scoobiedubie

I believe that you would have to remove both the alternator and the A/C compressor, in order to look down on that hose to examine it and it's connectors.

Regarding the covers, the metal inserts in the forward and rear covers get locked together, due to the heat. If you reinstall with either a rubber or a plastic washer, they won't bind up next time. The metal insert is probably spinning in the rear covers. Subaru mechanics usually fix the problem by destroying the front covers while leaving the bolts. Pull the bolts out with both inserts. Reinstall with through bolts, preferably metric. Regarding the water pump, when it is completely shot, the fan will wobble and chop up your radiator. Which is another $160 in parts. Plus you may be stranded out in the boondocks. The tow could be real expensive. After draining the radiator and removing: the auxiliary fan, the fan blades, the alternator, all three front timing covers, the inertia fan belt pulley, and the left side timing belts, most people will not be pinching penneys in what they replace. You might find shot timing belt pulleys for instance. Will you have replacements if you discover that and still get a rapid turnaround? Or do you have a backup vehicle? Subaru dealers will charge a fortune for their parts. Then you have to get there with your car out of commission. The 5 bolts that attach the water pump may also just be lose. If the water pump was installed without caulking in the top drain hole, then dirt has been working it's way into the bearings. 15,000 miles is quick for a water pump to go out, but then maybe the seller told you a little fib. Rock Auto sold me a cracked water pump and then wanted it back so that they could sell it to someone else. Sooner or later, you are going to need another water pump, new belts, new pulleys, new timing belt gear, and replacement used timing belt covers with through bolts. You might as well have them all on hand before you start tearing into your only transportation.

You noticed the two biggest leaks that can become bothersome. Yes you CANNOT change the oil pan gasket until you remove the motor. Yes you CAN change the cam tower gaskets and bolt seals with the motor in with a small internal ratcheting 10mm wrench. A third location for leaks is two large O-rings at the front of each camshaft. Oil leaks from those will show up as dripping off of the bottom of the timing belt covers. Here is your cam tower gaskets and bolt seals: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fel-Pro-VS50273R-Engine-Valve-Cover-Gasket-Set-/370650831670?forcev4exp=true&forceRpt=true

Here is another who appears to be more setup for shipping. http://www.mttechsuba.com/used-subaru-ea81-parts/

The oil pan bolts get loose. You can tighten the bolts on the sides and the front, without removing the engine. Save the bolts in back for when you have a good reason to remove the engine. The engine heat softens the metal that these bolts are made of so it is real easy to over torque them. The camtower cover gaskets get hard and leak from the engine heat. The rubber seals on the bolts, also get hard and leak. When you replace both of these, you may want to also use some orange high temp gasket sealant that you can get in any auto parts shop. I add sealant to the lower half of the tower gaskets because that is where they leak from. You can buy both in a full gasket set off of EBAY. You will be needing the rest of the gaskets sooner or later, if you keep the car.

This guy in Oregon has loads of parts. 503-936-9579 or 503-985-7110 You have 4 Pick-n-Pull yards in Dallas.-Fort Worth area. http://www.picknpull.com/locations.aspx

I guess that it is time to finally do something about the distributor. The 85 and 86 gl10 distributors were problematic, as they say. Try finding a spare at a non-official Subaru mechanic, who also collects used subaru parts.

Was your problem solved?

How old is your car so we know when to look for it"?

It is too soon for timing belts, water pump & pulleys. Water pumps should be changed at 20,000. Timing belts are usually done at the same time but will last much longer. Pulleys will last about 80,000 before their bearings make noise. Do you have any obvious leaks under the oil pump? If so, then Gloyale's tip is worth looking into. If the two oil transmission holes to the camshaft tower from the cylinder head, were not sealed around the holes to efficiently transmit the oil, then the hydraulic lifters can make noise from lack of makeup oil. There are two joining flat areas on the cylinder head and camshaft tower, with a oil hole in the middle, that require ringing them with gasket maker sealant in order to better transmit oil that eventually goes to the lifters. If non-subaru O-rings were used between the cylinder head and camshaft tower, (which melt under normal operating temperatures), you also would get lifter noise from lack of oil flow.

There is one other item that can keep you engine from starting on the 85 & 86 subarus. That would be the presumable condensor/capacitor that attaches to the coil and to ground, that also keeps the static down on the radio. Incredibly, if that little bad boy goes out, nothing works. I keep a handful of spares. Usually your radio gets real staticy, just before it blows.

The vacuum pumps may go out at about 350K miles or get cracked at the nozzles. Then you lose lots of suction that helps advance the timing at high rpm. Mine were on the passenger side over the wheel well.

