Quidam Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Hey, Starving artist huh...what kind of art? Ain't nothing wrong with "starving" for the cause. You can live about 30 days without food. Mabie you know that. Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentis Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Actually I'm not starving yet . But I do like saying that sometimes... just unemployed right now. Wish I could trade some paintings for auto repair though LOL... http://www.michalwisniowski.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txakura Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 I found the official cause of death! The lower edge of the right head gasket blew out, opening the oil return from the turbo. New one for a Subaru, sounds more like a Neon. was wondering what it was all about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4_Welder Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 I guess, in the end, I did have an EA82T headgasket failure, just not the one everyone thinks of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suba Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Funny thing is....I actually LIKE the EA82 series..... I've had two, a non turbo and a turbo. The non turbo got sold with 300k on it and pretty much no maintence while I owned it (100k, one timing belt, one set of valve cover gaskets). Got 28mpg till the day I sold it and never left me stranded. The turbo...well, that was an amazing car. A blast to drive (RX), burned oil like crazy, got 27mpg, abused it's entire life. It never broke down in a way that I couldn't fix it and get me home. Overheated it multiple times and it still never died. Now I have a legacy with the first gen EJ22, which is an even better engine. Rock solid, burns just as much oil, and has that beautiful subaru growl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentis Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Nice... and yes, in my experience owning the EA82T it's never left me stranded either. There's been time where it has run like crap, but even with all it's problems it never actually broke down! It seems like with this car, if it will start it will drive . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presslab Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I've had good luck with my EA82T. All they need is a little love. For exactly a year now I've been running 14 PSI through mine with a TD04L. I haven't blown it up yet! Since these cars aren't worth much people don't do the required preventative maintenance. It's 20+ year old technology too. The turbo engines are more prone to failure than the n/a but that's because they are under more stress and they are more complicated. People love to hate though, and the EA82T is a good target. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4x4_Welder Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 I think that if the EA82 just blew headgaskets, or maybe didn't even have it's sensitivity to overheats, then maybe they wouldn't have earned such a bad reputation. If they had proper cooling, an intercooler on the turbo models, and crack-resistant heads, then there wouldn't be a problem. Instead, Subaru rushed this OHC engine to market with an embarassing number of flaws, and paid the price for it. Luckily they made up for it with the EJ22, even if they did screw up again with the HGs on the EJ25. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suba Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 I was always amazed that the EA82T's had no intercooler, blow off or bypass valve what so ever. It's really a miracle that those engine survived past 50k miles at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentis Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Indeed... one of the first projects I was going to do was to put one in. Even bought one, but somehow I never got to it. Ugh... still feel bad about that . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txakura Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Funny thing is....I actually LIKE the EA82 series..... I've had two, a non turbo and a turbo. The non turbo got sold with 300k on it and pretty much no maintence while I owned it (100k, one timing belt, one set of valve cover gaskets). Got 28mpg till the day I sold it and never left me stranded. The turbo...well, that was an amazing car. A blast to drive (RX), burned oil like crazy, got 27mpg, abused it's entire life. It never broke down in a way that I couldn't fix it and get me home. Overheated it multiple times and it still never died. Now I have a legacy with the first gen EJ22, which is an even better engine. Rock solid, burns just as much oil, and has that beautiful subaru growl. I haven't had that many issues with the N/A ea82. My first one went 220K and had lots of life left in it, my second is doing fine. I think I may have had a third back in the 90's in a DL sedan, I didn't work on it much - I just commuted in it until I sold it. I met a guy in the area with 500K on his ea82 and he pulled it out at 300K to re-gasket it... it has all the noises it can possibly make but it is still running - he hasn't overhauled the engine - it's still the original rings etc. the turbo... thanks to this bbs I'll probably avoid them unless I felt suddenly wealthy and decided to do a thorough overhaul and modification of one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezapar Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 I've owned 5 ea82s. Only one of them was worth a crap. I would never own one again. Numchux' list is impressive, but most of those motors I'll never come in contact with and have a chance to put