MilesFox

i went out to montana and back in an 87 rx with the center diff locked. we had a bad wheel bearingf so we swapped on an xt6 trailing arm and were running the passenger rear wheel as a 5 lug and the rest as 4. we removed a rear axle to keep the lsd from burning up (different tire sizes) and locked the diff to run FWD. no problems, but all of our torque was thru the front diff, and we were just highway driving

oxy clean and a scotch brite pad

find out when the timing belts were changed (prob 30 k ago) and check the condition of the radiator. with a rebuilt motor you probably have a new water pump. cooling system takes the most priority with longevity. check the axle boots, but its nothing to walk away from. if anything a new radiator for PM and be good to go for a long time

i bet the problem is more related the the ignition switch itself, and changing the starters has not made any difference other than leading you to believe they are failing when they are most likely not.

it's ipossible that the belts were serviced and aligned to the 0 deg btdc mark. this is NOT the mark to alighn the cam to, but rather 3 hash marks ||| depicting the crankshaft and all the pistons are in the center of their bores. the haynes book is correct in the procedire if you READ THE TEXT,but the illustrations do not depict the 360 deg crank rotation between doing the first belt and then the second. usually you will find a subaru that has had the belts repaird only to run like crap becaquse of "bent valves", unbeknownst to random mechanics that these are non interference engines, and the crank rotation between belts. if both cams are up or down at the same ime, then this is your problem. i would bet on the timing marks

sounds to me that the key is being removes IN the accessory position. which fan are you mentioning. my 86 brat runs the heater fan in the acc position. the radiator fan will rin in the acc position, but is tripped by the thermoswitch. suppose the thermoswitch is stuck in the closed position. the wire to the switch is hot all the time and grounds thru the switch thri the radiator. there is a ground wire on the top of the radiator

if you can find a junkyard nearby, any fuel injected subaru will have the ignitor unit. i place my bets on the disty itself(crank angle sensor) the 86 and 87 distys will have a round plug, and the 88 and up will have a square plug. the entire pigtail detaches from the bottom of the deisy housing, its held on by 2 screws. rule out the ecu is bad, there is no way. you got water in the distributor, narrow your troubleshoot to that alone.

the disty is the crank angle sensor. the little transistor on the coil bracket is the ign amplifier. which takes a signal from the disty thru the ecu and amplifies it to break the coil fields. i would start at the disty, and to really start at the beginning of a troubleshoot, make sure the rotor is turning(broken timing belt). maybe the disty needs to air out. it wont hurt to take it apart and spray wd40 in there and let it air out. otherwise if you need to replace it, other spfi and mpfi models will work. if the plig on the wire is wrong, you can swap the whole pigtail.

you can swap on an ea82 hitachi or even the whole intake. typical route is to do a weber swap. you could even swap in an ea82 with monor mod. otherwise if you open up the exhaust a little(custom fab from cat back, your typical off the shelf exhaust pipes bent to fit, and a cherry bomb!) and bump up the timing a few degrees will make it a little more peppy.

the difference wold be in the font half of the driveshaft, the one thet contains the carrier bearing. as far as i would assume, the rear halfs should be the same on legacys. at least this is true for older model subarus(ea82), the rear half is interchangeable regardless of model

probably Madison, WI. i lived there, but moved back to milwaukee. make sure to bring back some old soobs, we can use them around here. otherwise if you need parts go to cindy's salvage in cambridge, wi (the fabled "subaru heaven") i know i got the only 2 brats in milwaukee, for sure. you might just like it here enough to stay. first of all you m ay freak out about how ridiculously easy it is to register a car out here, and even car insurance is not required to do so. the tax base might be more out here, but you may find the laws to be less strict and the state to offer more services moving to wisconsin can't be a bad thing. it was a good thing for me

dump a can of that 104 octane boost, the "off road stuff" in the black can or similar. all the octane volatiles would have evaporated. i have run used gas, but pouring a gas can of it into the gas already in the car. if its not full top it off with fresh gas. otherwise just add 5-10 gallons when you fill up and she should burn it just fine. i towed cars from iowa mixing down the old gas from the car i was towing. you will smell old gas in the exhaust as it burns.

