So I bought my Subaru sometime around a year ago thinking, wow, these are cool cars. I can have a 4x4 lifted wagon that gets great mileage and is so easy to work on. I drove it home almost 100 miles in the winter with no heat, but no issues either. I was so excited. It was awesome to drive.

 

Fast forward one year from that day. I have worked on this car and put more money into it than the total miles I have driven it. To date I have put in a new thermostat, all new hoses and vacuum lines, timing belt kit, resealed the cam towers, the crank, and the oil pump, new water pump, Fel-Pro head gasket kit, new NGK plugs and wires, wheel bearings, various other things such as cleaning, rewiring, filters (air, oil, and gas), and an oil change.

 

I have learned so much just about cars too. I learned how to change timing belts and how to time an engine (at least a Subaru), I gained the confidence to tackle a head gasket job and replace wheel bearings. I even got my taillights to work again last night. And I could not have done any of it if it was not for the awesome Subaru enthusiasts on this board.

 

So, before I decide to sell or junk (or provide death by rust due to spite) my Soob, please help me get my vehicle on the road for more than an hour. I have very little patients left with this car, but I really do love it so much and want nothing more than to drive it. By the way it is a 91 Loyale EA82 5 speed with push button 4x4.

 

I really can't tell you the issues I am having with it other than one day it starts (yesterday) and the next it wont. It ran like a champ yesterday. today it will not even try to start. I had some intermittent sputtering before I realized that the ignition coil wire to the top of the disty was corroded. So I changed it and the CEL went away and it ran great. I checked my timing and it is at 18* which is a little off, but I can't seem to get it any better than that. Anyway, please help.

 

And I wont sell it or junk it by the way. If anything I will go broke trying to get it back on the road and my wife will divorce me for it.

I'd start with retarding that timing. mine runs well at 12*

The FSM says 20* BTDC. The closer I get to it, the smoother it runs or ran. It would cut out and die if it got to 12* I think.

Clean up all the grounds, disconnect and inspect connections in the engine bay wiring harness - look for corrosion and spray with contact cleaner.

+1 Especially the ground on the left (pass) side of the intake where it bolts to the head. If that isn't CLEAN and tight it will wreak havoc. Trust me, it kicked my butt and I've got 25+ years as a tech. lol

+1 Especially the ground on the left (pass) side of the intake where it bolts to the head. If that isn't CLEAN and tight it will wreak havoc. Trust me, it kicked my butt and I've got 25+ years as a tech. lol

 

Is that the one by the thermostat housing?

My bad.... Right side (pass). Duh... lol

The coil mount braket grounds the ignition mod make shure thiss is bare meatal and grounded very good i run an extra ground from batt - to coil bracket

It's an EA82. There's a reason most of us dont like them. They are a low point in Subarus history. EA81's are much simpler and thus more reliable. And EJ22's are also simpler and thus more reliable. It's just the nature of those cars.

 

No one ever puts the EA82 into another body. It's always being replaced by EA81's and EJ22's. Now you know why

 

GD

Edited March 16, 201214 yr by GeneralDisorder

Mines an EA81 but I had a problem where the fuel pump would quit here and there on me (I've since replaced it).

The first time it did it while driving and I crawled under the car on the side of the highway and unplugged it and plugged it back in, was fine for a year or so.

Cleaned up the plug once I was home.

 

Then it recently would do what you described. I would turn the car on and it would crank. But the pump was not running so no start. If I turned it on and off a few times the pump would finally start to run (can hear it on mine due to no interior). And then it would start up and be fine. Some days it would do that, then it would be fine for a few weeks.

Until the pump finally blew out at the dunes and took the fuse with it.

Put a new pump in and no problems since.

 

Just might be something to check.

... one day it starts (yesterday) and the next it wont. It ran like a champ yesterday. today it will not even try to start...

 

Fusible Links!

Worn and / or Rusted Contacts on the Fusible Links could Cause That Behaviour.

Also Bad Starter Motor with Worn Carbon Contacts.

I Kindly Suggest you to Start by Checkin' Carefully those Fusible Links.

Kind Regards.

All good and new, my friend. the posts they sit on are shiney too. But I do not know about the starter motor.

The littel amplifier in the disty that goes bad can drive you nuts. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.

The littel amplifier in the disty that goes bad can drive you nuts. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.

 

any way to test it to be sure?

Just bought a known good used dizzy from bheinen74, so when that gets here, I will try that. Going to use a spark tester to see if I am even getting spark in my ignition system this weekend.

Ya... I loved my EA82... but I swear I put almost $7000 into it to get only 100K miles out of it.

 

I am FAR less than that into my Baja.

I can offer ya some parts to if you want to try them.

Could this be the problem?

Yeah that's a problem.

 

Get a new coil - and not one of those aftermarket garbage coil's either. Either get a real Hitachi/ND coil or get an MSD, etc that's still made in the US factory.

 

GD

I was reading a little about the MSD coils. Sounds like MSD Blaster 3 coil? made in US originally then mexico and now us again? which one is best? I also read about the higher end NAPA one?

get one that is epoxy filled.

 

 

the oil filled ones leak and aren't intended to be mounted sideways, so the stock mount can't be used... the MSD hi-vibration blaster coils are 10$ more, so why not?

I have Many Years runnin' my BumbleBeast with an Accel SuperStock "High Vibration" 8140 Coil, those High Vibration are Better, resist corrosion and are Made in USA.

 

http://www.amazon.com/ACCEL-8140HV-Superstock-High-Vibration/dp/B001DUK57E

 

Kind Regards.

I ordered the MSD version of that Accel one (MSD 8222HV). It would take less time to get to the local parts store. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I can offer ya some parts to if you want to try them.

 

by the way, thanks for the offer. I appreciate it and may take you up on it some time.

I finally got a new coil in it yesterday and I think the damn car fired up before I could even get the key turned all the way over. Gonna cross my fingers that this is the end of it for a while. Thanks for the help guys.