eulogious

Hey all, so I got some nice Hella 500FF for christmas and I would like to install them on my bumper in front of the grill. So today I went to try to install them and realized that I am not going to be able to install these lights into the bumper very easily. Now I have seen some guys here that have them installed into the bumper, how did you do that? Did you use the stock mounting that came with the lights, or make something for a bracket? From what I can tell, all I have is a bolt to mount the light. I have taken apart most of the bumper without taking it off the car, and I just don't see how you got it to work with the stock mounting. There isn't enough room to be able to drill a hole, and then mount and tighten the bolt for the light, at least that I can tell. If I have to remove the bumper I will, I just don't really want to do that if I don't have too. This is on a 1990 Loyale. I now this seem like a newb question, but I have been for a while now trying to figure out how to do this, and finally just decided to come here for help. Any advice/pointers would be great! Thanks!

After 10 posts?? you can post pics. It takes a few post before you can... Good luck!

You still haven't told me what you want to do with them... From what I can tell those wires are for the lights behind the switches, at least that's all I can see they do. They don't control anything within the ventilation system that I can tell. I know they don't control the AC or the fresh air controls. I have studied the FSM diagrams intensely for another project, yes I have them, and there is nothing there at all for these wires, hence why I asked what you were trying to accomplish. After reading the FSM for a long time and running down wires over several pages looking for these specific wires, I gave up since it was apparent they weren't important. I have also been to the pull a part by my house and took the dash apart on an ea82 to follow the wires and I couldn't tell where they went or go to, so I realize there are wires there, but they really don't do anything having to do with the ventilation that I can tell. Everything is controlled by vacuum or a microswitch. If I knew what your end goal was, I might be able to help, but AFAIK those wires don't really do anything important and aren't listed in the FSM that I have. Somebody correct me if I am wrong on this...

I'm glad I could help! I love the internet and I have gained so much knowledge from it that the least that I could do is try to explain things the best I can to spread the knowledge some more. It's kinda like karma, the more I give, the more I can take I am not very good with the mechanical aspects of cars, I am learning , but electrical stuff I am good at and enjoy so I help where I can I am glad I could help you all out!

There isn't any "wiring" there, it's controlled by vacuum. If you are wondering how the A/C is turned on, there is a microswitch that controls this. It's located down in the gas pedal areaish. Other than that, there isn't a diagram for it since it's controlled by vacuum. What exactly are you looking to do with the diagram?

I would EJ it, but only if you like the actual car. If it has all the options and creature comforts that you like, why sell it? If you want more options and don't really like the car, maybe it's time to move on. But I would get another subaru, not a GM product!!! Come on man! I jest... I am partial to the ea82 wagon, but that's just me. I think the legacy are too "big" for what I want. The ea82 seems smaller/lighter and I like that. Again, that's just me. When my ea82t finally goes out on me, I am throwing in an EJ like no other I also really like my car, so I am kinda attached to him, so I will show him some more love before I give him up. For the wife, I am trying to talk her into a legacy when we sell the Kia, but we shall see... I love Subarus and I am going to ALWAYS have at least one in the family

