Fox

Sorry, 3 days of partying left this girl a bit under the weather.. Its an ea81, 1984 Subaru swagon, 4x4, manual. The heads have been done, its well maintained and ran very well until this happened.. Could the oil pump do this? In recent times, last few years, I have replaced all the leads, plugs, coil, head gaskets.. Umm.. I think the lifters need adjustment, but when I switched to 95-98 octane, the car started running even better and the tap vanished, as it altered my timing and suited the car better. (Saved a heap of fuel too)

Hi guys.. I have a problem, well, I hope not. I started the car up after it had been sitting for 2 days, it took a lil while to warm up but I didn't think anything of it as it has been cold and usually, I drive daily. I had a 15km trip to make, that is all.. at lower speeds, the acceleration was not smooth, at the lights, at idle, it felt like someone was kicking the engine every few seconds, and I could feel it through the gearstick.. I could even hear it.. the engine also had an occasional metallic, machinery like, hissing sound. Does anyone have any ideas? She normally works flawlessly, there is enough oil, good fuel.. I just dont know, if I didnt know better, I would say there is no oil in it, but I know there is, and it is good oil.. No car, no job...

Gyah! As soon as I fix something, another thing goes wrong! Lessee, off the top of my head, what have I done recently. Repacked rear wheel bearings New shoes and cylinders on the rear brakes (Next time, disc upgrade) New battery New head gaskets Valve regapping and stuffing around (x100!) Interior work New tyres Fixed radiator Replaced hoses and the list goes on.. Now, when I take off quick, I hear a noise from somewhere underneath me, or from the back of the car, not sure. Sounds like metal on metal, I guess its clutch related. It only occurs when going from standstill in first and as I release the clutch, the noise isnt heard much and as soon as its under load, it vanishes. Downshifting is silent as well. Now, its too cold to go out there and have a look at this moment, what does it most likely sound like? I am hoping that someone can eliminate bearing or clutch plate related noises.. I cannot fix this on my own and every single time I have had a mechanic work on my soob (all with good rep) they have screwed something up. Could a loose cable cause this? The clutch grabs as normal, acts as normal, it catches within 2-3 inches I guess Recently, I found that the arm that holds the wheel bearing was loose, I had the wheel bearing replaced not too long ago, the idiot forgot to put a spring back in and I shredded the spline! Now, that loose arm caused slight wobble that cut through the spring in the castellated nut, that fell off as I was driving! *#$&$#@& MECHANICS!! If this is a bearing, how much time could I expect to pay for to have the TO bearing, Pilot bearing and clutch plate replaced for? I am about to drive from one end of Australia to the other, towing a 7x4 trailer full of all my valuable possessions, I really don't want a mechanical failure happening on the road. Thanks for your help, ~Foxy :-\

Yay, I just got my trailer. Its -just- inside the "no need to be registered" category. Its steel, under a couple of hundred kilos, 750 gross weight, speed rated to 120kph and is commercially built, surface rust, good suspension, 15 inch tyres. Not bad for 180$ AUD Thanks for the tips, I will be checking out how to load trailers online, it wont be carrying more than a few hundred kilos. My manual says the carry limit is 400kg, what could I safely tow if the car is barely loaded? Do I go by the tongue weight or the total weight? I have no idea how to calculate drag, but the trailer will be loaded up much much lower than the car and tarped.

Thanks for all your help I flushed the cooling system, pulled out the thermostat and ran without it for a few days, running the car on and off, drained the water and replaced it, along with a new thermostat. Runs perfectly at 1/4 now, heats up when in traffic (to half) and drops rapidly afterwards. Still noisy as on starting, has only happened since I replaced the head gaskets, so I know the valve gaps are out of whack. This engine used to run quieter than most new cars, Ill be seeking advice if I cant regap it properly tomorrow. Im taking the soob in for a checkup and brake service before a long 4 day relocation coming up. I cant afford any failures out in the desert. ~Fox

