jeffroid

Hard to say without seeing it, but it certainly isn't worth what they're asking, and probably not worth what you are thinking since it's FWD. I don't know what a clutch job at a shop cost but it's an easy job and the parts are cheap. If you don't want to or can't replace the clutch yourself you've probably got no business buying an old Subaru anyway, especially for that much money. Not trying to rain on your parade but it would be hard to imagine a FWD wagon needing a clutch being worth that much but maybe I'm just used to seeing what they go for in the Seattle area.

County.

Just curious, those cracks that he refers to between the valves are the type of cracks that are supposed to be not that bad and OK to use, right?

Thanks for the help everyone. I knew what IIRC meant, but BTDT was a new one for me. It's a totally stock carbed Carter-Weber car, Pat. I think there is something up with the exactly 10-mintute thing, but I don't think it has anything to do with warm up. I could let it warm up in the yard or drive it around town all day long and the ECS light would never come on, but ten minutes after I hit the highway the ECS light comes on to stay. From all I've read the code 11 thing is ingition pulse or whatever, but the car starts, warms up, and drives perfectly. If it wasn't for that stupid ECS light and the mediocre MPG, I would be in utopia. Also, I did replace the O2 sensor, because another Subaru I bought to fix up for someone else came with a box of parts that included a new one. Did'nt make any difference. I will look for that canister tomorrow, and hopefully be able to hit the highway and get the ECS light to come on and check the brain box then. Any more ideas or acronyms ? ? ?

I'm sorry, what's BTDT ? ? ? What canister are you referring to ? ? ? Thanks very much for the replies - I will try to see if I can check when the ECS light is on.

I did plenty of searching and am still confused (again). I have an ’84 FWD sedan that I use for my commute from Renton to Everett. Runs fine but like clockwork, the ECS dash light comes on exactly 10 minutes after I hit 405. It goes back off after I shut down and restart later on in the day, and it will sometimes go off if I get off the highway and drive around in traffic for a while. The only other symptom I can think of is that the highway MPG is 23-27. That’s the best I could ever get out of my 4WD wagons, but some here claim much higher numbers from FWD EA81s. Here is why I am confused. I pulled the cover under the dash and looked around. The only connectors that looked like they could be hooked together for any kind of testing were a pair of green ones. I could not see any white or black ones. When I turn the ignition on, the ECU appears to be flashing 11. One flash, followed by a short pause, followed by a shorter flash, followed by a longer pause. When I hook the green connectors together, it does the same thing, even after turning the ignition off and on again. I get the same thing over and over again, no matter what I do with those green connectors and the ignition. Some other things that come to mind based on what I have read is that the ECS light is not on while I am doing this test. Like I said, the ECS light will only come on after 10 minutes of highway driving, and often goes off soon after I get off the highway. The only other thing I can think of is that I don’t seem to be able to hear the fuel pump doing anything by hooking up the green connectors. Any ideas ? ? ? How come I can only seem to find a pair of green connectors and no white or black ones ? ? ? There are other unused connectors, but none that will hook together or with the green ones, except for this one bright blue one that will hook to one of the green ones. Hooking that blue one to the green one changes nothing. Anyway, thanks for reading this. Ideas are greatly appreciated.

82 hatchback - parts car 84 wagon - parts car Two 84 Turbo wagons - nice but not running, next spring's projects 84 wagon - dog hauler and local ski rig 83 FWD sedan - gets me from home (Renton) to work (Everett) four days a week. That's six. Two that run regularly, two that I hope will run soon, and two that definitely will never run again. All are parked in my yard, and I don't have a big yard ! ! ! Probably a good thing. If I had a bigger yard, I'd probably have more Subarus. I also have a nice 84 Toyota Landcruiser that is my trip and tow rig and for hauling around what won't fit in my Subarus. It doesn't get driven much.

