I'm going to look at a Justy to pick up as a DD on Friday. I have no experience with Justys and I'm wondering if there are any particular things I should be looking for?

 

The car is a 2 door, 5 speed, 4WD. It is in spected through May or June. "cosmetic rust" on the rear fenders and little bubbles on the back edge of the front wheel wells. The seller says it needs a "drive hub and axle"

 

I am going to be looking at all the normal stuff for a used car (check the condition of the oil and coolant, run it for a while and make sure its not overheating, check for obvious rust issues, etc.)

 

Do these cars have any typical rust spots or components that fail that I should be looking for?

 

Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

 

Justy"s are the Oddball of Subies Realm-It"s a 3Cyl. Horizontal Mtr....The Worst Thing For these Mtrs is Oil Changes-90% of these I"ve seen in the JYd Have bad Mtrs. Rod knocks from No Oil changes or been run low on oil....Other 10% are wrecked.They don"t have HG issues, I don"t see them with much over 100k.....They are very far an few between here anymore they"ve ended up in JYd here....Good Luck.

I love the justys #1 check cold startup time the oil light longer it stays on the more tierd the engine is they had problems with the oil pumps and bottom ends. Every justy i get gets new rods and mains and oil pump gears full reseal and good to go. i do see the odd bad headgasket but is 1 out of 10. Also check rear struts is commen failure and axles were the go to trans over all theese are very capabble cars i have had mine for ten years + and still strong Mine is a 91 fun justy 1.2 turbo absolutly hauls rump roast and crazy good 4x4 have never got it stuck. And push its limits every chance i get

Thanks for the info!  

 

I'l definitely feel out the owner and see if I can decide how often the oil was changed.

 

My only real reservation about buying the car currently is the knowledge that the day after I buy it a EA81 hatch is going to appear and I'll immediately have regrets...

Also, the odometer on '88 Justys only goes up to 99,999.9, then rolls over to zero, so if the owner trys to tell you it has less than 100K on it they're either ignorant of that fact or dishonest.  You be the judge.

id say... if you have the time to wait to get a hatch with a boxer... i would... i just dont see alot of those around much an what i know of them they were the reason subaru ditched the vertical style engine for the boxer they have been using for a long time.

 

but for any car if its well taken care of and looks to be in good shape then it probably is...if the odometer miles are low expect it has flipped... mabey a few time by now... i would hold out for a common subaru unless yur collecting.

Justy love.I have a 89 2wd CVT. Install an oil pressure gauge as the light triggers so low it is useless. Get a good gauge. They are reliable and as long as you do oil changes every 3-5K miles, they can pile the miles on. On mine i added a external oil filter, cooler, and oil thermostat to add capacity. They have such little capacity it is scary. 

on mine to i put a turbo legacy oil fillter coller on it to bring down the oil temp when under boost it dosent take long to heat soak 2.8 L of oil

I bought a brand new 1991 Justy in 1992, put over 235,000 miles on it. Was still running great when I sold it. Always keep the engine oil & filter changed and replaced the transmission ATF fluid every 15,000 miles. Only thing I done to it as far as major repairs, replaced brushes in the electric clutch for the CVT transmission and one front Half Shaft. It was one of the best little cars I ever had, also got great 42 MPG gas mileage. That little Justy got me hooked on Subaru's.   Russ

My 89 has 36K on it so it is almost brand new. I get 29 (winter) normally 32/36 with a cvt. Wish I could see 40, but heck it is still better then the outback!

My justy gets about 28 mpg with the turbo and the xt6 injectors and 14 inch wheels and must burn premium but it only cost 30 $ to fill the bugger