and off by a machine shop? Or maybe I am mistaken and that is only true on later models?!? In any case, how difficult is it? What special tools may be needed? Does it require the help of a machine shop? How much is the pair of CV joints likely to cost? And finally, if I do need to use a machine shop, how much is that likely to cost? Thanks in advance guys, you are an invaluable resource!

I got an 84 FWD GL Wagon 1800 OHV and I need to adjust the clutch properly. I see that in the book it calls for 10-20MM of free play in the cable. So does this mean 10-20MM before it starts to move the clutch lever, or does it mean 10-20MM of complete freeplay before the cable begins to get taut?

80% of the time it's fine with zero trouble but about 10% of the time after running it for long hours it will idle too slowly and roughly (as if it's not firing completely) and then other 10% of the time it diesels when you shut it off (usually indicative of too high idle at least on the old Mopars and Chevies I am used to). So what's the deal?

I recently had a problem with the exhaust studs stripping out the head and I had a pretty creative solution I think. Instead of a Heli-coil and drilling I simply took a 7/16-14 tap and tapped it out to 7/16ths and that was just the perfect amount over for the 10MM bolt hole to accomadate the tap. This saves me the drilling and the price of the Heli-coil kit which is quite substantial and now I can still have room to heli coil if it should ever happen again.

I am not saying that you will necessarily have problems using Fram, but I know compared to Wix they are inferior in quality. Why wouldn't you want the best when you buy an oil filter? For the little price difference buck up and buy your car the best filter you can buy!