NV Zeno

Adjust a little at a time...too tight, and the clutch may not engage completely.

Fuel filter underneath the car: worth the five bucks to see if that's the problem.

Hey Brian, does the smoke (oil, whatever it was) still come out of that hose that connected to the bottom of the air cleaner?

I'd recommend an off-line test (sometimes called a "Pre-test"), just to see where you are. That way you won't be on record as being a gross polluter (if that's the case), which opens an additional can of worms with C.A.R.B.

Could be your battery cables aren't as tight as they could be, or there's gunk in there. Try removing the battery cables, clean both battery terminals with a wire brush. You'll also have to clean out the insides of the cable terminals, too (if you can't get a wire brush in there, scrape them out with a knife). There's a special tool made especialy for this job, called a "battery terminal cleaner"..couple of bucks at the parts store. When re-connecting, make sure the connections are tight.

Yup, it's a sweet car (I met it today). What impressed me most was the condition of the upholstery, particularly the driver seat.. no rips or tears. Very unusual, even for a car half it's age.

In the case when my master was found to have air, there was no leak. That was caused by another problem that was found and repaired earlier. Umm, I believe there are only two bleeders along the side of the master cylinder.

Yeah, my '83 does that, mostly when it's around freezing or below. It hasn't affected performance, so I just list it as one of the many quirks of a 20 year old car that's seen nearly 300,000 miles.

The last time we bled my brakes, we used some sort of continuous feed contraption and still got a soft pedal. I figured my bud couldn't figure out how to use his new contraption, and went back to our usual method of one of us in the car on the pedal and the other under, doing the actual bleeding. We went through a LOT of fluid, but after three or four times around, there was still air somewhere. That's when we decided to bleed the master cylinder. Two or three "bleeds" later, voila..nice hard pedal. BTW, no leaks were found.

Might as well shoot for a new one at the dealer first, they're cheap enough.

All four corners should be bled whenever the system is opened. If you still get air after a couple or three "go-arounds", you may have to bleed the master cylinder. That's what worked for me.

That's exactly the symptom my car had, way back when it only had high-100K miles. As I recall, driveability was not affected, but the temp sensor was the component that was found to be malfunctioning.

Just keep your eyes open, especially at the wrecking yards..I've found 2 (or was it 3??) at the local yards here, all at a decent price.

I took the lid off too, only my flap closes. Tight. Not quite sure how it's supposed to work, but sumpin' ain't right.

Chris, try this: http://kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/kw.kc.urr?kbb.NV;992235;NV031&89451;wag;p&751;Subaru;1987%20GL-10&18;SU;F3& If the link doesn't work, go to http://www.kbb.com , look up "private party value". I used my ZIP, checked "excellent" (second from best), added a couple of popular options. Good luck.

Oh, man...you just missed half price weekend at Pick-N-Pull. I believe trannys were something like $65~75, maybe less. If I remember correctly, 3rd gear problems are considered common in the EA81's. Probably still a bargain to get a used one, anything's better than what you have now. If you go that route, I believe PnP charges a core for the unit. Just so you're prepared.

Wow Torxx, that's what mine does..everything's great after just a little warmup:D .

Thanks Skip, I'll look for that when it gets a little warmer in the garage. I have a FSM, the carb section is pretty extensive. I figure I'm in the right neighborhood if I look in the "automatic Choke" section? GD, The carb is a recently purchased rebuilt unit. The probs you describe were what was wrong with my old carb..different symptoms than I'm having with the start issue now. Thanks.

I installed a reserve tank in my EA81 years ago. Didn't have to move anything around under the hood, either. I got a generic reserve tank kit from Kragen. It was a square tank with a mayonnaise jar sized cap. Came with a mounting bracket that can be easily modified to mount near the jack...mine's been there prolly 10 years now, no problems.

Vee-hickle: '83 GL D/R Wagon, Hitachi carb, California Special. On initial starup for the day (ambient temp usually around freezing), My automatic choke seems not to "take hold" until the car has warmed up a bit, usually after about a minute of my having to hold the throttle to prevent stalling. All subsequent starts are OK, the choke acts normally, going to fast idle until I kick it down or the choke kicks down automatically. This is becoming kind of annoying, having to "baby-sit" after starting. Cranking speed is OK. What am I looking for to correct this?

Yeah Paul, and I'll drive down to Vegas and have a few cocktails with ya!

Seems to me the environmentalists run the government that shouldn't be in charge of the marketplace to begin with.

Same thing happened on my '83. Before purchasing a new motor, take the panel off and check to see if the nut holding (I can't remember exactly what it looked like in there) the wiper or the motor to the hatch. I tightened it up, voila.

I've been an AAA member since (lets see...) 1973. Overall, excellent service. Gotta realize, that tow driver doesn't work for AAA, but for the tow company/gas station/whatever that AAA called on your behalf to rescue you.

(Welcome back, Richard!)