October 28, 200421 yr Greetings Subaru people. I was just gifted with a 1985 Subaru gl Turbo wagon from a friend whose mother died and left her the car. This particular vehicle has been garaged for the past 10 years though started every 3 months. It has only 13,000 miles on it as I live in a resort town and this was a infrequent residents car... very rarely used. I'm going to give it to my 17 yr. old daughter. As I know nothing about Subarus I would appreciate any tips, and pointers on the care and feeding of this car as it is a virtually new 20 year old car in showroom condition. Thanks so much... Sun Valley Boy is online now Edit/Delete Message
October 28, 200421 yr Check all the hoses and lines, time will dry out the rubber. It night be a good idea to change the timing belts, even tho they get changed at 60K, it has been sitting for quite a while. Make sure nothing made a home in the heater ducts, nothing smells worse than mouse droppings. Welcome to the board, and congrats on the car. Thats got to be a first around here, 13,000mi, wow
October 28, 200421 yr Yeah, and dont forget to break in the engine before you really romp on it 13k is a BABY! I wouldnt feel comfortable driving any subaru with less than 100k on the ticker. -Brian
October 28, 200421 yr I can't believe you're letting a teenager drive that car! Hope it lasts.... jk. We're all jealous.
October 28, 200421 yr Nice! I just went through mine and found that all of the Emissions hoses and stuff were pretty much petrified. They crumbled apart when I tried to remove them. It might not be a bad idea to change all of this stuff out before they fall aprt on you. Glad to see somebody else from Idaho around here.
October 28, 200421 yr WOW! 13,000 miles, what a score! Replace anything rubber. Hoses belts and maybe plug wires are probably old and crusty by now, and the CV axle boots may be in similar condition. Flush the cooling system and continue to do so every couple of years and the car will thank you. With turbo soobs, you have to keep the cooling system in PERFECT shape, especially with the earlier models like yours (there were some head design changes later on that made them more resistant to the cracking that plagued the early ones). Also, tell your daughter to watch the temp gauge religiously if she's driving it hard. If it ever gets into the dreaded "Red zone", some bad things will start to happen. Oh, I almost forgot. You absolutely need to flush the brake fluid, either doing it yourself or taking it to somebody. Brake fluid absorbs 2% of its volume in water every year even when the car is not driven, which lowers its boiling point and causes components to rust. Seriously do this, it is truly a safety issue that is often overlooked. Especially in this case, because at 13,000 miles, the car has never had any brake service. Just do that and change the oil every 3000 miles and your grandkids may be driving it. I would highly recommend changing out the transmission and rear differential oil at this time as well, preferably for synthetic. Running synthetic oil in the engine is also a great idea at this point, as in addition to reducing wear, its increased detergent properties will keep the lifters cleaned out and prevent probems down the road (this engine is notorious for developing lifter tick issues). Oh yeah, one last thing. Buy Larry Owens' book "How to Keep Your Subaru Alive." It explains all of the basic maintainence procedures so anybody can understand them.
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