November 14, 200718 yr Evening all Yesterday, I finished a weekend job that only took 10 months to fixed an over heating/loosing coolant problem on my XT (EA82 non turbo). Pretty sure its fixed...we'll see with a bit of driving. Fault found was a hairline crack in the exhaust port of one of the heads which, by the wonderous words of our fellow Ru lovers, pointed towards my probable source of coolant loss out the tailpipe and why I couldn't find a visable leak. Head gaskets showed no sign of failure after 60k miles (originally replaced at 92k). Here's my problem. I have a miss. Not just a "skip" kind of miss, but a "shut down the whole dang thing" kind of a miss. Watching with a timing light, you can see the marker jumping around which makes me think I have some kind of distributer/timing issue. It will just barely idle when this happens and usually dies. Wait a minute, and it will start again and begin the whole process over. I went thru all the connectors, unplugging and re-plugging all that I removed thinking I had a bad connection (which I may still have) but I didn;t find anything loose and it still does it after this process. thoughts? Bill
November 14, 200718 yr The rotor in the distributor is held on by a setscrew...which has the annoying tendency to back out and do crazy shyte before it doesn't run at all.
November 14, 200718 yr Author Screw holding rotor? I'll answer that another way... That cam block (distributor) when removed was laid in the trunk and not touched except for minor cleaning to re-install. If had changed something I could see that but it ran fine (except for the over-heating) prior to teardown. Bill
November 14, 200718 yr Author The rotor in the distributor is held on by a setscrew...which has the annoying tendency to back out and do crazy shyte before it doesn't run at all. thanks I'll check it in the morning then....ya never know Bill
November 14, 200718 yr The rotor in the distributor is held on by a setscrew...which has the annoying tendency to back out and do crazy shyte before it doesn't run at all. Sometimes the rotor won't actually spin freely. On some there is still a flat spot that holds it from spinning entirely 360 degrees (and not running at all) - on those it will just shift around like 10 or 15 degrees either way. Still results in the same symptoms, just never dies completely. I've seen them fall out on a number of occasions. Makes em run like poo. GD
November 14, 200718 yr may also have gotten some visual obstruction down in the optical wheel in the distributor.. try taking the rotor off, and removing the two screws holding the little dust cover off, and make sure the slotted wheel down there is fairly clean and that there is no foreign matter in there. Make sure the distributor shaft has no play.. nobody has said that yet, so I added it as a final thought.
November 16, 200718 yr Author may also have gotten some visual obstruction down in the optical wheel in the distributor.. try taking the rotor off, and removing the two screws holding the little dust cover off, and make sure the slotted wheel down there is fairly clean and that there is no foreign matter in there. Make sure the distributor shaft has no play.. nobody has said that yet, so I added it as a final thought. no play in the shaft, rotor tight. I was noticing that as it is missing, the tach (needle) is jumping around as well. Gotta be a short or something somewhere...but where do I start? BIll
November 16, 200718 yr no play in the shaft, rotor tight. I was noticing that as it is missing, the tach (needle) is jumping around as well. Gotta be a short or something somewhere...but where do I start? BIll Tach needle jumping is indicative of the pickup in the distributor failing (I believe).
November 18, 200718 yr Author Tach needle jumping is indicative of the pickup in the distributor failing (I believe). ok...I just had the crap scared out of me at the parts store...$212.00 for a pickup coil!!! any "replacement" parts known of or I also saw where some folks just went to the junkyard and bought another distributor and replaced the whole thing. If I go that route, can any EA82 dizzy work SPFI or MPFI)? BIll
November 19, 200718 yr Go to the section here where people sell stuff. You can get another distributor for $35 or thereabouts.
November 19, 200718 yr Author Go to the section here where people sell stuff. You can get another distributor for $35 or thereabouts. I was by a local yard today. Nice 91 EA82 SPFI Loyal with 88k miles on it hit HARD in the rear (so I assume it was running!!). I can go back tomorrow and get the dizzy for $10. Will that one work? Bill
November 19, 200718 yr I was by a local yard today. Nice 91 EA82 SPFI Loyal with 88k miles on it hit HARD in the rear (so I assume it was running!!). I can go back tomorrow and get the dizzy for $10. Will that one work? Bill Yes, but you may have to change the plug on it. Jumping tach is generally an indication of bad shaft bushings in the distributor, not a failure of the pickup coil..... and the later FI distributors don't have pickup coil's anyway, they have optical CAS sensors. Bad shaft bushings cause tach jumping in hall-effect style distributors, not in CAS distributors. So your tach may just be related to the missing, and not the distributor directly. Could be a weak coil, etc. But for $10 it's worth ruling it out. GD
November 23, 200718 yr Author Yes, but you may have to change the plug on it. Jumping tach is generally an indication of bad shaft bushings in the distributor, not a failure of the pickup coil..... and the later FI distributors don't have pickup coil's anyway, they have optical CAS sensors. Bad shaft bushings cause tach jumping in hall-effect style distributors, not in CAS distributors. So your tach may just be related to the missing, and not the distributor directly. Could be a weak coil, etc. But for $10 it's worth ruling it out. GD ended up being $30 and it was from a 92k mile 93 Loyale - but anyway- swapped it out and now....... nothing works!!!! it at least ran with the old dizzy....double checked the wires... I actually cut the lead off the old dizzy ... cut off about 4" of the parts car harness and spliced together a "patch cord" between the 93 dizzy and the 87 harness.... Wire colors were the same so thats how I spliced 'em... did I do something wrong???!!! Bill
November 24, 200718 yr Author ended up being $30 and it was from a 92k mile 93 Loyale - but anyway- swapped it out and now....... nothing works!!!! it at least ran with the old dizzy....double checked the wires... I actually cut the lead off the old dizzy ... cut off about 4" of the parts car harness and spliced together a "patch cord" between the 93 dizzy and the 87 harness.... Wire colors were the same so thats how I spliced 'em... did I do something wrong???!!! Bill ok...need some help here guys...wht'd I do wrong?... Bill
November 24, 200718 yr Do you get any spark at the plug leads? If you have spark, double check the disty install is correct.
November 24, 200718 yr Someone on another forum told me the distributor used by Subaru for something like the 1st 10 months of the 87 model run was unique. Anything older or newer will not swap. Snce you replaced the cylinder head, the timing belts had to come off. Any chance the one that drives the distributor is loose? Hope you saved the original distributor.
November 24, 200718 yr Author Do you get any spark at the plug leads? If you have spark, double check the disty install is correct. according to my timing light, no spark Bill
November 24, 200718 yr Check the coil braket for a good ground. That ignition amplifier thingee requires it but as stated earlier, the 87 model XT will not run with anything less then an 87 distributor and ECU. No other years will work.
November 25, 200718 yr Author Check the coil braket for a good ground. That ignition amplifier thingee requires it but as stated earlier, the 87 model XT will not run with anything less then an 87 distributor and ECU. No other years will work. I did put the old dizzy back in and it still runs at idle all day long but just timing/tach bounce like crazy and any throttle and it gasps for spark and quits. So I found out the hard/expensive way at this point that no other dizzy will work. Only $30 bucks but it was a wasted $30....rather have spent it on a cheap steak dinner.... I'll swap out the coil wire and re check/move grounds tomorrow. Bill
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