SuspiciousPizza

I've been having a related issue with my intake manifold ('89 GL SPFI) I've been cleaning up. I had some seized bolts (not intake manifold mounting bolts, rather bolts that threaded into the manifold to mount misc accessories) so I soaked the manifold in evaporust. I got the bolts removed, but my heater hose pipe (p/n 14070AA011) is stuck and I cannot remove it. I worry that the evaporust may have partially penetrated the sealant. As such I'd like to remove the heater hose pipe and reapply sealant to prevent the risk of a coolant leak. Does anyone have any tips or tricks? I thought of bending an induction heater coil around the heater hose pipe near where it meets the intake manifold and use that to heat the sealant and soften it. I'd imagine a blow torch would work too, but an induction heater should produce more localized heat. Thanks :] P.S. I'm talking about the metal pipe that sockets into the bottom of the intake manifold. The larger diameter pipe, not the smaller one.

I got my transmissions (plural) back today. After talking to the tech they decided that they'd only do a partial reseal. They didn't want to split the case fully since they couldn't get a reliable new parts source. Only major seal that wasn't replaced was the front main seal since that requires splitting the main case. Sounds like if that job comes to a head, I'm on my own. It shouldn't be that bad, I have a FSM and a practice transmission. The spare transmission was used for some NLA seals. 33194AA001 was one. Once I get the car up and running I'll have the time to check out the spare transmission. I expect carnage. Sorry no photos. There will be photos and detailed notes on the spare transmission though. :]

Fusible links are available. You can even buy them on Amazon. Just google "Subaru Loyale fusible link" and you'll get a whole bunch of listings. Have you put voltage to the fuel pump itself? Just to test the pump? You mentioned bypassing the rev sensor and the pump didn't do anything, so is it just the pump that's dead? :]

This is the connector you're looking for, there'll be a male connector of the same color. I just don't have a photo showing them connected. If you get tired of twisting yourself under the steering column looking for wires, remove the driver seat. It's 4 bolts, one on each corner of the seat and it frees up a lot of space to move around. :]

The test connector is the 4-pin green plug (mine has a yellow, black, red, and white/yellow wires). Not sure about the brown plug, but it doesn't have to do with pulling codes. I'd turn the key off when connecting or disconnecting any connectors. But I have accidentally driven with my test connector connected so it *shouldn't* send sparks flying or making any magic smoke. :]

As Benny said, there should be a green connector under the steering column. Connect these (I believe 4-pin) green connectors and flip the key to ON. Watch the ECU light flashing. Short flashes are values of 1, long flashes are values of 10. There will be short pauses between codes. Disconnect this connector when you're done pulling codes. For a check engine light, this can (maybe not in this instance) be a check engine light that pops up when nothing is wrong to notify the driver to get the car serviced. I believe these cars will pop up a check engine light every 40,000 (?) miles, again just as a service reminder. :]

The inner DOJ races cannot be swapped between 23 and 25 spline models. The 25 spline axles are a larger diameter (0.944" vs 0.896" measured on the axle shaft) and use a larger DOJ race, ball bearings, and carrier. Also the splines are most definitely NOT pressed in. Modifications to the inner DOJ race to convert a 25 spline race to a 23 spline race would take a fair amount of machining. It'd be interesting to see if a 95AC23 DOJ race can be swapped with the D/R's 87AC DOJ race. :]

Interesting... It'd be interesting to see if it's possible to remove the splines themselves from the axles. It looks to me like the splines were broached and then pressed into the inner DOJ race. I wonder if they can be removed from the race, get a custom 23/25 spline insert machined or broached, and then pressing that back into the DOJ race. What I'd mainly be interested in swapping is the outer joint, as this is what seems to be making noise on tight turns (getting out of parking, etc). But swapping in a new axle and keeping the inner race does the same thing. I'll be experimenting with swapping axle parts this week. At the minimum they all need to be regreased. Haven't heard much from the transmission rebuilder, just that I may use my spare as a parts transmission if they end up needing parts. I gave em all the seals I could get ahold of and a copy of the FSM. I'll keep y'all updated with photos if I can snap a few. Thanks for hanging in there along with me :]

