Hi there. My 93 ea82 spfi is having some issues.

First we will start with the temp gauge, it never seems to get up to half way, ideas about that?

I drove a 92 loyale for a while and its temp gauge never got halfway. I think it just means your car is not overheating...so lets count that as not a problem haha...what other issues?

Okay, sounds good. Didn't really look at it as a bad thing, better than overheating for sure I guess. I was curious if that could cause some of the heater issues I am having. When the I have the a.c button fully engaged, the heat comes out the front vents only and works awesome! (A.c. Compressor is unplugged.) when I switch the other functions such as defrost, heat, bi-lev, and each function blows out its proper vent, however, it's not nearly as hot when on the "a/c" function.

I have recenly flushed the heater core. As well as making sure all vacuum lines are connected and they seem to all be in fine working order. Thoughts anyone? Any and all help is greatly appreciated! I live on the oregon coast with wet and damp climate so defrost is a must!

This is the temp gauge on the dash on what I would say my 93 spfi ea82 is "normal operating temperature." Is this to low or correct?

We dont know what temp stat your running. Cant tell you about the gauge and I really cant say much about your HVAC system. What I will say is max A/C is usually a recirculate function, in that setting the fresh air door is shut. This function may also allow for "max" heat and hide a blend door issue.

If I were you Ide find out what temp stat your running, if its 192 then Ide be checking the blend door operation.

I am running a 192 t stat. Where is this magical blend door you speak of and what position should it be in?

Okay after further diagnosis, no matter what position the dash controls

For the heater are in, air flows out the floor vents and is cool matter what

Position the temp gauge is In

Low temp is probably a fail open thermostat. Try replacing with a genuine factory one. The parts store ones have more of a tolerance, and the subaru ones arent terrible expensive.

 

Heater wont work well if the water temp is low. Fix the temp problem first. Heater not changing positions is likely vacuum related, make sure you didnt unplug it when you were under the hood

Ok i fixed the heater/defrost, temp control works good now, floor vents when activated blow out which temp i select now.

One more problem though, the defroster blows hot air out just great, except for on the passenger side from 2 inches right of the clock and the defrost vent for the passenger side does not work, the driver side works great, I've clean the vents, when I blow compressed air through the defrost vent itself air comes out, but does not when the defroster is activated

I've owned several EA82 wagons.  The temperature gauges on some read normal at about 1/4 scale, some at about 1/2 scale.   The absolute calibration is inconsistent from car to car.  BUT if the gauge ever rises significantly above where it normally sits when things are running right, that is when you can have a problem.

 

Sounds like you got most of the other problems hunted down.

 

As far as the vents go, there isn't much fancy about them, so maybe something is blocking or partially blocking the duct.

Ok i fixed the heater/defrost, temp control works good now, floor vents when activated blow out which temp i select now.

One more problem though, the defroster blows hot air out just great, except for on the passenger side from 2 inches right of the clock and the defrost vent for the passenger side does not work, the driver side works great, I've clean the vents, when I blow compressed air through the defrost vent itself air comes out, but does not when the defroster is activated

Could you kindly share what it was you did that fixed the temperature out the other vents?

 

Also, the temp on the gauge is normal for these cars.

I believe I fixed it by finding some sort of vac or actuator canister behind the jockey box, up in the passenger side of the dash. I pushed each switch and button on the heater controls and noted each position the arm was In that pushes some sort of little white vac cylinder up behind the jockey box in the passenger side dash. Before I fixed the problem, when I had the a/c button engaged, it would blow considerably hotter than any other function. So when I got down there and noted each position, I noticed when the a/c button was engaged the little arm that pushes on it would move as it probably should, however, when I would put it any other function like defrost, the arm would either not move at all, or just fully open all the way making the temp considerably cooler. After further inspection, I noticed where the arm hooks into a little spring, it was quite rusted, nasty looking, and probably some critter nest leavings up in there. I took compressed air and PB spray, cleaned the spring and the arm, did not disconnect anything because these things can be a pain to re assemble, and voila! It works now, heat is on hot on defrost and every function now, as well not blowing out cold air out the floor vents no matter what function or temp it was on.

Thanks for the explanation, that's sure to help somebody else narrow down their problem when they come across a similar situation!

love this site, it has done so much for my old gen subaru! So much knowledge on here! Hopefully this post can contribute to some of the q&a's that I've had!