Now, I have to travel across Australia, relocating, with a trailer (7x4) I am only taking a trailer because I have dogs, the trailer will be loaded lightly, all weight over the axle and its not a heavy one itself, I pick it up tomorrow. I know, soob's arent made for towing, however I dont have a choice in the matter. New head gaskets, done. Brakes, about to do, valve gapping, doing yet again (cant ever get it just right), cooling system flush done, thermostat replaced, water pump checked and is fine, additional lighting obtained (rural outback driving).. Umm.. tyres are great, filters changed, hoses/belts checked, one changed and will have spares on me. (Probably will be changing all belts before I go) Battery is fine, all oils changed and lubed up. What else should I do? I will be sitting on about 100kph/60mph for 10 hrs or so, for 4 days straight. Trailer is around 400lbs unladen, soob will only be carrying another 500lbs at most, most things in the trailer arent heavy, just no room in the car. (The trailer is only a few years old and is in good nick) I dont want to break down, dont want to blow up my soob.. so whats next? Oh, 84 gl, ea81, mostly in great nick. Roadside assistance as backup.

Can you normally hear the tappits a little? I gapped them, theres still a slight tapping sound, enough that I can identify it, cannot hear it in the car after its warmed up a little though. I did an engine flush, noticed one side of the engine has a smidge less oil than the other, so I am going to flush it again once all this is done.

I dont have a flush yet.. I was going to be picking up a chemical one today. She used to run at about 1/4, now its a 1/4 higher, Ill be replacing the thermostat as well. And thanks, Im a mechanical newbie, a computer tech myself. If it had computer problems I could fix it, but I am on new ground doing all this. Thanks for all your help.. now, to regap.. :-\ again..

Well, some good news for a change. I found a split hose, I only spotted it by chance, wow it was hard to find Anyway, I couldnt get original, so bought a hose for another car and modified it, its the one that runs out of the top of the water pump and back to a junction. Now for the doozy, there was gunk galore inside the water pump connecting tube and surrounding hoses, looked like old rust scale, I think it was partly (at least) chemiweld.. Either way, I will keep the water pump on the rebuild list for the not too distant future. So, stopped the water leak, cleaned the engine with Nulon engine cleaner, changed the filter to a purolator and put in 20/50 oil (good for this time of year) that is designed for pre 1998 cars. I want to also add a synthetic protecant to the car. After a good offroad run (Soobs are unbeatable fun offroad!) I opened the radiator.. barely a hiss.. hot, but not unbearably, runs nice and cool. The needle sits a smidge below 1/2 and is easy to cool. (ran hotter with the old oil in it) The tap is a little quieter, I still need to regap the valves again. Tomorrow, when its stone cold, I will gap it again.

The block sealer stopped the water all leaking out when cold, but when hot it tends to drain the radiator if I drive for too long. I am going to pull all the hoses off and have a look, see if theres a split in one. Its a very very awkward place, I cant get any tools under there properly and theres hardly any space, the hose/s I suspect are between the head and the starter motor, near the main body of the PCV hoses. There is a vertical hose that runs down into a small elbow joint where another hose joins on, I think by memory that goes into the engine. It carries water none the less. I suspect the softer it gets, the more it leaks. Small trips the car barely dribbles.. the hotter it gets, the faster it leaks. Ill try to take some photos tomorrow in daylight. Oh, it hasnt been pressure tested yet, I only managed to re-register her yesterday. I think my firing order is off, I had to swap 1+2, which means they are slightly out of whack. Im going to redo the drivers side, which is tapping a bit, perfectly driveable but gets loud. Next, after the valves, an engine flush (Probably use a few flushes of diesel/oil) a new oil filter and a semi synthetic engine oil. Oh, and new brakes.. Bit of a hiss when I slow down from the back end.

Hi. Been through trials and tribulations with this soob.. She's a great car though, when she runs. Long story short, I blew both head gaskets (was expected), I replaced said gaskets and found a steam leak somwhere.. Its on the passenger side (looking at the engine, RHS, Austalian car) and just beneath the starter motor from what I can tell. Water drips from the bracket underneath the starter motor. I cant tell if its from the head, but I dont think so now, it might be from the water pipe under there, but doesnt look to be. Is there any known leaky spot under there that could be doing this? I used chemweld and slowed it down a lot, at least its driveable at the moment. (Did not like putting that gunk in my engine!) Thanks for any help.. ~Foxy

I dunno if this means anything, I cant see where the steam leak is, but it drips down underneath the starter motor. There is a small spot with no gasket goo, I dont know if that is caused by the steam, or if I missed a spot. Ill pull the heads in a few days, or sometime next decade when I have the time and inspect/check them.

