DaveT

The springs hold the car up. The strut is mostly a shock absorber, so it doesn't bounce like a ball.

+1 what naru wrote.

Replacing the brush fixed it in my cases.

Seems odd... I never bothered to measure the battery voltage when I got those symptoms, as I had already known from previous experience what it meant. It's always been one of the slip ring brushes in the alternator has worn to the point of barely making contact. Maybe it's making just enough to still output at raised rpm, but not at idle.

It is normal for the 34 code to come and go when the solenoid coil is open. I use Toyota solenoids to replace the Subaru ones. They are many times more reliable.

The o2 light blinks a normal code. The green and white 1 pin connectors put the ecu into diagnostic mode or clear codes or read memory mode. In 49 state cars, the 34 egr code is set by only one thing. The ecu can tell if the coil is open electrically. The ecu does not know if the solenoid valve itself opens, or the egr valve. In ca cars, there is a sensor for egr gas temperature - that one should sense a problem such as the solenoid doesn't allow the egr to open when it is supposed to. It should give a different code, but I am not certain, as I have not had that situation arise.

Looks good!

Look on the older generation forum. Early ea82 were carbed with a Hitachi. Somewhere after or about 87 they went to SPFI.

All you describe matches a fairly well blown headgasket. Coolant in oil, and white smoke is only going to happen to completely and fully blown geadgaskets. Others on here will know what risk of other damage has been done to your engine. Some can survive overheats, and just replace the gaskets, some ruin the rod bearings, etc. Need to know the engine size and year.

Short drives. Check for air in the upper radiator hose and the level in the recovery tank, before every drive. It doesn't take much loss to cause trouble. Top off. Don't open the radiator cap to check level unless the upper hose check indicates low coolant. If you run with air in the radiator, and you see the temperature gauge go above normal - not even overheat - headgaskets are at risk. I've experienced this more than once. The damage may begin showing up in 6 hours, 6 days, 6 weeks, or 6 months.

A small piece of copper wire looped around the check valve on the cap is what I have done.

Old radiator. Get a new one. ASAP. Before you run low on coolant and need to do the headgaskets also. If you are not at high altitudes, and have to drive it, modify the radiator cap so the system does not pressurize. This will minimise coolant loss.

yeah, the newer gen and older gen overlapped a couple of years. Only meant to get you in the place where more of the people familiar with your car will see the post.

Yes, those old engines were reliable as anything. I had a 76 and a 78. Drove over 250,000 miles on the 76. Forgot how much on the 78. The 2 worst things that happened is once, I overheated the 76 while low on coolant, blew the head gaskets. Got that fixed. The second, was one of the keepers that hold the valve spring to the valve disappeared while driving to work. Ran crappy, but I got to work, then home, where I fixed it on the car. NEVER got stranded anywhere in one of those cars. EA82s, broke a few timing belts, but that's been the only engine related thing that stranded me. Low coolant overheats due to sneaky leaks caused a few head gasket replacements over the years - since 1988. How I learned that watching the coolant level is #1 thing to ensure saving lots of work.

Im not sure what engine you are working on, this may matter. Is it possible that you have to move the crank so that no pistons are at TDC to set the camshaft position, and then, one that is done, put the crank back into position for the belt install?

oh, oops! I'm going to edit that, so no one gets confused. I must have mixed up whatever I read, or it was about the DOHC.

For doing one of these swaps, yes, get a whole doner car.

The ej will be a big power increase due to bigger displacement and more sofisticated technology.

Those Old engines are very reliable. But hard to find parts for now. An ej swap is a big project. I'm not sure how severe the frame mods are for fitting on into that older style. Typically ej swaps are into ea82 powered cars. The frame rails AR narrower in the older cars,. You need an engine, wiring harness, ecu from a doner car, and an adapter plate, at the minimum.

From thinks I read on another similar thread. Don't wast time and money with aftermarket clutch cables, get one from a dealer. A new oem one will likely last as long as the first. Another aftermarket, as long as you have just experienced.

The jgiggle pin is a part of the thermostat. It's a loose pin in a hole. It allowas a time amount of coolant to leak through, and also giggles when you squeeze the upper radiator hose. Note, oem and high quality aftermarket thermostats have them. Don't use cheap ones that don't.

for the EA82s I've had, I did reseals around 150K miles. Because oil leaking everywhere. One or 2 earlier because run low on coolant and over normal temperature caused bubbles in the coolant headgasket failure. If you go down to the headgaskets, you have no choice but to do all those other seals & gaskets. Do the valve seals. Maybe lap the valves, clean off the carbon build up, if any. I get the head set and conversion kits from Fel Pro, everything in there, except the anaerobic sealant for the cam towers, and don't use the intake gaskets, get those from a dealer. Also, get the 2 oil passage orings from a dealer. Big hint - get everything ready to disassemble the engine. Go for a drive to get it up to normal temperature. Park it where you are going to work, and immediately and carefully loosen the intake bolts. It's good to learn the different feel between the bolt yielding vs turning in a corroded hole, so as to reduce the chance of snapping one. Working the sticky ones back and forth can save a lot of trouble. Same applies to the head bolts, but it's hard to get that far in fast enough, so a space heater and a heat gun help with those. I put a meat thermometer in whatever hole is handy near the bolts I'm working on - you want normal operating temp, not much over.

This is an older generation car, more people who know them will see the post in the older generation sub forum. 3.0 vs 1.8 plus the diffwrence in technology is a huge amount less power.

They may have designed it with one size too small wire. Or not enough turns on the coil. Or a point where heat concentrated or vibration.

I can't tell from that view. It's not a push rod like any I've seen. The end would have to be more of a ball shape, and shiny from the contact.