john in KY

Payment was sent. Problem turned out to be Paul got one letter in my email address wrong and payment went who knows where.

I doubt it. Somewhere the coolant is mixing with the oil. Could be at a head gasket or an intake gasket.

Creamy brown oil always indicates an oil-coolant mixture. Oil floats on water. You could have a couple of qts of water in the oil pan. Remove drain plug and note what flows out.

My guess one side is the voltage and the other returns the crank signal to the ECU. Check each individually. Checked a FSM for an 88 XT but figure distributor wiring is probably the same. If your distributor has a 4-wire connector, the BR wire goes to ground. Shouldn't be difficult to check with a DVM. The other 3 wires run back to the ECU. Have no idea how to check them. Just ground the negative probe to the car body when searching for the hot wire. To check the ground wire, and do this only if one of the 4 wires is BR in color, clip one side of the DVM to the positive battery terminal and the other side to the wire being checked.

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Check to see if any of the fuses failed. If all the fuses are good, seems to me wherever the short is it has to be in a circuit not fuse-protected. Thinking headlights? Do you need anymore fusible links? I probably have some I could mail you.

Beginning to look more and more like the distributor is not getting a 12 volt signal. Mentioned this once before. Key in run position. Unplug the distributor and check the car-side of the harness for 12 volts. The distributor requires 12 volts for it to work.

Better have some serious liability insurance.

Don't think you have a fuel shutoff problem because I ran a turbo wagon at 12 pounds for years and never experienced a fuel cut. Sounds like your turbo has a "whine". The only time the one on my wagon made a whine was pulling a steep grade, loaded and doing around 70mph. I wonder if your turbo could be spinning too fast for some reason. Are you sure the turbo is boosting around 5 pounds? Just may be well above or well below. Not difficult to splice in a boost gauge and know for sure.

Don't know if this applies to the 88 model but on my 85 turbo there was something on top of the thermostat housing that controlled the fast idle.

You are still in for a lot of grief. That long bolt that has to be removed will be next to impossible to remove without air tools and after soaking it with a high quality penetrating oil for several days. Break the ABS sensor and there goes another $160. Been told the final torque on that long bolt when you go to reinstall it is critical for bearing life. Too much and the bearing will fail. Don't quote me but thinking the correct torque is 90 lbs. Went through this nut roll myself earlier this year and it was a nightmare.

Time for a new radiator.

Rev the engine while parked in the driveway to whatever rpm is equivalent to 35mph. No vibration and the problem is restricted to something that rotates while the car is in motion.

The starter has nothing to do with this problem. Timing belts installed correctly and you have spark so that eliminates a lot of potentials. Spray some starting fluid into the throttle body. If everything you stated is correct, the engine will fire. If the engine does fire, then problem just about has to be the injectors are not firing.

Subaru has a special LSD lube that you probably should use.

My guess is does it have the scanner port next to the steering wheel? If the port is there, should be a II. No port then I.

Engine cranks but no start almost always equals broken timing belt.

When you remove the door panel there are 2 rollers located at the very top of the door. I would adjust these before fooling with the adjustments lower in the door.

We know the coil and "power amplifier" mounted on the coil bracket is good because all of it worked in your other car. IGN switch is good becaused you tested it. Fuses/fusible links also good. 12 volts directly to the coil didn't work. The voltage to the has to be broken for the coil to generate a spark. I think this occurs on the negative side of the coil (ground side is interrupted). The distributor has a photo optic whatever internal called the CAS.. Light shines through 360 slots in a plate. Somehow the ECU uses this. That's about all I know about the distributor. I believe you mentioned you have an extra distributor. Unplug the distributor in your other car and plug in the extra. Place key in the run position and turn the distributor by hand. If the coil produces a spark you know that distributor is good. Do the same test in the car that doesn't run. If NO spark is generated there is a break somewhere in the wiring. The ECU has been swapped so it is probably good. You could always test it (the ECU on the nonrunning car)in the running car.

Likely the bulb filiment has broken. Replace the bulb before cutting wires.

When you tested the coil in your other car, did you just swap just the coil or did you swap the coil and the bracket?

With the key in the run position, I would think there should be 12 volts at the positive coil terminal. Also unplug the distributor harness and check the carside of the harness for voltage with the key in the run position. Beginning to think if both the coil and distributor are getting voltage the problem may be whatever causes the voltage to the coil to break in turn causing the coil to produce a spark has failed.

The flipped flopped pinouts could be caused by you looking at either the male or female side of the plug and comparing the wrong end with the diagram if this makes any sense. If you compare the two connectors side by side you can see how one is the mirror image of the other . /12345.../ and \...54321\

His car is RH drive. Don't think any US LH-drive rack will work. Maybe someone in Australia can find one.

All the front seals except the oil pump gasket are the same. Entire dash will have to be pulled to replace the dash pad. Not all that difficult. If the plastic dash trim pieces are still good, don't break them. Almost impossible to find anymore. Transmission is the 4EAT. Pretty much bullet proof IMO. Check out http://www.subaruxt.com.