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DaveT

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Posts posted by DaveT

  1. Another thing I have found that helps avoid snapping those old bolts - heat the entire block up to near normal operating temperature.  It's aluminum so it is very hard to heat just an area.   It took a good space heater and a heat gun.  but it makes a big difference.  When I have a run able engine to deal with those bolts, or head bolts, I just run it.  I have removed some VERY stuck bolts using this, and not broken one since I discovered this trick.

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  2. The 2 indicators operate on totally different systems.  The gauge and sender work together.  The switch and light work together.  If you want both they gave to be electrically seperate,  not combined.  As far EA82 powered cars go, they had one or the other, I have never seen one with both.  They used the same wire in the engine harness, but different sender, and different end point in the dash.

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  3. 12.6V is normal resting voltage for a good fully charged battery.  Resting means no charging or drawing current for several hours.
    12.0V is fully discharged.
    That the idle voltage on the battery dropped .01V after a crank, is no surprise.

    11.82 at the switch, with no load, is not good, or there is a load that's pulling it down.  With everything off, [doors shut, etc.] the voltage at the switch should be the same as the battery terminals.

    You are looking for a bad connection somewhere.  Check voltages at accessible points in the wiring harness, follow the schematic.  Check with everything off, and with loading.

  4. maybe the leak continued while it was off.    Other stuff you list points away from headgaskets.  Typically, they are very well blown by the time you start getting coolant in the oil.    Drain the oil, let it set for a long while, [maybe months] most of the coolant will settle out on top, skim it off.  Re use the more normal stuff mixed with new.   A little coolant mixed in will evaporate away with run time. 

  5. Personally, I have one that got to 200K+.  It had also been badly overheated, and after I resealed it, it burned oil like mad.  Like a quart per 10 gallons of gas bad.   I figure the oil rings got cooked.   Never had a sign of rod  / bearing problems.  I ran it on waste oil from other cars alternated with whatever cheap oil I came across for a good few years before the head cracked, a while after it passed 200K.  I have a few that are over 150K by a good bit, with no signs of problems with that sort of thing.  Here, rust has killed the bodies before I could get much over 200K.  But I have read about more than a few that made it into the 300 -400K range without major rebuilding.  The engines I have now, I figure are my lifetime supply.  My work changed to mostly work from home a couple years ago, so my driving miles have dropped by half, and with it split between 2 cars, the miles don't rack up as fast as they did for me 10 or more years ago.

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  6. That sound is not lifter tick.

    The oil levels, no it didn't run out of oil.

    By this age and miles, the oil leaks should be pretty obnoxious.  I resealed them by 150K miles typically.

    These engines have a few quirks, but if kept lubed and not overheated, they run for a LONG time.  But keeping these going is a project.  Many parts are NLA, from dealer or aftermarket.  You have to be prepared to be collecting parts when you find them, doing your own work, because most garages won't touch them , or will wreck them if they are not old model Subaru specialists.

    I have 2 nearly identical 4WD wagons, I use as daily drivers - but they are backup for each other - if one has a problem, the other is available to cover while parts are found / made / adapted / re conditioned.

     

     

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  7. The fuel line that attaches to the fuel filter under the hood should have 21 PSI in it while running.  With it wide open, it will flow a lot of gas all over the place.  If you accidentally swapped that line with the return line, it won't run.

    My simple test to rule out things - spray a 1 to 2 second shot of carb cleaner down the throttle body.   Press the gas about 1/3 of the way.  Crank.  If it fires for a burst, you have spark and timing close enough, you are missing fuel.

     

  8. Yeah, not much to see removing the pan.  Other than the bottom of the pan.

    Dropping in a decent cam, and the other small bits at least isn't a big investment in time or $.   I might be tempted to try it, if it does turn out to just be a failure there, saves a lot of $ and work.

    Actually,  how do the other cam lobes look?  I'd expect all of them to be damaged if it was run low for a long time.

  9. I think you have to take the cam carrier off.  People have replaced head gaskets in car.  I don't do it that way, I remove the engine.  Never had a reason to only pull the cams.   That is one unusual failure you have.

    Each valve has 2 springs, one inside the other. this is done for high RPM / resonance reasons.

    Begin keeping an eye out for spare parts, engines, etc.  Lots of parts are NLA.

     

  10. I've had the dome light switch turned off for years, as they are parked in my garage, and I got used to leaving the door unlatched, or even the back open for loading / unloading.  One of mine had a flaky dome light switch, so I always had it shut off.  I just got used to that, not worrying about closing the door at home. 

    Well, when I typically drove one or the other [I have 2] every other day, the 160mA isn't noticeable, unless you measure with a DVM.    Anyway, with the current situation, I've been driving once a week, maybe twice.  So I go out the other day, turn the key, and NOTHING happens, not even a click.

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