zyewdall

I've had two carbed subies that would die when you put the clutch in, but ran great while driving. Turns out they had internal vacuum leaks in the idle circuit of the carbureator, that were starving it when the primary circuit was not open (foot off the gas). I cleaned the carb with carb cleaner, and it just got worse... I cleaned out some important old bit of gasket I think... Might need a new carb :-\

Carbureator icing??? I've never had that on a subaru, because they have the heated carbureators, but I've never driven them in high humidity cold weather either.

Started right away last night at 8 below zero, when everyone else's old cars were barely starting, or not starting. Yippie. Z

The people just don't get it about good tires are the ones who don't drive in snow every day. And the people who just don't get it about salt and humidity are the ones from west of the mississippi (like me -- I can't understand how you can possible have rust on a vehical from the 90's already)

Depends on what sort of terminals you have -- if you have the ones that clamp onto the battery post then have a stud with a wing nut, it's pretty easy to just put a another wire with a ring terminal on there. If it's a factory cable end that goes right into the post clamp, it's a pita, I agree. Z

I agree -- and for some reason, I can't stand the look of those...

Hmmmm. They keep getting bigger. Looks like it's built on the Legacy platform instead of the impreza platform now? When will they reintroduce the justy. That's what I want

If it's alot of stuff, I'd run a new #10AWG wire directly to the battery with an inline 30 amp fuse, to a new fuse block under the dash or such -- then you can have a separate fuse for your CB, Ham radio, inverter, spotlight, etc...... Otherwise, just hijack the wire to the existing lighter socket.

We have two 06 outback wagons (auto transmission) as company cars, and they are very nice -- I think the handling is very good -- certainly not like Ford Explorers, which I can't stand, and certainly would never take out in the snow for fear of crashing. Certainly a step ahead of my dad's '96 outback, which itself is a step ahead of my EA82 wagon. They do seem rather sluggish compared to my old wagon (actual speed is higher of course, but they just don't feel like a little rally car any more).

They match the four that I have... but have the obvious problem that they're in Oregon and I'm in Colorado.

I love that yellow brat!

Subaru's take so little current that I doubt it's a problem with the battery unless it's really bad. Have you measured the voltage at the battery and at the starter while cranking? That will give you an idea of whether the battery is sagging, or if wiring is the problem. And a new starter (though you already did this, sounds like) can work wonders sometime -- the starter on my D-50 just died, and the new one is so much faster -- I didn't realize the old one was getting so slow, but it explains why it wasn't starting so good for the last few months...

Sounds like the symptoms I had when the driveshaft center carrier bearing went out -- light vibration on the highway for about a year, then finally, it got worse, and from 0 to 10mph was horrible noisy low speed vibration -- as if a whole wheel was loose or something -- and the shift levers would bounce up and down. Turns out the carrier bearing just wasn't any more - so the middle of the driveshaft sagged at low speed, till centrifigal force straightened it out at higher speeds. Z

NICE:banana: I'm about a third the way through an electric vehicle project right now -- not one of my subarus, but a 1974 Ford Courier pickup. I've thought about doing my '82 GL though... Nipper et al, I hear you about the funds and time.... for a long time I had plenty of time and no money, now I've got the money, and not as much time... and no garage (makes it impossible to any work on my cars for about 5 months when the snow buries everything...) For fun.. http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/whitezombie.php An old Datsun 1200 converted to electric that beats built up muscle cars in drag races. http://www.proev.com/ Electric Impreza race car.

To a large extent that is true. However, my dad's EJ22 Outback will stall the engine in deep snow (above the bumper, going up hill) because it looses horsepower before losing traction. My old GL with low range will usually spin the wheels even when it won't move at all, even with snow tires. Of course, this may also have to do with the better traction control system of the outback so it's trying to spin all four wheels instead of just two. And it's sort of a moot point, since both cars stopped... Crawling at low speed over rocks or roots is the other thing that a dual range is good at -- though the new automatic trannies aren't too bad either. The best solution IMO.... EJ22 with the 5 speed dual range.... And yes, you can still find hatches in good condition in the west -- Colorado is okay, but CA, OR, and WA for the best ones. For $5000 I bet you could get a rust free hatch, and pay a shop to put in an EJ22, 5 speed dual range, and 4 inch lift.

