Deener

Update - I had a look at a different one from the parts store and it was significantly straighter so I exchanged it anyway. I put it in on Friday and thew clutch is perfect now.

Naw, its just that I don't like to put old servicable parts back on if they come off for other reasons. Only the 91 and the 88 had broken belts. The other three came off for head gasket and valve issues, so I just put on new belts there too.

94 Loyale (green) - HG's, reseal oil pump, pan and cams, timing belts, rear wiper motor, door panels, crank case flush, exhaust and intake manifold gaskets, water pump seal and o-ring 93 Loyale #1 (brown)- HG's, reseal oil pump, pan and cams, timing belts, exhaust and intake manifold gaskets, sealed exhaust hole 93 Loyale #2 (brown - yes two browns)- HG's, battery cables, battery, fusible links, reseal oil pump, oil pan, and cams, timing belts, rad hoses 91 Loyale - timing belts, plugs 88 GL - Timing belts, purge sensor trick, egr sensor trick, radiator, alt, battery, plug wires, cap, rotor, tires (good year nordics), heater core flush

Interesting. Ha, I just thought it was poorly made. Oh well, the parts store I use has already brought one in so I will check out that one when I go down today and see if there is a difference. Thanks for the info.

Beauty, thanks Mark I have some of that. I took the bearing out of the package last night and it's crooked!!! Taking it back today. It spins fine, but the inner solid piece is quite crooked, leaving a lop-sided space between the bearing and the center piece. tsk tsk.

I am replacing the TOB on the 93 Loyale that I have apart, and I am just wondering if it goes on dry or if there's a recommended grease? I didn't order the clips (30539 Aa000...?) from the dealer because they look strong - the bearing was just making a whizzing sound when I spun it.

+1 to the MAF, TPS, and CTS - MAF can be cleaned with a squirt of carb cleaner - undo the small clamp that connects to the air box and on the roof of the rubber you will see a tiny little element - don't touch it, just spray it off with the carb cleaner. If your sensors are bugging out, you should get a check engine light. If you get a check engine light then there is a bunch of info here on how to find and read codes, I think even under the 'repair manual' section.

Not crucial for sure but if you don't know roughly how much pressure to use, you can snap some of those little bolts quite easily....I have an intake that is held down with 5 bolts instead of 6 as a result actually (oddly no vac leaks or any issues there!). The Haynes has all of the torque values at the beginning of each chapter - if you can find one, reference it. Not sure of your experience level but DO NOT CRANK THINGS ON - EVER. You can always come back and re-tighten the bolt if it's not tight enough, but if you cave-man it on and break it, you will be forced to get familiar with reverse drill bits, cutting oil, vice grips, grinders, welding and various other extraction tools and techniques. I used to break bolts all the time until I started checking torque values each time and got used to roughly how much pressure each bolt size can take.

Thank you so much El Presidente! Thats quite the informative post. I am not worried about a couple of bucks, I really just want to know the best way to ensure quality and what to look for. The machine shop I use is called 'Heads Unlimited' and they are out of Surrey BC. The staff seems knowledable and friendly, I had a head bolt removed from my block by them for 20 bucks when my clicker wrench failed during a HG install. Once I get the head off I will take a peek and if there's nothing obvious I will report on what the shop says. Thanks again for the info! Dean

I have 3 ea82's that have been running without covers for a year or so now...no issues...

My 88 GL 3spd rarely sees the pedal off the floor, it has 300k and you almost can't hear it idling. Standard maintenance is all that one needed when I picked it up, the front differential went on this one after a year but that was before I knew that the diff oil wasn't supposed to be black!!! Small oil leak from the oil pump but thats right on the front of the engine - only 5 bolts and three seals to do, just haven't gotten to it yet. I've had it for 3 years now. Dad has a 91 Loyale 4wd 5spd. His daily driver to work and to the fishing hole - it sees roughly 100 KM per day. Timing belts and standard maintenance is all we've had to do. He's had it for a year now. About 280km on the odometer. Two brothers both have Loyales - one 93 and another 94, both 5spd 4wd, both with over 250km. I did the Head Gasket's on these two because the previous owners neglected them but they both run great with minimal maintenance, zero leaks on one, slight leak from the oil pan on the 93. Both run like champs. I just got another 5spd 93 Loyale a couple weeks ago - this one has a weird engine issue that I am just getting into. So thats 1 out of 5 Loyales/GLs that has a serious engine issue, and the only automatic had a transmission issue. You will be hooked if you get a chance to experience the control of the 4wd slide, coupled with the fuel economy, the room for junk (in a wagon), how easy they are to fix, nobody breaks in to them because they dont look like a rich persons car, and most importantly the USMB members are without a doubt the most helpful, kind and insightful people.

Hi Guys, 93 Loyale, non-turbo. I plan on ripping a head off and doing the valves on it, in particular an exhaust valve is suspect on this head. I never taken a valve/valve stem out so I am wondering: - Is there a special type of spring compressor that I need to use? Threads here mention that there is a Sears tool, but I hear it is flimsy. I don't mind spending on good tools if there's a difference. - OEM only for the stem seals? - Is it straightforward to compress the spring and remove the retainer clip or is there anything to be careful of/special procedures? - I assume carb cleaner and some fine sandpaper will work to clean the stems up? - How can I tell if I need to take it in to the machine shop for a valve grind? They gave me a $20 per cylinder quote, which seems reasonable if I need it... Thanks in advance, Dean

Markjw and NorthWet are absolutely correct, an EXCESSIVE amount of force shouldn't be required, and since you now mention the pipe...well...it could very well be that something is preventing it from turning. My first time cranking over by hand, I was scared to put too much force on the bar and once I got used to the feeling it was significantly more force that I expected to spin it. When you do crank it and it does that 'half turn' - is it a smooth feel all the way or is there some give and take to the resistance along the way? Or does it just bind up in either direction with seemingly no play when you get to the spot where it stops?

