jkhackney

Hi Tom, Sad, I do know that. What's the issue in the U.S.? I put on a Thule rack which howls in the wind. Since we got it in 2015 I think(?) we've done 19k km (12k mi) and average 5.0L/100km or 48mpg U.S. This is city/flat Autobahn and pretty hefty mountains, in all weather with up to 4 people inside. Just cruising on the flat Autobahn at 50mph it can average nearer to 50mpg, as if it were a much smaller car. I've never had a diesel or a turbo before, so the acceleration above 2000rpm is incredible for me. Six gears is cool. Today it passed its re-inspection after I cleaned off the oil and let it sit all weekend to see if another drip started. I think there might have been one trying to come out of the electrical sensor-looking device on the left side of the block, just above the steering motor/gearbox and oil pan. It's a round black plate 2" diameter held on with 2 cap screws (5mm allen key) and it has a white wire coming out of it. I tweaked each cap screw a hair tighter, wiped the wannabe drip off, and it was totally dry two days later. The drip could have been brake cleaner mixed with oil from my earlier cleaning though ... My problem may be a very small leak that accumulated oil for a long time, making it look dramatic. I had tried to remove the turbo intercooler to inspect it better, but couldn't get the hoses off (didn't want to break the plastic one!!!). Is it just a matter of persistence to get the hoses to pop off? I was thinking of a worst case since the oil volume was so high: turbo leak --> diluted oil --> leaking oil I'll update this thread if it/when starts leaking again. Jeremy

Woops, before reading your helpful response, I cleaned, drained, and re-filled it without taking photos. The transmission oil is new and clean, and the oil on the engine was black. So I'm sure it's leaking engine oil. The highest point of the stains was the oil pan / sump gasket. The engine oil smells like diesel and it's conceivable that short trips have diluted it. I re-filled it with the oil I drained, and 750mL was left in my bucket when it was at the "high" mark on the dipstick. I tried placing a drop on a piece of paper to observe the oil and diesel separating, but I can't see definitive signs. That method probably needs experience to be useful. Or, it may just be a trace of diesel in the oil? After a 30 second idle there aren't any drips. I'll drive it for a day or two, keep an eye out for oil on the bottom of the engine and on the oil level at the dipstick, and if anything interesting happens I'll post it here. I'll find one of those online diagrams to understand what I'm looking at. Thanks Jeremy

Hi, My wife has a 2010 2.0L diesel TDI (Legacy V) with 189,000km which has always been dealer-serviced. Last service 187,000km in May. I took it to inspections for her last week and an oil leak was found under the engine, which is coating the steering motor/gear and tie rods. The cylinder heads are clean, as is the area around the bellhousing and transmission. The leak seems to start at the oil pan gasket . In May, the dealer made no mention of an engine oil leak, so I suppose that the leak started since they did the work. The engine oil level on the dipstick is 2cm above the "max" reading !! Could this be enough to cause the leak? And would the leak stop again if I drained the oil and replaced the correct amount? Would I need to re-set the computer (for the diesel particle filter) if I did this? There are no indications of a blown head gasket that would leak coolant into the oil. The oil is not brown/green but the normal black color. No coolant is missing. Would a warning light indicate a head gasket issue? I assume, now, that it's simply overfilled. Does anyone else have a hypothesis I should test (and how to test it)? Thanks Jeremy (in Switzerland)

Thanks for that. The service intervals for this car are a lot longer than any car I've owned, so I wasn't sure if it was normal to have black oil after such a long interval. The previous owner had everything done and recorded at a garage, and it's all on schedule. But who knows if they used a good oil or if they actually did the work?! I guess I'll change the oil, then! And check the others -- I think there's even an oil clutch on the diesel? Anyway, I have some stuff to read in the owners' manual now. Meanwhile I learned that if I press down lightly on the stick while shifting, it works fine. Second is no problem and first is just the usual Subaru issue that you have to be stopped in order to engage it. Maybe there's some isse with a bushing or a selector rod on first, but as long as we can get it to engage ... Thanks! Jeremy