a few thousand miles on to give an informed opinion of. So 253 and 20g and the rest will just have to stay a mystery to me. The ea81 is an awesome engine. Hands down, the most bullet proof. If you can kill one before it hits 250k miles, you did something wrong. I've owned many 2.2s none of them (knock on wood) have ever given me even a hint of trouble. That motor just plain kicks rump roast. I'll trade your horsepower for reliability any day. My wife's current imp has been flawless for almost 5 years now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txakura Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 ^^^ I understand, like a lot of things, I'm trying to make due (do?) with what I have. I just think the ea82 gets too much crap. Yes, it has issues. I have yet to have any vehicle that did not have 'issues'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru_dude Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 (edited) My dad's first Subaru was a standard hatch EA81, then he sold it for a Ford Tempo (hated himself for it). Bought an '88 EA82T sedan. Loved the car, didn't like the digi-dash. Would cut out sometimes... he put 200,000 miles on it and didn't have any trouble with the engine. Clutch went out and he just got rid of it. Then he had to go and get a '93 Loyale with the 3AT. Hated it so much he hasn't bought once since. That's the car he gave me as my first car. Leaked quite a bit of oil, underpowered, and ran horrible. My second car was an '87 Subaru GL d/r wagon. Ran beautifully and didn't hardly leak at all. Was reliable until I wrecked it a year later. Then I got an '89 5spd 2wd sedan. Leaked quite a bit but ran great. Overheated it multiple times on one trip and decided I'd better do the headgaskets when I got back. Gave it a shot and 10,000 miles later they were leaking again. Got an '89 EA82T 4EAT wagon, was an awesome car. THEN I bought my '93 Impreza. Doesn't leak, doesn't burn oil, GREAT running little motor. 60 miles one way to work 4 days a week. Last job was 56 miles 7 days a week. Have put 30,000 miles on it so far and it's never even showed a hint of trouble whatsoever. Now I've got my '89 Touring wagon which leaks some oil from the driver side headgasket, but other than that doesn't leak anywhere else. Runs pretty good, but not nearly as well as my EJ18 (of course, the EJ18 has a coil pack and is MPFI). So here's the list: EA81 standard hatch- 200,000ish miles (dad's, he loved it) EA82T '88 Sedan- 200,000ish miles (dad's, he liked it) EA82 3at wagon- 200,000ish miles (dad's, then mine, hated it) '93 Accord(crap)- 165,000ish miles (parents/mine, hated it) '87 EA82 wagon- 175,000ish miles (mine, loved it) '89 EA82 sedan- 211,000 miles (mine, loved it) '89 EA82T 4EAT wag- 175,000 miles (mine, awesome car) '93 EJ18 Imp wag- 250,000 miles (mine, love it) '89 EA82 touring wag-165,000 miles (mine, love it) My dad's been considering a Subaru lately. He may go to Canada to work for the winter and would like a wagon to take all his stuff in, and the AWD wouldn't hurt either. Man that was a long post. Edited August 7, 2009 by Subaru_dude Forgot a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentis Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 How about some pics of that Impreza? Is it really as green as your avatar?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zukiru Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 for those who hate EA82s drive a multiport non turbo EA82 one day just for the hell of it... I love the little beastie even more now that I have some things more sorted. sound awesome and always starts and it's perky and rev happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subaru_dude Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 How about some pics of that Impreza? Is it really as green as your avatar?? No, it's turqoise actually. Here's a pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoobieDoo Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Not a bad engine at all...just not quite as good as many other soob engines. Add one weber, turbo exhaust, accel coil with 27" tires and still cruise at 70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentis Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 No, it's turqoise actually. Here's a pic. Ah okay... yeah that color seems awfully comon on those . Sometimes I wonder if they did any others . Too bad it's not the color in your ava. That would be a hot green!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txakura Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I've owned 5 ea82s. Only one of them was worth a crap. I would never own one again. My wife's current imp has been flawless for almost 5 years now. I'm still chuckling a bit over this. You bought 5 of them, FIVE, but none of them were worth a crap. And the Impreza, did you buy that new? You've had a new car that has been problem free for five years? Don't get in a huff, but if they were so worthless... why did you keep buying more of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 for those who hate EA82s drive a multiport non turbo EA82 one day just for the hell of it... I love the little beastie even more now that I have some things more sorted. sound awesome and always starts and it's perky and rev happy! That's the engine in my daily driver. Swapped regular pistons into the Turbo motor and dropped an XT spider intake on it. Took the turbo out. Then I recently swapped the 4EAT for a 5spd S/R (street car, no need for D/R) So now car says *Fulltime 4wd Turbo* on the car, but it's really a Non-turbo, part time 4wd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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