markjw

It wasn't a complete waste of time, because I know now, after being able to drive it around for a few hrs, that this is a Really nice wagon. BUT:grin:, the tranny is slipping again. And, all that fresh fluid I added last night, it's now "black as pitch"... I'm tied between going ahead with plan A and using this wagon as a EJ donor or, finding a replacement tranny. It doesn't seem like good working 4eat's are readily available. I like automatic early legacy's. But, the problem's associated with them, I can do without. I think they are good trannys, it's just that they all have 200k miles on them now. The 5 speeds are cheap to fix. The auto's are not. Anyways, thanks for all the help and advice.

Thanks for all the good advice, Rooster. I made most of those mistakes on my previous auto legacy. Here's where I'm at. I found a inline filter in the tranny fluid "out" line. Since I didn't have a new one, I by-passed it. I threw it in the garbage, actually. I don't think it has ever been changed. I drained all the fluid using the tranny pump by way of connecting a 3/8", clear hose to the radiator return nipple, and added fresh fluid along with a bottle of Trans-X as the old fluid was pumped out. I've done this before. I'm convinced it's the best way to change tranny fluid on a early legacy. I don't know if the Trans-X had any effect, but thanks Fairtax, for that tip, too. I went for a test drive, and the thing is shifting perfect. No more slipping and it shifts smooth. I'm almost freaked out by how nice this thing runs now. I'm gonna license it tomorrow and change the acc. belts, take it for a real test drive. I was deceived by the condition of the original fluid just by looking at the dip stick. In the bucket, it looks like mud water. Is it possible the old tranny filter was so plugged it wasn't letting the pump build enough line pressure? I really can't believe a simple fluid change could make this much difference.

I'm going to try this. Just to see if anything changes. Thanks.

This happened on my Brother in Laws Nissan. Same exact thing. With a little research, we found out there is a nut on top of the valve body that is tack welded in place. They break loose often and the bolt will just spin. In his case, the recommended "fix" was to just leave it, and install the remaining bolts as usual. That was a year ago and he's still driving the car today. Of course, your situation might be different.

I just read a bunch of threads about a slipping 4eat instead of one that simply dis engages while in gear and driving. I'm almost certain mine is slipping. And in all forward gears. I just went for another test drive, and it seems the more I drive it, the more it slips in all forward gears. I can baby the accelerator peddle and make it run down the road, but after each up shift, it wants to rev for a few seconds before I can feel the engine power again. What do you think? Classic case of bad clutch's?

1992 AWD Legacy Wagon Auto with 166K I bought a early legacy a while back to use as a donor for a EJ swap. It had been sitting in a guys yard for 6 yrs and finally I stopped and asked about it. Of course, "it was parked because of some kinda tranny issue, but it ran fine". When I asked the PO what the tranny was doing, all's he said was "It wouldn't shift". I hauled it home, drained the gas tank, rid the fuel system of all the old gas, installed new fuel filter, lube oil and filter change, sure enough, it runs fine. While doing all this, I could certainly hear the tranny pump whining while at idle, and also while I drove it around in my yard. Well, today, I aired up all the tires and took it for a test drive. After about a mile or two test drive, the whining is gone, and the only other symptom of a tranny problem is it feels like it's hesitating to shift thru third and into 4th gear. This wagon is in Really good condition. I'd hate to take it apart if the tranny is salvageable. I want to change the tranny fluid and see where that gets me, but I don't want to spend 50 bucks on a dead tranny. What should I do at this point to see if I should try and save this thing, without spending the money to change the fluid? Or, is that really my only option? The fluid that is in there now is kinda dark. Not too bad. And, it's over full by about a quart.

I wouldn't start messing with the screw just yet. Follow the throttle cable from where it comes thru the firewall to where it ends on the engine. It is attached to the throttle body. You will probably see two gold colored cams that the end of the cable attaches to. One cam is for the throttle cable, the other, identical cam is for something else like a vacuum actuator for the a/c or something like that I would disconnect both cables. Identify which is the throttle cable and have someone sit in the car and press the accelerator peddle. The lug on the end of the cable should retract. Pull on the lug and see if it comes back out easily. Try that a few times to see that the cable moves freely. If it does, then that's prolly not your problem. Look around the cams. You'll see a screw, looks like the one I posted a pic of. See if it has white paint on it. If it does, I wouldn't mess with it.

I never could make mine idle right again. I tried and tried, too. I found one at the JY that still had the undisturbed white dab of paint on the set screw. Apparently the white paint is put on by the factory to let us know not to ever adjust the screw.

This may be completely irrelevant because I have no idea how your throttle body is set up, but I had a similar situation with a sticking throttle body. The weird part was, the sticking was sporadic and inconsistent. It turned out to be my own fault. I messed with a screw on the throttle body that looked like an idle adjust screw, but it was actually a screw that kept the butterfly valve in the throttle body from going completely horizontal and lodging itself in the bore. The reason the sticking was sporadic was because the butterfly valve moved freely when the engine (throttle body) was warm. If I let the car sit and the engine cooled, the butterfly valve became so lodged into the bore, I ended up actually breaking the throttle cable by pressing on the accelerator peddle with my foot. The tolerances are so close, the expanding and contracting of the aluminum TB housing, due to engine heat, would "stick" the butterfly valve. Anyway, it's just a thought. Here's a couple pics of a old throttle body I have laying around. Also, you can see the "set screw" that I messed with that allowed all these problems to happen. In the end, I just replaced the whole unit with a JY unit and of course, I never mess with that screw again.