Hi, I have a 2010 2.0 turbodiesel Legacy wagon with 175k km that I bought one year ago. It has a complete service record and has been maintained on schedule from the same garage since new. It's parked outside and gets driven about 4-5 times per month. Lately it won't shift into 1st or 2nd at startup, or until the engine/transmission is warm. That's about 10 minutes. I tried the tricks I know from my old Land Rover. Double-clutching doesn't help. Shifting into 3rd while stopped and then trying 1st or 2nd also doesn't work (this works on a Land Rover with a dragging clutch). There's no apparent grinding; the lever just won't move. For the two times I've driven it in this condition, I've used 3rd to get going the first time, and once underway I was able to select 2nd, and 1st once I slowed way down. (Then I just left it in 1st with my foot on the clutch, so I could get going again). It can select all gears easily when cold if the engine is turned off. I ensured that the clutch pedal goes to the floor. The clutch fluid reservoir is full and clean. The transmission oil is full and black and apparently has 20k km on it. The air temperature is below 5 C when this happens, but last winter it never happened, not even below freezing. Is this a known issue with these transmissions or clutches? What should I look at, clutch or gearbox? What would you recommend? Thanks, Jeremy in Switzerland

Hi, I have a 2010 (or 2011, I can't remember just now) 2.0 diesel Legacy Wagon, Swiss edition. I installed a Westfalia hitch and basic functions of the 13-pole plug electric harness with no issues, and they all work. But I have questions about the non-standard circuits of the electric harness. The instructions are sparse. If anyone could help I'd be very thankful!!: 1) I couldn't figure out which wire to cut for the fog light, so I haven't installed that part of the harness. It's supposed to be above the hatchback door, but these wires were inaccessible behind the roof insulation, and pulled very tight so I couldn't get my hand in. Then I couldn't get the fiddly trim piece above the hatch back in !! Has anyone done this? 2) To finish the installation, I need a constant 12V for an electric trailer brake and a 12V on a relay for charging a trailer battery. I have the Westfalia harness kit with 6 meters or so of cable for each circuit. Do the relays and fuses go in the driver's footwell area or under the hood/bonnet? What am I facing as far as routing the cables -- under the carpet, in a channel in the unibody, etc.? Thanks! Jeremy

I have a log book in the car for recording fuel, oil, coolant, mileage, and repairs/maintenance. I noticed that my wife (who uses the car 90% of the time) has logged that she's been filling coolant into the reservoir. So at least the level was good! Can't get to NAPA unfortunately. I since read some threads on the pumps and they say to buy the ones with cast iron impellers. Hmm, remanufactured pump for $22, shipping for $91 plus $18 import fees ... oof. -Jeremy

Hey, While cleaning up inside the belt covers to re-assemble, I noticed that the "oil" in the covers is actually coolant leaking out of the hole in the bottom of the water pump. Both Haynes and my factory manual say it's time to replace or overhaul the water pump, the latter as a last resort if a new pump can't be sourced. It seems plausible that the coolant caused the short life of the belt, doesn't it? (Makes me cringe that I went and bought the whole sh'bang and probably just needed belts and a pump!). Has anyone rebuilt a water pump? I have the instructions in the factory manual, but no part numbers. If I could get the parts cheaply, I'd rebuild the old one as a spare. Can anyone give me a tip on where to get a new pump and what to pay? The Swiss prices just about make me faint. Thanks, Jeremy

Thanks for that tip, KY john. My last broken belt was on a different Subaru and it happened 70,000 miles after replacement, i.e. replacement was already on my "TODO" list. To lose this one at 60k km surprised me. My last drivebelt kit came with an idler, (the lipped) camshaft seals, and the pulleys, all of which I replaced. The kits are hard to find, here. I've gotta go through a dealership or order from abroad. I'll see if my dealer can get me the O-rings, as well, and the oil pump seal kit. I replaced the oil seal fairly recently when I did the head gaskets but since I'll be in there why not. Cheers, Jeremy

Hi again, The coil voltage is 12V on both + and - (I had measured it incorrectly, across the coil instead of each pole independently to ground). I realized it isn't switching the - to ground through the distributor as it should. Finally I realized that "john in KY" had made an important point. I should check the belts and make sure the distributor is turning at all. Indeed the left (driver's side) driving belt is broken! The most obvious culprit, as it turns out! Hmm, 60,000 kilometers since I changed them. This will solve our problem for the time being ... after rolling underneath the past weekend, I think the rust will kill this car before the fuel pump or the distributor. Thanks everyone! Jeremy

