daeron

if you feel like doing some reading, I did a fairly exhaustive write-up on relays, how they work, and how to install a simple relay for use in a fan or lighting circuit, and also for starter control (read: the modification I did in my write-up involved my STARTER, not my ignition relay) http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=74632 Not to sound immodest, but IMO its a good explanation of what a relay is, and how it works, and its in the context of installing it for use on a new circuit. (even if it IS a bit wordy, heh) The knowledge is there to help you understand how simple the things really are. It might help things "click" into place in your head (no pun intended )

A Subaru-er??? Cheapskate? Surely you Jest!

Excellent.. I just needed that bit of info to confirm that you and I were of like mind regarding NGK spark plugs.

Well, then heck.. its probably not worth dickering with. Its easy enough to change the axles, and if they are under warranty then so much the better.

what about getting some water based paint, applying it to one side of the sealing surface, then shutting the hatch and checking for a complete imprint on the other side of the sealing surface?? I second the idea of punching holes and priming them to buy some time, thats a GREAT idea. If you haven't pulled all the plastic trim out in the trunk area, then that would be my next step. Sorry if any of this is obvious, but when I brainstorm I toss every idea I come up with on the table.

had this happen to me at about 11 PM on christmas eve in my datsun 280Z a few years back... was temproarily running some AR rims on the back that required acornd styl lugnuts, not flat shoulder ones like my normal rims. no one in my family knew that; "they needed spacers to fit on a Z." got about four miles from the shop, noise got so bad I turned around to go inspect.. 1.4 mile from the shop, cross train tracks, and the D/S rear wheel was GONE.... grinding on the LCA. The wheel belonged to my brother, so christmas morning he and I were delaying the fmaily breakfast (really my family's BIG christmas tradition) so he and I could go find his rim A HARROWING experience to say the least.

so you ARE a bock drinker!!!!! My personal favorite is the Celebrator, but Optimator (from spaten if I am correct?) is excellent as well! Of all the things that are trying to pull me out to colorado, the Beer is the strongest tug.....

...But, in a gasoline powered engine, would you still run NGKs???? You know my opinions on LPG.. to me, your word (regarding LPG) is Law. To me, NGK plugs are also Law. Left hand tells me the Right is wrong here.. I just want to make sure that you love the NGKs for normal applications before I accept this tidbit as Truth.

Thanks, Skip!! I needed that tonight, it had me on the FLOOR... It sounds to me, that his comment about the oscillioscope indicates that there was no coil activity (ie no spark) while this problem was occurring... and it sounds (although I may be wrong) like he DOES know an 80's subaru from a hole in the ground.. That bit of knowledge about the 87 is a fairly subtle bit of trivia to know (and not so trivial, at that.) Patiently and carefully un plug every single plug you can find, and look for corrosion and green. If you comb through the car and under the dash at the ECU and find nothing, then start the car. Wiggle every inch of every piece of wire you can lay your hands on, and listen to the engine for bucking and hiccupping. Pay especial attention to the circuits which have thrown you codes. Replace your battery cables if they look even remotely questionable; the factory terminals were made out of stamped copper and bolted onto a large cable lug.. so both old cables could be used as alternate grounding straps, (battery to chassis/rad mount, engine to chassis, or alternator to chassis) which can ONLY be a good thing. http://www.ch601.org/engines.htm Not sure how much relevance the EA82 partial FSM there has to your turbo car, but it will be of SOME assistance in the meantime. The FSM that the PDFs were excerpted from covered the turbo models, but not all the turbo troubleshooting info is there. Don't kick yourself too hard for getting the turbo.... its hard to say no to some words. "Turbo" can be one of them; I am sure you are familiar with others Interesting revenge idea: find a valve core wrench, fly back to dudes house in the middle of the night, and pull all four valve cores from his tires. Dude would TOTALLY never guess it was you, heh....

you have double checked your castle nuts? try taking the brakes off and inspecting them, check the rotors for warpage??? (even tho its vibrating without the brake on, just a thought) Steering rack boots OK? what about the ball joints and tie rod ends? Were you feeling any vibrations or badness from the bad axle(s) before they were replaced? Not necessarily the same as what you have now, but were the axles impacting the ride? If the answer is yes, I would be very sorely tempted to disassemble enough to rotate each tie rod end and ball joint and see what they feel like. If they don't feel awful sloppy, I would consider the "bad axle" diagnosis to be confirmed enough to warrant re-replacement, and if that fails then well.. let us know.

sandblast them and paint them afresh with some rustoleum?? It depends on the extent of the corrosion, but it doesn't take a great deal to be a killer.

not a coupe owner, but I would suggest pulling the tail lights and checking the sheetmetal underneath for rust.... thats about the only tidbit in my knowledge hoard that may help a coupe owner with this problem.

