zyewdall

No, just an exorcist. And not even as good a one as the poster of the other thread needs

Could also be that the positive terminal fell off the battery -- not the big one that goes to the starter, but the little wire that goes over the to the fuseable links -- I've seen that on alot of subarus that's kind of hanging on by some threads, instead of tightly connected any more. Except... that should have cut the ignition too. Hmm... Also, you didn't say yet, but, any fuses blown? Z

They start at about $4 at Harbor freight. The cheap ones do tend to become inaccurate if their battery gets low, but other than that, they work okay. Enough for some basic diagnostics, at least. I wouldn't use a cheap one for research grade work... If you didn't get a big spark... then it's probably somewhere between kind of dead and pretty dead :-\

Yeah... I'll put my old "truckish" subaru against any of the new AWD ones on a deep snow covered dirt road.... I can use the low range to pull them out after they burn out their clutch But they've probably never seen snow there either, I guess.... Seriously, the low range is one of the best things about old subarus, that allows them to do stuff that you'd never think a car could do.

If it got discharged, then sat out in the cold, it's probably full of ice.... so it's toast. In that case, it probably won't show a voltage at all, especially under any load. And with the jumpers hooked up to the other car, it might show full voltage of the other battery, because it isn't drawing any current. Do some voltage measurements first.... then you know yourself whether it's good or toast.

Yeah... maybe. What year brat? Starting in either '83 or '84, the headlights are supposed to go off with the ignition. It bugs me that other cars still haven't implemented this even in the 90's and later.... I punish them by leaving the headlights on till the batteries die (well... okay, it's more just because I'm used to never having to turn my headlights off and I forget). Z

I'll have to see if I can dig up a picture of my "old" '82 wagon.... it was missing the doors below the trim. I screwed pieces of ductwork sheet metal over it... I didn't own a digital camera back then, but I'll see what I can find... Z

Yikes. I though that subaru's were designed to bend the radius rods before breaking the rims referring the other thread on there of hitting curbs and bending stuff......

Seems like a 6 bolt would be less likely to break than a 4 bolt, as long as you welded the old holes full and didn't just leave them when you redrilled the new holes. Or am I missing something? Z

Does it have power steering? It could be the power steering pump is locked or close to it because the fluid is too cold. I wouldn't run it if there is a pully that the belt is sliding around instead of turning... it'll shred the belt in pretty short order (hmmm... how do I know that?)

Could the high beam relay be not kicking in? Z

Yeah..... it has to warm up for at least 10 minutes or it won't go anyway... carbureated engine. Switching to synthetic was something I was going to do eventually anyway, but the cold was more a reminder that I had planned that. And NO, I am not working on it in the cold if I can avoid it. It's only mid 20's here though. :-p Z

The transaxle has many bearings... so that's not a very good description. If it's the center carrier bearing on the driveshaft... that's an easy fix. And easy to diagnose too, as you can crawl underneath and turn it and see if it's loose or nice and tight. When mine went out, it was worse at low speeds, under 10mph, and went away at high speeds though. And, it definitely sounded like it was from the back (though I had a rear wheel falling off), not the front. Can you give more details on when it occurs. It is under acceleration, or decceleration, or coasting. Does it happen if the car is in nuetral, or only if it's in gear. Does it happen in all gears, or just some? Could it be something in the engine even.... does it happen if you rev the engine with the car stopped?

That's rediculous. People claim that Colorado is cold... but it's not really, compared to the midwest. I don't know if I could take it out there. The coldest we got here this winter was -3F, and that was only two nights. Z

No... I think it's that the transmission oil is so cold and gooey that the gears are acting like a torque converter. My truck does the same thing when the tranny oil is around zero -- start it with the clutch in and let it warm up about 30 seconds so it doesn't stall... then release the clutch (hydraulic clutch), in nuetral, and it'll lug down as it starts to turn the goo in the tranny, and it'll move the truck a few inches. I need to switch it to synthetic..... Z

NO ONE's subaru catalog seems to be correct. I've actually had better luck at RockAuto than the local Napa or Checker.... still not perfect, but better.... I bought a new cap and rotor for my SPFI EA82 yesterday at Checker, and they had 5 options, none of which even looked the same, or were differentiated in the computer. I had to identify it by taking the old one in... Part of the issue is that if you tell them exactly what engine, they can't look it up -- they don't know what a SPFI EA82 is....

'84 and '83 had the quad headlights, but the '82 and '81 had the single large rectangular headlights. Other than that, I think the bodies were all the same. And... the hatches up to '89 had that body as well (at least the front....) And yes, I prefer that style, over the Loyale style. I loved my '89 wagon... but for the one to keep and build up with the lift kit and different engine... I chose the '82 wagon.

Chevy LUV's were made by Isuzu Also, Ford Couriers are really Mazda's and Dodge D50's are really Mitsubishis... to add to my list above. For mud terrains.... yes... good luck finding anything in a 14" tire. I actually just gave in and bought 15" rims for my Ford Sasquatch (Mazda) truck, instead of the 14" ones it came with back in 1976, because I could not find any decent truck tires in 14". Snow tires still seem to be pretty available in the 14" and 13" sizes, at least here, but not the mudders.

Alot of the old 2wd nissan, Isuzu, mazda, and mitsubishi trucks from the 70's and early 80's had 14 inch wheels with the 6 bolt pattern. For some reason, the 2wd toyotas used a 5 bolt instead of the 6 bolt. Some of the 4wd ones might have 14" ones, but most probably had 15", or even 16" for some. Ipikes (Hankook W409s - my current snow tire of choice) are available in 195/55/R15 http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tiremodel=W409+Winter+i*Pike&tirebrand=Hankook You can also buy new 6 lug 14" wheels in various styles... for not much more than a used set of Pugs might cost if you have to ship them from the NW http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=700+4294923107+4294923106+400354+4294923105+4294793323+4294755953+115+4294795078

That's odd, as the 4wd is on the tailshaft, and if the transmission is in nuetral, that should be the same whether the engine is running or not. Unless, it's not the transmission that's preventing it, but the vacuum diaphram, still connected to it, is not letting you manually move it when the engine is applying vacuum ??

The part time 4wd ones don't get torque bind. Or... you could say that they have torque bind by design all the time when in 4wd... semantics Anyway -- it sounds like you found the actual lever that is supposed to engage the rear drive, and it won't move into the 4wd position even if you push it there by hand instead of with the vacuum acuator? If so, it sounds like it could have something wrong inside the transmission perhaps. Z

I guess... it's a non interference engine. However, the gas mileage will probably suck, and I can't imagine that it has much power at all -- I was just driving mine on three cylinders for a little, and it felt like such a dog.... (on the other hand, it was a good way to make it feel quick and spritely with all four... which normally an EA82 isn't all that spritely feeling. Z

Growing up in Spokane/N. ID, and now living in Colorado, it seems kind of strange that anyone in Seattle would even need a block heater.... In Colorado, I only have one on the diesel truck, none of the gas vehicles, and they all start fine in single digit temps all winter. Of course... I'm sure all the people in Minnesota and Alaska are laughing at me thinking that Colorado or Idaho is cold .... Single digits... you mean positive numbers?

China isn't the only one with a reputation of building crap unfortuneatly... I wouldn't buy a chinese car, but I wouldn't buy an american one either. Take the Chevy Aveo -- similar gas mileage to the Camries and Civics, but this summer, they were languishing on lots just like the Suburbans, while there was waiting lines for prius's, that cost twice as much.

CA must have stronger emissions standards than CO -- I've never had a subaru fail in Colorado (except for stuff like gas caps). They've always passed at near a quarter of the limit. Other vehicles, yes....