rick_hake

Car: 93 loyale 2wd. Enginge: E82 Miles 186,000 The vehicle stopped and refused to re-ignite after repeated attemps. It would try and then immeadiatley die. Upon checking I found a horrible amount of oil in the air cleaner and on that side of the engine. I changed the filter and the PCV valve and the oil stopped leaking although there were signs of oil being sucked into the intake throat of the engine. I pulled all the plugs and did a compression test. 3 plugs looked like they had minor signs of light oil fouling but were for the most tan like we like to see them. Compression on these 3 cylinders were 150, 145, and 140. One plug the passenger side rear plug was extremely oil fouled and the compression registered 70 lbs. In all cases I let the gauge holed the pressure for several minutes to see if the pressure bled off. In all cases they held the pressure. So now it starts quickly, but it acts like its being fuel starved as I have to keep working the accelerator to keep it running. It will get up to freeway speed but very but the engine runs very rough, and it is burning blue smoke heavy going down the road. Mostly when I accelerate but even when I am not I can see a light blue haze in my rearview mirror following me. I can only get about 2 miles before the engine shuts down, and then it won't start for a few hours. Upon checking my oil I find it obviously low but does not appear contaminated. My water is also uncontaminated. I have been fighting a heating problem for the past year, but this is a minor inconvienience. Now I can't even use the car. So I think it could be a combination of problems and I need your thoughts on solving this problem. 1. Possibly a fuel pump causing rough running. 2. Oil ingestion in that cylinder oil fouled. (a) possible oil ring failure. Could one cyclinder cause that much smoke? ( Possible head gasket failure. Does replacement require engine removal? Well that's enough for now. If I failed to give necessary information please ask. I was just begining to be a Subaru fan although I am thinking about moving to a little newer Legacy. I just can't afford it now. I am a disabled senior on social security. Thanks, Rick

I have a 93 Loyale EA 82, and when I would get about half way up a hill would start to ping whenever I accellerated. Along with the ping which would get louder until cresting the hill, I noticed a rise in temp and a slow decline in power. On a guess I decided to try premium octane gas, and that solved the problem. Since then I use only premium which as you know causes spasms in my wallet, but my soobie runs a lot better. Rick

Well the bulbs were good so my final solution was to wire the high-beam wires to the low beam side. My low beams are bright enough to drive with and I spliced extra wire on each wire cut so I can put things back like it was should I choose to do a real fix someday. I will admit its strange to drive into traffic and look down and see my high-beam indicator lights on. It will be a while before I am use to that, and then that should screw me up when I change cars and the high-beams are really on. Thanks to everyone with their advice and help. I love this site, and I am becoming as much a soobie fan as I was a vw fan in the olden days when they were cheap. Rick

I have a voltmeter so thanks for that suggestion. All three of the leads to the bulb are hot which suggest that the return line to the switch would be energized when the switch turned on opening the circuit to ground. I suppose I could try grounding them one at a time until I found the line to the dim light setting. But first I will do the continuity test. Thanks again.

I haven't actually replaced the bulbs but I did check the filaments which looked ok. My understanding is that the circuit is always hot but only works when the switch provides a ground. With the key on all three wires to the bulb are hot so if I knew which one was to the low beam I could run a ground to see if it lights up. I guess I will buy one bulb to at least test it. It sounds like the cheapest fix both in time and labor. Thanks

I have a 93 Loyale and my low beams started going out intermittingly and now they have quit altogether. So I am stuck running daytime only and several of my responsibiltys require night time running around. The switch is on the left side turn-signal bar, and everything else works fine. This car has some other minor problems but I am on fixed income and in no shape to financially upgrade at this time so it seems I have some options. 1. Park when dark. (not my preferred choice) 2. Pull and fix the turn signal switch. (Need advice to do this one) 3. Cut and splice wires directly from headlight socket to a dash mounted switch using the line that powers the brights. I don't need the brights so whenever I turn the switch on it would be the bright setting but the dimmer setting for the lights. 4. Buy a new switch assembly (Probably cost's prohibitive) I am ready to hear any advice on my options or options I haven't thought of. Thanks in advance - Rick

Thanks for the information I will pick up the Berryman's B12 carb cleaner tomorrow.

