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Foreign Engines Inc. in Lynwood, WA GD

A few cold IPA's and I would have headed out to help.

Hi all My first Subie was a rust bucket 05 legacy from New Hampshire. Glad I switched to 3rd gen a couple years ago! Got it at 194k miles from a Garrett who drove it as a bakery delivery car in Port Townsend, WA. Before that it belonged to a tractor mechanic in Oregon. He named it Dixie and that has stuck so far; I was driving through Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon when I hit 200k miles, and lo and behold, two bends down the road, I passed ‘Dixie Campground.’ That pretty much set it in stone. Dixie sat for 8 months after I bought it, since I was overseas. Started right up after a battery charge and a few tries! Since then I’ve started working on it. This is my only car and the first I’ve worked on, so you can expect a careful approach from me. specs manufactured 06/1989 1990 Loyale S.W., S/R 5MT, SOHC SPFI 1.8 L EA82, all stock. 185 tires on stock 13” wheels Ruby Pearl red Panasonic a/c drive belt configuration but with no idler pulley Came with a wealth of printed information and a bunch of parts, from the previous previous owner. Apart from the resources available here and elsewhere online, the are some technician‘s reference booklets and ‚insider tips‘ about many of the common EA82 issues such as lifter tick. Push-Button awd routed to a dash switch b/c the button is missing Seeps oil from left, right, front, and back Called the mechanic on the timing belt change sticker, apparently the last owner didn’t have enough cabbage for more than just the belts (20k miles ago). The covers are seeping oil now and TOD, the HLA demon, showed up a couple months ago, so I want to get those covers off ASAP to inspect/replace pumps, pulleys, seals, belts, tensioners, etc. I‘m preparing for the job atm. I switched to 15w40 but still get loud ticking while warming the engine up. The head or valve cover gaskets (excuse my ignorance) and oil pump are all pretty leaky, so no surprise. Blew a strut in the snow, so my passenger rear twerks over bumps. I‘m collecting parts for the suspension improvements suggested by 2.7 turbo loyale (thanks for all you do). so far I’ve replaced the: alternator and drive belts headlight bulbs battery spark plugs transaxle gear oil (extra s + 0.5 qt rislone engine treatment) oil (15w40 due to lifter tick) oil and air filters tires (185s) I like this car a lot. The more I do for it, the more it teaches me. Hoping to connect with a couple local folks eventually. Thanks for maintaining such a great community. cheers from Olympia, jon (it‘s pronounced ‘yone,’ it’s German)

yeah, selling that car should be for PARTS ONLY - it is not roadworthy any more. and here in WI at least, the way to enforce that "parts only" thing is to write "JUNK" in big letters across the front of the title. just because you can drive it, does not mean you should.

That’s too bad. unfortunately used H6s are prime candidates for dumping for sale due to the way they easily sneak through with mild and “unconventional” symptoms Burp it. New coolant and burped will take care of that. But it’s the headgaskets. Before filling radiator run a garden hose through it and make sure it can pass the water (not clogged). Sometimes that’s nicer to do off the vehicle if you don’t mind pulling the radiator. Or get a new radiator. New cap and tstat can be tried now and transferred to new engine. Exhaust gas analyzer will give you a positive result when the combustion test kit doesn’t.

That’s the way to go. New plugs and serpentine pulley bearings and 100k here you come.

I found that the rear right wheel had a bent lateral control arm (rear arm) and it seems the wheel was toed out. I finally discovered this after the rear right tire showed excessive wear on the inside so that the steel belts became exposed. So I got new control arms (both front and rear) from Rock Auto. That long lateral bolt that often needs to be cut out was no problem. Mine wasn't rusted at all and came off easily. Now that winter is starting I will soon know if that eliminates the squirrelly feeling I always experience while driving on icy roads. I used a DIY toe adjustment method I found described in a YouTube Video to set the wheel to a neutral toe.

Later OBD II harness is easier to trim. None of needed wires gtrghh SMJ so y can toss it. Hooking up CEL is EXCACTLY the same....1 wire. Fuel temp sensor is not ned to run engine. That said I have no problem running an OBD I harness/ecu in some of my swaps. OBD I and OBD II harness are completely NOT intaerchangable.

You can switch between obd1 and obd2 wiring if you have the matching wiring from the manifold. I find it easier to keep the manifold intact since the fuel injection is the same. I have to disagree with @GeneralDisorder on this one however. I have personally trimmed each type of harness and i found the obd1 harness a bit easier to work with because the ecu connectors are separated (rather than just one big connector) and the super multiple junction is a lot smaller. The obd1 is much easier to keep the cel. There is no reason in my opinion not to use the 90-94 electronics, especially since the imprezas came with obd1 until 96 i think. Just take the dash off and rip everything out. Busaru youtube channel has loads of pinouts. Two advantages to the obd2 is that the alternator pigtail is simpler (there is a double diode on obd1) and you can simply ground the neutral switch to disable the vehicle speed sensor.

I don't usually call bull************. But, putting on the filter too tight will not cause high oil pressure. As zacyork said it just makes it a pain to get off.. Putting it on too loose will cause it to fall off. And that causes low oil pressure...

the stock gauges are not known for being ultra accurate. My question would be what weight oil are you running? - different oil weights will give very different readings in the same car

use a common sense. do not over tight of oil filter, thats would be cause high oil pressure. just do a little tighty and see A LITTLE drop oil...not a leakkyy/drip oil.