Heck of a time? My soob's stuffed.. I cant afford to keep putting more and more parts on it.. I got it going, ran it up a bit.. overheats and jets of steam from the head.. great. :-\ Does anyone have a cheap head for sale in Australia? Ebay has nothing Could it be anything other than a warped head? (did the gaskets recently, goo and all) The only think I can think of is retorquing, and I dont own a torque wrench. Is there any downside to putting silverseal (well known, good quality radiator sealant) in the coolant to clog the hole for a while? I am going to redo the valve gaps in a week or so, but I need my car desperately. So, I might have the head done or a second prepared and do a quick changeover and valve gapping in the car park of the head repair place.. It only sprays steam (appears to be from the head) when over half temp, which takes getting stuck in peak traffic at the lights for 5 mins or more. Compression is excellent, the oil doesn't appear contaminated with water.. but it sprays out of the head (or looks to) just behind the water hose on the RHS.. I can still see the gasket goo around the seal.

:mad::mad::mad::mad: Well, I thought I did that, now the car is f*****g worse! It shakes madly when I start it, thats all I did, shut it off after that.

Ahhhh, I thought you rotated it to tcd, adjust number 1, then onto the next, adjust (without going to tdc) Its 4:41 here, I have a dog at the vet and have to go and pick her up asap.

Well, I got it to TDC, did number 1, rotated to the second (3 in the firing order) and the spring has constant tension, I dont want to loosen it anymore in case the spring shoots off.. Every moment this job seems to get bigger and bigger, I have 40 mins to have this car done. How far out can these adjusting bolts go? Update. I had a stuck lifter, I loosened the adjuster then the spring shot out (stopped by the adjuster)

Ok, I found the right order. Long.. long day.. So the firing order is (from the front of the engine) 34 12 I turn the engine until the timing marks are up, and the rotor button is pointing at 1, do the gapping, then rotate the engine until it points to 3 (until it points to the next spark plug lead) and gap that one, and so on. People here have said to rotate 15 degrees, gap and go on, but the manual says to rotate in the firing order. Which is it? I have an electric distributor so I cant watch for the points opening like the book says. Any help is appreciated Thanks.

I feel smaaaaaart. I took the plugs out, but left it in gear >.< Anyway, thanks for that.. is the "B" TDC?

Well, I have the covers off, the distributor cap is off, but I cant turn the engine anymore, Im not strong enough. I took the radiator out, cleared a path, put a socket on the nut on the main.. Umm, I dont know what its called, it turns all the belts (I know I have not said, but I am a female that knows little about engines) and I still couldnt turn it. The compression is too high. Can I turn it backwards or how can I let some compression out so I can rotate it. By the looks of it, the lifters appear to be seated perfectly. (The passenger side is running lean though, I know the ign timing is out a little)

Solid lifters, nothing was adjusted. Took everything out as an assembly and put it back in the same way. Can a maladjusted valve produce a dull shock through the engine? Didnt sound like anything broke at all, and the engine didnt change in pitch or anything. I have some basic instructions, it says how to adjust the valves using the valve adjusting nut.

Is there anything else it could be? The lifter rod thingies are loose in the holes, they cant get jammed in on the wrong angle can they? I mean, it seems like the timing to me from what I have read.. I really am not up to this anymore, I just want a car that works.

How easy is it to do the timing? I have only limited tools, and worse, I just lost my home and HAVE to drive out in that car.. If I dont, I lose the car and can only walk with whatever I can carry.. When it rains, it pours..

Whats the cam tower? A friend just said it could be the timing out, but I dont know how that could have happened.. Its an EA81, quite well maintained.

What the ******* hell! I drove it a few metres, feels like something is hitting the engine! The car will not idle at all, not even when up to temp (There is one odd spark plug as well, the person guiding the HG repair broke one of my plugs, I have an old spare from the wreckers in there, just to get me to the local auto store.. didnt even last metres!) :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Hi. Did my head gaskets, radiators fine, didnt seem to have any other problems.. till I started it up. Sounds HORRIBLE. Sounds like a sewing machine at all revs, Im too scared to drive it now. I have no idea whats going on, I searched and found 101 answers, I only need one. The head gaskets were shot, everything else was fine, the valves were good for their age.. Nothing else seemed off at all. So, should I be driving it "in" or have I killed my car? :-\