DaveT

I don't recognize the silver box. I've completely disassembled a few ea82 wagons, and I've never seen that. The only relay I've seen on the drivers side near the brake booster is the ones I have installed to fix the click no crank due to high resistance in the starter trigger circuit.

Yes the ac is run for defrost. Dries the air, makes it quicker. Also helps keep the ac alive until summer. But you can live without it. I'd be shocked if you could notice a difference with a 2.5 engine. Maybe you can feel it when the ac is actually running, but when it's off, it's just the losses of the belt bending and the bearing.

Normal expected battery life is 5 years under ideal conditions. Actually putting one into a car that is used normally is not ideal conditions.

My 87 gl has all original brake lines. They can last a long time.

ForGet about easy out type extractors. If the bolts are that rusty, they won't work.

I've got a wagon rear seat that's going away. Downside is it will take some cleaning. The car was home to some mice for a while. Idk if the wagon seat is the same as the hatch.

I might have an old one with a usable boot hanging around. It's tricky getting the boot off and back on without poking it with the wire that holds it in place...

Oh, yes, if a block heater is a good idea, so is a battery warmer.

I've never had the egr code cause any noticeable effects on drivability.

If you can find an OEM one at a junkyard, reboot it. It will be better than any of the aftermarket ones, from what I've seen on here.

Code 34 - most likely the solenoid coil is open. OEM ones all fail. My fix is linked below - http://www.dynahoedave.co.nf/solenoid.html

You have the wrong axle. The roll pin cannot shear with the proper one, as the splines take the rotational load. There is no way a roll pin can handle that amount of torque. Count the splines on the transmission stub, and the axle end. They won't match in your situation. This has been seen on the board a number of times. There is a combination of axle and transmission that will appear to go together ok, until you load the axle by driving the car.

Batteries - Measure the area it goes in, and find the largest case that will fit. Get a decent quality brand. Assume 5 year maximum life. A battery at 0 degrees as about 1/4 of what it is at 70 degrees. I don't know the new models specifically. I run 100% synthetic lubes in all the appropriate places - Engine, transmission, differentials. It makes a noticeable difference in how things move until the drive line warms up. Follow the manual for weights.

2 were gapped in spec, 2 were a bit out wide, so I fixed them. They are new from the reseal, not worn.

I replaced the headgaskets 2 years ago, just before the emissions test I had to do to register it. Fel pro gaskets, except OEM intake gaskets. It uses minimal oil. No coolant issues. Not been over normal temp ever since then. Yeah, it's getting down to can't find anything else wrong. I put the exhaust - cats and O2 - that it passed with 2 years ago back on for the retest. I wanted to do everything I could to hopefully get it passed without having to go back again. You can't get a waiver if you do your own repairs, so I'd be stuck paying for everything. I'm going to put the plugs back in, and run it in the dark to check for arcs. I retested a couple of the cylinders twice in the original compression test, and got essentially identical readings. Update - no arcs on wires or plugs. Tomorrow, I'll put my o scope on the O2 sensor.

Compression test: 1 - 165 2 - 180 3 - 160 4 - 160

Ok, I can hook up an oscope. MAF unplugged and boot off ran about the same. Leakdown test: Cyl. - Leakage 1 25% 2 12% 3 27% 4 12% Note - I have no idea what to expect, but it seems odd that one side is so different from the other.

Today, so far.... Capped the small vacuum port on the passenger side that powers the egr, and the hvac controls. Capped the brake booster port. No changes. A couple of the short hoses were hard, so they will be replaced. Tried injecting propane into the intake boot - via the crank case port in back, and the one for the IAC, and into the AIC. Made no difference. Pulling / capping the IAC line caused rpm changes. Propane / no propane seemed to have little to no effect. Note, I turned the gas on & off a normal amount for a torch flame, not trying to flood the engine, etc. Unhooked the FAM sensor, pulled the intake boot. I can see gas traveling across the throttle plate to the edges at idle. evenly all around. Looks like it does on my other EA82, which I did the same on. The O2 sensor started off about 0.26V. Calmly dropped to about 0.2V until idle went down to normal after warming up. Moved between 0.25V and 0.5V from there. Kind of jumpy unsteady hard to get good readings on the digital meter due to slow updating. Analog meters are way better at dealing with varying voltages. After a while, it stopped the switching and stayed at 0.25V. Off to do the leakdown tests.

Oh, CO problem. Yikes! Yes, check that out. Somehow exhaust may be getting in.

I'd probably try an oem junkyard one. ECU failures are exceedingly rare.

Water plumps are notoriously bad at moving air. Some Subaru engine / water pump designs end up trapping air in the pump due to the routing of the passages and hoses. Once enough air builds up, it stops pumping.

What Gary wrote.

Ignition timing has no effect on compression.

Sorry, Factory Service Manual.

Torch wouldn't hurt. Once it's bust like that, a weld bead around the inside might just shrink it and heat stress it enough to get it loose. I've used that trick to get stuck outer bearing races out.