Unfortunately nothing. I think the biggest reason is cost. It's super easy to make a fuse. The principals on how amps work and operate make it easy to create a fuse, and therefore it becomes very cheap to manufacture. A "surge protector", like the ones for computers, are ALOT more complicated in comparison. They are "simple" compared to computers, but complicated compared to a fuse, or even a circuit break, so therefore alot more to manufacture. Now in all honesty what has happened to you doesn't happen all that often. And when it does, it's not THAT hard to fix. It's a PITA, but doable for the "average" back yard mechanic. Alternators usually don't fail in the way you described, and when they do, it's not all that often, so I can imagine SOA decided that it was worth the risk and cost to fix it when it breaks, rather than put the R&D into developing a surge protector for the car, and then manufacturing it/stocking it/shipping it/etc. Also I know that most electronics are designed to operate with in a certain percentage of amps/volts for tolerance, since you can't always guarantee that the perfect operating conditions all the time. For instance, before you turn your car on before starting it, it's operating at around 12v, and when you start it, it's operating at around 14v, so the electronics are designed to operate within a certain range of voltage. With that being said, they can also take a little more for a brief period with being destroyed. I also know that most electronics DO have a built in safety, usually with diodes/resistors/capacitors/etc. Most likely one of those fried within yours, but it's just easier to replace parts, than it is to try to fix what went wrong within the circuit board. I also think that is one of the main reason why manufactures also put a volt gauge on the car, so you can see when something isn't correct. Most likely if you would have immediately pulled the car over and turned off the car when you first noticed the problem, you wouldn't have fried anything. I think the manufactures assume that if it doesn't act right, you will just stop to prevent damage. But not all of us stop when we should This isn't a dig at you or anything, just a matter of fact. I am guilty of doing this as well at some point Of course the manufactures could just make 2 voltage regulators in the alternator for redundancy, but again this comes down to cost versus risk, and the cost usually wins. What's good for the company, isn't always good for the customer... The simple answer is that it doesn't happen enough to warrant putting a surge protector in the car or two voltage regulators in the alternator, but it's totally worth it to put in a fuse box. Again, all of this is just my 2 cents...

This is so awesome :banana: You have definitely raised my confidence level when working on these cars. I can now watch what needs to be done so I have a way better idea of what to do. Thank you. This is fantastic! I have already watch all 5 you have posted so far, and they are great! Keep it up man. Thanks for all your hard work. I for one might donate to this site just for this as soon as I have some money. This is soooo worth it's weight in gold. Thanks again!!!

From what I read and experience the 5 speed D/R is very durable/reliable and more usable than the push button. Even more so with the EJ power, the low range rocks. You can seriously go just about ANYWHERE one typically needs to go with the 1.8 and an D/R, so add the EJ power to that, and wow, good combo. With that being said, I would say rock what you have until it breaks, and then go with the D/R swap. I believe it would just be a bolt in swap... If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The D/R's seem to be fairly cheap, at least around here, so when your push button decides to fail, just pick up a D/R and throw it in. Maybe even pickup up a good used D/R and have it kicking around before hand just in case. This is just my own opinion, but that's what I would do.

You say the washer stopped working at the same time as well? Does the washer motor sound at all? If you run power directly to the washer pump, does it pump anything? How about running power directly to the wiper motor, does it do anything? I ask all this because if the washer pump works with direct power, and the wiper motor works with direct power, then it's the switch. Otherwise it's probably the motor. Since the washer quit working at the same time, I would lean toward the switch failing, or a wire getting grounded somewhere along the way. That would be where I would put my money given the info so far...

Thank my EE (electronic engineer) buddy who explained it to me that way. Same analogy can be used with internet bandwidth and speed, but that's a whole other ball of wax I am glad that it helped, I know that it helped me tremendously in understanding the basics of electronics. Alot of stuff fell into place and made WAY more sense after hearing it explained that way.

NICE!! Man, you keep getting all these cool tools. I am sooooo jealous. One of these days I will be able to start my collection of shop tools, but I need a shop first Can't put the cart before the horse. Good for you man! I now know where to come for my next alternator

Yes and no on this. Power consists of two elements, volts and amps. Think of it like a water pipe. Volts is how big/wide the pipe is, and Amps is how much water/flow/pressure is going through the pipe. Just because something is putting out 18 VOLTS, it can still be drawing the same amount of AMPS, so therefore the fuse will not blow. So in this case your pipes(voltage) got HUGE, but the flow/pressure(amperage) stayed the same. Fuses don't provide protection for over-voltage situations, just for over-amperage situations, hence why your fuses didn't blow in your situation. Bad things happen when there is too much voltage applied, and also when there is too much amperage applied as well, and they can cause damage independently of each other ie just because there is a over volt situation, doesn't mean there will be an over amp situation as well. I hope that helps explain why your fuses are still intact.