On my automatic 88GL , all I needed were 10, 12, 14, and 22mm sockets, a short extension, a breaker bar and a wedge for the flywheel to break the crank bolt off - thats it. On a standard trans you can put it in a high gear with the e-brake on and that is enough to hold the flywheel while you loosen the crank bolt. Miles Fox's 'Art of Subaru Maintenance' youtube video's # 8 and #9 say it all...including the encouragement of not putting the belt covers back on for ease of future maintenance.

If you are *just* trying to get the crank to spin the cam sprockets don't matter how they are aligned, but their positioning will matter during the timing belt install. I know you said you have a breaker bar on there but are you pushing on it hard enough? It definitely takes a bit of force, but it should turn.

Is the car in gear? Ther should be some fight against engine compression, but it should go. Anything wedged in the timing hole/flywheel?

Great news, thanks GD! Yes it doesn't burn any oil from what I can tell. It is the same engine that I have been suspecting and trying to diagnose a possible partially blocked exhaust on. After 10 or 20 minutes of driving she puffs a cloud of smoke and soils the air cleaner with a bunch of oil, even after a fully cleaned (with pipe cleaners, solvent and compressed air) PCV route. The maintenance records are freakishly in order and documented quarterly in the owners manual up to about 10,000 km ago. Is it possible that this leaking exhaust valve could be what I was mistaking for a partially blocked exhaust?

93 Loyale I found one cylinder with extremely low compression - So far I have read that the cause could be rings or an exhaust valve. Here are the dry compression test results: 150 150 145 40 (pass side near firewall) The results of a 'wet' compression test should tell me if it is the ring(s) or perhaps a valve issue, correct? How much oil should I put down the hole for the wet test? Anything else I should look for when I take the head off again? It didn't look cracked when I had it off to do the HG's.

Thanks Naru but uhh...I just did a compression test and I found something a little worrying... I don't know the cylinder numbers but: Driver side front : 150 Driver side rear: 150 Pass front :145ish Pass rear: 40!!!!! Yes 40 and I checked it 4 times!!!! So what should I do next? Leakdown test? Pull the heads again and have them machined? I am just not 100% sure what to look for on the block/pistons/heads/valves. Any advice would be appreciated. I am willing to do it all myself as this isn't my daily driver. Dean

When I had a clogged rad, I just went and got a new one because mine wasn't just clogged, it was rotten too. I only paid about 100 from performance radiator for a new one. I can't reccommend a good way to unclog it, but someone else here might have something to try. most importantly and before you think you have a clogged rad, when the car is cool, fill up the coolant in the radiator and the reservoir then locate where your leak is and seal it (replace the hose and/or clamp). There is a chance that you could have an air bubble too. Does your heat work? If not, thats another air bubble symptom. Search this forum for BURP and you should find the procedure to get rid of the air. Diagnose it before you run out and buy parts. Do you know where the water pump is? Find it and look for signs of leakage there too. It should be right up front of the engine with a metal pipe coming out of it that goes directly to a big hose off of the radiator on the drivers side.

Where are you checking the level from? The overflow/plastic reserve or from the rad cap itself? You need to check under the rad cap - it should be full. Fill it up (never put cold water into a hot block) and clean up and dry the engine. Start it up and watch for water/fluid leaking. Any excessive white exhaust? Another easy thing to do is test and even replace the thermostat (they say here to use dealer only t-stats). Inspect the little hoses under the thermostat housing, as well as the heater hoses, and any clamp that travels the coolant path. If your radiator is clogged, it will heat up quickly especially going up hills.

There is a noticeable difference between the GL and the Loyale. I first hold the RPMS at around 2500, and the vac guage on the GL will drop quickly after releasing the pedal, like as fast as it rose. However with the guage on the Loyale, performing the same test (the Loyale is the one with suspected exhaust restriction) the needle kind of hesitates before it falls and then when its falling it kind of stalls again on the way down. Its very slight, but it's there. Also, when the needle is coming down, it seems a little slow. I removed the exhaust from the Loyale and repeated the test, and the needle seems to move more freely. Something really odd is that after doing these tests, I notice a LOT of exhaust in the oil filler tube. It pours out of there for a while after shutting the car off and opening the cap. I really don't know what else to think this could be except for a restricted exhaust. I pulled the PCV valve and it is still brand new (from the dealer). Any thoughts? Further tests I should try? Dean

I have heard that you can use a quart of ATF in place of a quart of oil, then run it for a few miles and do an oil change. I personally recently just used an engine flush (it was kleen flo I think), followed the directions on the bottle and it worked great. Same principal - just add it to the crankcase and run it for as long as the bottle says, then do an oil and filter change and voila the oil was so clean I could almost not see it on the dipstick. It also got rid of a tick that she had developed. This was on a Loyale that had a really bad HG, mayo everywhere...

ASide from the small hose coming off the thermostat housing, the heater hoses run across the drivers side too. Clean up the wetness, start the car and wait for the flow to happen.

Good call. I will do both - drop the exhaust and test again, and also use the other cars results as cross reference. I will report on the findings. Thanks Naru.