dmcdlrn Posted November 6, 2005 Author Share Posted November 6, 2005 Shes ALIVE!!!! Ok, for all those who said that was an hour job, your either season veterans at changing them on yours and everything is allready half out, or my car is just a pain. One thing is for sure, bolts were tight as they should be, but as soon as they broke loose, they were finger loose. Everything came out well, I had a heck of a time getting the ac compressor loose... the manual failed to mention two bolts at the bottom behind the engine fan. That plus the stupid fan itself posed to be the most difficult. But, I did find what was wrong with the car. It did have brand new timing belts, but the drivers side tensioner was shot and it ate the belt. So it took me a while but I found a tensioner and put it in, and now it runs fine. I have a high pitch whine every once in a while from it now, I think maybe power steering? I accidentally pulled the bolts for the reservoir not knowing that it would leak and stuff, I just wasn't paying attention I guess. I'll check that, I'm assuming just normal power steering fluid will make her happy right? Ok, so I am fairly impressed with this little car. It seems to be well put together, but maybe there is something wrong with mine but the engine seems to vibrate alot during accelleration, and it seems to have very little power. (but it was like that before) Any thoughts on that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 6, 2005 Author Share Posted November 6, 2005 Oh, also, I have no heat. Car doesn't overheat like in the stuff I have read on here, but the heat just doesn't ever heat up. Car heats up fine, and if I leave the selector at off for a while then turn it on I get a blast of heat for like 5 seconds then it turns cold. Sounds like a plugged heater core to me. This common? Can I just run some water through it backwards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 Are you sure it's running on all cylinders? That would lead to rough running undder accel and poor preformance. yank the wires one by one off the distributor cap untill you find the one that doesn't affect engine speed. It could also be a plug gapped too wide, so that under load it doesn't fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 6, 2005 Author Share Posted November 6, 2005 wouldn't it smoke and carbon up if it wasnt' firing? I probably should replace the plugs and wires anyways... and stop being a cheap bastard... just that I bought this car for couple hundred bucks and plan on not caring if it gets wrecked in pot holes and crap that we have up here in maine winters. I was going to take a plug out, but my socket didn't fit well, it fit the plug, but the plugs are so close to the same size as the hole that the socket wouldn't go all the way onto the plug... I was afraid I would strip it or bung it up so I just left it. They look kinda dirty though. Any thoughts on that... somebody put the wrong plugs in maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 7, 2005 Author Share Posted November 7, 2005 Ok, so I replaced plugs, wires, cap and roter and its much better. All of them should have been replaced once I inspected them, so I did. Checked timing too, its dead on. well, 20 degres plus 2 btdc at 700 rpm. Still having trouble with heat. I flushed the heater core and water would go through both ways just fine, but once I put it back together it was still cold. So I ran to the store to get some coolant cause I didn't have any. It took about a 1/4 a gallon of that over some time. It felt warmer on the ride home, but as soon as I put it on defrost and the ac kicked on it was cold. I also noticed that the engine didn't heat up as far with more coolant in it. It took longer to get to warm, and stayed lower once it got there. Air comming out of vents also smells kinda stale, almost like it has amonia or urine in it. Air flow seems good and no real noises, but would heater core blockage be likely? I checked the heater control linkage for the flu there and it is set all the way open when in heat position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 1 - On the power steering. Dexron ATF ( I think it says that on the cap) 2 - No heat.. You're in ME right? Is it cold there? Is it possible someone removed the thermostat? 3 - Vent smell.. yup.. mice love subarus almost as much as we do:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 7, 2005 Author Share Posted November 7, 2005 Ok, thanks! Power steering level was good anyways, I really didn't loose much at all, just enough to annoy me Heat is still kinda wimpy. Definitley warmer then it was, but yet wimpy. Would mice crap in the ducts force the air around the core or something? If so how hard would it be to get in there to take a look? And do we have a write up on that... can't say as I remember seeing one. Also, this thing is running 100% better now that I have changed all the ignition, but I still get sometimes a dead spot on the pedal... almost like I have choked it out with air. If I let off alittle it normally catches and goes, other times if I push harder it will cough a couple times, give me whiplash, then take off. Should I run some injector cleaner through this bad boy? By the by, this is a sweet little car, for all its little troubles, I'm really beginning to like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robm Posted November 7, 2005 Share Posted November 7, 2005 dcdmcl wrote: "Checked timing too, its dead on. well, 20 degres plus 2 btdc at 700 rpm." A little extra advance improves MPG, I have foound. I am runnng mine at 23 deg., and can get over 15 km/liter on the highway! That is about 35 USMPG. Cold weather and snow knock it back quite a bit, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 10, 2005 Author Share Posted November 10, 2005 Ok, I'm going really crazy again. I have flushed the heater core and it allowed water to go through it both ways, topped off the coolant, replaced the thermostat, checked all the hoses, and it still will not produce constant heat inside the car!!! I find that the heater core lines have hot line on one side and cooler on the otherside... One is farily hot, the other is warm... which leads me to believe that the heat is going someplace inside the car, but its not comming out the vents and certainly is not heating up the interior. The engine is heating up till the thermostat opens, but it doesn't go super high on the temp gauge... little below half way. Any thoughts will be GREATLY appreciated!