I have a question regarding axles. My D/R transmission has 23 spline hubs, I've been looking around and I found two axles that according to the photos would fit, turns out they're 25 spline axles. The neverending joy of finding the right axles. Is there any parts interchangeability between axles? Could I use the 25 spline axles for their inner or outer joints? Or are they differently sized parts? Or could I put the 23 spline inner races on the 25 spline axles and use a beefier axle? I'd assume they're completely different, but still worth asking. Thanks :]

An '89 GL wagon. The switch was wired to terminal 86 on the AC fan relay (switched to Bosch 5-pin from the original). This pin, from what I understand, is the relay ground. So all I should be doing when I flip the switch is connecting the relay to ground, thus completing the circuit.

Bit of a side question. For the operation of the A.C. fan the relay is shorted to ground? All the thermo switch does is short the relay to ground? Electronics aren't my thing. Thanks :]

Yes, L-Series I was referring to any of the Leones/Loyales/DL/GL, etc. I didn't know the wagon shared suspension components. It makes sense. One thing you could try, and it's helped me track down parts before, is searching for what you want on eBay and changing what model nomenclature you use. For instance try "Subaru Brat Strut", then "Subaru L-Series strut", then "Subaru Leone strut", then "Subaru Reone strut" (not a typo, on Japanese sites, they call it a Reone, my guess is this is for linguistic differences). You or anyone searching may get lucky. These vehicles were known as so many things that depending on where the listing is from, the regional model names may differ while referencing the same model. :]

Forgive my ignorance, I'm not yet fortunate enough to own a BRAT. Are the BRAT struts different from the L-Series struts? I know there were a few different mounting styles throughout the years. With the BRAT being it's own standalone body style I could see there being different mounting requirements. But from a financial perspective, why would Subaru use a different strut? It's easier to make cheaper cars when they all share parts. Thanks :]

Do you think they blew because of the coolant spill, or just a coincidence they blew after you happened to spill coolant? :]

I have been spraying cosmoline and woolwax on every surface I can access while I have my drivetrain removed and interior torn apart. The inside of my doors appears to be very rust free, even towards the bottom. Being in the rust belt, I'd like to get ahead of the rust and begin rust prevention asap. My idea was to use a 360 wand to spray woolwax into the doors with the entire power window mechanism in place. Hopefully this will do me two things, one is obviously to prevent corrosion. The second is that woolwax is also a lubricant which, in theory, means it'll get into the window mechanism and lubricate it. My windows are all slow, they work but don't intend to reinstall my A.C. components so having operating windows is a must. I want to avoid removing the glass, as according to the FSM, I also need to remove weatherstripping and I'd like to avoid breaking anything (i.e weatherstripping, glass, plastic clips, etc). Any thoughts on this? Has anyone done this before? (Spraying woolwax without removing anything from the door panel) Thanks :]

When you go to set the ignition timing, there are 3 connectors you must connect before turning the dizzy does anything. There is the green under the dash near the ECU. Then there's the green connector and the white or black connector near the firewall in the engine bay (by the driver side strut tower). These may be a 2 prong connector but there'll be only 1 wire going to the connector. But the two connectors will be right next to each other. Make sure all 3 of these connectors are unplugged. Otherwise the car is in "learning mode" and the ECU is confused. I'm using improper terminology, I don't have my manuals nor my car in front of me at the moment. If they all are disconnected and this is a "yeah, no duh" then it may be something else. This just came to my mind first as to what may be going wrong. :]