If it's the dealer installed one, I have a wiring "pinout" for it showing what each wire does... but if it's ripped out, then that is useless. If you want it, PM me...

I ride a YZF 600R. Great bike. Too bad the weather sucks most of the time in this area, I would ride more... Gotta love 110 mph in third , and that's before I merge! It awesome to have to SLOW DOWN to merge into traffic. Good times for sure!

Yup, a common problem... search for it, it comes up quite often

I would say to listen to your dad! He is correct on this. You MIGHT be able to drive it with incorrect tire size/match in snow and slick conditions for a short while and not damage it, in the long run you will destroy it.

I agree that it's mainly the people of this state. I guess I should say this SIDE (the westside) fo the state. People don't know how to drive, let alone drive in adverse conditions. Here's a story that happened to me recently. On a real icy morning here last Monday, my wife heads to work in here Kia. She gets about 4 blocks from our house, and she sees a BUNCH of people STANDING in the icy street, while cars are sliding everywhere. What had happened is there was a miata that ran into the ditch, so people were "driving" around this car. Well, my wife not knowing how to drive on ice, hit the brakes to avoid the people, but in the process of avoiding the people that are STANDING in an icy road, she looses control of the car and runs the car into a ditch. Avoids hitting anyone or anything. No biggie, winch it out, we are on our way... That is until 2, yes I repeat 2, 4WD trucks run into my wifes bumper while it's in the ditch!!! 2 people in 4WD trucks can't even avoid an accident when there is easily 10 feet to get around it. Amazing. I couldn't believe it. How can you hit a car that you SEE is in the ditch, KNOW is in the ditch, and have TIME to avoid it, and still hit the car. What f'ing tools. Granted my wife should not have been driving the Kia on ice when there is a Subaru with SNOW TIRES on it in the driveway at home, but still. What would have been a simple mistake turned into a 1300 ordeal. Stupid f'ing people and their stupid f'ing 4WD trucks that they can't drive... Now that I am done with my rant, I also have to agree that WSDOT is only doing what the public wants. Last year was apparently "bad" around here and everyone complained so now they are using salt. But what they don't get is that WSDOT WAS using salt. They started last year. Statewide. But hey, the people are always correct! Or something like that anyways. I drove around the Kia all last winter and only got stuck once. That was after driving from Olympia to Seattle back to Olympia with 6 inches of snow on the ground. In a Kia. Without snow tires. Even if you do get stuck, if you know anything about driving your car in adverse conditions, you will get it out, even if you have to dig it out! So I don't see what they big deal is, and why everyone fussed about it. Geez. Salt Sucks! Sand Rocks!

Well it's normal for the voltage to dip down on idle because the stock alternator suck and put out very little amps at idle. They don't start putting out decent amps until about 2500 RPMs or so... To be getting the charge light... I would try charging the battery. If the battery was almost dead, the alternator as to work extra hard all the time to try to charge it back up. Maybe that's why it's dipping so low? I would charge the battery, and then see if the problem is still the same. Hell, I would swap in a good battery if you have one around just to test. That would be the first thing I would look at after swapping out a bad alternator. After that, I would solder and heat shrink those connections just to make sure. And yes, I would solder them, anything in the engine compartment should only be soldered. To much heat and exposure to the elements to trust crimp connectors or wire nuts... Can you say corrosion? You don't want ANY corrosion on your alternator connections either. That just equals bad times. Why did you have to cut the wires in the first place? The "new" alternator should have just plugged right in...

I would straight ground the pump for diagnostic purposes, just make sure to "fix" it correctly if that solves the problem. Having a fuel pump not shutdown in an accident would be very bad.

