zyewdall

Pics of a few I've done '87 GL '89 touring wagon, a little dirty from the snow '84 and '85 GL wagons. The PO had hit a deer with the '84 hence the mushed up hood, and blue swirlies painted on the front. The little lights on the corners of the hoods of the three EA82's are my additions too -- hooked to the turn signal. I can see it and not drive with my turn signal on, and it doesn't get encrusted with mud and snow as much.

This is what I did to all of the GL wagons I've owned. The three light blue ones got a dark blue hammerite up to the rubber molding, and for the flared part around the fender wells. The brown touring wagon I've got now got two tone dark green below, with a green strip along the windows, and a white roof. Looks pretty sharp I think and I've gotten complements from people at stop lights a few times. I'll post a picture if I can figure out how. Zeke

I used to think that brakes were hard, but I can do front brake pads on a subaru GL (not machining the rotors obviously) in about 20 or 30 minutes now (depending on what bolts are rusted...). Drums are a little harder than discs, IMO, but still easy once you've done them once or twice. If you can, see if the mechanic will let you watch while he does the brakes. Usually they won't, but one of my friends conned a mechanic into teaching her while he did all four wheels on her old VW bus.

Great options: Basically 1) Ban offroading 2) Let's destroy whatever we want offroading, thus reinforcing 1) What happened to responsible offroading on existing public trails, but not at random through the wetlands just to tear them up (what alot of the jeeps and most the ATV'er do around here), and not through posted private property?

Does anything happen if they're too tight? I usually stand on the end of a 1/2" drive ratchet or the 15" ajustable wrench till they stop turning, which has got be closer to 200 ft lbs. Zeke

Sorry to hear it died. SPFI EA82 was between '87 and '92, or maybe '94 -- can't remember if the last years of loyales were MPFI? I just put a '91 loyale engine in a '87 GL and just had to swap the disty (the old ECU didn't like the newer distributor for some reason). Or you could put an EJ22 engine from a legacy in it, but that might not get done in time for snowboarding -- alot of rewiring. Good snowboard season isn't till January here though. Too many rocks still showing before that. Of course if I stuck to groomed trails instead of the trees, I wouldn't have to wait so long...

True. But I'm assuming it's the same mechanic who refused to check the code earlier before it died.

47mpg? I wish I was even close to that. I've never gotten more than about 33 highway in my EA82s (carbed or SPFI about the same) 4wd. I've also never gotten less than 21 city or offroad. Most of the time it never varies more than 2 or 3 mpg for a tank, right around 27mpg. I must mix my driving together pretty uniformly on a typical tank. 5th gear on the carbed one wasn't used much, unless already up to speed on the flat or downhill. On the SPFI it's got a little more power and can actually go up slight hills in 5th. But I have stock tires, so I can see 4th being the highest gear that you can use in the lifted ones. These engines just don't have much umph below 2,800 rpm.

Yikes. I can get a new battery for my diesel truck for cheaper than that.... Costco is where I get mine, and they seem to be good quality. 100 month prorated warrantee, and I think it's probably about $45 for the one you need. They come charged. You might have to reset the security system on the car after changing the battery -- I've never done it on a newer car. The owners manual should say the required cold cranking amps CCA) or amphours (reserve capacity?) for the battery you need. Or just look up the one for a '95 legacy in the fitment book at the battery store. I always try to get the next bigger size than they recommend (as long as it will fit in the compartment) Z

That's Awesome!!!

LOL. Yeah, don't you have to split the case to change the front differential? And if it's making grinding noises, it probalby needs replacing. I'd still check to make sure it isn't the hub making the noise, before having the tranny replaced. Z

Sounds like a good fix. Most the one's I've owned have already had the bottom of this compartment rusted out, which I guess drains the water.... Probably getting in from inside the wheel well? Or maybe from the top somehow? Z

Hmmmmm. I think unlikely. In a manual transmission car the wheels are solidly locked to the engine crankshaft when you are moving, so for the relative speed for them to change, some part of that solid connection has to be not so solid any more. In an automatic, yes, the engine speed can vary at a given vehical speed, but I just can't understand how it could in a manual. Anyone else? Am I missing something here? Z

Hmmmm, I don't think I've ever changed my rear diff fluid. Maybe I should:D 202k miles on it now. Another option, what if its an unreputable shop, who always tells people they need a new rear differential when the rear brakes start making noise at around 80,000 miles, and sees which suckers fall for it? I've never heard of a dealer doing this, but there is a specialty shop around here that specializes in replacing brake master cylinders.... no matter what you originally took it in there for, they seem to notice the master cylinder is leaking....

