Hey all. I just wanted to post and say hi (if for no other reason than to get rid of the "you've never posted" message).

 

Scanning the newspaper for a fuel-efficient car (to replace or supplement my 11 mpg truck) saw a 1994 Subaru Loyale - Needs water pump and brakes, Best Offer. Saw it, a little rust, but mostly recoverable, front brakes are GONE (metal to metal = new rotors), and he says it overheats, but I ran it for about 15 min and it didn't. There are a few oil leaks, but gaskets are cheap right?

 

Anyway, he offered it to me for free and the price was right so I took it. I'm going to take the t-stat out today and limp it to my house (alternate driving through the busy area and, if it overheats, tow through the country).

 

I'm sure I'll be consulting the forum on tips to get her up and running. For now, I guess my only question is what she's worth in running condition. Should I get her running and sell her off, or keep her? Seems like it may be a great car here in the snowy white north.

 

I'll stop rambling. Thanks for the site and hope I can give a bit back someday.

Well you have come to the right place, there are many well-informed and clever subaru enthuisists on this forum so you cant go wrong

 

I think that the majority of the members will say,... "Keep it"

 

Welcome to the board

 

Gannon

winter is coming. dont be caught without a subaru

Update: Took out the T-stat and she drove home just fine. The front brakes are gone, but I have my wifey picking up some now, along with wheel bearings. It made a funny noise when turning left at high speed, so I assume that's what I need. I'll be there if I have to do the rotors anyway... right?

 

Looks like I'm in the Subaru world now

Wheel bearings are not a simple task, as is the case on most front-drive cars. It is not extremely difficult, just time consuming and requires a considerable amount of suspension disassembly to do it right. That, and the bearings are not inexpensive ($50 per side was what I paid 10 years a ago.)

 

Don't immediately assume it is wheel bearings. First culprit, given brake condition, is brakes/rotors. Other likely problems would be axle/CV-joint aand/or a loose axle in the hub caused by improper tightening or assembly (the noise is made by the axle splines moving in the hub splines). Ensuring that the washer underneath the axle nut is faced in the proper direction (concave side towards split-conical-washer/hub), tighten the castle axle nut to 145 ft-lbs.

 

Subarus are wonderful in the winter. And spring, and summer, and...

Wheel bearings are not a simple task,

 

10-4 on that hoss. Figured out what that took and realized it wasn't that bad. Re-packed what I could from the outside and called it good.

 

What was bad was turning the calipers back in. Needlenose pliars broke, promptly putting a cut in the "dust boot." I put that in quotes because it was holding back fluid! Was being the key word. So it's off to the parts store again tomorrow to order a rebuild kit (forget paying $75+ each for reman!).

 

After that, we'll do an inspect on the rear brakes and, assuming the're okay, drive the hell outta it. Think the head gasket is going bad though... wifey saw white smoke when I accelerated. How big of a task is that?

By any chance does it have an automatic transmission? White smoke (as opposed to "steam") can be burning ATF, and the vacuum modulator on Subaru automatics is prone to diaphram rupture, letting aTF get sucked into the intake.

 

If it really is steam, there is also the possibility that the intake manifold gaskets are leaking from water jacket to intake passage.

 

Headgaskets aren't too bad, just two of them to do. IMHO, far better to take the engine out and have it totally accessible than to squirm and swear in the engine compartment.

By any chance does it have an automatic transmission?

 

Nope... she's a manual. I'm not going to replace gaskets quite yet... I'll see how bad it really is. If I do replace it, I will probably pull the engine and freshen the whole thing... doing the head gasket and finding that the issue is in the intake manifold gasket is VERY frustrating, you know?

 

Thanks for the help so far. I'll keep y'all updated... if you really care.