No transmission work done this weekend, I had a graveyard shift Saturday and Sunday so I stuck to interior work. Also going through all the nuts and bolts. De-rust, ultrasonic clean, and sorting the damaged ones out. And cleaning all the emissions and coolant plumbing. The pedal box is also getting cleaned up and lubed. I just stuck to work I could do in my pajamas and not get all greasy. On a transmission note - One thing I did notice was my two Loyale ('91 & '93) SR4WD also have those two upper dowel holes. Even more interesting that the '85-'90 parts manual I have doesn't show those dowel holes on any of their transmission diagrams. I found a shop in town to get my D/R resealed and synchros bead blasted. I had to go through and make a list of all the seals, o-rings, bearings, and bushings. I bought all the seals and o-rings I could. Pretty cheap to buy all the seals (sans 2 o-rings and the weird "top hat" seals I believe). Think it was around $50. I'm taking the transmission in this week. The RTV on the spare trans is going to be an issue. They really laid it on thick, I cannot get the T-case cover off. :]

There is a market for these cars in the Midwest, it's small and niche so not exactly the easiest market to get into. You gotta know someone who's looking to buy and you gotta be selling what they're looking for. The reason you can get some decent scratch for a DL/GL/Loyale (especially a BRAT) is because a lot of the cars rusted to bits. They make great hunting rigs (they're small, quiet, and a D/R trans does well on logging roads), they're great winter cars, they're great farm vehicles. I'm not looking for a disagreement, just pointing out that if anyone is looking to sell, there are buyers up North willing to shell out for these little cars. :]

I have a 3 day weekend coming up so I'll be taking the time to begin trying to take it apart then. I found a section 1-3 FSM for cheap on eBay so I don't have to wait around to get my other one back. I tried taking the T-case cover plate off last night to see if there was anything obvious. The RTV is gonna be a headache, it seriously doesn't wanna budge. Glued, screwed, and tattooed down. My idea for dealing with the RTV was getting it hot with a torch and gently using a razor blade to cut into the softened sealant. I do worry about residue from burning. I'm just going to have to be very thorough with cleaning the internals. I'll be recording as much of the disassembly as I can/remember to. I'll be posting links to the videos when pertinent. I'm kind of glad I got a "broken" box, now I can practice servicing one without the stress of potentially damaging a good transmission. There'll be more to come :]

Early Model Dual Range 5-19-25.m4a Also attached is some front diff noises from the mystery box. :]

Yes that was center to center. I'll take some photos of the boxes after work to show the mounting hole patterns. Based off the T-case, it looks to me like an 85-87 box. I'm mainly looking at the big blob in the casting on the T-case and the switch locations. I will have to wait before I start tearing into the spare box, my engine rebuilder has my hardcopy of my FSM at the moment so they can check tolerances. The downloaded FSM I have doesn't have any content between sections 2 & 6. (Jumps from engine to electrical) Do you have any pointers for the T-case disassembly, Benny? That's the main thing that is a concern for me. Thanks :]

Bolt holes have a different spacing (EA box: 7 5/8" or ≈194mm - Mystery box: 7 9/16" or ≈192mm). I did have to eyeball with a ruler as my caliper only goes to 6" so I may be a bit inaccurate. But the mystery box doesn't have the same dowel pin holes the EA box does. She's dry as a bone. After fiddling with the differential more, it does sound like a box of rocks. Definite audible grinding noise to it, this could be due to improper gear alignment/ lack of lube(?) If I have an EA box, does that mean I can get those fancy Aussie D/R internals? Not that I plan to, but if due to parts issues it becomes my only option. :]

When you get the engine to TDC, what landmark in the engine bay does the distributor rotor point towards? It should point towards the brake master cylinder/brake booster. If it doesn't - lift the distributor an inch or two and rotate it (I forget which direction). Remember the distributor gears have a spiral to them, so the rotor will rotate as you insert the distributor. Bolt it down, it shouldn't be rattling around. Just back off the bolts when you set the ignition timing. This way the distributor doesn't accidentally move when you tighten it down. Be sure to have the proper RPM's (≈750, I believe) when you do the ignition timing. :]

So as it turns out the previous owner had the same idea as you, Bennie. He wired the cheap switch into the A/C fan relay in the engine bay. Doh! Well that's good news, less wiring for me to do. Does anyone know if these rear wiper switches are illuminated? If so is it illuminated all the time? Thanks :]