Meeky Moose

while i had the starter off, i had my wife turn the motor by hand, stopping every so often when i felt a bolt from the starter hole, everything was tight... this thing is all original to my knowledge, a little old couple owned it from new, it was super babied and well taken care of.. don't think its ever been apart..

so it looks like i don't have to swap anything.. the 3rd new starter is bad, the drive is not pulling back far enough to clear the teeth on the torque converter, thus making the rattle noise.. i shimmed it with 2 washers for now, problem is fixed.. going to order another one when i get to work tomorrow and warranty it out again... if you only knew what i have gone through with starters on this car it would boggle your mind... swap postponed...

my 84 wagon has a cracked flex plate, the 3at is perfect and has no issues or leaks.. i am sure i will be doing a swap, just not sure what kind of swap yet.. either way when i get to pullin the car apart i will have a good 3at for sale..

so coming home from work in the ole 84' 4wd auto wagon the other night and it started rattling.. i first thoguht lifters, cause when revved a little it would quit.. i parked it till tonight.. after a closer inspection i'm pretty sure its a cracked flexplate.. i know finding a flexplate for a 84 auto will be like finding a needle in a haystack... i know how to swap it to a 4-speed, and this would be the cheapest/easiest/fastest way to go, but lets face it the 4-speeds weren't great. with a little more money i could just go 5-speed, which isn't a while lot more work and would be worth the time and $$ the other thoguht i am kicking around is a complete 2.2l swap with a 5-speed awd trans, beings a parts car legacy can be had for a few hundred now days, this is super tempting to try.. i know folks will say use a d/r trans, but this car is not a wheeler and won't be, it never leaves the pavement.. so d/r trans would be pointless. so has anyone done a full 2.2l awd swap to a 2nd gen?

nevermind, i won't be going, pretty sure i have a cracked flex plate, which finding a new one for a 2nd gen auto will be like finding a needle in a haystack..

just wondering if anyone was heading up from southern oregon, early early sat morning?

look under the dash, just behind the fuse box, there is a big yellow plug, could be orangeish too.. it is the main plug that runs the lights and some other stuff, i've seen them burn the pins inside the connector, pull it apart and check them..

that was done a long time ago, i have 3 extra ground points, with 8ga wire, and new 4ga copper battery battery cables..

thanks for the ideas.. i wired in a relay. using the ignition wire as the exciter for the relay instead of for the starter. starts everytime now... i have multiple extra grounds under the hood, i also replaced both original battery cables with new 4ga cables, that fixed a charging issue i had awhile back.

well i guess 30 year old wireing in the car could have too much resistance to carry the correct amps.. that would make sense.. i think it'll be easier installing a relay in the engine bay. ignition wire to relay, new wire from battery to relay, new wire to starter from relay, and ground. the ignition will trip the relay which won't take alot of power to do, the relay will do the rest.. by george i think we got it thanks for the mental jumpstart gary

so this is the 3rd new starter.. still does the same thing... once in awhile it will start, once in awhile it will click like the starter is bad. its got new battery, new cables, gets 11.9v to the ignition wire that connects to the starter when the key is turned to start. when it clicks like the starter is bad, i can take a jumper wire straight from the battery to the starter ignition wire and it will start, everytime. whats the difference of getting 12v from the ignition wire, or a jumper wire, would that .3v difference be whats causing the no start? now keep in mind when it clicks, if your holding your hand on the starter, you can feel the drive clunking and not engaging.. also you can whack it with a rubber mallet a couple times and it'll crank.. and its totally random, it'll start 20 times in a row with no problem, then click.. once its jumped, or beat on, it'll start fine for another 10-20 times, then click... ohh 84 ea81 wagon

just unplug all the factory vacuum lines, you need 1 vacuum line from the weber to the distributor. if you have pushbutton 4wd you need vacuum to both of the 4wd solenoids. otherwise put caps on the leftover open vacuum ports that are on the intake manifold, the open ports on the little metal lines that run all around the intake can be left open, they won't have any vacuum if all the ports on the intake are plugged.

figured it out, there is a big yellow plug under the dash on the left of the steering column, apparently it houses the wires to the headlights and blinkers.. one connector is burned.. have to repair it

so my 84 wagon lost its low beams last night.. all 4 bulbs work fine if i turn on the high beams.. nothing but park and tailights on lowbeam tho.. where is the headlight relay? already check all my fuses..

actually it went on super easy backwards, lol no issues other than the throttle cable being a little tight, but it doesn't bind and works fine.. I have an 84' ea81 wagon.. nothing special.. on the the dieseling.. I left my fuel return hose hooked up, it gets rid of the need for a fuel pressure regulator.. the fuel is able to flow back to the tank when the floats cut the flow off.. if your timing is advanced a little too far it might cause it to diesel a little.. might check it.. mine doesn't diesel at all, but everything was original like out of a museum when I put the weber on... maybe it needs to be put on backwards?!@# lol just kidding... edit: ok looking at your pic again, I must have a tad bit different weber carb version...the part the sticks out (in your pic) right next to your plug wire, is different, yours is shorter, mine sticks out another inch.. guess mine stays on backwards..