Cougar

Intrigueing points out some good items to work on. I would guess the T belts have been replaced at least once. If they haven't, you are living on barrowed time.

I doubt your coil is bad. Did you check your meter lead resistance on your meter like I mentioned in my previous post? It can change your readings significantly, a couple of ohms possibly. Thanks for explination on the cylinder locations.

We could better inform you more if we knew what model you have and how much mileage is on it?

It sounds like you have the plugwires crossed or a timing problem, possibly a slipped timing belt on one side. Have you checked that? How did the compression readings compare to each other?

I was thinking that may be the case Frag but wasn't sure since I have no working experience on these model engines. Can you tell us if cylinders 1 an 3 are on the passenger side of the engine?

Before you start tearing things apart I would do some testing first to see what is really happening and pin the trouble down. A compression test is a good start. I would also check the condition of the plugs to see what they look like. You may just need to work on one side of the engine or perhaps something other than a head is at fault. When you know what is really wrong then you can decide better on what you want to do to fix things. A little time spent investigating will save you time and money.

Just reading throught the posts here guys and thought I would throw in my thoughts. The meter readings you took on the coil look encouraging to me due to the fact that both sides agree in the readings. Depending on the type of meter design and circuit you are measuring the readings can vary some. Shorting your meter probe leads and checking the ohm reading will tell you how much from your test reading you will have to subtract to get the actual resistance of the circuit if you really need to know the actual value of small resistance measurements. The main thing again, is that both side agreed. It sounds like you do have an intermitant CPS and I don't know any info on TSB's for this. Also, I'm not sure what side is bank one but I think it is the passenger side. Can someone verify that?

It's not a good sign when starting fluid fails to get an engine fired up in my opinon. Hopefully the engine is just really flooded with fuel. You may want to pull a plug and look it over. If it is real wet with fuel you could pull the rest and then crank the engine a little to blow out the rest of the fuel. Dry the plugs off and then place them back in the same cylinder holes they came from. If the plugs are pretty wore, you may just want to put new ones in since you have the old ones out. Keep us posted.

A factory service manual set consists of a set of 4 manuals. I have seen the set sell on Ebay for around $40 dollars and less. I paid about $100 for my set new way back then. They are the best in my opinon.

The power filters will not filter the audio frequencies from your deck. The filters are installed to remove unwanted audible and unaudible frequencies in the DC power line to the amp. When there is this type of noise on the DC power it can be injected to the amplifier circuits, since they are run by the DC power, and you can hear it through the speakers. The battery can act as a fairly good filter itself. You could try placing a 100 microfarad capacitor, with a 25volt DC rating, on the positive lead of the amp and place the negative lead of the capacitor to ground to see if that will remove the noise. If it works I would solder it to the inside of the amp if you are comforable about working on the inside.

It sounds to me that your driveline may have a defect. I would try another driveshaft unit to see if that will fix this.

It sounds like your battery wire to the starter may be bad. Possibly internal corrosion. I would check the voltage you are getting to the starter while in the start start position. If you don't have near full battery voltage while the motor is not turning then your wire is bad or the connection to the battery. It could be the ground wire also. Have you checked the injectors for debris that may be clogging them? I would also check the fuseable links for a bad connection. They are in the plastic box that is mounted on the coolant reservoir.

It sounds to me like the timing is still not correct Snowman or, there may be a couple of plugwires in the wrong position.

A voltage regulator controlling a fuel pump? That's a new one on me. My earliest experience with Soobs was my new '83 wagon but it gave me so little trouble I didn't work on it much. Since that's the case, is the VR supplying the power to the pump or is it just supplying a control signal to a relay or something similar for the pump? We need to see where the power is getting cutoff using a meter or test light I think.

When you say your wires are rusting, are they near the battery where acid can get into them and corrode them? Since you have a manual this should make things a lot easier to find the trouble. Do you have a voltmeter also so you could check the voltage getting to the FPCU that Skip mentioned? The FPCU may be under the passenger seat. I would check the wiring diagram see where the power comes from and into the FPCU. Check to see if the power is still ok to the input after it shuts down. This should eliminate a feed wire problem. If that is ok, then it may be a problem with the signaling into the FPCU. I am not familiar with your unit but I know some FPCU units require the pulsing signal of the ignition system so it knows that the engine is running and to keep the pump on. I can only think that there is a delay in the circuit and if there is no ignition signal, the delay circuit drops out the power to the pump after a preset time.