OK, I guess it'll be easier to find a whole distributor than the ignition/pickup coil module. Mine is the Swiss Station 1987 MPFI non-turbo 4WD wagon with 3 speed Automatic and 99 horsepower. I have the factory manual for the US version from 1988. This lists a single the distributor for all models and it's the Hitachi D4P84-03. The picture looks just like mine. A scrapyard has a Hitachi D4P86-01A from a 1988 turbo sedan model with 120 horsepower. Any guess whether this will work? My engine uses the turbo-type intake manifold and Haynes indicates that the turbo/non-turbo MPFI's used the same distributor. (i.e. I usually end up ordering parts for the turbo model, though mine isn't turbo). I'd appreciate any help from this incredibly knowledgeable forum!? Thanks, Jeremy

Thanks, everyone. The car quit on the first day of our vacation and the next day we left (in the other car of course), ... we just got back! I detached the engine-side fuel hose at the pump and had my wife turn the key to ACC and got a quick bucket full of fuel. So the pump works. I followed the Haynes (and common sense) to check the spark: none at the plug, none at the lead, none at the coil. No voltage at the low-tension side of the coil, either. The coil resistances are OK. Haynes says I need a new ignition module/pickup coil combination device. It's the distributor pictured in illustration 10.8e, "Hitachi system turbocharged". Still, I'll check on the ECU color. It'll be good to know for the future! Where do I order an ignition module/pickup coil? Does anyone know the part number? I have a dealer here, but he's given me the incorrect parts sometimes, in particular the wrong distributor cap, which tells me he's not the best source for this particular need. Thanks, Jeremy

Hi, We have a Swiss Station 1987, EA82 with MPFI and 3 speed AT with ca. 130k km. I replaced the timing belts at 80k km, head gaskets and oil seals a couple years ago, radiator, alternator, some brake lines, brake discs and pads. Generally it's a great car, just getting rusty. It consumes oil at approximately 1L per four tanks of fuel. It has been pinging up steep hills for years; a Subaru garage I left it with said they couldn't reproduce a ping and so it's been left that way. It's recently developed a very slow idle in Drive when the choke turns off. So low, that it dies under load with low throttle, like when you try to reverse slowly. Today the engine suddenly cut out at 80 km/h while cruising on level ground. It cranks over strongly, but we couldn't start it again. I towed it home. I suspected the fuel pump. It makes a buzzing noise when the key is turned to "ACC", but I can't remember what it used to sound like when the car worked?! Apart from taking it out (looks like a rusty mess in there!), is there any way to test it from under the hood (bonnet for you UK readers)? Does the fuel just start flowing out of the tank when you take the pump off? Does anyone have any other suggestions for systematically testing systems to find our problem? Does the idle issue give a clue? I'm fine with old electromechanical cars, but don't have the tools or experience with automotive electronics or fuel injection. Thanks, Jeremy

Hello again, sorry I haven't updated the thread in over a month. I got the only replacement radiator I could find in Europe. Identical to the original except silver in color. I put in the radiator and thermostat (Subaru thermostat, 72 deg) and checked the timing with the green wires plugged in. Thanks for the tips on checking for cracks in the head (looks easy to visually check) and about the improved cooling alternatives. No I did not have the heads planed when I did the HG's. Yes they are non-turbo but MPFI (might have mentioned it). My preference would be to put in a manual 5-spd! But I'll look at what I can find as far as an aux electric or pulley fan and inline transmission cooler. I should have just bought a radiator cap when getting the rest of the coolant parts. The pinging seems to be lessened but it still does it. Must be some oil coming into the combustion chamber ? The transmission fluid was OK. I haven't tried towing uphill again. Next week is school vacation again so we may give it a try. Someone snapped the rear wiper off last week so I'm going to the junkyard anyway. Maybe they have some of these cooling parts but these cars are very rare here nowadays so I'm not optimistic. -Jeremy

Thanks, I was able to observe the rad after a long drive. It gets hot all round, well maybe two spots in the bottom just left and right of center are a bit less hot. Both rad hoses are hot. Re-starting a warm engine, the radiator gets hot immediately, telling me the fluid circulation is good. The parts supplier failed to deliver and I've had to re-order with a Subaru garage. This garage owner (same one who tested my ignition timing last year) says the 1800lbs should have been easy to tow, and that there's "definitely" cracks in my heads. He bases this on many years' experience. It's actually the same thing my local non-Subaru garage said, too (heads are leaky). Well, there's no question the rad is falling apart so I'll change it and see. Also I'll ask my wife to systematically test the car with 98 octane fuel. Yes I tested the PCV valve when I did the heads and it's good. It does burn oil. I don't know if it's coming in the injectors or the valves. My head gaskets were from HB Jakoparts with no mention of retorquing in the instructions. It's a Swiss Edition Station, first reg 10/1987. Yes, left hand drive. It has a slightly raised roof (maybe you've seen this) and slightly different tail lights, and higher wattage headlights than the U.S. version. I have the U.S. factory manuals for 1988, and a Haynes. But I can't say for sure if mine has the exact features of the U.S. models marketed at the same time. It is MPFI with no turbo, but to get the correct intake manifold gaskets I had to order "turbo" ones. I didn't read mention of those green plugs, so thanks for that tip. The manual does say to set the timing with the advance disabled. Yes it's an optical distributor for sure. OK I won't be ablel to start on this until next Tuesday evening at the earliest. -Jeremy