I know what you mean. I grew up helping my dad fix his '73 ford pickup. After 29 years of replacing parts on that, he finally gave in a few years ago and got a used '96 outback for the daily driver. He's finally admitting it's okay to work on, and not that much more complicated than the old truck. Just different. Zeke

20W50 synthetic. I figure it's cheaper in the long run to baby the engine by putting in a quart of $6.99 oil a month. There have been alot of threads on this recently too. Do a search to find fifty different opinions different than mine. Z

I don't think subaru's need many cold cranking amps. I usually get 900CCA or higher batteries, which I know is severe overkill for an EA82 -- a 350 would probably do fine. But I always seem to end up using these same batteries in my bus with a GM V8, and my diesel truck, so I just buy the same one for all the vehicals. They're about $65 for ones with 100 month prorated warrantees at Costco. $35 for the smaller ones. Note: My philosophy on parts is sort of odd. I buy cheap cars (only once have I bought one for over three figures, and that was the bus), but I don't skimp on parts. Several times the tires on my cars have cost more than the car.

Does the sleeve show signs of wear? All the suby engines I've taken apart you can still see the original cross hatching on the cylinder walls at 200k miles. If so, a ring job may be all you need. Z

Are you used to the big V-8 engines? I had a friend who was used to big american V-8's in the 60's and 70's. The first 4 banger he got had no power whatsoever. Then he realized that you have to rev it higher than 2,000 rpms, and suddenly it wasn't so bad. It did take him a while to get used to 3,000 or 3,500 being in the middle of the power band, instead of being your high shift point. I try to use 4,500 or so as my high shift point just because I've got 204k miles on the engine. On the clutch slipping, it does sound a bit odd that it's a sustained rpm, rather than varying with throttle. If you are cruising at 60, and floor it, does the engine rpm suddenly jump, before the car actually starts accelerating? What's the clutch test you can do by nosing up to a tree, then trying to let the clutch out? I can't remember which gear you try this in to test for a slipping clutch.

EA81 -- noisy and never had much power, but it always started up, and was easy to fix if anything broke (which didn't happen much). Earlier carbs are better -- because they WILL wear out and need rebuilding, and the earlier ones were simpler. My '82 GL started up immediately, drove out of the snowbank, jump started someones truck, and drove itself to the local highschool to be used in the shop class on the day when I finally got rid of it. I miss it. To bad the rust was pretty much winning the battle with the body and frame. If you don't want a 25 year old car (if you like heated seats, power mirrors, a CD player, travel at the speed limit on the highway, not have your friends shun taking a ride in your car, etc) then an EJ22. But I haven't heard that any of the subaru engines have really serious problems (unless you count head gaskets as serious) Z

I'd watch out for rust -- especially if it's on the frame or control arms. But other than that, these little cars are great. Not real fast (but on gravel roads I can outrun most SUV's), but simple to work and fairly cheap to fix anything that goes wrong, especially if you have a good supply of parts cars in the area. The 2.2 liter engine has a slightly better reputation with some people (and a bit more power), but I also had a friend who just had to replace her 2.2 because of a "pourous block" at only 150k miles. So you can find bad stories for any of the engines. I've gotten over 200k on all of the EA82's I've owned. I don't think consumer reports gets it.

Here in Colorado a car like that, if it doesn't have any major issues, would go for about $1500 or perhaps $2000. A loyale would be about $500 less than the same year legacy. Of course, you should try to get it for less if possible.

Yeah. The starter method also works. For tightening it you can't use the starter though...

My '89 GL wagon runs about 3,500 to 4,000 rpm on the highway at 75 - 80. I don't think this harms the subaru engines. But you are right, if it was not doing this before, it shouldn't be doing it now.

I suppose it's possible. Even though these engines usually last 300k with the occasional replacement head gasket, water pump, etc... A carrier bearing could have died or a rod come loose. Sometimes you win (or lose) the one in a million odds. I'd make them tell you what is broken though. I think that everyone on this forum would like to know, at the very least. And I'd personally tell the service tech that he's not worth working at a subaru dealer if he won't take 60 seconds to pull the codes. Even if he thinks that it won't tell anything (or if he thinks every code possible will be thrown now that it's thrown), refusing to do something that easy when the customer wants it is just piss poor customer service. Especially the fact that they refused to read it back before it died, when the code could have told you what was about to happen. The check engine light is not an ornamental display just for the amusement of dealer techs. Many things that it indicates are indeed ignoreable for a while, but many of them also are very important and shouldn't be dismissed. Z