I think?? there is a unit under the hood that has a vacuum line running to it, and thenceforth into the cabin. It is supplied with vacuum from the port on the passenger side of the solenoid, facing slightly towards the front. When cruise is on, the unit makes a noise that could quite well be that of a vacuum pump. It is factory cruise, being a GL-10. I tried some experimenting on the trip to get her new shoes, and the car ran awfully with the solenoid output to the canister capped off and the hardline leading to the canister left open to atmosphere.. but I had nothing to plug that off with, so I just re installed everything the "right" way when I got to my brother's place to get the tires. Tried cruise briefly on the ride home, but rush hour traffic wasnt conducive to a good test.. before, it was functioning, but only barely applying any force to the pedal. Tonight, I still have the ATF drain, and also the diff while I am at it, and I replace both drain plug seals. Will report when I am done.

I haven't sprayed any combustibles yet, but I hear NOTHING, and have scoured the engine bay with my favorite "ear-hose" listening for hissing. I removed the PCV and it is as clean as can be, functions perfectly. Ample flow one way, total cutoff the other. Before my drive just now, I took the little cap that WAS on my replacement purge solenoid and put it back in place of the vacuum line for the CC. (the donor car had no cruise.) Trans shifted without any problems (car was already slightly warm still) so I have now tried installing that cap, on the exit from the solenoid. In other words, I capped off the port going to the charcoal canister, and re-installed the cruise line. I'm about to go get some tires; I will check the cruise on the drive to see if it works, or tries harder. The AC control definitely did not work, but I am not 100% that those are really related.. my vacuum switch has been slowly breaking (the mounting screw tabs are busted off, so its falling back into the dash) so it MAY have just "gone out" in some other way.. but this trans and cruise stuff is DEFINITELY hand in hand with the stupid solenoid. And I spent my entire $30 gift card (and then some) without getting any PCV or vacuum hoses... I WILL figure this out soon; I got a can of gunk and a can of carb cleaner to degrease my engine thoroughly later this week, and I will determine exactly where the oil leaks are coming from and nip them in the bud then.

okay, upon some further reflection I am going to purchase a multi pack of cheapo HELP brand oil drain plugs at autozone, so I am going to wait and drain the ATF when I get back, and also drain the diff fluid and replace THAT seal, and top it off. (fun times) This is part of a grand vacuum/PCV and oil leak mystery that I am trying to embark upon solving.. I probably have half a dozen oil vapor leaks from old PCV hoses, a power steering fluid leak, possibly bad front oil seals, oil filler seal, diff seal... I have got to start identifying some of these sources of the Valdezian slick under my hood..... Oil is just too expensive to be throwing away like I have been. ANY thoughts or comments that may shed light on why my dipstick is constantly being popped out of the tube, and how that may relate to the rest of all this, feel free to sound off.

I don't know that i was ever really flaming on the OP, just getting indignant that people were calling GD out over his standard formula of blunt, unsoftened truth. As for the OP's question, the answer is that he needs to have the car professionally appraised and insured at that value, or insured for a given stated value as was already mentioned. Nothing we can say will make any difference; your primary concern is getting into a wreck and getting boned on the insurance with an $800 check for your 1988 subaru with 200K miles on it because the fenders, bumper and hood got crunched up. Your worries are strictly between you and your insurance company; contact them and they will have the answers for you. I have a rusty old datsun that is in AWFUL shape, and every time anyone has offered to buy it from me I have quoted a price of $2500 without blinking. Its at least twice what it is worth in its present condition (almost ten times what i paid for it) but thats the price it would take to separate me from it. My point is, I understand that you aren't concerned really with RESALE value, but real value to you. So call your insurance agent and get the answers you need; that is what the agency is there for in the first place.