Although timing belts may last 60,000 miles, the water pumps can go out much sooner. Especially if they are installed without putting gasket sealer in the top hole that otherwise allows dirt to access the internal water pump bearings. I had one go out at 23,000 miles so I change them every 20,000 miles. Subaru dealers will want to change them every 15,000 miles and not put the gasket sealer in the top hole, so that they go out faster. Since you have to partially remove the driver side timing belt, all front belt covers, the center inertia pulley, the radiator, the fan blades, the alternator, any accessory fans, and drain the coolant, in order to change the water pump, most people also change the timing belts at the same time. Youtube has some videos on timing belt replacement. For starters, you remove the coil to distributor wire and set the flywheel at a specific location so that holes in the camgears line up at notches in the back side timing belt covers.

White smoke is coolant, from my experience. The EA82 engines can have cylinder head cracks also. When the engine is cold, there is more back pressure inside the engine since the thermostat has not opened up yet. Increase the rpm, and you get even more back pressure that can more easily force coolant out tiny cracks at either the exhaust port of the cylinders, or between the intake and exhaust valves. Turn right and you get centrifical force that adds even more backpressure to any left side cylinder head cracks. Could be the triple storm of coolant back pressure that is revealing a tiny crack in your left side cylinder head. You could check your plugs with a magnifying glass, and look for a barely noticeable build up of white residue on one of your left side plugs. You need to pull the right side plugsl in order to compare. You might check the compression for pressures below 125 psi, which may indicate a problem, or at least time to have the valves and valve seats reground. Has the coolant overflow tank required adding coolant lately? If it has then you have a coolant leak inside the engine, since you also have white smoke.

Probably just needs hydraulic lifters. 8 total @ $40 each. Plus gasket maker. Also need the tiny subaru hi-temp O-rings. Piece of cake. Probably will be doing the water pump and timing belts at the same time. The timing belt pulleys and geared guide may also need replacing. It's a one day job if you have all of the parts. Check your records and see when this stuff was done last, in order to determine whether it will be required.

The only reason to have a lever is for the Hi-Lo option. The only reason to have a button on the shifter is if it is "on demand 4wd" With neither, then you have a 5 speed full time 4wd, and it might say Full Time 4WD on each side in decals. $150 is high. $125 is better if already removed. If no LSD on the label then don't count on it being LSD.

What type of transmission casing sealant did you use?

My LSD has LSD imprinted in large letters on the rear of the differential. No letters=open slip differential.

Keeping the engine from overheating, is not a performance boost, other than making it perform better than a pile of molten aluminum dripping from your engine mounts.

If you can find a replacement grill at the local auto wreckers, with all accessories, you can then just bust out the grill that you have, if all else fails. You may even be able to find a better condition grill than you already have.

You can bet that they don't take it near a Subaru mechanic because they are trying to take the DL/GL/Loyale off the road by sabotaging the heck out of the cars.

Sounds like you should pull off the two front most, outer most timing belt covers, in order to inspect for timing belt tension and as to whether the timing belts have jumped on the cam gear. It is pretty easy. If you check the compression and are getting below 125 psi on both cylinders on a side, it is probably time to tighten up the cylinder head bolts that can be accessed by just removing the cam tower covers.

86 GL10 Turbo wagon with 395,000, and still looks like it just rolled off the assembly line.

You can't change high temperature O-rings between the cylinder heads and the camtowers, unless you remove the camtowers, which you have no reason to do. Changing O-ring seals at the front of the camshaft is not usually done until an oil leak shows up, and since an oil leak does not mean a tow. Same deal with the oil pump O rings. Broken timing belts or blown water pump, means a tow. If you never drive out of town and you check for wobbling of the fan blades every 3 days, or leaking of coolant, then if you feel lucky, see how far that you can push your water pump. But you better have a replacement on hand. Timing belts also stretch. Retightening requires loosening up the pulleys and allowing the pulley springs to retighten the belts. Then retighten the pulleys. The two bolts that hold the engine mounts to the frame, are easily accessed and retightened. Forget about changing the oil pan gasket because you have to take the engine out to do it. Get a magnetic oil plug to look for metal in the pan. Only JDM motors get rapid sludge build up, since they don't change their oil in Japan, apparently. I saw no sludge build up after 150k miles. If you get a lot of shake on idle, perhaps your timing belts have hopped on the cam gears, or the timing is off, or you have a bad plug or you have a loose plug connection.

Get the manual and check the timing. Look at the points on the bottom side of the rotor cap for a build up of corrosion that can be lightly sanded. Check the plug wire ends for corrosion. Since water pumps only last 20,000 miles, was the last one put in when the engine was put back together, or was it just recently installed? They only last 20,000 miles. Consequently, you may be due for a new water pump, timing belts, and plugs.