If I understand the two fans correctly, the AC fan will come on with the AC or when the normal fan is not able to keep up with the thermal load. I doubt the AC fan alone will be able to keep your engine cool enough, especially in the hot South. I can see the points mentioned about having electric fans but I am also having trouble believeing one can save so much HP by changing over. Engineers rack their brains on ways to save on gas mileage and HP so I doubt they have overlooked this area, unless the production costs of converting them are too high. I may be wrong though. You brought up a good topic for discussion. If I were doing this to my car I would install a thermoswitch, 'Tee'd' into the other themoswitch, that would turn the fan on, at the same temperature as the themostat. The switch would control a rely tied through a fuse at the battery, to power the fan.

The reason you got some sparks while you were working on the alternator is because the alternator's output lead is tied to the positive battery post. If the output post is grounded without removing a battery lead to isolate things then you saw what will happen. Always disconnect the battery when servicing the alternator. There should be a fuseible link between the alternator and the battery. I would check that out if you haven't already since that is the path that got shorted. I can't remember where the links are located but they should be near the battery as someone meantioned already, in a small plastic box I think. I am more familiar with the EA 82. I would recommend you get a service manual for your car. I have seen factory manuals on Ebay go for around $25 dollars. To me, that is a bargain and a service manual is a must have item. I know nothing about a link above the drivers foot area sorry to say. Let us know what you find.

I think you will have to use some sort non-factory unit if your model did not have that option. Not sure what the JCW model is but you should be able to find something on the market that you can remotely mount the sensor near the lower front end and a small display on the dash.

Removing the mechanical fan is not such a good idea to me. This will make your electrical system work that much harder to supply power to the fan that will have to stay on continuously. This will make that much power less available for charging and these fans draw a good amount of current. The mechanical fan just uses a little power from the engine to run it.

I think the info you are talking about may only be available to dealer service folks. If you want to buy the service manuals here is a link you can use. Jamie (Subiegal) will give you a good deal on the manuals compared to the full dealer prices. The entire set for my Outback consisted of 8 manuals. You may just want to get some of the main ones. You can find CD manuals on Ebay for around $15 if you want to go that route. Here is the link: http://www.allsubaru.com/catalog.html

Your welcome for the help and thanks for the feedback. Glad you got things fixed up and for not too much more money. Sounds you got a good deal on the alternator and didn't spend money on things that were really ok. If you haven't checked out the fuselink connections you should do that just to be sure there is no other problem there. This could cause your intermitant power problem. As far as gauges go, I like to remember where the normal range is for them while running. Since they can be the first indicators of a problem, it is good to check things when you see something that is not normal, even if it is a short duration. Happy & safe drive n'

You may be ok with using the battery still but you should have it checked to see if it is still ok. As far as the alternator goes, I would replace it with a remanufactured unit. The voltage of the charging system should never exceed more than 15 volts as the high end, as it will cause damage to the battery. Whenever the voltage goes beyond that you need to find out why and fix the problem. The fuselinks handle a lot of current normally. I think the red one handles the most if I remember correctly, so when there is a small resistance at the contacts it can cause a lot of heat and damage them over time.

Along with the other good suggestions to check for problems there is a possiblity that the fuselink, that Skip mentioned, may just have a bad connection. I had the same kind of problem you are having except about the overcharging. The contacts for the fuselink on my car had become loose and burned. This caused the power to be intermitant.

Nice to hear to are close to being on the road again Snowman. It sounds like you may have a stuck thermostat. Did you put a new one in?

Since you now know that you are pulsing the coil you should be getting spark. If you are still not getting spark then I would check the main high voltage wire from the coil. Try placing a spare plug and wire into the coil and set the plug on a good ground point on the engine. You should see spark when you crank the engine. Also check all your fuses. I remember helping someone with a similar problem and if I remember right fuse #5 and #12 had a function in getting spark but I can't remember for sure. All the tests we did to find the problem showed no trouble until it was discovered the fuse was bad.