FirstSubaruGLwagon

Hi Mike. Mine is a 86 with 188K the tranny won't move in 1st or Drive in the mornings. Unless you let it warm up or you start off in 2nd and drive fro 2 blocks then put it in drive and it works fine the rest of the day. i have did the usual maintinance and cleaned the Governer valve and replaced the modulator valve and made the band brake adjustment, all to no avail. I would say that 170 is good milage for a 86 3speed. But thats just my experiance.

Well I finished up the passenger side strut this evening,, MAN it was a hot long day!. I did learn a neet trick though, If you tie up the compressed spring to the top spring seat ( or keeper) , the new strut sure goes in a lot easier. tomarrow is the test day I hope it helps that lose knocking feeling in the front end,, But I suspect the inner balljoints on the steering rack are bad. oh and I have offically named the car,,, the "Pooparu" due to its brown multi textured paint. amazing technicolor pictures to come...... in Poopavision!

Thank you very much for the heads up. I have been experiancing the same problem , turns out the positive battery connection was lose on mine. but if it happens again i will check what you mentioned.

If offers to buy your car bother you,,, this may help. Get a bumper sticker that reads..... " WARNING! This car has AIDS " you may find offers on your car decrase somewhat. Hope this helps.

Well I got the driver side strut swaped out and come to find out there are indeed bearings in the top plate AND there was indeed a Bearing Plate and a Compresion Bumper on the old strut. however the bumper was full of oil and resembled something like sponge cake and discintagrated in my hand ( O well) The Monroe i am using are sealed better than the old strut, or so it seems. On the bright side I was still able to adjust the strut to about 3/4" lift and hopefuly it won't bounce and make a clunking noise anymore. Can anyone tell me if that oil filled spongy bumper was a nessassay part?? not that it matters sence i went through heck with that side and I'm not about to pull it back down Oh, and a point to look out for to those who haven't did it yet,, dont use the bulky spring compressers from Advance Auto, there just isn't enough room around the coil up in the wheelwell to use them efficiantly , go with the ones with the lowest profile My Ignorance grows and grows

After all their just cars... However, if she had traded in a white Voltswagon with a funny personality and that went by the name of "Herbe",,, well, , then that would be a good reason to get angry....

The bushing are in the top plate and easly visable,, Much simpler setup then bearings, DUH, im an idiot:rolleyes:

OK, set up to replace my front struts today found out I needed to replace the jounce (or compression) bumper , ok BUT WHERE DO I GET ONE IN THE MIDDLE OF A JOB???? Also should i replace the bearing plate????? can it be purchaced at a parts store without ordering??? 86 GL 4wd wagon Any input would be much appreciated Thanks, Dave DUH!, I'm stupid,,,,, nevermind

Went to the local dealer here ,, and I just got a funny stare:rolleyes: when I asked about a manual for my 86 wagon. I live in the south along the coast and finding a good subee dealership is hard, they only had 12 new cars on there lot , how sad is that? Was woundering,, If one of you guys could get an 86 GL wagon manual for me??? I will pay you 10 for the manual plus shipping. Is that an OK deal? thanks,Dave

WOW thats amazing! More and more people are so tired and concerned with there own problems they fail to do good work, and it seems like their main goal is just to make it to payday and screw the customer... I think schools should educate children more about takeing pride in doing a good job.. well that's my 2 cents worth anyway.

Umm,,,, " tons of cobwebs" ????? that sounds a bit scary , like some thing from a horror movie , you get in and spiders apear from everywhere ! EEK!!!

has anyone here ever swaped out the 86 GL single headlamp for the dual light setup of the 84 and older subee?

OK gents,,, think about this and give me your input. I used to be a painter,, and I noticed that Naptha or Naphtha has a faster evapration rate than Acetone and is more flammable than Alcohol, plus it leaves no residue,, it also is less corrosive than acetone. What do you guys think? Also,, I wounder if what you all are talking about is what old diesel mechanics called " Thinning the mix " thinning the diesel mixture with a light solvent (like alcohol) would provide a slight increase in HP but cause more wear on the motor

This is a really interesting thread for me. I own a 86 GL wagon ( bought for 175. I'm poor and this my daily driver ) and I have same problem, terrible gas milage maybe around 16 mpg Replaced and plugs and air filter, no change. (wires ,cap and coil are my next investment) The car is carburated. Starts hard but then idols fine. However it tops out at about 60 mph at 3300 rpm. There is an exhaust leak at the Y pipe somewhere. (the timming belt has been serviced due to missing bolts on cover but i have no records of that.) Could all this mean a cloged or restricted Cat? OR Could this be due to a worn out 3 speed tranny? Oh, and I live on the flats of the coast so there is no big hills to test pulling power Would love to have this car when it was new I was so impressed with the little car I went to a dealer and tryed to get a new forester,,, wow , down here you have to be a rich man with exilant credit to get a new subee:mad: no dealer incentives what so ever!

I dont live anywhere near there, but I just wanted to say how nice it was to see people showing their willingness to help out complete strangers. Gives me another reason to be proud to be a subee driver. I hope they can get the help they need.

woundering,,,,, would an A/C dryer work?????????

the thing about using a fuel filter is,, once the filter material gets soaked with oil and sludge, vapors will not easily pass through. The filtering material must be corse enough to alow vapor to pass even when coated with oil. just something to think about (deeper is better)

Coil OK? Carb float sticking?

I was just thinking how hard it would be for me not to pull the tab on the can......

Love your site miles and your "road warrior" post apocoliptic subaru

I stumbled across this wheel on ebay,, their not subaru rims, but they are 4 bolt on 5.5 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7972408682&category=43954

You guys should have seen this,, I had my GL wagon loaded with 1030 lbs of tile this morning! Had boxes from front to back. "funny, I've never heard that sound before" (one time situation) Good thing im replacing the bearings and struts next month:-p By the way, what is the best brand of bearing to get for the Subees?

Shame the newer engine and tranny won't just drop in to my 86, like the Rdiffy :-p

It would be neet if you could cut the old radiator up into four sections with a sawsall. then post some pics of what the inside looked like.

yeh,, Now the anti-fun begins LOL well I figure I will go ahead and swap out both sets of wheel berrings while I'm at it.. just wish I had a A/C ed shop to do it in. :-\