zyewdall

What types of cars have you been burned on? I think it's pretty unusual for subies to have major trouble before 150k, but there's always the odd bizzarre failure. I've heard very few horror stories with subies or most japanese cars compared to american or european cars. I have never bought one with less than 180k, but I've also never paid more than $500 either. I expect periodic repairs in the $200 - $600 range (I do my own work), but since I don't have a car payment, I'll accept that risk, and so far, it's been far cheaper than a car payment. The new Kia's come with a 100,000 mile warrantee.... I'm not impressed with their quality, but I've never owned one so I can't really speak. They must hold up. If you want the piece of mind, $884 is not a whole lot for a $20,000 car, to know it will go twice as long before you have to budget for possible major repairs.

Don't know about europe, but in west africa I didn't see a single suby. All old mercedes, toyota, or puegot cars, or small 4wd pickups from nissan, yota, and landrover. You can only buy diesel at most of the stations there, and the only gasoline fueled vehical I saw was a chevy lumina on the US embassy grounds, so I suspect not having a diesel version was the main reason, because the cars were always getting stuck in the sand and a subaru would have been great.

Hmmm. Both nuts should be on the side facing away from the rear firewall, if I recall. Because the clutch cable comes in from the rear, and has to be able to pull the fork back to release the clutch. They should be adjusted so the pedal goes down just a little bit before starting to pull the release fork back. Have someone watch to see that the release fork is indeed moving when you step on the pedal. I would suspect the transmission might be between 4wd hi and 4wd lo. I've done that before and it just sort of sits there. If it's not that, and the release fork is moving, it sort of sounds like it needs a new clutch.

There should be two nuts on the end of the release fork (right under the spare tire). If you want it to engage higher up, tighten the nuts. Don't forget to also adjust the hill holder cable (by loosening it's nuts when you tighten the clutch cable nuts), so it will still release the hill holder at the same place on the clutch engagement process.

Never had studless before. I'm trying them this year for the first time -- we'll see. My dad put them on his '96 outback last year for the first time (because he wasn't sure if Olympia was going to outlaw the studs), and he's pretty impressed with them. Here in CO the roads are much easier winter driving than eastern Washington -- we see mostly bare and dry roads in the winter, except for the occasional storm, so studs wear off pretty fast -- one season often. Not the packed ice we always got up north of Spokane, which I think was easier on the tires. Zeke

On old cars with generators and mechanical voltage regulators and points and condenser ignitions, it didn't hurt anything. But alternator diodes and electronic ignitions and computers really don't like voltage surges..... Newer cars (newer than 'early 60's) are just too sensitive for it to be a recommended proceedure any more.

HAHAHAHA. I got stuck in my suby last spring (sitting on my frame on a late snowbank with no wheels touching the ground), and then we got a brand new dodge hemi stuck trying to pull me out. And THEN, we pulled the dodge out with three ATV's (they all had winches ), and finally pulled me out.... Sorry the picture really doesn't do it justice. Imagine a pretty off camber snow bank, the ditch is full of 1' to 2' boulders, and it's 60 degrees so it's pretty slippery and squishy.

Hmmmm. Sounds like a bad ground. A resistance test should show 0.1 ohms or maybeg 0.2 or 0.3, but not higher than that.

Yeah, I'm afraid I agree with nipper here. But do check that they are inflated as high as they will allow. I always run mine at 35 (or whatever the max listed on the tire is), and it helps a bit compared to the usual 28. Little harsher ride though.

You are right. I just looked up the specs for the new ones. Wow! 165 horsepower. That's twice what mine has. The subaru has quite a bit more torque than the civic too, although it is still at a dissapointingly high 4,000 rpm. I thought the old ones peaked more like 2,500 rpm? Test drive both of them. That's the only way to really tell which you think is better.

I've done simple stuff like replacing head gaskets and swapping engines with the $22 chiltons manual. Not real detailed at times, but I'm fairly comfortable ripping into an engine without a manual at all, so it suffices. And it does have okay wiring diagrams which is the part you usually can't wing. Along with help from this forum, which is great when you get a little stuck.

Is it a PDF with actual text, or with text as scanned graphics?

Great writeup on voltage testing Snowman. I always keep a voltmeter in all my cars -- about $10 for one, and helps SO much with troubleshooting. Z

Thanks subaru of america. That's why I still own an '89 GL wagon. Last year the dual range 5MT was available in the US....

