Robert M

Well, I haven't driven my '87 Wagon lately, but that's because the timing belt went out a short time ago. In the meantime, I did an animated cartoon thingie about it. You can do the same thing with your Subie if you wish. It's on the Subaru of America website. Crank up your speakers to hear the surf music and the narration on my short tale of 'Little Subie - The 4WD Wagon That Could'.

In Auburn, it's the shop on 'A' Street that does Subies and Volvos. They are very good, and have fair pricing. You drive out of town toward Sumner on A street and you'll see them on your left near the state emissions testing facility. The owner is real nice, and will let you pay off the bill in two or three payments if you wish. No worries. He won't try to keep your car. And it's better if the axle nut is too loose and they have to re-torque it. (earlier post) Too tight and it's a real problem, REAL quick.

There's a reason why they call it the 'Subaru Tap'. There's just something in the engineering of the motor that causes this after a lot of miles, I think. As long as it doesn't go on for a long time, I don't think it really hurts the motor. My '87 GL-10 has 236,000 on it and has been doing the tap off and on since God knows when. But it's as reliable as they get and never lets me down. The only way I finally beat the tap was by running Seafoam for a thousand miles, changing the oil, and then using Lucas and a good oil. It's a pain, but the tap will come a lot less if you warm up your Subie for a good 7-10 minutes before driving, especially if it has more than 200,000 miles on it. Then you will seldom get the tap unless you push the engine above 3,000 rpms for an extended period. I've gotten into the habit of just going out and starting it and going back into the house for coffee for a few minutes before actually leaving. Also, when you stop somewhere while driving, (such as going to the store or something) you have to warm it up for a minute or two before putting it into gear. That seems to work well. Want to rid yourself of 80% or more of the tap? Gotta learn patience. When you use Lucas changing your oil, pour in the whole bottle first, and then fill the rest with normal oil up to the mark, plus a tad to fill the new oil filter. Don't be cheap about it. And plan on changing your oil every 3,000 or less. That's all I know.

When it goes below 20 degrees, my Subie wagon sometimes starts banging really loud out by the rear suspension, every time you hit the slightest bump in the road. Goes away after it warms back up to above freezing. Weird.

1987 GL Wagon/Dual range/AC/5spd Runs great, daily driver, 224,000 miles. And MINE helped solve the D.B. Cooper case! Watch History Channel on Thursday, Jan 6 at 10PM/9 Central. I'll be the dorky-looking guy in the light blue shirt and dark blue tie. The show is 'Brad Meltzer's Decoded'.

I love the Subie-in-the-Snow videos...

Heater fixed, thanks to all the great advice. You guys are really just too good sometimes.

If the heater hose switch doesn't work, try blowing out the entire cooling system with some water pressure using a hose. Let it run for a good while, and to make it better run some scale remover for a good half-hour at idle before you try the hose. Then put in fresh anti-freeze and water. If it still doesn't work, it is probably a clogged heater core.

That burgandy-colored wagon you also have sitting in the driveway is no slouch, either.

Somebody was parking that Loyale in a GARAGE on a regular basis. You can tell by looking at the body. Nice one. Very nice.

I'm going to take a look at this mystery heater problem over the weekend. Type: 87 GL wagon, A/C (no belt installed, not used), five speed with dual range 4WD. What heater does now: Hit any button you want on the vertical control switch (except the AC button) and this is what happens - Mid-level heat comes on, no defrosters, no bottom heat. Out the bottom comes cold air instead of hot air. Heater core does not leak. Heater fan only works in speed setting 3 or 4, nothing on 1 and 2 lower settings. :-\

Changed oil, new struts, tune-up. That's about it, I guess. Lil' Subie is still going fine.

No more carbs for me. Rebuilding them...tweaking with them...buying new ones or parts for them. FI is the way to go.

My 1987 GL Wagon runs great and gets about 26 miles a gallon average. Does a little better on the freeway, a little less in town. Mileage 216,000. No complaints.

1987 Wagon/4WD/Hi-Lo/AC/Most options are there - 216,000 - New engine installed at 180,000.

I have to agree that the idea of 'making your GL faster isn't going to work too well. They just weren't designed for speed. But they do well on a lot of other things, such as: The time I was off road near Mount Rainier , a few miles out of the park border. This guy came along in a nearly-new Toyota 4wd pickup. He had some camping gear in the back, but just an average amount. He was trying to get up this REALLY steep gravel road to a prime camping spot. He kept going up, he kept sliding back down. So I just wait. I know that camping spot, too. Finally, he slides back down for the last time and turns the truck around. "Yeah," he says, "you can't make it up there, I guess..." Right. I already had it in four-low range. I walked right up that hill without slipping a tire once. He just watched with his mouth hanging open... Fun weekend up there. No one bothered me.

