zyewdall

Darn.... cause my friend's new EA82 never gets above cool (compared to icy cold if it's off). I was hoping we could pressure out the core, but It seems that they're prety hard to clean huh. I've sold subaru's before because the heater core was clogged, rather than replacing it because it's such a pain to get to (okay, it also had alot of other stuff wrong, but that was part of it)

Yeah, I get that sometimes -- usually from people who wonder how in the world I got my car to where it is, at the top of some snow covered driveway or something... "Is that four wheel drive?" yes, and it's even got low range. I sort of agree, however the lack of low range is a serious problemin some circumstances I think. My dad's new outback wagon will stall the engine in deep snow (over the bumper) before it loses traction -- whereas the old landrover with roughly the same size four cylinder engine as the outback has plenty of power to keep crawling -- though it seems to lose traction easier. Lucky people down south who still get low range in the Outbacks.

I second the calls for checking alignment, etc. But, I live 20 miles up a canyon road, that when it's dry, I drive very quickly (as fast as you can in an 84 horsepower GL wagon that is ), and my front snow tires last one season or so. I had a set of 80k michelins, that lasted alot longer, but they dont do as well on the snow, and I'd rather by a new set of snow tires every year, than either slow down, or slide off the road in the snow. Interestingly, the snowtires on my truck last alot longer, because I can't go around corners near as fast. But it's not as fun to drive either.

I've seen one other subaru with almost the same look to it. It was an 1997 EJ22 -- rod went through the top of the front of the block. But from what I gather, it's pretty rare. And yes, it did still start and run somewhat, missing one piston, with the hole in the block. Z

Wow. I never knew that, but it does make sense, and I've always found it hard to shift into first (not just on subarus) if its still moving. If the clutch is too loose (engaging too close to the floor) it can also make it harder to get into first and reverse (when stopped). Z

After a long highway run, stop and feel all of the wheels (hubs and brake parts). If any of them are warm, either a wheel bearning might be going, or brake sticking. My '89 wagon just recently went from always getting 28 to 30, to below 25 -- and the front rotors are always warm now. And on the last tank I only got 20 -- from a day or two of slogging through 6" to 15" deep snow in low range. My old '82 wagon used to get 27+ most the time, was dropping to 23ish from a completely worn out carbureator when I got rid of it. Mostly city and mountain driving.

Thanks. I've gotten duplicate titles before, when I've lost them, but the odd thing is that the previous owner said that the DMV wouldn't tell him who had filed for a duplicate title, so apparently it wasn't him...

Can anyone run a carfax on this vin? JF2AN53B8HE453086 It's an '87 GL wagon, that we just bought, and now the previous owner says he can't get a title for it -- that someone else applied for a duplicate title... sounds fishy, and we wanted to check what carfax says. Luckily we only paid $150 so far. Thanks Z

I see alot of cars driving around here with the front plate in on the dashboard facing out the windshield. Not sure of the legality of that, but that's what people do. And some people intentionally don't run front plates because it's only $15 fine for not having front plates, but $75 if the red light camera gets you. Or stop running red lights...

Yeah, after owning a few subaru's it's hard to quit.... After selling mine this summer (to my brother, who still hasn't even picked it up), I just had to buy another one. So now I have two, till he comes and gets it. But the thought of not having a subaru on hand if I needed it I look forward to every time it snows, because I can stick it in four low and go down the highway that they haven't bothered to plow yet (unless it gets too deep, in which case I have snowshoes too ) Plus, it's more fun to drive than anything else I own -- including my VW GTI. The VW is as much fun except on dirt roads, if you drive too fast, it will bottom out and break stuff. The subaru doesn't care about water bars or rocks.

Welllll....... My EA82 SPFI sure runs nice, and more power than my EA81's (though the 2wd EA81's are surprisingly peppy). But I like the design of the EA81's better. Simple and run forever if you just keep oil in them, except for the darned carbureators. An SPFI EA81 would be pretty sweet -- I never realized it was that easy either. Z

Compared to what? My EA82 is redlined at 6,500 (I try to keep it below 4,500), and I regularly have it at 3,800 while cruising, to get a semblance of power. That seems pretty darned high to me (though everything else I regularly drive is either a diesel, or an old V8, so I don't know what the little four cylinder gas engines in hondas, etc, usually operate at)

Five times huh. I tried to buy a truck once here that the dealers had transferred one too many times before selling to a private party, and basically voided the title... so the owner could not get a title in his name, so he couldn't sell it to me. I've had people contact me for cars that I used to own -- one that I had sold for parts (bought it for parts also), and saw driving around about a year later, and got a call from the guy asking if I'd changed the oil pump. I was pretty happy to hear it was still on the road. Z

Nice. Mine turned 200k while I had it lent to a friend -- got it back and it was 201k or so, so I missed it :-\ . It's still running great now at 213,125 (as of getting back from going snowshoing this afternoon).

