was run without oil in it bet he ran it before he put oil in. coolant even if was many L would not seize motor would just make milky oil have seen ea81 run with 3 L of coolant in oil no problems even if it got hot whould just loose comp and turn easyer was ran with no oil ! is only way to seize it. In the 16 years i have been fixing subarus only ever seen one seized ea81 was run with oil preshure senser broken off still took 20 min with no oil to stop. anyway try a diferent shop. Trying to go after the guy who did it how he was ligitimitly trying his best to help if he did his best what more could you ask for.he just dident know or care but is buyer beware. I dont think it whould stand up in court

I rebuild carbs. Properly done a rebuild will last MANY years All you needed was a minor adjustment. This man has suckered you from the getgo, messed up and is lying his a** off. I despise people like him and am sorry for your loss. I wish we didn't get the roads salted in the winter here so the little bodies would last like y'all's do. The 80-84's were/are the best lil transports EVER produced by anybody, bar none.

love my oldschool 80 gl wagon best car ever x2

Everything you posted about the 'mechanics' work and explanation for the failure says that he is full of crap. Get your car out of there asap, make sure you have all the parts they took off. Tell him to go pound sand. Recind any payment. Spread the word to everyone to steer clear of those hacks. Do some basic diagnosis as others here have suggested. Let us know what you find.

 

The results from the 'investigator' are to be expected from a bureaucrat- your tax dollars at work

I had to pay the guy to get my car back so it is in my garage now. The engine is definitely seized. I swabbed the inside of one of the cylinders and found a bunch of gunk and particles (see photo). Anybody know what this crap is?

Can I ask how much you paid him in total? If nothing else you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and ruin his reputation. Also a nasty yelp review is in order. Costs you nothing.  Just state the facts, nothing more, nothing less as you have stated here.  Also a call to your local TV station's consumer investigative reporter ought to at least cost him as much as he has cost you in incompetent "repair" work. 

Edited July 29, 201312 yr by MR_Loyale

Seized as in it won't turn, even by hand? Hard to tell from the pic what the crud is, can you describe it?

As long as it's seized I'll egg you on to pull it apart and figure out why. This makes absolutely no sense unless it threw a rod and the rod jammed the whole thing up somehow. That and/or it ate a valve and THAT somehow jammed her up.

Or he didn't add oil until after the fact...but...any good mechanic could hear the sound of a motor sans oil...speaking of oil, does it smell like fuel as reported by third parties? I'd also suggest dropping the oil and using a magnet to see if any debris is in it. Ditto with the oil filter. Eyeballs and a magnet.

Even if you don't split the block, at least pull the oil pan off and see if anything is amiss up in the innards.

Is it posibble the car was sugared in the tank mabee before you bought it ? that whould do it make shure you drain out the feul and check it have seen this wreak engine after engine before sugar in tank was found. Just a thought. Any signs of overheating ? melted parts low coolant stinky coolant or oil mabee airlocked and overheated it