Deener

On the EA82's I have used the cork gaskets but as per a mention from GD, I coated both sides with ultra grey and let the RTV dry before installing the gasket. The RTV plus the cork works great. Totally seals up the cork and sort of 'rubberizes' it. I have done four of them that way so far and none have leaked or failed.

Does a tablespoon or so of oil in the weak cylinder raise compression? If it doesn't then it could just be a stuck valve...

Not sure why you haven't had any replies yet but for what you describe you could start with brake pads - check them because you might be down to the wear indicators if you are getting squealing. If they are good (like have a goos chunk of meat left) then next check your wheel bearings - Jack up the car and with the wheel off the ground, hands at 12 and 6 on the tire or 9 and 3, check for any play. If theres any play there's a good chance the bearings are toast. Axles usually make more of a distinct 'click' on turns as opposed to the squeal you describe. There's a good USRM write up on how to do your wheel bearings if thats the issue.

Junkyard is probably your best bet, unless you get a parts person that knows exactly what you are talking about. I tried looking for one of those for my GL when I had spark issues and all the parts people I spoke to thought I was asking for an ignition module...nope. That issue was totally different though (green stereo wire was shorting out the ECU) and I wasn't getting ANY spark. If you have a JY close by that you can visit, grab another MAF sensor while you are there digging out the 'ignitor'...

From what I see here, it looks like the oil raised your compression result on the one cylinder, correct? AND your car starts then dies, correct? I had EXACT the same issues when I had a bad piston ring/ringland/cylinder. I swapped in a new block and that was my 'quick fix'. Note that in tandem I also had the exact same 'starts and then dies issue'. The fact that your air filter is all gummed up and your compression shows as it does, leads me to say that the two issues you describe here are directly related.... The MAF has been/is getting soiled from blow-by and as a result, it can't 'read' properly. The blow-by is getting past your toasted rings and fouling your MAF sensor. I see that you have checked it but did you clean it with a throttle body cleaner or carb cleaner yet? Maybe the soiling has advanced to the point where the sensor is dead now? I only piped up about this because I went through this seemingly identical situation and ran the gambit of troubleshooting and research to find that it boiled down to the cylinder/piston rings being wrecked. Here is a link to the thread with pics of the bad cylinder: http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=121266 Good luck, Dean

Hey John, Nice wedge buddy!

Had simliar issues once when it was the radiator and also once when it was the HG's. I first suspected the rad becasue the symptom is classic(overheating on the highway and up hills/under load) but then I just pulled the rad and ran the garden hose through it - the rad had decent flow through it so changing the HG's actully fixed it for me that time. As far as the water pump goes, I have only had one fail and when it did it was the shaft bearings. They got so bad that I could wiggle the water pump pulley with all of the belts still on. When I took the pump off, the bearings just fell out. Note that there should not be ANY play in the shaft of the water pump. Any excessive white smoke on startup? Excessive mayo under the cap? Unexplained (or obvious for that matter) coolant loss? Or is the overheating the only symptom? If it's just overheating, try pulling the rad and see if it has decent flow.

I could only find one bolt long enough for the top so I improvised and used a gullwing truck from an old skate setup in the picture. The engine held fine with just the top bolts in and I am able to spin it upside down with out any issue. If anything, it rocks into place once you spin it back around but it is still fairly solid...

If you are getting a check engine light, then take the two screws off of the kick panel under the steering wheel and observe the flashing red light to find out the trouble code - long flashes are tens and short flashes are ones (it's under there, you might have to move the wires aside though). There is a good writeup about codes on the USRM here: http://ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49918 Once you know the code, post it here or search for the forum again for the topic you find listed under the code for hints. Other than that, yes vaccum lines, check the CTS too, it can cause what you describe.

If you plan on doing the wheel bearings, I would assume you are doing the oil seals there too. Make a mental note of the direction that the seals are sitting before you pull them off so they go back on the correct way.