I think your on the right track by testing the passenger side motor. I would pull the harness plug at the motor and directly put 12V to it by way of jumper wires from either a spare car battery or I'd pull the battery out of the car your working on and get it right down there by the seat belt motor. I'm almost certain that running a pos. to one terminal and a neg. to the other will make the motor work in one direction, and reversing the pos. and neg. will make the motor work in the other direction. Obviously, if the motor isn't responding to the 12 volts, then replacing the motor is a good next step.

I use a dishwasher I picked up of Craigs for free. I use Cascade Dishwasher soap and run the machine on the hottest water setting. Works Great!

Here's some Before and After pic's. The head install went pretty good. It runs well. I did some front end work and muffler work, too. Found some new exterior parts and used up two cans of Bumper Coating spray paint. Oh yeah, how about those sweet hubcaps. :brow:

Good News! $11.60 USD, shipped to Chile as a "Gift". So, you'll be into the whole thing for about $20 USD. PM Sent.

I have this one. Came off a '89 DL Wagon. If it'l work for you, I can let you have it for $5000, chilean peso's, of course. Plus shipping. Sorry it's wet. Everything here is wet.

Definitely pull the engine. Don't even think about pulling the trans to do a clutch. Unless you have a car lift, but I'd still pull the engine. I've recently done it both ways. It's a three man job installing the trans on your garage floor, from underneath, with your car on jack stands. With a engine hoist, anyone can do the job alone. And it's Way safer. Better for the car, too.

Yeah, those Costco box's are Nice...I didn't buy one, but I messed around with it long enough to see the quality is Much better than any standard, red Sears box. I know Sears has the Pro line that looks good, but again, too much $.

It wont hurt a thing. 'cept the cops and your neighbors might not like it.

The one I had problems with was unbelievable. I put an extension on my drift and was able to deliver solid blows with a three pound sledge from above, in the engine compartment area. The roll pin would not budge. I was hitting it so hard I was worried about the front diff, bearings and seals associated with the stub. I only was able to destroy a fleet of punch's that I had in my tool box for yrs. I never did figure out why it wouldn't come out 'cause by the time I was done doing the grinder work, there wasn't much left to look at.

I used a 4 1/2" grinder to remove one that had been installed 180 out. Use the edge of the stone to grind down the protruding pin. Then just go after it. Grind as far down as you dare before you get into the stub. Done correctly, you can have it done in minutes. In the end, you may have to drift out a chunk of pin from the other side, but it'l come out easily.

I'm simply amazed...This is the best build thread ever. I thought I had a knack for getting it done for little or nothing. You Jeff, are on a whole different level. I love it. BTW. That Rack started life as a Bumper Buddy, hanging on the back of a '98 TJ I used to run around in.

I do like the quality of the high end tools, but in my experience, it's nearly impossible to get any kinda service or warranty work done. Especially off the trucks. Seems if your not a Pro working in an established garage with a Snap On credit line and a $5000 tool box, Mr. Snap On driving the truck isn't too interested in helping a guy out. I like Craftsman and Proto. Not the quality of the others, but the service is unbeatable.

Looks good. Please do post up some better pic's. I wanna tease my brother in law with them. He literally dumped that thing in my yard about 4 months ago 'cause he didn't wanna do the HG work. I even offered to help him do the repairs. I bought that thing in Seattle about three yrs ago. Got it for a dime 'cause the kid that had it was told by a shop that the HG's were shot. It ran warm, but nothing too bad. And, everything worked. I sold it to my BIL for the same money a week or so after I got it. He put 40K miles on it With the blown HG's. I'm disappointed he gave up on it as easily as he did. Especially with the relatively low miles. Yeah, it looks good, Jeff. If anybody could breath new life into a abandoned wagon, that'd certainly be you.

You don't actually have to pull the controller box out. Leave it where it is, unplug the harness, plug in a known good one, and go from there. You might want to ground out the test controller. Maybe you could just lay it on the bracketry that holds the questionable one. But if it were me, I'd start with the plugs. It takes seconds to remove the kick panel, and it's not a bad idea to clean your connections from time to time.

I don't know why I automatically assume everybody drives a wagon. Probably 'cause that's all I drive. But yeah, the control unit being under the speaker is probably just the early legacy wagons.

I have gotten some Great deals on tools at Pawn Xchange. Especially yrs ago before they finally wised up. The thing about Pawn Xchange is the employee's aren't really pawn shop people or, tool people. To most of them, a cheap Harbor Fright recip saw is no different than a top of the line Milwaukee. And, usually the items are priced the same. If you want to shop for decent quality tools and get good bargains, then go to the Tacoma swap meet. Located on South Tacoma Way and held every weekend. I've been going as often as I can for about 20 yrs. That place is a friggen hoot. The culture shock alone is worth the trip.