I've never driven Impreza's or Civic's newer than '97, and my car is a '89 GL wagon. But here was my impression of both. The Civic is pretty gutless unless you get the Vtec? engine. I drove a '97 (I think) civic with that engine and was quite pleaseantly suprised that it could go up hills at highway speed, which most civic's can't (but hey, neither can my '89 suby). It was also the hatchback instead of the sedan that I had previously driven. I was also driving it around in snowy mountain roads, and was suprised at how well it felt glued to the road. Better than my old subaru even (It had slightly better snow tires). A civic with really good snow tires is better than any SUV or 4wd pickup I have driven on snowy highways. Of course in deep snow, it won't do you any good. The AWD subaru will be better -- carlike handling, but with AWD. But you may not really need it. The Impreza definitely has more power than the civic -- largely because it actually has low end torque instead of a rubber band engine. No trouble going up hills at speed limit or higher. Fun to drive. I think 30mpg is more typical of mileage from what I've heard. I've never driven one in the snow, but unless they made it much worse than my old suby, it'll be great in snow untill it gets deep enough to high center (I suspect if anything, the new AWD is better than mine, except for getting rid of the low range 4wd, which is why I won't get a new one). I have a 4wd pickup too, and the subaru is much better in the snow. The civic has a transverse engine, which is a PITA to work on. My VW rabbit is 3 times harder to do anything on than my subaru because of this. If you aren't doing your own work, not an issue. And I have heard rumors that the diesel civic will be coming to the US in '06. In my book this would put it way over the impreza. I love the new diesel VW's (as much power as the Impreza, but better gas mileage than the civic), but their quality leaves something to be desired, and they don't like dirt roads much... I don't know how much the price premium might be for the diesel civic. Zeke

Cable or hydraulic clutch? The grinding going into reverse is usually from it not fully disengaging when your foot is all the way down. Tightening the nut on the clutch cable up a turn or so usually fixes this. If it's a hydraulic clutch, not sure....

Have you done a continuity check on the fuseable links? Sometimes they can still look okay, but not be okay. Also, you could try jumping power to the fuse box and see if it starts -- if it does, then you know what you have to fix. Zeke

Sounds like bad connections or too small of wires. Run a new #8AWG wire from the alternator output directly to the positive battery terminal, and a 8AWG wire from the alternator bracket bolt to the negative battery terminal, and see if that helps it. Could be a bad ground to the engine too -- I think the EA81's didn't have a large guage wire going directly to the starter like the EA82's, but not sure.

Well, there's obviously the coming through the windshield factor, but for more glancing hits, the steel brush guard thing would be good. At least it'll keep the hood and engine and headlights from being all bent up. I'd bolt directly to the frame where the bumper mounts are. There's deer that live on the road to my house, and I've come close to hitting them many times driving home at dusk. Unlike most deer I've ever seen this herd has learned not to jump into the road though, so most the time you go right by at 35, about 4" away from them standing motionless on the shoulder. Freaks me out when I do that...

Costco Kirkland brand. They are cheap, and have a 100 month prorated warrantee. I get the 800CCA ones, which is bigger than a subaru really needs. $50 each. I'd like an optima yellow top for running accessories more without the engine on, but those are $200 each or so. Soooo, not yet.

I have found that mine burns more if I use anything with a W30 on it. I try too use 5W40 in the winter, and 10W5- or 20W50 in the summer. I have found the the synthetic oil does start a bit easier in the cold winter mornings (often single digits), so I use it most of the time. And despite what it seemsmost people on here will advise, I use Fram oil filters. Not any brand loyalty so much as it is what the auto parts place with hours that I can actually come in carries. '89 GL with 203k miles

I think that refers to a rediculous thing that involves a motor and track in the door frame or A-pillar that sort of puts the shoulder belt on you when close the door. Or tries to strangle you with it as the case usually is. You still have to buckle the lap belt part, so I'm not sure how much good it does, but it's a design to force people to wear their belts. It seems that alot of early 90's cars here had them. I don't have any problem putting my on my belt myself, so I consider it to be an annoyance, and moving parts often break.

No. Just choose one or the other to take out. If you are pulling just the tranny, it comes out and goes in from beneath, but you have to remove some cross pieces on the frame I believe. The engine comes out and goes in from the top -- this is the way I've done it. I don't know if you can even take them out or put them in as one piece -- never tried it. Not like my rediculous volkswagen rabbit where they cannot be taken out separately.

For my 2M antenna, I just ran the coax through the back hatch when open, then closed it. Haven't noticed any leaks where it compresses the gasket. You could do the same for power wires to lights I suppose.

have you tried rotating the tranny to get the teeth to line up (jack up one wheel and rotate it, with the tranny in gear). Sounds sort of like the input shaft isn't sliding into the clutch all the way, although this would keep it about 1.5" out I would think? I had a little trouble getting the EA82 back in, but got it within a half inch of so, then pulled it closed with the bolts, while rocking it a little.