pstrbrc Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 So here's the story. When my dear mother quit driving she wanted to give me her '85 GL. However, my sis in upstate New York was down on her luck at the time, so I said, "Oh, Mother, please consider giving your car to Sis. She NEEDS it!" So when Sis has a problem with her car, GUESS WHO SHE CALLS!!!! The current problem seems to be the Hitachi carb. The ECM light is now on constantly, and the idle is, at best, intermittent. That is, sometimes it idles, but most times it dies. When Mom had the car she sunk a lot of money into having a mechanic play with it. No, she didn't live anywhere near me at the time. It never acted up when I would drive it, so I don't know for sure. Does anybody know a good Sub mechanic in the Watertown (or north) area that won't charge my (still) economically disadvantaged sister an arm and a leg just to tell her what's wrong? It's killing me to know that my mom's Subaru (which is like one of the family!) is being mechanically neglected! Consider this a 911 call! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85Sub4WD Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I do not know any mechanics in the area, but I have a (formerly) carbed '85 Sub. I would check the distributor cap and rotor first as they tend to get neglected. It is VERY easy to do this. If they look dirty/burned have them replaced. Also take the top off the air cleaner and look at the carb. If it is dirty, that would cause idle issues. I have heard many reccomendations for Sea Foam, though I never used it personally. Techron additive works too. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb3efs Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 This is pstrbrc's brother-in-law. To date this is what has been done to attempt to fix this still useable car: new in line electric fuel pump new distributor cap new rotor in distributor 1 can sea-foam in gas tank 2 bottles iso-heat in gas tank Carb cleaned inside and out with carb, choke & throttle body cleaner spray I am tempted to try a new fuel filter even though it was just changed in the last 3 months. I need a Subaru Guru' help. Are any of you Guru's in Northern New York State? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 bad plugs and a severly clogged air filter can cause these problems. not likely, but i've seen it before and it's easy enough to check. a friend of mine had his truck (can't remember what it was) towed to his mechanic because it quit running and wouldn't start. his mechanic called him and told him he needed a new engine for $2,300. so him and his dad (who was in on the joke because the mechanic had called the house) drove over to talk to the guy. while telling the guy he'd help him work at the shop to help pay off the bill the guy started laughing and said, "give me 12.50, i replaced the air filter". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb3efs Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Air filter is not the problem - engine does the same thing with the air cleaner top on or off. I have no way of checking the plugs as I am lacking the tools needed to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 I would recommend you see what is causing the ECU light to turn on to help pin things down. You should be able to look at the ECU and view the LED that is at one end of it and count the flashes. It uses long and short code flashes. The long flashes are for the ten's place and the short ones are the single units place. Example: 2 long and 3 short pulses would be code 23.Here is a link to help explain things better. The ECU is located under the dash above the drivers feet area I believe. Look for a pair of green wire connectors and connect them to together. http://www.troublecodes.net/Subaru/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb3efs Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Well it is saying code 11 to me, a long and a short. Which translates to "Ignition pulse system" but where do I go next? By the way it does the same thing with the green plugs connected and DISconnected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 KB the link says use the black connectors "Read Memory" connectors Might try those Might try clearing the codes and see if it resets the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operose Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 HOLY CRAP! your sister is NORTH of watertown? I live in potsdam (almost on the canadian border) and have never met anyone on the board or anyone on the board who claims to have met someone from this far north. what a trip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 I assume you did this test with the car running. This may indicate a problem with the distributor. The shaft bearings may be worn. Under the plate inside the distributor is a wheel with many notches in it for a photo light sensor to keep track of the cam position. This sensor can be a problem sometimes. There may also be a transistor tied to the distributor shaft and they have also caused intermittant trouble. If you do have that, I would suspect that may be the problem. The transistor can break down and cause this kind of problem. Skip knows more on this than I do. I have only read about them. Edit: Your model may not have the notched wheel I refer to. That may have been a later model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahag1978 Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 HOLY CRAP! your sister is NORTH of watertown? I live in potsdam (almost on the canadian border) and have never met anyone on the board or anyone on the board who claims to have met someone from this far north. what a trip I was just going to have him contact you... you're within a couple hours of the car. Well, as long as there aren't any blizzards that day (moment)! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb3efs Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Well the geography is like this...... I am north of Watertown NY and I AM on the Canadian border. Potsdam NY is NORTHEAST of where I am and only one hour or so away (depending on how fast one drives) "operose" I need to load a IRC client and I'll contact you - or contact me on AOL-IM or YAHOO-IM; I am "kb3efs" on both of them; kb3efs is my ham radio call sign / FCC license or send me a private message via the board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb3efs Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Major update here. I have found a vacume system problem. In particular a broken section of a solenoid that i have a picture of at http://users.westelcom.com/kb3efs/mvc-062f.jpg This pcture was taken standing in front of the car. Now the problem is which vacume solenoid is it? remeber this is a 85 GL carbed manual tranny 5 spd. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 You poor soul. You don't want to know how much one those valves costs new. I think that is for the EGR valve or the purge canister. If you can find one of these at a salvage yard you should be able to get one pretty cheap. I have also heard of getting one of these from other vehicles but I can't tell you which ones use them. Some of the board members may have some on hand also that they could send you. After I broke mine while doing some work in that area I never came near it again after I bought a new one. It cost me about $115 dollars back in '99. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb3efs Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 EGR solenoid valve (part# AESU128-?) needed Any one have any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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