So, thought I got out of the old subaru game, with my last lifted sedan. Well turns out I cant get out of the game, so I picked up this little gem today.

Anyways, it is a 89 Gl Hi/lo, with 140,000 original miles. Rescued her on her way to Pick n pull.

It was stolen, and apparently has not run after being stolen and recovered. So, the previous owner before selling it to me wanted to check relays (thought they were behind the dash) and started disassembling the dash. Luckily he didnt get too far before he gave up. So i will put them back together when I get the time...

Anyways it wont start. Its getting fuel, turns over, but previous owner says no spark. Timing belts we just done @120k, so i doubt it threw the drivers side belt, but i didn't get a chance to look. I haven't had much time to tinker with it, but while i am not working on it I am just brainstorming what it may be. Any ideas?

If it was stolen, I assume it was running, so it was probably a sudden failure of something critical that caused it to stop running rather than the wearing out of something, or bad gas.

 

You mentioned it gets fuel, so the driver side belt is intact, though it may have jumped. Until you get a chance to eyeball the ECU it's gonna be a guessing game beyond that. I assume you checked that all the wires are intact? Sensors plugged in, coil and disty connected, etc.

Just checked over some of the major things we thought it may be, like disty, etc. My buddy and his dad are looking at the ecu and surrounding areas to make sure everything is connected. Looks like I may get to bust out a few of my new Fluke meters

you can never get out of the game

Did they tell you what codes the ECU is blinking? If you aren't familiar with how to read the codes, there is an LED in a little viewing hole that will blink when the key is in 'run' or 'start'...just count the blinks. Apologies for the review if you already knew that.

 

It's also possible that the tensioner was not replaced when the belts were, causing relatively new belts to fail. Check them anyway before you get too deep into things.

Edited February 12, 201214 yr by man on the moon

If its not getting spark, my bet is it probably had the distributor crap out on it.

Did they tell you what codes the ECU is blinking? If you aren't familiar with how to read the codes, there is an LED in a little viewing hole that will blink when the key is in 'run' or 'start'...just count the blinks. Apologies for the review if you already knew that.

 

It's also possible that the tensioner was not replaced when the belts were, causing relatively new belts to fail. Check them anyway before you get too deep into things.

Very possible. The 85 GL I just got had the belts replaced a week before the Idler gear pulley went bad and snapped a new belt.

I will pull off the cover tomorrow and check, I had my timing belt shred on the trail after my idler froze. I will toss a new distributor on it tomorrow hopefully that will take care of it:horse:

 

And if it does ........ Diamondjumper owes me a 6 pack

Whats with all that positive camber on the back wheel?

Is the car on jacks? Doesn't appear to be...

Lets just say the curb won after a little snow drift.... haha

Update:

Props to 88subie4x4. got it running after a whole 30 minutes of tinkering with things. Might have a slight Tick o Death, but it was 2 quarts low and been sitting a while so it might go away....

Also got lucky and picked up a set of 15 inch flat spoke pugs with lugs that will go on it eventually.......

Still waiting on my 6 pack.........