Thanks for your replies. Yes it would be a good idea to first know what the cause was, before willy nilly replacing parts of the coolant system. I'll try to address some of the mentioned issues. 1) bikes on the roof and aerodynamics ... certainly a drag but, well, maybe not at 20mph, our speed when we overheated!! 2) To clarify its pinging. Our local Subaru garage took it for a day, checked the timing, and took it for a test drive, reporting that the ignition timing was set up correctly and that they didn't hear pinging. $70. That frustrated me. It was REALLY pinging a lot more than usual the day it boiled over. We alway use the fuel that is labelled "95" here and the garage says that's fine. "98" is available. my wife reported no difference when she used it, once. It seemed to ping less after I did the heads and decarbonized, but I really hardly drive the car so I can't say for sure. Our altitude is 580 meters by the way, roughly 2000ft. 3) Wasn't aware of green diagnostic plugs to set iginition timing. I was going to use a timing light? 4) Why I wanted to check the RPM at idle to set the ignition timing ... in case the ignition timing had maybe been set relative to the wrong RPM (maybe in "D" instead of "P" or "N"). 5) The old radiator fins are certainly degrading, which justifies replacement. But it's still in the car, so I can check it for cold/warm areas to troubleshoot it for clogs and to check the thermostat at least. But since the thermostat housing joint is leaking anyway, I'll take out the thermostat to test it in a pot of hot water before just swapping it out. Both these tests might rest my mind that our issue is just the cooling system. 6) Radiator cap is clean, will check the inside of the overflow bottle for deposits, thanks. 7) Retorquing the heads, hadn't read about that being necessary. What a pain! I have to jack the engine up a few inches to reach the bolts. The heads have the superficial cracks between the valves, but I tested them for leaks (inverted them and put in diesel overnight) and they were OK as far as my facilities allowed me to test them. 8) I have no auxilliary cooling fan and I was thinking afterward that this would be a good thing to add. 9) The PCV system is clean of slag and clogs but the pipes are really brittle. I replaced one with a garden hose because not even my local dealer could get an original hose. 10) I'll check the ATF as I change the radiator (some will spill out, then). I assume I'm looking for scorched color, burnt smell? 11) On the other hand I was thinking, we tried to tow an 1800lb trailer with a 25 year old Subaru over a pass that averages 10% for about 11 miles. Even having grown up in Colorado, I have to admit that's a huge pass, and a bit of a high expectation. I expect the radiator to be delivered tomorrow, Monday, Jeremy

OK I've decided my radiator needs replacing. The fins are brittle and green and I can push my finger through them. I ordered one, and a thermostat with a new gasket. I let the engine idle yesterday until warm and it seems fine. Valves are quiet, oil color is fine, coolant color is fine. I left the radiator cap off while it warmed up and coolant spilled out. I assume that's a bit of air expanding (no bubbles came out though), but maybe it's also a good sign that the impeller on the water pump works ? I should bleed the air out, but if I'm just going to replace the radiator on monday it's not crucial at the moment ... I doubt we'll get back up to the 80's F this year again but I'll give it a good test after I replace the radiator and report back. And pinging? I'll check the timing, myself this time. Before, I wasn't sure how to hook up my RPM meter but now I have a clue where to find a suitable 12V source. -Jeremy

