zyewdall

:banana: Was it a 4wd or 2wd pickup? Pics?

'89 GL wagon, SPFI, 5MT 4wd hi/lo, 185/70R13's, ~30 highway, 26-28 combined city/mountain.

I think that california '87's are SPFI, but rest of US was still carbed. Not sure about '88's.

Mine would be a Landrover Series IIA 109 station wagon with the mechanical 2.5TDI engine, a late 90's Outback impreza (sport) with a dual range EA82 series tranny in it and a 2 or 3" lift, a 4wd subaru justy with a 3 cylinder turbo diesel in it, and a Reva to zip around town in.

Well, it's not technically the DMV, but its a private company that the DMV hired just to do emissions testing. They can do VIN checks and some other DMV-like things there too (but not registration, title, stuff like that -- still have to wait in the interminable lines at the DMV office for that)

Nope, in Denver metro area all vehicals newer than 1982 go through dyno emissions. They have two special lanes in the emissions center for dynoing full time awd vehicals -- two sets of rollers with adjustable wheelbase. Even diesels get dynoed (although all they check for the diesel is soot)

Well... it looks a lot like the FJ40 in the grill, but it's got the same ugly boxiness that all of the SUV's are going to for the 2006 models. Big square plastic bumpers and such. Makes me want to hurl. Funny, cause I like the boxy look of EA82 subies, and of old isuzu troopers -- a true box on wheels.

Yeah, I wish they made a TDI subaru too... but they don't, so I have a summer and a winter car. I average 27mpg in my subaru ('89 GL), but I think turbo ones are lower, plus the legacy is a heavier car. Speaking of gas guages spireling... I loved it when a friend and I went to pick up a small gas engined bus. Driving back, after I had filled the tank on the bus about 3 times, he told me he could see that the guage on his TDI was starting to move..... 50mpg vs 5.5mpg....

One reason why I sometime like RWD on ice. You can always engine brake and drag the rear end without fishtailing. Coming down icy hills I often take my truck out of 4wd just because of this.

Geez, that sucks. I wouldn't say there is anything wrong with subaru -- cars do need new clutches from time to time, and speedos go out too -- but apparently their dealers there suck if it takes them several times to fix anything. I know there's people on this board that hate taking subaru's to non-dealer mechanics, but seriously, whats the worst that could happen. You might end up with someone incompetent to work on your car -- but it sounds like you already did.

Not exactly -- it's probably the connection that's generating the heat. If you can replace the battery terminal on the end of it, the cable might be fine. Problem is that usually the old cable is so dirty you can't get a decent solder connection on the new terminal without chopping a few inches off, and then it's too short....

Sounds good given my experience (diesels at least). I don't know if the actual manifold gets at hot as the exhaust gasses though. I like the idea of MIG welding it on. Or using fireplace/exhaust cement or something, but that's usually too brittle and vibrates out. Heck, try the RTV silicon, and if it fails, you'll at least know. Z

Yup. Happens fairly often I guess. The hub strips out and the axle is still okay. I drove my GL for about 100 miles in rwd when I stripped the front left hub, till I could get a new one from the junkyard. Tighten the axle nut as tight as you can possibly get it is the only way to prevent it that I've heard of. Z

I use a chain between the power steering pump bracket on the front (it's got that big loop sticking up), and the bracket on the rear that the engine mount/rod that goes back to the rear firewall attaches too.

Sounds like it might be a bad connection at the positive battery terminal overheating, and transferring heat up the wire to both of the positive wires? The starter draws alot of current, but I have moved subarus with the starter without melting insulation, so it shouldn't be a problem. Unless... the EA82 I did that with has a good #2 or 1/0 sized wire going to the starter, but I think someone said the EA81 doesn't have as big of one?

vwdiesel.net is a good one for diesel vw's. Not as active as this board, but not too bad when you've got questions. Z

Well, I had two EA81's, and two EA82's (one SPFI, and one Carbed), and I can say that the EA82SPFI has more power for sure. I still think the EA81 had more torque at low rpms though. I personally like the EA81 body a little more for offroading, and stylistically. And the EA81 engine is simpler, though to be honest, the EA82 isn't bad either. I'd go for an EA82SPFI with the 5 speed dual range, in an EA81 body if I were you. How many miles are on your EA81? If it's rust free and shiny, and runs good, I think it could go for at least $1200 -- maybe more depending on low miles. Rusty old ones needing work are between $200 and $800.

There are some long even hills on the freeway here that are the perfect slope to go down at 75 in nuetral. If I have it in gear, I have to keep my foot on the gas to keep the rpm's up at 3500 to keep it from slowing down. But that's a very special case. In general I agree, keep it in gear to use engine braking. As far as using the gas to avoid an accident, if there are other cars closeby, I usually don't do the coasting thing for that reason, though at that speed, an EA82 can't really accellerate anyway...

Search for threads on head gaskets -- there are tons of them. I think you've got one of the infamous phase I 2.5 liter engines -- roughly 10-15% have head gasket problems. It's actually a problem with the head gasket itself, so once you have a new improved gasket put in, it shouldn't happen again. Unless it's been overheated because of the blown head gasket, I should think that machining the head is not needed, just a new gasket, but you should see what other people here think.

Well, I do in my manual tranny. I know they don't recommend it for manual or auto trannies, but obviously I don't listen...

What kind of car are you used to? Depending on how little power it has below 2200rpms, it might be normal. The power band on these is pretty much between 2500 and 4000rpms. I've heard of people used to big old V-8's having trouble, because they've learned to not rev them above 2500.

So, when did the white spoke wagon wheels start not fitting on the wagons? I had to keep the stamped steel ones (the ones that all kinds of hubcaps snap into) for my '89 GL, because the white spoked ones from my old '82 wouldn't quite clear the front calipers. But they DID fit my '85 wagon. Maybe I just had worn pads on the '85 which set the calipers back a tiny bit. I painted the steel ones flat black, and put the little chrome center caps from the old ones in them. Looks better than the hubcaps I think (and I don't knock them off offroading as much). edit: Some pictures in my post at the bottom of this thread. I still like the look of the white spoked wheels on the blue cars. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46066&highlight=two+tone

In the old 4wd manuals, there was a solid gear driving the rear output shaft, which can handle all of the power (although there was a recent thread about a few people breaking that gear when they really thrashed on it). In the 4EAT, there isn't any gear going to the rear output is there? Just a set of clutches, which start having to take 100% of the power all of the time, when they were designed for taking 10% of the power most of the time in the normal 90/10 split.

Have them dismount the tire, then take both parts home and fix it yourself, then take them back in and remount them. I can't recall for sure, but I think it was $12.50 for a mounting and balancing, and $3 for a dismount when I took in my own tires and rims last.

You'll probably have to have a tire shop do it. Every since they went to the tubeless tires with the safety rims back in the late 70's I don't think a regular tire iron will do it, and it would just mess up your alloy rim. I had a leaky tire on a steel rim, took it to the tire shop and they put some type of glue or sealant or something on the rim to seal it. I was skeptical, but it doesn't leak any more so I guess it worked.