robm

Don't touch the disttributor. If it ran for a week, the timing is OK. Don't complicate things by moving the distributor. Double check the rotor. It can't hurt. Look for spark at a plug wire. If there is a good blue spark, plug the 2 green connectors together, turn on the ignition, and listen for the fuel pump to cycle on and off. Try to start it, and then smell for gas down the throttle body. IF there isn't any, try the startiing fluid. If it starts and dies, then the fuel isn't getting to the injector, or the injector isn't working. Don't forget to unplug the green connectors. Plug wires can be bad out of the box, or go bad in a very short time.

I had this happen. I had it fixed for $400. $200 for the swing arm/hub/bearing, $200 for labour. But the guy forgot the spring washer under the hub nut. Good thing I noticed before I went too far. Make sure you have a good look when you get it back.

If you unplugged the front O2 sensor, and it ran the same, then that sounds to me like the problem?

Check for spark at the plugs. That happened to me, turned out to be bad coil wire, that looked OK when tested at the coil, but didn't work when connected to the distributor, plug wires and spark plugs.

I pull the resistor right off the board, then solder on some wires at right angles to the ones on the ends of the resistor, then solder it back in so the resistor is way up above the board, on legs. This keeps the heat away from the board, so it doesn't deteriorate again. Works for me here in Canada. Might not work so well where it gets hot. But it will work better, and be a bit easier than wiring in a new power supply.

Years later. I finally did figure out the fuel pump problem. It was the relay. I drove it for a while with a hot wire direct from the battery in the car, ready to connect to the fuel pump wiring. Finally, I changed out the relay, and promptly totalled the car in a collision. The relays under the dash get flaky when they get old. They work sometimes, then crap out when they get warm, so there was correllation between temperature and the failure.

I am no expert on the carbs on these cars, but if it has a fuel cut solenoid, I would check to make sure it was coming on.

It turned out to be low on coolant. I added a quart from my water bottle, drove ti down the road a mile or 2 to a campsite and filled it up. It has been rock-solid ever since. As long as I didn't overheat it enough to compromise the headgaskets it should be OK. I suspect it has the external leak, and I didn't notice before. New coolant when the snowies go on in November.

It is a 2001 Forester, with a little over 100,000 miles on the engine, and almost twice that on the body. THis morning, on the 50 mile commute to work, it started to overheat. I spotted the temperature climbing, and put it in neutral to coast and put the heat on full.. The temp. dropped as soon as I took off the load. It would climb again when I put it in gear. Finally, it seemed to stabilize, and drove the rest of the way to work at 40 - 50 MPH. Just before the plant, it started to climb again, and I coasted into a parking spot. I had a quick look. Coolant level looked OK. Any ideas? Head gaskets? I hope I can get it home. Maybe time for the Loyale to go back on the road.

Use a box end wrench, just undo the wire first and slide the wrench over the wire. The offset type work best. Start the car and run it for a bit before starting, they are supposed to be easier to change if hot. Lots of penetrating oil can't hurt either. Try to get one that is OEM replacement, as it is easier to use the connector than have to cut and join the wire on a generic one.

Bump. Does no one know where this switch is? The manual shows a connector, but not the switch. It seems to be on the passenger side at the rear, but I can't see anything that looks like or works as a switch.

Where is it? It is flaky, doesn't always turn off when the gate/hatch is shut, but I can't see it. On each side of the hatch, there are little plastic bits that get pushed in, but moving them doesn't affect the interior light. Any idea what they are?

RE: the hard pipe. It is sealed with an O-ring. Use a new O-ring when you replace the pump. I am not sure if the pump will come with it or not. The new O-ring is often a good idea if you disturb that system in any way, like replace the rad hose or radiator.

I too have had the problem of axles that won't go into the bearing. It was a rebuilt axle, with a new CV joint, supposedly made by NTN. It did not fit, about half way was as far as it went, not even far enough to get the nut on the end to drag it through. When I pounded it out, it took the bearing with it. A large press was required to remove the bearing from the axle, and came off with a bang. I suspect these are not real NTN CV joint, but counterfeit ones. I much prefer axles that are a sliding fit, not a press fit. They go on easy, come off easy, and the sliding fit is good enough for all the other cars going, so why not Subaru?