Ok, so I got a box of center caps in the mail and I want to fit them on my 93 Loyale. I have the 8 spoke EA81 rims pictured below (slight fitting issue with the front calipers and full pads but I made it work), but as you can see there isn't enough room for the plastic retainer ring to fit in there because the inner part of the hub/drum is snug up against the rim. I managed to get the fronts to fit by notching the plastic but the rears are a no-go. Does anyone know what hubs/drums I would need to get that would work to allow the plastic rings and center caps to go on to the 93 Loyale? Just a guess here but I am pretty sure that my 88GL doesn't have this problem. Are the hubs/drums bigger on the Loyales or something? Maybe I can swap the GL and the Loyale hubs/drums? Dean

Thanks Mark, so it is a catch can. Cool, I thought the catch can was something for carbed models...guess not. I am going to give it a shot, thanks for the link. Dean

What about the oil pump seals? Shaft seal, O-ring and 'mickey mouse' shaped gasket/seal? Did you do those when you did the rebuild?

Interesting. Regarding the 'PCV re-burn' - I have been searching around here and even the internet and the closest thing I can come up with is the 'catch can' set up that catches excessive blow-by. Do you know if there is another name for what you mean? I would love to give it a shot, but if it's just a catch can then I don't think I will get much out of it because this block has virtually zero blowby and has great compression all the way around. Thanks a bunch, Dean

800k per tank? Wow, you must obey the speed limit. I usually only get around 500 and thats by ***************footing it around. Whats your secret? Non-ethanol blends or something?

I have been using those exact viper filters out here on my GL and Loyales for a couple of years now and I don't have any complaints. They seem to be well made and a decent price too.

+1 that it is probably Power Steering Fluid, just because of the location and color, the PS reservoir is right up in front of the engine, directly above that stuff. Notice any hard steering lately? Any whinning noises from your steering? I have had a leaky PS unit due to a stripped fitting right up front where the 19mm meets the 17mm (the two metal pipes that are directly off the reservoir, passenger side). Temp fix for me was some thread locker until I got a new pipe/fitting. Be aware that a prolonged PS leak can travel a path into your timing covers and assist in premature timing belt snappage (still had the belt covers on at that point). I spent last New Years morning on the side of the highway waiting for a tow because I didn't stop my leak before it degraded a belt. If it is indeed a PS fluid leak, fix the leak soon!!! The mayo under your cap could signal a HG issue, watch your coolant carefully - check the rad when it's cold. Wipe the mayo off and see how long it takes for it to come back, maybe it's a small leak if you aren't loosing much coolant. The oil stank could very well be an oil leak burning up on the exhaust. Tons of spots to look but the best way to start is by cleaning and observing where it could be coming from. Some people here take the skid plate off the bottom and take the car to the carwash/pressure wash to clean. The best oil leak I had was right at the filter, the others (like oil pump seals, oil pan gasket, crank and cam seals, valve covers, to name a few) took a lot more time to get at to fix.

I think you just don't want to dent them. I was under the impression that the order mattered. Maybe not, I have always managed to keep them in order because I pull the engine and use a stand. With the stand you can rotate the engine all the way around and e3asily keep either side facing up. White grease/assembly lube and sticky lube are the three differnt names that the grease was called. As far as RapidElastic's question goes...the washer idea...it sounds like an effort to increase the tension of the relief valve spring as they can wither over time.

Bennie...why would you put a frog in a sock? The visual...too funny. I think it was less than ten bucks for a new oil pump shaft seal, oil pump o-ring, and mickey mouse gasket. Pretty cheap. I agree that there isn't enough room to 'safely' get the lifters out without removing the cam carriers/boxes. There are two more pieces inside the cam carrier that will help the tick situation and they are in the cam carrier. One is the cam carrier o-ring and the other is the relief valve spring. You can't service them without the carriers off. Note that I could not find anyone aside from the dealer for those two parts. If you decide to take the carriers off, its really simple - 8 bolts per carrier and they shouldn't be cranked on too hard (they are either 10mm or 12mm). Just make sure that your cams are at 12 oclock when you pull the boxes off and do it slowly so the lifters don't scatter and hit the ground. 12 oclock is when the little hole on the cam sprocket is lined up to the timing marks on the timing cover (timing belts obviously have to come off here so it would be wise to replace with new ones). At 12 oclock there will be no cam pressure on the lifters. Once the bolts are off if you pull the box off carefully and slowly, the lifters will stay in place. I am told that it is important to keep them in the same order as any microscopic differences between them could result in an increased 'tick' after reinstalling. Good luck!