I've got to move back to Washington. Way better selection of both subarus and old japanese pickups. At least we have the subaru's out here, just not in great shape for alot of them, but you should the looks the dealers give to Mazda or Mitsubishi pickups here -- as if they were made on the moon.

They could be related... in most vehicals I have owned, when the intermittent stops functioning, it also stops parking itself -- sort of like the park function has to work for the intermittent function to do anything. not sure which causes which actually. But perhaps you do have have intermittent wipers, but they just aren't working any more because the motor park function went. Just an idea.

I think I just convinced him to buy a SECOND subaru.... Actually, he was even the one who suggested it. We own a small solar electric installation company together, and though we have a new 16 foot box truck for major work, we needed a more reliable small vehical to replace my ailing '84 mitsubishi pickup. I thought of a new pickup, but he wants to get 2000 subaru outback wagon instead. Which after thinking about it, sounds like a great idea. Cheaper, more reliable, and better gas mileage, and we can still use the big truck whenever we need more cargo space.

Wow, my families old john deere tractor could do that (lock just one of the power wheels, to do really tight circles), but I've never seen an automobile with independent brakes. Z

Would that be a plane powered by a subaru engine? Gah, I hope not. There are so many old subies around here, I've often thought that statistically, the chances of dual subaru accident must be pretty high. My '89 GL has all power windows and door locks, and they all work. You don't necessarily have to upgrade to a legacy to get those. But it's alot harder in the older ones to find ones that they all still work. Zeke

Got it running. It seems it had some crappy bosch antitheft system hacked into the ignition wiring that was keeping it from starting. I cut those wires and ran a new one from the battery to the positive of the ignition switch, and from the starter output directly to the starter relay terminal. Took about 45 minutes to diagnose and fix and it started right up. Runs great -- doesn't seem to be exhibiting the cold starting problem any more either. Loosened the clutch, and it's more driveable too. We found out what's wrong with the alignment... passenger front wheel has been knocked about 2" back compared to the drivers side one . The big bar that goes from the back of the A arm to the frame on that side is bent, and you can see that the A arm is knocked back, and the tie rod angles back. We're going to take that bar off and straighten it out, and see if that helps. Someone must have run that front wheel into something pretty darn hard -- obviously it's got new hood and front fenders for a reason, and you can tell they pulled the radiator support back out, but the frame rails are not bent at all, so it must have been an odd shaped object they hit.

A little bit of a problem, but the older VW rabbit diesels happily rev to 5,000rpm at least. The newer ones use a longer stroke, so they are redlined at 4,500 I think. But they're certainly not like the diesels in full size pickups.

Huh. Looks like it might not be such a good idea. I was thinking that the stiffer suspension from a heavier car would result in higher ground clearance and better performance off road, but perhaps not if it's designed differently. I do know that the Legacys I've driven feel pretty squooshy off road, but I always attributed this to being really heavy compared to an EA81. I think I'll probably go back to just thinking about the 6 lug conversion and a simple lift, since better off road performance is really the goal here. Z

Yes, I noticed on my last road trip that about 80% of the diesel pumps are ULSD now. Which means that diesels can finally start using catalytic converters (or something equivalent).

Not yet, but apparently for the 2007 year in UK? And they're expecting 50% of their sales to be diesels by 2010 in Europe. Also buying hybrid technology from Toyota. http://globalautosystems.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=345&Itemid=2 http://www.autoblog.com/2006/09/30/subarus-diesel-boxer/ http://globalautosystems.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=345&Itemid=2 I'd have to imagine that if they are introducing it in the 2007 model year, they'd already be marketing the heck out of it, and since no one even knows the exact design yet, I suspect it's actually going to be the 2008 or 2009 year -- just like the Ford Escape hybrid took about 3 years to actually get introduced compared to when they said it would be out.

Common problem of old gens. Tick of death (though it can go on for 20k miles without any other symptoms). It is when the hydralic lifters collapse due to low oil pressure or dirty oil clogging them. My old gen ticks for about 5 seconds upon starting it in cold weather, but no longer than that (unless it's two quarts low on oil, sorry car ) Also, might be piston slap? I've heard that being a problem with some 2.5's, but never heard it, or owned one. Z