robm

It might take me a while to hook up with you guys. 1400 km is kind of far to go for a beer! There was that fellow out by UBC, too, Scoobydoo. Doesn't sound like he's into personal wrenching, though, maybe hook up with him and convert him! I see there is a member called VanIslRu from Comox, and Bushbasher, from Sooke. rguyver is in Kelowna, and Hodaka rider in Nelson. Maybe PM them? Doesn't look like enough for a good discount, though.

Does the fluid level drop when you push the pedal down? Do it repeatedly, and see if it does. If it drops, you have a leak. By this time, it will be obvious, like a big puddle on the floor. Rusted out brake line, or bad hose? Have you checked those yet? If it doesn't have a leak, then it might be a really poorly rebuilt MC, like they forgot the seals! However,you said it did this before the new MC, so I think a leaky line is more likely.

Which fuel injectors did you replace? 3 and 4, or 1 and 2? Good luck.

I would be interested in beng part of this. Is Terrace far enough out of town for you? There are dozens of EA82's on the road up here, but nothing in the junkers. I would be more interested in knowing of possible sources of parts. The best source I know of is Aldergrove Autowrecking. Not cheap, but they have lots of Subarus. There is supposed to be a place on the Island, as well. None of the other wreckers I have contacted have had anything, even the big ones down in Surrey. It would be good to know of retail sources of parts,too. Maybe find a sympathetic aftermarket outfit and buy all our parts through them? Some interesting possibilities, here. BC Subaru owners, unite!

ABS systems shut themselves off at low speed, so you can eventually lock the wheels. I am trying to figure out how you managed to nearly kill yourself with an E-brake on the front? There might be an enlightening "gee, I guess I won't try that!" out of the story...

Partsman got the RPM right, but the number of sparks per minute are kind of high. Remember these are 4 stroke engines, they take 2 revolutions per cycle. A V8 will need 20,000 sparks /min at 5000 RPM, and a 4 banger will need 20,000 at 10,000 RPM.

I worked one summer at an oil refinery, and spent a lot of time with the tech that was in charge of octane testing. He used to test the gasoline sold by the competitors, as well as the gas produced in that refinery. Some brands of gas had a huge difference between research and motor octane, even though they all averaged out about the same. I was riding my Yamaha SR500, 1/2 liter single cylinder motor bike, which was really octane sensitive. It liked premium, but I could run it on regular if it had high motor octane numbers. So, the bottom line is the (R+M)/2 number doesn't necessarily tell you what you really want to know about the fuel. Experimental results may be more valid than the number on the pump.

If the intercooler is the radiator-like device facing up, how does it cool the air? Doesn't it need a stream of cool air blowing through it, to cool the air flowing through the passages? Or is there a cutout in the hood, with electic fan, that isn't shown?

It is pretty easy to wiggle the throttle shaft to see how loose it is. Do it while idling, and if it's problem, it will show up quick! I have mostly seen this on the POS Holley 5200 Weber clone once endemic on Vegas, Pintos and Chevettes, but any carb that is 20 years old is likely to have some wear issues.

Yep, I believe it, I see FWD's in the ditch all the time. There you are going around a slippery, snowy, icy corner way too fast. You realize you are going too fast. So you take your foot off the gas - BAD MOVE! Now, it suddenly oversteers, and you steer into the skid, like you are supposed to, curse, and remember to put the gas ON , not OFF 'cause it is a FWD. So you do. Now, the car is somewhat sideways, and the wheels are pointing into the ditch, and the FWD drive-where-you-point-it traction characteristics suddenly take over again, and there you are, across the wrong side of the road and in the ditch. If you haven't been hit by a semitrailer as you cross the other lane of traffic... FWD's go in the ditch on the other side of the road, front end first. RWD's go in the ditch on their own side, backwards. And 4x4's go in the ditch upside down! But I still hit the button when the road is white, because it gives me a fighting chance to stay on the road.

HiddenHitch makes one for the 1990-94 Loyale wagons. This is a full-bore receiver style, bolted to the frame, not the bumper. I understand RackAttack sell them. It may fit the earlier EA82 wagons as well, I don't know. I want one, but haven't found any one who carries it in my part of the world, yet. The strange thing is, the earlier cars had a hitch as a factory option, and the later ones have a recommendation against towing!

It would be good to point out that torquing through a U-joint is a no-no. The U-joint will change the torque transmitted around the corner. It is a reasonably complex function of the angles involved, and the torque transmitted can vary form 0 - 100%. So don't do it, cut down the socket instead! By the way, what size was that socket before it was cut? I.e., bolt head diameter. Also, how much of the cut-down depth of the socket is devoted to the square drive of the ratchet, and how much to the bolt head? It is getting to be garage sale season again, time to start looking for stuff like this.

Scoobydoo, that is a pretty decent price for the axle. Upchuck Tire wants $80 for the axle. I did mine in about 4 hours (first time, it will be quicker next time, if I still remember how in about 5 years!) Not a bad time for the labour, either. It looks like my friend might be getting an old Chev. Nic's would probably be perfect for that machine. The PO of my car also tried Nic's. However, she went back to Bruno, even though Nic's was a lot closer to where she was living at that time. Obviously a happy customer.

I took the clock out on Saturday, and resoldered the board, as advised. There is a 75 ohm 2 watt resistor that puts out lots of heat. I took it right off the board, and resoldered it so it was about 1/4 inch above, to cut the heat that gets to the board itself. It is a pretty crude little power supply section , they use a voltage divider to take the 13 V or so down to 5 volts for the clock chip, and 2 volts for the display. Lots of heat is the result. There were several solder joints that were obviously bad, but I had to resolder a lot more that that to get it reliable. If you have this trouble, just redo every joint in that quarter of the board, and it should be OK. If you have another 75 ohm, 2W resistor, install it so it is well off the board, and it should be OK forever.. While I was under the dash, I also fixed the fan speed resistor block. Low speed was out. I scraped the crud and corrosion off the end of the resistor wire as best I could, then buried it in the mound of solder that originally held it. I wouldn't call this a good soldering job, but it works!