Ya last year they bought a BARGE of salt. Yes an ENTIRE BARGE of salt to restock all the maintenance sheds. That should give you some idea of what they are doing... The problem with the anti-icing solutions is that they only work on "dry" roads. If there is any water, it will rinse off. No matter how "good" the solution is. The only thing that works when stuff gets wet is salt. I do believe that the rates that WSDOT puts down on the road is less than some states though, but I honestly don't know because I don't have access to others states date for that. But I do have access to the real time rates the trucks are putting down right now. I can also see the real time status of what is being put down on the road at this min. (salt or solutions). It's good stuff

Awesome link! That really does sum up the conversation that I had... Way more in-depth, but all those points were made in a round about way. Thanks for that! Everyone should read it. Gives a little insight as to WSDOT is doing about this problem. Breeke, I will let them know! I know that WSDOT is working on getting some new "web 2.0" stuff out there, like a twitter page, and some other cool things, so I think there will be a place somewhere for public comments/comlaints. I will also inquire about that. If I find a link, I will post it here so everyone can complain My uncle is a plow driver for the county over in eastern wa, so next time I talk to him, I will see what they are putting down on the roads and also ask him if he knows what other counties are doing to try to get a better idea of what is really being put down state wide. Since the holidays are coming up, I should be hearing from him...

It's true that it melts the ice and snow, and then it might refreeze, but it does work. This state is usually pretty good about plowing the roads and keeping the snow off the roads, so maybe that helps with the freeze/thaw cycle? IDK. Don't get me wrong, I don't like the policy and I don't agree with it, but that's the thinking. I am mainly playing devils advocate here I really wish that they would just continue to use sand. This have boat loads of it and they can't get rid of it, but they use salt instead. Even when they put sand down, it now has salt mixed in with it Everytime. Sad times. I did voice my concern, but I was told to wash my car more often if it bothers me, and I didn't want to start a debate about washing your car or not with him, so I left it at that. It really sucks. The only blessing is that at least half of the state doesn't have to worry about this too much, as we don't get too much snow on the west side of the mountains. Also keep in mind I am only talking about state maintained roads. Not city or county roads, so there still is SOME hope out there... The only city that I know that uses salt/brine is Seattle. They started using it this year The environmentalist have kept them at bay, but someone finally debunked a study about the brine/salt killing fish, so the city immediately jumped on the salt wagon Even more sad, sad times.

Ok, so I talked with one of the guys, and basically they started using salt everywhere last year. The reason, it works, and sand doesn't. That's why they switched. Their reasoning is that public safety trumps saving cars, which is true I guess. I do have to agree with that, public safety is important, since I am part of the public, and I want to be safe on the roads. In this disposable age that we live in, of course this is the mentality. The bottom of the car is rusting out? Buy a new one! DUH! :-\ If sand isn't working, then use something that does. Unfortunately salt seems to be the only thing that works. If anyone wants some more specifics on stuff like the type of chemical they use, where they use chemical instead of salt, when do they switch from chemical to salt, I can probably answer them. The WSDOT Emergency Operations Center is located in my work space, so I have access to all sorts of sweet tools

I am just going to throw this out there, so take it for what it is... On my turbo, I have been having a similar problem. It's been getting SUPER cold for around here, 7 at night!, and my car was idling very high (high enough to shutdown my remote start with an overrev shutdown tigger), so I thought something was wrong. When I would start it, it would idle really high, and then I would "blurp" the throttle, and it would drop down to "normal" but then immediately go back up to the high RPM's. After about 10 min, this behavior would go away and the RPM's would drop to normal. In the last 2 days the temps have warmed up to above freezing, and the problem has not occurred since. Kinda sounds like what is going on with you, maybe? But this seems like's its normal behavior with the FI soobs, at least in my case. This is just my experience with a 1990 turbo loyale, so ya. The other thing to check is maybe cleaning out your IAC? It controls the high idle and such. It might help! Edit: I just read about your pedal physically sticking... Mine doesn't do that, but the symptoms seem the same...