it is possible for the CAS to have died entirely, especially if the tach was jumping around. otherwise if it was the amplifier transistor the car would start up after it sat a while but die once it warmed up.

take off the cap and see if the rotor is turning. if it fell out, reinstall the set screw. otherwise if it doesnt't turn your timing belt is broken/stripped. the disty has to be turning for the fuel pump signal since the disty is optical and serves as the crank sensor. the fuel pump, however, will come on for 2 seconds when you turn the key. if the fuel pump is clicking off and on, then the green test plugs are plugged in when thay are not supposed to be, since this is designed to cycle the fuel pump for diagnostic purposes, but is in no way related to the action of the crank sensor. sooner or later someone will post the timing belt article, if you haven't found it already:)

sounds like the wheel bearing. you wont hear the noise like a blazer because these are ball bearing with 2 races that the spindle pressed thru vs. a roller bearing seating the rotor on the blazer. you might not notice the handling at first, but you will hear a slight growl turning one direction but not the other. once there is enough play you may hear the rotor clacking around and if it's bad enough the rotor will hit the caliper bracket, or wear the brake pads at a slant. there are usually 2 causes to bad wheel bearings, which otherwise would last the life of the car: 1. worn seals allowing dirt to contaminate the bearings 2. loose axle nut or bad cone washers not holding torque if you need help with the bearings i have the tools, just holler. the job will take within 2 hours, you can bring the car here to milwaukee. anyway keep it posted.

use the FWD XT struts. they dont extend as far, but you can use your same springs. you will have the same spring rate but lower ride height. this way you don't compromise your handling by chopping your springs. just order struts for a fwd xt and you are good to go.

which hoses? there is a little hose between the intake and the top of the block. the water hose on the bottom of the turbo goes to the metal pipe off the passenger side head. the hose on the top of the turbo connects to the intake under the plenum. then your 2 heater core hoses. for the fuel lines, the skinniest hose is the tank vent and will ultimately terminate at the purge control solenoid and the charcoal can. it originates from the framerail below the master cylinder and connects next to the fuel lines. The fuel pressure regulator is AFTER the injectors, so if you found the rtegulator this is the fuel return line. The fuel supply line will be the largest hose in the middle coming from the filter. the other hose on the bottom of the turbo with the foil on it connects to the oil return drain pipe on the back of the head for the pcv system, the hose from the passenger valve cover will connect to the intake boot. the driver side head will tee in with a hose that goes to the pcv itself, and with the crancase vent on the top of the motor near the bellhousing. the aav (aux air valve) on the top of the thermostat connects to the bottom of the intake plenum

give her a tap with a mallet and it should pop off. sometimes they stick if they are rusty or have never been removed, just surface tension.

After some random guy hollering at my soob i got a lead on a 86 brat that had been sitting for 2 years after the guy broke the oil pump trying to do the seals. she is a fair bit rusty in the typical places, but the interior is in decent shape. the motor turns over by hand despite having sat with no oil and pump for 2 years. motor has 230-some thousand miles. we attempted to tow it home with the towbar, but on of the tow points on the car broke off due to rust. looks like tow rope thru downtown action time! The car is sitting at a gas station on the south side right now. we should go after it right away in the morning before someone steals it for scrap.

the question here i guess would be is the 3AT turbo case narrower by any means than a MT case as far as the axles being a little longer. i am having this same problem in my rx with 5 lug xt knuckles and legacy axles. the only variable i could see here is the orientation of the strut cap. otherwise if we put in the stock axle it would fit fine. we did make sure to bottom the doj for clearance, and i have tried prying the motor over for more room

describe this "play". could be a wheel bearing depending on how you describe it.

that is a lot of money for that model car. an offer of 1500 to 1750 is more appropriate for that model in minty shape. 2500 will get you a nice impreza for that kind of money. otherwise if this guy is asking such a price to cover the cost of timing belts, you may as well offer him less and take the car in its current mechanical state, and have the belts done later on your time or even do them yourself with a minimum of tools.

this does not apply since the pump is external. there is only one filter onthe firewall. the fuel return is after the injector, so make sure the lines are not backward