1991 Loyale engine suddenly shut down

[rickyhils]

My 1991 Loyale engine [non-turbo] suddenly shut down last night. The Meter Engine 15A fuse was blown and after blowing another swapped in good 15A fuse, I now need to find where is that short in the ignition. Could be a broken wire in the key switch causing a short, or a short in that lower left wire spaghetti mess under the dash behind that panel next to the fuse box. When the engine stalled, I just cranked it over attempting a restart, but no ignition. There was still FULL BATTERY POWER to EVERYTHING except the ignition. Timing belts checked ok. Can hear fuel pump priming with ign turned on. Dash board voltage meter stopped functioning at all. Good battery and alternator. All four fusible links near battery are still ok. Tomorrow I'll disconnect the battery and poke around with a continuity probe.    First thing I'll check is the O2 sensor wire to the front catalytic convertor. Real easy to get at.

Edited Saturday at 01:50 AM by rickyhils
Added another possible reason .

[rickyhils]

With key OFF the Meter Engine 15A fuse is already shorted to ground. I have my work cut out for me diving into all of those clusters of wires.

[bushytails]

If the fuel pump primes when the key is turned on, doesn't that mean both the ecu and the fuel pump relay are getting power, but the same fuse as the fuel pump relay is for the ignition coil, which you say isn't getting power?  I must be looking at the wrong diagram...

 

[rickyhils]

I just now located 1991 Subaru Loyale Wiring 8X11rev3. PDF 76 mb. It's too large to upload here. Can send to you via drop box

Edited yesterday at 07:34 AM by rickyhils

[rickyhils]

Tomorrow I will check the heater blower motor power connection. I vaguely remember in 2012 hurrying through a heater blower motor replacement. Not sure if that could be cause of problem at Meter Engine 15amp fuse,  but I will check tomorrow.

[rickyhils]

Car is now back to running ok. That blown 15A fuse went to the SPFI controller. On top of the engine, the small bundle of wires that runs past the throttle body area was causing the short, with insulation that rubbed away after 34 years. When I lifted up that bundle of wires my multimeter readout went from 0.8 ohms (to ground) up to 14 ohms (to ground) at that 15A fuse location.  Yay!

Edited 19 hours ago by rickyhils
added more info to clarify.

[bushytails]

Great! 

I had a similar problem today...  Went to back up, and no backup lights.  Turn/backup fuse blown.  Found one of the wires on top of the transmission rubbed through on the clutch bracket.

[rickyhils]

Hey! All good. Happy to hear that. Every problem has an answer. 80% of fixing a problem is knowing where the problem is. A proper Subaru tech with 35 years of experience would have had my problem sorted out within an hour and a half. But those guys are going away.

[88SubGL]

13 hours ago, rickyhils said:

But those guys are going away.

Most only know how to replace parts anymore. Hard to find someone who really knows their stuff.

[rickyhils]

True. Many times I go DIY on my 1991 Subaru Loyale Wagon. But, I have had to take the entire hub assembly and cv axle to a mechanic to get the axle pressed out reliably as I don't have those tools and the know how. And on my 97 Honda Accord cv axle I did not trust myself enough to not mess things up, so I had my local mechanic install it.