I got a good place in mind for camping after the snow melts completely. Top of Darland Mountain, the second-highest place in Washington you can drive to. (6,800 feet) You can see from Mount Hood all the way north to Mount Baker when the weather is clear. Toss in St Helens, Goat Rocks, and Rainier for good measure... Plenty of space to park cars and you CAN have fires unless there is a fire restriction going. Not heavily visited, believe it or not. Location: East on the Ahtanum Road out of Yakima/Union Gap. You'll know when to stop. Google Map page link: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=Map+darland+mountain+yakima+wa&fb=1&gl=us&ei=kt7lS70TlqKNA4X21PEM&ved=0CA4Q_wY&view=map&f=d&daddr=Darland+Mountain,+Naches,+WA+98937&geocode=CS7N2ncqpAtMFUG-xQIdTX3G-A&sa=X

Portland - 1979. I moved there for a couple of years in the late 70s. My job was to take this Ford van around with a commercial pressure washer in the back and clean big rigs for the boss, who owned the company. Van: Stolen because I was dumb enough to leave the keys in it. Next five days: Grid searching the entire east side of the city with a map. I finally spotted the van in someone's driveway. Friendly bikers next door helped me recover it via payment of two cases of bottled Michelob. I had gone to their door to borrow the phone and (no cell phones back then) when they found out why I wanted to make the call, they said 'forget that - we don't want the cops around..we'll get it back for you'. (You can substitute another word in place of 'forget'.) Result: They slapped him around a bit, but thank God they didn't kill him. Said they never liked him as their neighbor anyway. Hope you find your Subie. Gayla and I are keeping an eye out for it, although we don't expect to see it clear down here in Auburn.

Look for the car! I know that sounds dumb, but it often works on recovering an older car. When this sort of thing happens, it is usually local. They didn't drive up from Tacoma and target you. It was someone in your local area. And this means they took the tools somewhere nearby, and then dumped the car. Likely suspects: Theives on foot without a car of their own, who live possibly in the same complex as you do, or very close by. With a car like this, there is no resale value to chop shops. They want cars in the 20-50k range, not Soob wagons. This car HAS ALREADY BEEN DUMPED SOMEWHERE and you cannot depend on the cops to find it. Get a map and start grid-searching Everett. It is doubtful they even took it out of town. It could be on the street, but especially check parking lots at big stores. Trust me on this one. It's probably sitting less than five miles from your apartment right now, but unless it is parked badly, it could sit for weeks before a cop notices it. Borrow a car, or ride with someone as the map guy and start looking. You have to think like a criminal. Whomever took the tools will try to pawn them, then dump the car ASAP and go home. So start checking quick at the pawn shops with a written description of your tools. They don't WANT the stolen stuff anyway...and you have to present valid ID to pawn them.

I noticed the person who made this thread is from Washington state. So am I...my place is up near Auburn. When I take my Subie in for the emissions test, they don't exactly take out the book and study it. They just take a quick glance, and if everything appears normal, they just hook up the thing to record the revolutions and start the test.

Plug the lines from the INSIDE of the line, leaving enough empty space in the lines to re-connect them. That way, no one will see it. It looks normal...but it has been plugged. Solid rubber plugs work well for this. You just shove them into the line (sometimes you have to lube them a bit first) and then push them hard up the line until you have enough empty space to reconnect.

Makes sense to me. Thanks! Luckily we have a Subie-only wrecking yard around here. I think most of you know where it is already...the one near White Center in Seattle.

'Brake Lamp' light comes on in my 87 GL Wagon. Driver's side brake light works. Passenger side brake light does NOT work. Both bulbs, both sides, are good, both elements light up. (I switched the bulbs to check them) Both parking lights work, too. Just the passenger brake light is out. Pulling the bulb on the 'bad' side...I notice two little round connections inside the socket where they touch the bulb. One of them, the one connected to the green wire, looks small and sunken. I'm thinking the bulb housing is no good. On the driver's side, both these connections look good. What do you think? I already checked the brake light switch for movement and operation. Seems fine. Just for Fun: A couple of pictures. The first one is of Sara Watson, our newest staff member at Adventure Books of Seattle. If you remember her picture about how she made that car vanish, you may have seen it at Boing Boing. It was viewed more than 3 million times. (We do have license for the picture. It's her official Meet the Staff image at AB.) She created that illusion by PAINTING the car that way, believe it or not. She's an art student from Manchester, England. The second picture is just me and my frozen Subie in last winter's Seattle snowstorm. The cord hanging out the bottom of the tarp goes to an electric blanket. It was frickin' COLD.

Well, I modified the fuel capacity on my 87 wagon, LOWERING the amount of fuel the tank can hold by approximately one-quarter of a gallon. This custom mod was performed by backing the Subie up against a log lying parallel to the car, while on an offroad adventure.

I have reviewed the suggestions given, and having a lot of experience with stuck bolts, this one (quoted from the previous poster) is definitely the BEST: 'Some Amount of Penetratin` Oil like PB Blaster...' YES! This one works almost every time, but you have to do it right, and be patient. Spray all around the bolt. Wait one hour. Spray it again. Wait a half hour. Spray it AGAIN and try it ten minutes later. Also: Pushing and pulling won't work. Get a good 1/2" socket wrench and the proper socket, or a breaker bar attached to the proper socket. Tap on the end of the breaker bar with a small sledge hammer. Not too hard...the idea is to 'shock' it loose, not snap off the head of the bolt. With patience and time, I have freed many a tight bolt this way without damaging the bolt. If this doesn't work, you may have to remove the oil pan. After cleaning out all the black gunk inside the pan, then you can apply the spray from the INSIDE and let it run down for a few hours into the bolt threads. BTW...PB Blaster works a LOT better than 'Liquid Wrench'. After doing this, if the bolt still wont come loose, you have two choices. First, you can re-install the pan with a new gasket and new oil and try again. Second...you can drill out the center of the bolt while the pan is out of the car. Your choice. An in-between alternative is to re-install the pan, but don't tighten up the bolts so much that they compress the new pan gasket, and don't put in the new oil yet (of course) ...and then try to remove the bolt. If it comes off, you are good to go. You can then tighten up the pan bolts, and put in the new oil...and install a NEW oil pan bolt. I would dump the old one in any case. Can't trust it not to get stuck a second time...