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintersubaru Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 When you have the blower on does it blow a lot of air or just a little? If its just a little and you know for sure its on high then i would look into a mouse nest up against the heater core its self blocking the flow of air. Had it happen to a car that sat for a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 10, 2005 Author Share Posted November 10, 2005 Seems to have plenty of air flowing through. Speed one doesn't seem to work, but I figure a resistor network is burned or something. How would I go about looking for the nest... I do smell the scent of animal comming from the ducts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintersubaru Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Seems to have plenty of air flowing through. Speed one doesn't seem to work, but I figure a resistor network is burned or something. How would I go about looking for the nest... I do smell the scent of animal comming from the ducts... Try this. You need a very strong shop vac some duct tape and a smaller hose then the shop vacs small enough to fit down one of the A/c vents in the dash. put smaller hose into shop vac hose a couple of inches and duct tape all around it to hold it in and not have any leaks between the two hoses. Remove a few vents and stick the hose in as far as you can. That worked on my 86 f 150 so it may work on a sube. Good luck getting rid of the smell because it is a hard smell to kill. If you look around on the net you may be able to find some stuff to get rid of it. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 11, 2005 Author Share Posted November 11, 2005 well I have heard of people emptying a huge can of lysol into the intake of the hvac system... I probably would do something like that for the smell, but thats besides the point right now... The car still doesn't heat up the engine enough I don't think.. the manual speaks of 2 different thermostats... one for cars with an aluminum radiator and the other for who knows what other type...manual doesn't specify... I thought all radiators were aluminum, so I don't know what its talking about... when I replaced the thermostat it looked severely different... The old one had two stages with two springs.. the new one only had one stage and one spring. I'm going to call subaru tomorow cause I have had enough! I may try the shop vac thing though, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Does this have a heater control valve, or does it use a mixing door to blend hot and cold air to vary temperiture? i would see if the heater control valve is cloged/shot .. since you say one side is hot and the other isnt. Also could be a cloged heater core. Have you tried just backflushing the heater core only? If it uses a mixing door, maybe the door mootor isnt operating right.. Just an idea nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 11, 2005 Author Share Posted November 11, 2005 well I'm 99% sure its just flappers. I adjusted the flapper just after I got the car cause I thought that might be it, but thats adjusted properly. I have backflushed the heater core. Any ideas on the different options for thermostats? Besides... unless there is flow through the core, the lines wouldn't heat much at all... convection would take a while to heat the lines up to the temperature they are at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Under the passenger side of the dash is the fan. 3 bolt hold it on and 2 screws for the resistor pack. Pull the fan and resistor pask out, then fish/suck out all the mouse house from the ducts in there. If the car has AC, they will pask the condensor full of junk, if not, they will pack the heater core. If the temp is up to halfway on the gauge, that should be plenty for heating. I'd check the flapper door again. There's a bunch of vacuum operated bs that runs it, as well as the cable to the right of the accel pedal. Make sure it's on full hot, and move the rest of the levers under the dash by hand till heat comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 18, 2005 Author Share Posted November 18, 2005 ok, so I have ac, so that would have stopped the mouse before the heater core so if air is comming out of my vents then it has to have traveled through the heater core right? Any expirience with thermostats? I replaced the thing in mine and when I did they didn't look the same, but the parts store only had one listing, and subaru said that they would have bought one from the parts store I picked it up from.... they could order me one for 16 bucks, so I figured it wasn't worth it if they normally just use one from carquest. Mine had two stages... the book said something about two stages for aluminum radiators... I have an aluminum radiator, but who doesnt... I don't know any radiators that are not aluminum... maybe copper ends or pipes or something....??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcdlrn Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 Ok, so I think I have some progress on the ole heat issue. I flushed the engine and the core and didn't seem to gain anything there, checked all the ducts and they were clean with exception of a few pine needles. Finally I decided to swap the heater core lines in attempt to see if the opposite flow would clean it out some or something... come to find out they were swapped in the first place... which surprised me cause the hoses fit so well and were hard to swap around. But with them correct it blows much hotter. Still not as hot as I would have imagined but better at least. It was still low on fluids I think so maybe that will help. Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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