The hitch is a Subaru part and its limit is 1500kg trailer/70kg tongue weight. The vehicle's "circulation document" (title) says maximum towing load 1130kg, same as the vehicle weight. Maximum vehicle load is 550kg. My trailer and the load I had onboard were well below these limits. I would think that the black-on-white has as much to do with lawyers as with engineering. The allowances could be over- or underestimated. I thought maybe I might find some de facto information in the forum because of two things: My friend and I towed this trailer with the Subaru 600 miles from Belgium where I bought it. That was winter (cold) and flat except for a final 10% gradient for about 6 miles shortly before home. It pulled up that hill like a train, much stronger than my Land Rover. So I was surprised it konked out this week. Since Subarus are used by farmers here to haul loads, I expected it to handle the hills better. Thus I wonder if I have a major mechanical defect or was kidding myself about it going so easily in winter. BTW for those frightened by the prospect, this trailer has got an electric brake. -Jeremy

Hi, My Subaru overheated while towing and while I read some other threads about overheating, there isn't much written here about towing, so I thought I'd start a new thread. I live in Switzerland with an EA82 MPFI 3-speed Automatic GL Wagon (Leone II) with a hitch. No A/C, no turbo. About 130,000km on the original engine. As scheduled maintenance in February I had replaced the HG's, intake manifold gaskets, sealed the cam towers, valve seals, Mickey Mouse seal, etc. I also replaced the plugs, plug wires, dizzy rotor and dizzy cap at that time, and topped off the driveline lubricants. It seemed to be running perfectly, quietly, and consuming little oil and less fuel than before. On paper it has more torque and more Horsepower than my old Land Rover, so I tried towing our 800kg/1800lb camping trailer last week on vacation over some big mountains. The car also had 4 bikes on the roof and 2 adults/2 kids inside. Wife at the wheel, doing 4500-5000 rpm up a 10-12% grade in 1st gear and 35C/90F outside temperature, it boiled over. After it cooled, I recovered the green cap from the overflow canister (it was down in the bodywork), put in about 2L of coolant (!) and we continued, only to overheat and blow the green cap off again and need another 2L of coolant. The electric fan was working. There's nothing blocking air through the grille. Returned home to swap cars and now I'm back from vacation figuring this out. 1) the car has been normal when not towing anything. 2) It has always pinged like mad under load (steep uphill, 2 adults/2 kids). I had the timing checked by a Subaru garage and they said it's fine. 3) Before leaving with the trailer, I filled the coolant overflow tank. It was empty. I had not been aware of coolant loss as it's my wife's car and I'm not on top of the day-to-day situation. I didn't know at the time that an empty overflow tank meant I should also fill the radiator. Thus it COULD have been low on coolant from the outset! 5) After it overheated, we noticed a weep of coolant from the thermostat housing gasket. I had never replaced that gasket. So what am I looking at here? Was something wrong with the Subaru to have caused overheating, or would you have expected the overheating under this much load? It overheated even when I re-filled the radiator and overflow tank. So it being low on coolant wasn't the cause of overheating. Does the repeated overheating indicate that I have perhaps warped the heads? Might they have cracks? Could a malfunctioning thermostat cause this? Thanks, Jeremy

Yes, lurking for a while. Don't know about mods available but mine is not modified. I broke a very brittle hose while replacing the inlet manifold gaskets. I didn't mention I'm in a small town in Switzerland. Dealer prices are really high (only one dealer within 20 miles). Not knowing the history of my vehicle, for a recent tuneup at 100k km I inquired about a fuel filter, emissions canister, air filter, PCV valve, and dizzy cap/leads/plugs/rotor. It would have been $700 equivalent. I whined at the tally and decided not to buy most of it (got it at rockauto instead, or didn't replace some things at all); in Switzerland an "inquiry" is nearly as binding as an "order" so it was quite rude of me. Not enough time has passed for me to show my face again. There's also a good chance that non-OEM parts won't pass inspections but in the case of vacuum hoses I think I'd just get a warning and 3 weeks to fix it before a new inspection. BTW my Subaru is called a "Swiss" Super Wagon. It's got a higher roof and some differences in the taillights, and some kind of automatic 4WD button that my Subaru in the U.S. didn't have. -Jeremy

Thanks for that idea. I was shocked at the high price the last time I had to buy a part from a Subaru dealer. If a generic vacuum hose can make the bends it needs to, I'll do that. I had thought they had to be rigid and therefore pre-formed. I just thought of going to a scrapyard, but old hoses are likely as brittle as mine (24 years old but only 70k miles) and I bet they wouldn't let me take them from an engine. -Jeremy

This might be my first post, in that case, "Hi"! Can anyone help me with part numbers and/or an online source for PCV hoses for a 1987 EA82 OHC MPFI 3-speed automatic, non-turbo? One hose from each camshaft cover to the air intake duct, and another from the AT. Thanks! Jeremy