EA82's will run without complaint with only 2 quarts of oil... 1.5 quarts they start tapping just like TOD, and the oil pressure will start fluctuating on hard curves. Don't ask me how I know this.... YMMV -- I have a dent in my oil pan that may affect the volume of the sump... :-p

Classic symptoms of a clutch cable that needs to be adjusted. For the hesitation, I was going to suggest cleaning the MAF, but sounds like you already did that. Z

Yeah.... me too... it's great in some ways, but you do tend to work 24/7.... which isn't so great for long term sanity... On the other hand, working for someone else can drive you insane too (my current situation....) And then there is being unemployed, which means you have loads of time... but has other drawbacks (namely, unhappy bank accounts) All I want is a little time AND money to work on my subies.....

Since everyone posts when they have a problem... I thought it'd post when I don't have any problem at all... I had a bit of highway driving today for work -- it kept up 75mph (actually spent some time in the left lane...), and got 250 miles on half a tank of gas (which means a little over 30mpg). That's with the new studded snows on there too (which are really nice in the snow and ice we've had here recently -- passed alot of spun out cars and SUV's last weekend). Not bad for 18 (almost 19) years old and 235k miles, eh? :banana:

I hauled a grader blade for my tractor home in my subie tonight... only about 350lbs, but it sure was awkward to stuff in there.

My dad's landrover isn't to hard to crank start when it's cold... but crank starting it when hot is a royal pain -- something about the ring clearances or something? I've got a friend with a '25 dodge, and it's the same -- pretty easy when cold, but not when hot. The problem with the subaru would be that you couldn't get a standard crank in there since the radiator is lower than on the old trucks and blocks access to the crankshaft. I guess you could do the wind a rope around the pulley trick, but I bet that would be a bear to get enough leverage. With the crank, you typically slowly turn the engine over till you feel a compression stroke, then give it a quick half turn -- so you aren't actually turning it that far like you'd probably be with a rope around the pulley.

One more idea... you mentioned that the voltmeter on the dash doesn't agree with a multimeter... I wonder if there is a bad wire or ground somewhere such that the voltage during cranking is getting low enough that the ignition cuts out.... I happen to know that the ignition on a '85 GL will still run at 7 volts though --the radio stops working before the car stops....

carbed cars don't necessarily have to not like cold weather -- the other day, single digit temps, I started both my 1976 truck and 1954 tractor. The tractor took some judicious manipulation of the choke to start, but the truck started immediately with the choke on. The fact that it starts when bump started, but not with the starter is strange.... not sure if someone has already mentioned this, but is it possible that it isn't getting spark in the start position, but is in the run position? I've had that problem before, where the ignition cut out when the starter motor was turning (I think it was due to an ignition switch problem) -- so it would have an insane time trying to start it, but if you bump start it with the key in the run position, you never move it to the start position so it starts right away. Maybe?? That doesn't really explain the cold vs hot issue..... geesh. I don't know.

I second (or tenth or whatever we're up to now) the idea of a 2.2 legacy wagon. I like the older GL's myself... but the legacy is probably better for a comfortable daily driver, and alot more power, slightly bigger, and roughly the same gas mileage. EJ22 engine is probably subaru's best engine (except maybe the EA81, if you want it to run forever, but don't care about power). I see 1st gen legacies in good condition for $1400 to $2200 all the time. And, I'd consider going west to get one... I've seen cars from the east coast and they scare me how fast they rust out -- even 10 year old cars are all rusty. Spend $300 on a plane ticket to CA or at least CO, and two or three days driving it back to New York -- you probably won't find a car any cheaper out here, but you can find a rust free early 90's one without too much trouble -- and maybe then the drivetrain will go out before it starts failing inspection.

I'm looking at buying a 1994 awd (are they awd or 4wd?) subaru justy, 5 speed (I've read enough in the archives here to stay away from the CVT's). No rust, 140k miles. I've always had EA81's and EA82's, but I use the EA82 mostly for commuting... and it's silly to only get 27mpg when I could be getting 40... I do use the 4wd regularly, and while I like the lo range... it's not a daily use like 4wd is. Plus, the EA82 has 235k miles on it... not going to last forever though it seems like it might sometimes... So... what should I know. Is the '94 Justy fuel injected? How does the power compare to an SPFI EA82? Special maintenance items I should look for? How do they do in the snow compared to the 4wd EA series ones? Can I expect it to keep going for 200k+ miles? Are they as easy to work on as the EA series ones? Thanks Z