Rooster2

Yes, I have a '98 OBW. I will remember you as a parts number resource. Thanks for the offer, and posting your story

That is a really nice find. Change the trany fluid, add some diff lube, maybe a tune up, and you could be ready to go. I suppose you are way ahead of me in the thought process. Keep us posted on, on what it takes to put this car back on the road.

Reading above posts............I guess it depends on the intensity of the heat from the fire.

I have been to enough wrecking yards to see exactly what you are talking about. Something shorts out the electrical system to start a fire and toast the engine bay and maybe more. I have never bought a motor from a fried car like that, but would think that the motor itself would be unharmed. An under hood electrical fire does not get that hot to damage the motor in my opinion. The reason the car sits in a wrecking yard is because the labor to install a new wiring harnass, and all other damaged under hood components is beyond the value of the car. Now that I think about it, I remember talking to a guy shopping in a wrecking yard years back. We were both looking at a car that had suffered an engine bay fire in the yard. In conversation, he said that he bought a car from a wrecking yard, and painstakingly rewired what was damaged in the fire, and put the car back on the road again. He said the cause of the fire was a leaking fuel injector, or fuel line that sprayed or leaked fuel on the exhaust manifold to start the fire. So, I guess that is a testimonial that the motor is prolly not damaged. Guess, I should also add that the engine fires that I have am talking about have not been catastrophic. Only wiring has been burned, not radiator or heater hoses, valve covers, or any belts burnt off the car.

That's a decent buy at $2800. What approach did you use to get the price reduced from $4900?

Suggest opening the hood, check to see if the plug wires look new? If they look old and dirty, then maybe the plugs and wires were never changed. Rough idle and poor gas millage is a sure sign that combustion is poor. Pull the codes, as someone said, is a good first start to diagnosing the problem.

Agreee, it would be great if Subaru created a Brat to your description. At this time about the only vehicle currently for sale that comes close would be a Jeep Wrangler.

Just happened to "find them in the basement of a house he bought." O sure, really! I think this falls under the catagory of "hot wheels," meaning they are stolen. It is bad biz buying stolen property!

Agree fully with you, especially the part about starting to "sound like my old man." I am age 64, and that is exactly what my old man would have said, God rest his soul. Funny how my old man got smarter and smarter the older I got. Never would have believed it.

Glad to hear that you found the electrical gremlins, and got them sorted out. Subarus are well manufacturerd without shorts and loose grounds. Sounds like previous owner or shop he took it to caused the wiring problems.

Last summer I bought KYBs from Auto Parts Warehouse on line. Price and delivery was good, with no sales tax. Shipping was free. Check out their website: http://www.autopartswarehouse.com

Bet the batteries were installed low on water, read my later post!

I have been using Wal Mart's EverStart Maxx in all three of my cars. It is a very good battery, and you save a few bucks. I have installed all myself. However, for some strange reason all three batteries have been low on water at time of purchase. Typical of the morons in Wal Mart's automotive section, they don't have distilled water available to fill the battery. However, Wal Mart sells a plastic gallon of distilled water for less than a buck. Good to pick up a gallon of the distilled. It is sold in the beverage section of the grocery side of Wal Mart.

10W-20 sounds like a "typo" error to me. I have never heard of that oil type. Both my Subies are high millage, with over 100K miles each. So, I use 10W-40in the winter, 20W-50 in the summer with no problems.

Hard to believe an elderly lady would buy a new '91 Subie turbo, 5 speed, and keep it well maintained all these years. This is not the type of car that appeals to little old ladies. This ad does not sound believeable. "Elderly lady" translates to me as someone in their 80's, but maybe not to the latest owner. Tread lightly on this deal!

I think you are going off the deep end too soon to worry about a bad HG. The bad water pump will cause coolant to leak and cause little puddles like in your photo. A small coolant leakage can flow and travel quite a bit from the source to show up on an exhaust manifold. Also, seems like all Subies with age and miles will leak some oil as both of mine do. A slight oil leak is not an indication of a bad HG. So seeing a bit of coolant and oil doesn't mandate a bad HG. Did your car ever over heat prior to the bad water pump? Or has it ever over heated? If it were me, I would replace the T belt, water pump, tensioner, pulley, and a new radiator cap. That may be all the repairs you need to make. Suggest also, going to a spray wand car wash, and clean the motor thoroughly. Afterwards, keep an eye out for leaks. If you see any leakage, it will be a lot easier to find the source. Remember the main indicator of a bad HG is engine over heating. I haven't read that you ever had that, unless it was caused only by the bad water pump. Hopefully, you shut down the motor quickly if you detected over heating.