I have a 93 Loyale EA-82 that wants to die occaissional at a stop light. If I am running the A/C it will die at every light. I would like to set the idle but the manual doesn't cover anything but R&R the accelerator cable, and I have tried adjusting the cable position with the lock-nut but it doesn't seem to change the idle speed. I don't see any thing that looks like an idle adjustment. I am going to send my Haynes manual to the recyclers where it can be turned into something useful to read. Rick

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I will start working through them to solve this problem. Rick

I have a 93 Loyale with an E82 engine and an automatic transmission. I have been driving this car for the past few months since I bought it. In our part of the country (Oregon) we don't have a heat problem until late spring and through summer. Our summers run about 95 to 105 degrees farenhiet so we need A/C. Well in testing it a nice flood of cold air was produced from the vents, but the heat started rising. The gage normally hangs at about one third up on the gauge. Well with the A/C on it got to an eighth of an inch from the red-line temp setting when I chickened out and cut the A/C. I had plenty of coolant and the fans are both working. I am thinking about installing an oil cooler, but thought I would ask the resident experts on what they would advise. So how about it guys? What do you think? Rick

Tests have shown a mileage increase of 2 to 3 mpg with the use of Synthetic Oil. It seems pretty expensive, but the extended drain intervals make it work out to an advantage in price over petroleum based oils. Because of the expensive nature of the Synthetics you wouldn't want to use them if you have an oil leak. The stuff is super slippery so if you have a very small leak you could end up haveing a big leak. As in petroleum based oils some are better than others so if you decide to go this route be sure to compare the test data available to get the most bang for your buck unless you just don't care, but if you want the best mileage you want the best synthetic. Rick

You can see others using the Subaru in homebuilt Aircraft at the following link. http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php Rick

Thanks for the input. As to the questions; As you can tell I am not a mechanical type like some of you wizards, but even I can see there is no axle or cross connecting piece between the two rear tires. It looks like the frame does a wishbone thing slightly aft of mid-beam and each arm of the wishbone go back to the rear wheels. So I think I am safe in saying this car is definitely two wheel drive. So if the dash board was not from another Loyale then I would have to think the VIN is in error. Thanks again

I have a 93 Loyale and according to the VIN its a 4WD. However at the Subaru Dealership one of the parts men got down and checked between her rear legs and said she was a two wheel drive. I thought all Loyales were either 4WD or AWD. Anyone ever heard of a VIN mistake. Rick

To answer the question of what bells & whistles am I looking for: I guess I was wondering what generically was available in the form of body parts like bumpers, flared wheel wells, modified dash panels and consoles for the shifter area. Lights and interior/exterior neon lighting options. Steering wheels, and bolt on engine items for speed and cruise control. Things like that. Rick

Dang!, I was just getting comfortable with the idea of investing in this little car, but it sounds like I should plan on upgrading to a Legacy in time. Any reccommendations to someone who would like to get a Subaru that would be worth investing time into with the idea of keeping it long term? I am pretty open; Brat, Legacy, Impreza. Nothing close to new will appeal to my pocket book. Rick

Thanks GD. The first problem I had was ratty running, smoke & oil splash from under the Oil cap filler. So I backed off the oil cap until it was tight and only the ratty running continued. Then when pulling a hill I had a smoke trail that would have made Cheech & Chong envious. When I let off the gas pedal it really belched smoke. So I replaced the oil cap to its fully on sloppy tightness. Then as reccommended by y'all in the forum I replaced the PVC valve, and bingo the smoking while pulling the hill quit, but splashing of oil with small puffs of smoke coming from the oil filler tube. I could smell exaust fumes in the car when I was stopped, but figured there must be a leak in the exaust system that I would need to fix. So then I purchased a new oil cap, and it screwed down tight, and bingo the the oil splashing stopped. No more exaust in the car. No more tappet noise when pulling a hill. She runs like a top (a very low powered top). So in summary; for a mere $15 total and the guidence from you and others I have cured the most serious issues this car had. My thanks to all of you. Rick

