I`m having electrical issues and from reading this board lots of people here are having similar. so I`m in the middle of writing about what the deal is and want to put it in the appropriate section. So 91 sub wagon loyal

Please let me know when you have time and I will post my long sad story

Yep. Loyales belong to the older generation. Post here and welcome to the board!!

1991 Subaru loyale wagon 1.8 no turbo 5spd

 

Background

Maybe unrelated but I changed the water pump and the car ran great for 2 days after that.

 

On occasion I would be doing 70 on freeway and it would start maxout as in That was top speed without stuttering and backfiring. Ultimatly it would slow until I had to stop. After only 1 minute with engine off

I could drive fine again.

 

Last week the distinct sound of s baby crying came from my dash to the right of the steering wheel.

 

Not to the real problem.

Was driving and aparrantly lost fire.

 

While on the road I checked fuse. All good so it was towed home.

Rechecked fuses themselves for continuity.

 

Fuseable links are good

 

Tested for fire from the coil and found none.

The coil has been tested and is good.

 

I also get power to the coil

 

******Under the coil is what people are calling the ignitor More on that later.

 

behind the fusebox is a relay marked coil. I feel it working for what that is worth.

 

The ecu lights up with a red light so it has power at least.

 

******The brown relay behind it when I first turn the key on it clicks then when I turn it off I feel it let go

however if I turn it off and on rapidly it does not click. If I give it a few seconds and repeat it clicks on and then off again.

 

The ignitin switch is good

 

I also found what looks like a loose ground wire? which I will try to attach a picture of.

Never mind I cant do images here yet. Its a black wire with the connection that looks like about a 12mm bolt should go in.

There is also a bolt missing from the alt bracket and the stain on the aluminum or whatever it is matches the shape of the connector but I dont think it goes there because like I said its aluminum?

The wire is part of a bundle of wires coming through the fenderwell under the window wash container and by the coil which intrigues me a bit.

 

I will ask two questions and back off until I her more from you guys.

Is there a way to test the coil relay and the brown relay some call ignition relay.

Also tlittle amplifier thingy under the coil can I test it.

 

Well thats it for now thanks for reading.

Edited January 31, 201115 yr by Charliew

The update info is in the post above this one

Welcome to the USMB

You don't really need to test the brown ignition relay in this situation. If you can feel it click, you have ECU power, and a Check Engine light when you key up the ignition. If you have no spark coming out of the coil, and you are absolutely positive that it's a good working coil. Then the first step is to pull your distributor cap and turn over the motor, make sure that the rotor is spinning. If it spins, then put the cap back on, and while you have someone trying to start the car, probe the negative side of the coil to check for a pulse from the Crank Angle Sensor.

Welcome to the USMB

You don't really need to test the brown ignition relay in this situation. If you can feel it click, you have ECU power, and a Check Engine light when you key up the ignition. If you have no spark coming out of the coil, and you are absolutely positive that it's a good working coil. Then the first step is to pull your distributor cap and turn over the motor, make sure that the rotor is spinning. If it spins, then put the cap back on, and while you have someone trying to start the car, probe the negative side of the coil to check for a pulse from the Crank Angle Sensor.

 

Thank you very much, I will report back asap.

Rotor does not turn.

So am I tearing the plastic gear covers back offand looking in there?

Thanks for the find by the way. By the time its over I should know my little beast well

Broken timing belt.

I read someone say that you can just leave the timing cover off permanantly.

Sounds odd, what if an evil rock found its way into the gears and belt.

But if its common I`m not opposed.

Thanks for the replies I will post questions here a they arise

Good job on finding the problem, timing belts are pretty easy to do, and there are a ton of threads that cover it in detail. The hardest thing you'll be doing is removing the timing covers lol. You'll find out what I mean when damn near all the captive nuts spin inside the cover. Or the bolt heads strip out. A lot of us run them with no timing covers, I ran 2 of my old ones like that, and they were regularly offroad and going through water and snow. By leaving them off you'll turn your next timing belt job into one you could do on the side of the road if need be.

 

Edit, make sure you check/replace your tensioner pulleys, that could have been the screeching sound that you heard.

Yeah I`ve dealt with the covers last week when I changed the water pump.

It will be easier this time already because I only put minimal bolts back.

But I will gladly ditch the whole works. I appreciate it and if I get stuck I`ll be back.

If you want to keep the covers, several members have recommended using zip-ties through the bolt holes to hold things together... simple removal if the belts fail on the road.

 

On one of mine, I bot longer bolts and installed them from the backside, threading them through the captive nuts (like a stud, but with a backside head). Added some flat washers and nyloc nuts, and was a happy camper. BTW, I used stainless steel to ward off fasteners corroding together.

The part that scares me is the rubber seal that fits between the covers around the waterpump area

if its not importand why the ruber seal or am I mising something.

Got it done. Diddnt replace gear covers. Did not have to remove air conditioning comp but probably would have been easier. Diddnt tighten the crank bolt right the first time and almost made a boo boo but other thann that It was pretty easy. I had also tore my dash part looking for relays and buttoned it all up before making sure it started. So I got to take it all apart to plug in the coil relay. All in all I learned allot and I`m glad my little buddy is back on the road. Next week I will probably replace leaky valve cover gasket

Thank for the help.