From the picture, it looks like the wheel is towed in. Suggest getting the car up on a lift to see what is broke or bent. I would not so much think that there is a problem with the right rear strut, as probably a bent suspension issue. I bet the previous owner knows what caused this. A good slide side ways with some speed, with an abrupt slam into a curb would be a good way of causing the tow in damage.

ditto on Gloyale's comments. If the heater core was plugged, you would not get any heat output, or very minimal heat. Also, the heat output would be constantly poor, as coolant always moves minimally through the heater core. The air pocket theory is a better idea, as the air pocket is not a constant. Sometimes coolant is moving through the heater core, sometimes not much, depending on the air pocket, and the water pump circulating varying amounts of coolant/air pocket. As Gloyale suggests..........a bad HG, or a radiator cap. My vote is a bad head gasket.

The burping is a good idea. Also, it is possible that you have a bad head gasket which allows exhaust gas to enter the cooling system. This causes engine over heating and poor heater performance. That could be causing the need for 'burping." Car heating systems rely on coolant flow through the heater core to provide warm air to the cabin. A "gas" added to the cooling system reduces heater efficiency. I had a 91 Leggie that blew a head gasket resulting in pressurizing the cooling system resulting in a leaky radiator. Is it possible that same thing happened to your radiator? The early 2.5 engine introduced in 1997 gets the bad rap for blowing head gaskets, but the earlier 2.2 engine (as in your car) can still blow a head gasket. Check your radiator over flow for bubbles when the engine is warmed up and running. If you see bubbles, you have a head gasket issue.

It has been a while, but I remember about 15 years ago that a shop tested my VW for head gasket trouble by using chemically treated paper which was inserted into the neck of the radiator into the coolant. Upon removal, if the paper changed to a certain color, that was the indication of exhaust in the cooling system. The process reminded me of using Litmus paper to detect an acid or a base from High School chemistry class.

If you can pick up this car on the cheap, and as you say the body is clean with not that many miles, it can be worth your while to put some time on getting the motor to run. If you get it to run well, then resell for a nice profit, or drive it yourself, and look for a 5 speed elsewhere. Since the '90 has the 2.2 non interference motor, you will not have a concern of valve damage from T belt problems.

I have a 99 Leggie OBW. Yes, it is the DOHC motor with potential Head Gasket problems. Ask owner if HG has been changed. If previous owner can't be reached, Subaru mechanics can look at the head gasket ends (over hang)that protrude where the head meets the block, and tell by the material if it is the newer design HG. The 99 also has issues with the automatic transmisson of delayed shifting into forward gears from park or reverse. This can be remedied by adding a can of Trans-X to the trany. That product fixed my problem. Otherwise, the 99 is a good car!

ditto on using OEM wires. Cheapie wires from cheapie chain auto parts stores just don't work well in a Subbie. I learned that the hard way. Seemed like I was always changing cheapie wires at least once a year to clear up a miss fire problem.

I have never heard of removing the radiator, so it could be sent somewhere for testing. I have had many cars that developed sort of a scummy oily dard residue inside the over fill tank. There never seemed to be a problem. I just figured it was old antifreeze additives that were presenting themselves. A quart of oil every 500 miles isn't that bad. If it were me, I would keep on driving the car the way that it is, and just keep a close eye on the temp guage for any over heating. The radiator testing just sounds like BS, and a waste of your money. Suggest that you remove your remove your over flow container, clean it out real good, and reinstall. Keep an eye on the over fill. I bet it takes a long time to get yucky again.

Sounds like you were luckier then sh*t. It would have been my luck under same circumstances, to have the timing belt break, and chew up the valves. It is a lot cheaper to have the car towed, then to rebuild the motor.