Miles, I think you missed that it was his GEAR oil that was bubbly. Perhaps you checked it right right after a run, and entrained air made it look bubbly, and the bubbles made the level look correct? If I were you, I would change the gear oil, and make sure you have the right level, cold, then keep an eye on it. The "coins in a can" sound, affected by throttle, sounds like ping (knock). Ceck the timing,a nd maybe back it off a degree or 2 maybe? That would probably help the white plug issue, too. You might want to replace the rusty plug wire. It is possible to get singles, if you don't want to replace all of them.

Most modern rear drum brakes are designed to self adjust. I believe that applies to Subarus from the mid 80's? I ain't no expert, so don't The only problem is, a lot of them don't work! The adjusters get a bit worn, or the conditions that cause the adjustment action doesn't occur often enough. What makes the Subarus adjust, any way? Just so I know what to do to make sure I have brakes at all 4 corners. I am used to Toyotas, where hand brake action sets up the star wheel. That can't happen here. Has anyone tried to reroute the hand brake to the rear? I sure miss being able to do handbrake turns.

Exactly, on the engines I am familiar with, the part that touches the cam should be replaced with the cam. I am too new to these beasties to know what the cam/lifter/valve setup looks like, and since it is hydraulic and needs no adjustment, I may never have to find out! Any good pictures or drawings of this arrangement on the web?

I really need a clock, because where I work plays heck with my watch. But the closck in my beast behaves strangely - blanks out, comes back, resets itself, the setting buttons sometimes misbehave, you name it. Probably has cracked PC board, at a guess. It coes ot of the dash board easily enoguh, but the wire harness dives down deep inside. Anyone know where it goes, and how to access it? Thanks.

I am kind of curious about replacing the cam. Most other engines I am familiar with, require new lifters with a new cam. Is the Subaru an exception, or is this something the folks posting above haven't bothered to mention?

The previous owner of my car had it serviced at Bruno Automotive in North Van. Meticulous documentation. Rates vary depending on the expertise required. For exmple, an engine pressure wash was 1 hour at $21/hr. Axle swap was 1.2 hrs at $72/hr (pretty good!) but the axle istself was like $150 for a reman. The reason I know this is because every last scrap of service history cam ewith the car. I am gong to have to get a log book, to keep track of what I do with it, so I don't break the chain. Scoobydoo, if you come up with a good shop in your area (sounds like you live around UBC, right?) please let me know. A friend of mine in that area needs a good, honest, reasonable mechanic, because I live way too far away!

I have worn out the bearings on my AWD Corolla. I have never yet had them to the point where balls were missing, or the wheel was wobbling. My criteria for replacement is when I can't hear the radio. If it isn't loud enough to be heard over the howling bearing, it is time to replace the bearing! The really strange thing is, I have always had to insist that the mechanic replace them. They are so used to them coming in on their last legs, with the wheel virtually falling off, that they can't understand what the problem is. Too often, I find they depend on a visual inspection, and a howling bearing doesn't look any different. But by the time I can't hear the radio, I have been driving with the problem for at least 2 months. Long enough, and the last thing I need is a catastrophic failure halfway to Prince George, or just ouside Lytton ( the armpit of the Fraser Canyon). So, if you think it is time for a louder stereo, maybe get new wheel bearing instead!

I didn't bother touching the ball joint, I just pulled the bolt that secures the inboard end of the suspension arm, like Ed suggests. Of course, that means I have to pull the sway bar lng, too. But these come our pretty quick, and it doesn't look like there is any way to adjust anythng on these parts, so they have to go back the same way - I hope!

More ideas: It helps to unboltl the link on the sway bar. Also the hand brake cable. All in all, it was a farily pleasant experience, especially as I was doing it with a slight hangover, and did't really feel like having to deal with any major frustration. Took 4.5 hours, not bad considering this is the first major wrenching project I have undertaken on this car. Reminded me of working on my old Datsun 510's, lots of parts to take off first, before gettingto teh meat of teh project, but they all come off easily, and go back on quickly. Not like the Toyota, where everything is hidden, andyou spend half of your time working on fasterenre you can't even see! THe inner joint on the Subarus come out nicely, much better than the Toyotas, the Toyoto is a lot easier on the outer joint. The overly-cautious Haynes manual says to get the suspension aligned after this operation. Is there any reason to do this? I don't think there is any adjustment on the inner bolt of the suspension arm.

I got the axle in just fine. Ed's system works nicely. It only took one half-hearted blow with a 6 lb maul to start the axle, after that, a 12 oz ball peen did the trick. A couple of points: Remember to rotate the axle stub 180 degrees after knocking out the roll pin, to accept the new pin. A piece of softwood, 1"x1" x 6" makes a good drift to push the axle into the bearings. Put one end on the back fo the CV joint, and apply the 12 oz hammer to the other. This is good for getting it past the spots where not enough thread is showing to put the nut on.

Does any one know if Edrachs's excellent treatise on replacing axles on his '81 would apply to my '93 Loyale? http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2576&highlight=axle+replacement The axles are cheap enough - C$80 for a rebuilt one from Canadian Tire, and they have it in stock, for a change! (It takes 10 days for parts to come from Toronto!) Anyone tried CT's rebuilt axles? Any other good threads in the archives for doing this job?