Can anyone out there refer me to a place like JC Whitney that specializes in whistles & bells that can be added after market to my Loyale. I am really starting to become a fan of this little car now that some of the issues are getting under control. Thanks for any help in this. Rick

Its me again trying to learn more about my first Subaru a 93 Loyale with a 1.8 liter engine. When I am motating down the freeway at 65 mph and about 4000 rpm all is well. As I begin to go up a hill speed bleeds off, gas petal goes down a little at a time, and about 3/4 the way up the engine starts a fast rattle tap-tap-tap like the the tappets do when a car is low on oil. My oil level is up so that can't be it. The more I push down on the pedal the louder the noise and as soon as I release the gas pedal even a little the noise diminishes. Thanks in advance for any help understanding this one. Rick

I have a 93 Loyale, and the owners manual says that there is a warning light in the instrument panel that comes on when the car is low on fuel. It says at the point the light comes on there is 2.4 gallons remaining in the tank. My question is does anyone have any experience validating the fact that there is that much fuel remaining? I guess I could carry a couple of gallons with me in a spare tank and run it out of gas to check it, but thought I would check an see if anyone knows for sure. Thanks for any help Rick

I recently purchased a 1993 Loyale, and one of the issues is oil splashes from under the oil filler cap and little puffs of smoke escape from under the cap. When I tighten the cap down it turns past a tight point and then gets loose. I figure the tight point is to keep from losing the cap. So I backed the cap up over the tight spot and the oil splash and smoke stopped and seemed to be ok for a while. Then I noticed when I was pulling a hill I had a trail of blue smoke, but what was scary was when I let off the accellerator it turned into what could be described as a forest fire going down the road. I have never seen that much smoke. So I loosened the cap since I figured I was causing the vacume to suck oil past the rings into the bore holes. The smoking stopped coming out of the exaust and returned to splashing oil and puffs of smoke out of the oil filler tube. So can someone tell me whats going on? Is the cap defective? I wouldn't think oil is supposed to splash out at that point. By the way the oil is not overfilled. Thanks for any help. Rick

The Shifter starting at the top and working back is P,R,N,D,1,2. There is no button where my thumb sets other than the interlock realease for shifting. There is a spare tire over the engine. There is a dimmer wheel on the dash. My VIN (JF1AC4224PC207250) tracks to a 4WD Loyale. I don't see anyway to manually apply 4WD. Also the body trim says Loyale. I suppose someone could have changed trannys sometime ago. I don't know if they interchange. Rick

First of all I am sorry for the rudeness. I am new at this and I thought that since it was on the same subject that it was appropriate. So if I got anyones shorts in a knot please accept my apologies and I will post individual threads from this point on. Secondly thanks for the pointers and info on the Loyale. I think if I can solve a few issues with this car that I am going to like it alot. Rick

I just purchased my first Subaru. Its a 93 Loyale 4WD. I also purchased a Chilton manual as I usually do when purchasing an older vehicle. After all a 15 year old car is bound to have a few issues. Unfortuneately the Chiltons Manual doesn't speak to two questions that I have. 1. Where is the light located that illuminates the instrument panel at night. Its obviously burn't out, and I am hoping I don't have to remove the dash instrument assembly to get to it, but I have to do something as I can't see my speed when I traverse our little speed trap town at night. Right now I am using a flashlight. 2. In front of my automatic transmission shifter is a large black button. What does it do? I have pushed it when my bother-in-law was sitting in the passenger seat hoping it was an ejection seat button, but nothing happened. It may have something to do with 4WD but no light on the dash tells me I am in 4WD. Any help would be appreciated. Rick