I am setting off on a search as soon as I post this.. A month or two ago I replaced my purge control solenoid, because I had broken off the nipple from the top years ago when I did my thermostat, and had repaired it with JB weld. It was acceptable, but somewhere along the line I found an easy chance to snag a spare, and "got around" to installing it one fine day. Shortly thereafter, my AC controls started going intermittent and then totally, and now my cruise no longer works adequately (it tries but the servo doesn't get enough vacuum pressure) AND my transmission isn't shifting good at ALL; when cold the standard "wont upshift until 4K" problem is aggravated, and at unpredictable times it fails to downshift on a stop or a rolling stop. I took my governor out and eyeballed it finally. (I had been meaning to since joining USMB and finding out that they are the typical cause of the cold shift problem) I have a beautiful, metal governor gear. The internal gear felt OK to me, but I didn't try TOO hard; the valve in the governor functioned perfectly smooth but I didn't disassemble because I had difficulty with the snap ring. I just recently obtained the PCV elbows needed for the "retrofit" from the JY and am planning on purchasing all new vacuum line. I also have a gallon of ATF; I am going (as soon as I search a bit on the modulator) to drain what I can out here in a little bit and fill her up. I pulled the vacuum line off the hardline going to the modulator and it looked clean and free of ATF; should I have done that with the vehicle running? What other checks on the modulator exist? I am sure I will answer that question by searching, to an extent... My thoughts are, change a gallon of fluid, change the vacuum lines, get ANOTHER solenoid and install it (no CEL ever) or just install a fooler resistor and bypass the solenoid altogether, and if I still have problems possibly remove the modulator for inspection and change more fluid at that time. The trans doesn't slip, and most of the time it shifts OK.. but its noticably off its game. At 150K I would rather it just "keep working" but I am not beating around the bush here; if this box is going south then the only option to me is fivespeed. That being the case, I want to try minimal efforts to get this trans to be happy again, and might even consider buying a *new* modulator (as opposed to JYing it) IF that is likely to fix my problem... What do YOU think.. Hmmmmm??????????

(cant believe I am dipping into this) Amen. Anyone with a few brain cells can tell that GD specifically places himself fairly radically on anything he cares to speak out on, and he does it well. Money was spent that will not be recovered through sale; many would regard that as money "wasted" but it is certainly easy to consider it spent on an object worth it in your eyes. If the OPs question was for an accurate value, then the answer (plain and simple) is not "you spent too much money" but rather, "You need to have it professionally appraised and insured at that value." GD obviously doesn't care for the idea of sending good money after bad, and structured his response accordingly; no reason to get panties in wads over it on any part. As for the response from the OP: turn your sensitivity level down a notch! If you are unhappy hearing the answers you got to your question, then maybe you could have phrased that question better.. something along the lines of, "How do i avoid getting hosed by my insurance company (in the event I actually NEED my policy) on this car into which I dumped more money than it is 'worth?'" However, the nature of your Capital reaction leads me to believe that maybe you hadn't thought the issue through so thoroughly. Please don't over react so negatively in the future towards people who are speaking the truth. Bluntness can be difficult to accept, but its the plainest and truest form of honesty.

Yah, actually, it could happen that somehow an intermittent connection in the ignition switch might be affected by the outside temperature, OR the temperatures of the wires themselves (warmed up after having current running through them with the car running.) Check the color of the spark when you are cranking the engine cold. And seriously, if you haven't done it yet, try to get your hands on a junkyard starter, or some known good starter, and give THAT a shot, too... something is just plain fishy with this, and it might be time to start ruling out (with a certainty) anything that you ruled out intellectually up to this point...

there *is* a small, metal reinforced O ring that sits in the oil passage of the cam tower.. the OEM brand (also Ishino I believe) is available thru http://www.thepartsbin.com along with the OEM brand intake manifold gaskets, which are also a must.

He didn't say he used the KISS principle anywhere else, just in the design of his timing control... that picture is always a treat, though. Well-designed.

it might work well for you; sounds like it can't hurt to try. You might want to try to find some sort of spark control band-aid to complement the additional fueling.. and you *might* just hit on an easy combination for simple, "bolt-on" control for a low budget EA82T tweaking.

that video was one of the coolest things ever published on the innarweb.

LPG is out of the question? 115 octane makes for plenty of usable compression, probably more than you could configure without serious machine work on the pistons, and loss of "non-interference" status... I like the dual carb option, especially with LPG have fun, and keep us updated!

more engine p0rn?!?? Sounds fascinating, I am keeping my eyes on this one!