There was a guy who did this on the board a few years back. Look for posts by WJM in the archives. Bottom line: he did it , it works at low boost, it has a short life, and it is not worth the effort unless you already have piles of parts and don't care how many times it blows up.

Not mine, but a brilliant one anyway. It was in the SAE magazine about 30 years ago, they actually had a column for weird automotive stories in those days. Lots of wisdom... Anyway, this guy was out bushwhacking with his ancient diesel Harvester truck when it destroyed a rod bearing. He was smart enough to stop before the rod went through the block. He actually had the new bearing with him, but when he dropped the pan and looked at the journal, decided it was too scratched up to survive. So he pushed the piston/rod up the bore, put a sheet metal screw in the cylinder wall to hold it there, pinched off the injector pipe, and drove it home on 5 cylinders. He didn't say if/how much coolant leaked past the screw. And I guess the rebuild included a new cylinder liner as well as work on the crank. Back to Subarus: I ran my last Loyale with a wire directly connected to the battery, ready to take over when the flaky fuel pump relay dropped out. I ran it like that for 6 months, changed the relay, and promptly totaled it before I had driven it far enough to be sure I had fixed it. (I hate intermittent faults!)

Have the engine running when you disconnect the fuel sender. Can't hurt, and if it stops when you play with it, then you know it is somehow (weirdly) related.

Chances are the hub is toast. New bearings would be a waste of time. It may be easier to get a whole new hub,carrier, bearing etc. Cost me $400 at a shop, used parts $200 and labour the same. A really good deal if you don't have to do it again.

I found that used tires are not a good buy, especially on the small tires of the Loyale. Installation and balancing cost as much as the tire, and you wound up with a worn tire of unknown history for almost as much as if you bought a brand new one. Having your own installation and balancing equipment would improve the economics a lot. I have found that my Loyale ate tires. I could not get much more than 25,000 miles out of a set, no matter which brand, how much I paid, or what the tread wear was rated for. The set it came with, 175/80-R13 Pirelli P3's, were the only ones that lasted, and they were showing steel at 50,000 miles, but I only had them for 5000 of that. The Hankook 185/70-R13's lasted 2 years (no winters) and maybe 25,000. The Kumho 165/80-R13's lasted the same. I spent $100 each on Toyo's with the highest tread wear rating I could find, and a guarantee, and got 2 years out of them too. (The guarantee was useless, they would not believe my log showing the actual mileage, which was 20,000 km less than shown on the odometer, as I only ran them as summer tires.) Now I have a Forester. I hope it doesn't eat tires too.

Did it have a hot wire or a flapper air sensor? 1986 might have been a strange year. The hot wire MAF's do not need temperature, it is built in to the flow sensor.

What outside air temperature sensor is that? Maybe it is part of the AC system, I have never heard of one affecting the fuel injection system. The hot wire MAF sensor deals with air temperature as well as volume. That is why it is called a MASS air flow sensor. I had a bad CTS on a NA Loyale. It was startable, but it was not easy. It went bad in the spring, so it wasn't too cold outside, which helped a lot. I could keep it running with the judicious use of the throttle, but it was a real pain for a while. Once warm, it was fine. If your car was running OK for a bit then stopped, you may have to look at something else besides the CTS.

5-6 km/L is really bad. Is this short trips around town, or on the highway, warmed up? O2 sensor is a good bet, and fairly cheap. Sticky brakes? Check how warm they are after driving normally for a few miles. Check if one wheel is hotter than the others. Fronts are usually warmer than rear brakes. Is the air conditioning working overtime?

The EJ engine/transmission combos are full time AWD. No switch required. If you keep your old transmission, you will keep the FWD/4WD capability with a switch.

Have you checked the EA82 usuals? Is the driver side timing belt still in one piece, not strippped, hasn't skipped? Is the rotor still screwed to the distributor spindle? Is all the ignition wiring etc. OK, hasn't been disconnected accidently, or not reconnected? Is the fuel pump working? More exact symptoms may help us diagnose this problem long distance. I suspect that when you figure it out, it will be a "short between the headphones" problem.

This topic should be in the USRM.