I've done ea81's many times and have never had any trouble. Something must be wrong. I can't think of anything that would hang up unless you didn't use an alignment tool before tightening up the pressure plate or or the pilot bearing is wrong for the tranny shaft. I wouldn't just crank on the bolts unless you were wiggling the tranny shaft or crankshaft while you were trying to force it in.

Same thing happened to me. This was years ago before I even knew about USMB. Heck, it was probably before Al Gore invented the internet. It was the front main seal. Cheap to buy, and easy to replace.

Same thing happened to me. You can reach up from underneath and manually open the heater control valve, unless the heater control valve is broke, of course. That's unlikely, though. Most likely it's just sticky to the point at which the dash control knob won't open and close it. Once you get the valve open, just leave it like that and you'll have heat all winter. I went for a long time like that - reaching up underneath the dash and closing the valve in the spring, and opening it again in the fall.

Well, I guess I was trying to keep it a simple as possible. Since it ain't my car, I don't really care about the performance, although I'm sure she would appreciate the fuel economy of the five speed. So the question is kind of the same . . . I lurk this board almost daily and I don't recall noticing many 2WD trannys available either in auto or manual five speed. Am I going to be able to find either easily and cheaply if I need to ? ? ? Also, I only have EA81 4WD's readily available (in my yard!) for donors. Will the pedal box and cluch cable and fork and stuff all work if I should decide down the road to swap with a manual ? ? ?

I'm not the best to be answering this question, but since nobody else has ponied up, I'll suggest that the 2WD tranny will bolt right up to your Brat without issue. The flywheel/clutch might be smaller in diameter on the 2WD than the 4WD, but either should work. Why do you want to turn your Brat into a 2WD vehicle ? ? ? I guess if you don't need the 4WD you would end up with better gearing with the 5 speed.

I'm more of a EA81 guy, but my GF's daughter in law has come across an '89 GL sedan in good shape but with FWD and automatic tranny. She wants to buy it and I'm trying to decide if I should recommend it or not. I know what to look for and all that, that's not my question. The only thing I am really worried about is the tranny going out. If it does will I be able to find a cheap replacement around here in the Seattle area? I don't want to get stuck trying to fix it or trying to do a manual swap or anything like that, but I would not be opposed to doing a remove and replace on the tranny if it came down to that. What do y'all think ? ? ?

Even if it would work, isn't the carpet attached to both the seat back and the cargo deck? It is on my wagons, so even if you could pop the seat out of the hinges it's not like you could easily remove and install it. You would still have to remove and reinstall the carpet, right ? ? ?

I believe any wagon, hatch or sedan from 80-84, plus Brat later than that - to 87 or so perhaps. I don't have one but it should be pretty easy to find.

On my ea81 distys you don't pull the pin out, all you do is slide the little arm assembly that connects to the diaphram over the pin and then pull the diaphram out. I don't recall there being any kind of clip or fastener holding the little arm on the pin - it's just stays there due to gravity and friction.

It's not where the cable connects to the pedal, it's where the cable housing is terminated. That cast metal piece keeps the housing stationary relative to the inner part of the clutch cable. When it breaks it prevents the cable assembly from developing the tension required to move the clutch fork when the pedal is depressed. In other words, the housing just moves along with the wire part of the cable and the wire never gets tight. Unless you understand what I am trying to describe you could look down there and nothing would appear to be broken. It must be pretty common because it has happened to me at least twice.

I posted a while back about trying to do this myself and was encouraged not to do so. I called every glass shop I could find and finally found a place to do it for a reasonable price. I don't remember how much it was but I recall it being like $120 - $150 and it was new glass. That was well worth it for me, but I only got that price because a friend of a friend worked at the glass shop. They also ***************ed about doing it for that price because they said it was a tough job. I guess it all boils down to the delicate balance between how much time you have on your hands, how much skill you have, and how much money you are going to be able to save.