Ha ha, yeah next up are the center caps I just bought off of a member here that I will blindly try to force onto the rims. I am quite sure that they are not going to co-operate either and I only have one set of plastic retainer rings so far. It's unsubstantiated...but I heard you might be able to get the plastic rings from the dealer. I always try to make a good excuse for buying new tools and if the caps don't fit, the center caps project just might award me enough 'persuasion tokens' to satisfy the wife when I tell her I 'need' to buy a welder.

Rub brake grease into the piston hole (and on the piston?) > I just put in on the piston, but it won't hurt to be on both sides. Take your time when trying to get the rubber boot back over the piston cuz you don't want to rip that boot. Use turkey baster to remove the old fluid (probably not all of it, just most of it right, to prevent air from getting in the line? > I didn't even have to use a Turkey baster, I just bled the lines until the res was getting close to being low then topped it up with fresh fluid, which didnt take that much effort actually.

Well the right hand turn thing sounds like a PCV issue where there was a kit you could buy to fix the issue but you would have seen a cloud of smoke in the rear view though. The kit consisted of a T fitting and IIRC some more/better PCV hoses. Hopefully it's not your ECU. Check everything...voltages, air, fuel pressure, spark, a midget under the spare tire playing with the throttle cable....

Brake Cleaner (1 can should do both front calipers?) - Yes, it won't take that much unless you waste a bunch. Spray a few shots into the caliper when the piston is out, and scrub the inside clean, repeat until you think it's clean enough. Steel wool (or is there something better) - Steel wool will work, you don't want anything too coarse cuz it could score the piston. Brake grease (brand/quantity I should get for 2 calipers) - Any parts store will know what you mean when you ask for Synthetic Brake grease. I got stuff yesterday that was a brand called 'Kleen Flo' and it was about 7 bucks a tube. DOT-3 Brake Fluid (should the smaller ones work or is it the larger one to fill the reservoir for bleeding the brakes) - I would get the large container in case you have trouble and have to bleed more than once you will have some extra. Turkey Baster (for sucking old fluid out) - Gobble gobble. Post question: For bleeding the brakes. If there is bad fluid in the line, should I bleed it BEFORE I put the rebuilt/redone calipers on there so that the bad fluid doesnt get right back in there? Change the fluid when the rebuilt calipers go back on. Turkey baster is used to remove the old fluid from the res, then fill it up with the new fluid. Bleed each line until you see the fluid change color. The new stuff will be more clear that the old stuff... you will know when the new stuff is coming through the line. Don't forget that the lines to the rear are longer so there will be more fluid in them, be patient. You might want to get a friend to pump and hold them for you too as you release and tighten the bleed valve. No friends? I used a collapsable snowboarding shovel extended to fit between the steering wheel and the brake pedal to push the brake down and then squash it down with the tilt steering in the down position. A 2x4 cut to fit would also work. Good luck Dean

Ah yeah kinda sounds like th MAF to me. I am no expert and dont know anything about the MPFI but my SPFI did exactly that. Good luck!

Not sure about those other compounds, I have only used the TB cleaner and the carb cleaner and had success with both. I know brake cleaner cleans fairly well for other things and doesn't leave much residue - you just dont want to leave any reside on that sensor. Maybe someone else can chime in if it will work or not. If you start it and then 'stomp and feather' the throttle can you keep it running? When I was desperate once (in the middle of nowhere with no tools) I popped the air cleaner off and blew on the element with a straw, which was just enough to get me going again but I had to really work the throttle in order to get her to limp home. My particular issue was caused by toasted rings on one piston causing excessive blow-by that coated the MAF. Coverless is the way to go for sure, all of my EA82's run that way. Have you tried reconnecting the TPS connection...maybe even the injector wire? Just some thoughts.