So after many hours a good learning and hard work, I tested out my 84 Wagon GL auto (EA81) on a road trip through W. VA mountains on the freeway (total of about 400 miles in the trip). Car ran very well. Except going up the very gradual, long (like 3 miles long) inclines into the mountains. Of course the freeway repeats this.....up for 3 - 5 miles, down for 3 - 5 miles. Anyway, was maintaining the a speed of btwn 65 and 70 mph. However, as I hit these inclines, car would slow to around 50 to 55 with pedal to the floor. Is this normal for old subarus?? or am I confronting a compression problem. The only thing I noticed during the inclines was a low humm coming from the engine which would disappear once I hit level ground.

 

The other Q I have is I have what sounds like the bird churping beneath the front right wheel well.......an intermitant, yet persistant churp......any ideas???

 

Thanks....................

chirpy noise.. brakes or wheel bearing

 

lack of power.. t.o.s syndrome...

tired old suby

Yes, welcome to West Virginia! These hills will do the test on your Sube. You might want to test your compression (the 91 Loyale only runs on 3 cyl. and does an OK job on the freeway at 63mph but puts up a huge fight in the mountains unless there is snow and away we go!) Anyhow I wouldn't worry to much as long as you weren't having to drop into 3rd, most of the Subes I've driven have this same lack of power, so take it easy and enjoy the scenery!

ya T.O.S. syndrome is right, for some reason the carb'd 1.8L suby motors dont like hills.

 

 

 

 

 

~Josh~

Add a 3" lift and another 6" of tire and it gets worse. My EA81 with a 4spd Manual would average 35-45 through the mountain passes of Northern California, and the mountain passes between California and Oregon are even worse.

 

If you want move oomphf, get a weber DGEV 32/36 to replace your old carb.

 

-Brian

Combine TOS, an automatic, and a carbed EA81, and you'll struggle a bit on hills. You'll struggle to 400,000 miles, but you'll struggle . My '93 is FI and even it struggles on hills if they're steep.

Don't be affraid of down-shifting when going up hills. When I was in College I would have to go up Oregon's Willamete Pass which has a 6% grade for roughly 6 miles and the elevation topped out at over 5000ft. Except in the turns, 60+ wasn't a problem with my 84 GL in 3rd gear.

 

Edit

 

Opps I missed the part about having an automatic. Still go ahead and downshift into 2nd and keep the RPMs under 6500.

The RX is the only Subaru I've ever had that didn't bog down on those hills. I'm assuming you're talking about the ones on I-68... Cooper's Rock, Big Savage Mtn, Negro Mtn, Sideling Hill, etc. I took them in my 92 Loyale with a 3AT and yes, it got down to around 50mph before hitting the top. I'd keep my foot the floor in 3rd for what seemed like forever, and eventually as the car slowed down it'd downshift. There's really no good way to get over those mountains.