There was a post a couple of days ago where someone described doing just what you are talking about. As I recall this guy didn't even remove the axles. I don't know if I would try that or not, but I have done clutches by removing the engine and by dropping the tranny. For me, it depends on whether or not there is anything you want to do with the engine while it's out. Also, I would be more inclined to pull the engine if the vehicle did not have extras like power steering and air conditioning. If it did, I'd be more inclined to drop the tranny, especially if it was FWD. Also depends on your facilities. If I had a carport or garage and a hoist, that would encourage me to pull the engine. If all I had was a flat spot and a floor jack, that would encourage me to drop the tranny.

I don’t think the EGR is supposed to be open at idle. I’m not that familiar with the EGR system on Subarus, but on another ...vehicle I am more familiar with, the way to troubleshoot the EGR valve to see if it’s opening and closing is to pull a vacuum on it (which is supposed to open it). At idle, opening the EGR should kill the engine or at least make it run really rough. An open EGR acts just like a huge vacuum leak. I have had symptoms similar to what you describe from an EGR valve that was intermittently sticking open. If I were you what I would do is to alternately pull vacuum on the EGR (try to open and close it) while the engine is at idle, to verify that the EGR is actually opening and closing. Once you are sure that it is closed, pull the vacuum hose from it and plug the hose. This should eliminate any tuning problems caused by an open EGR and allow you to proceed with your troubleshooting.

A lot of the problems that I have had with my old Subarus is that many of them don't have the original engines in them. I've dealt with an '82 hatchback, an '83 GL-10 Sedan, and two different '83 wagons and they all had very different emission control components. As such, it is often nearly impossible to get everything hooked up properly when you are dealing with a transplanted engine. Once several years ago I passed emissions with about half the stuff disabled, and I have had trouble passing other times when seemingly everything was hooked up. Does edrach's buddy guarantee passing even under those conditions when it is difficult or impossible to get everything hooked up properly ? ? ? I might need to know come this October ! ! !

I would at least check to make sure that the positive battery cable was not pinched in between anything and grounding out. That has happened to me on at least two different occassions.

The same thing happened to a buddy of mine just last week on his '83 GL sedan. The positive cable from the battery to the starter had been pinched between the radiator hose and a bracket. The insulation wore through and it shorted to ground. It melted the insulation off both the positive and negative cables to the battery. The positive cable was only melted from where it had been shorted to the starter, and that part of the cable was hidden underneath the spare tire and other stuff. So when you looked under the hood, the first thing you saw was the melted negative cable coming from the battery. I wish I would have had my camera on board and taken some photos - It was pretty wicked looking. I replaced both cables and everything was fine except the starter, which I replaced with a spare I had sitting around. After that he was good to go.

I have always thought pull the engine, but I just did an '83 gl10 fwd sedan by dropping the tranny. It was a lot easier and faster than I thought it would be. I guess it might depend on how much "junk" you have under the hood. With that gl10 and the air conditioning, power steering, cruise control, etc, etc, it would have been a lot tougher getting the engine out than with my more basic and "stripped down" 4wd wagon. It could also depend on if there is anything else you want to do like change seals or gaskets on the engine while you are doing the clutch. I was just doing this last one for my girlfriend's kid. All I was worried about was getting it back on the road because he's a moron and is going to trash the car anyway. I must have got lucky because getting the tranny lined up and back in was not trouble at all. Use the pitch stop to tilt the engine way back and it should slip right in.

I think an HC test is done with a sniffer just like the one they stick in your tailpipe when doing an emissions test. I can't answer your question directly, but I would be surprised if retorquing would fix a head gasket leak. I'd make sure I had a head gasket leak before I did anything. Unless you have a buddy that works in a tune up shop with an emissions machine, it might be easier to just do a compression test than trying to find someone to do an HC test. A much better test if you have a compressor is a leakdown test. A compression test will not always detect a small head gasket leak. Too many other things besides a head gasket can cause the symptoms you describe.