exister99

Time to resuscitate this thread! I was replacing the transmission mounts in the Soob last night and decided to check out the source of my driving noise. I put her in gear in 4WD on jack stands and lo and behold the rear drive shaft was clanking about and making a ruckus. I usually get a driving noise in 2WD that is worse in 4WD. I shut everything down and started working the driveshaft around by hand. I noticed some visible play in both the front and rear u-joints, so they clearly both need replacing. According to this http://www.rockforddriveline.com/Staked%20Ujoints.PDF they don't carry joints for '84 wagons. Has anyone else here replaced the joints on an '84 or earlier model? If so, where did you get the joints and how much of a hassle was it to replace them. I have replaced the u-joints on my Dodge Dakota so I am familiar with the process of pressing them in and out etc. Thanks!

I would suggest that you perform the following experiment. Slather a big dollop of grease on to your splines and then mount your hubs on to them. Then take the wagon out for some righteous, high torque 4 wheeling: through deep water, up steep, rocky tracks and maybe over some snowy passes for good measure. Then report back on what a pain it is to find a replacement for your left front hub. Good Luck!

I would be sure to clean all grease off of the splines before installing the hub to prevent a stripped hub.

Unfortunately I just moved to Austin, TX where the huge students/slacker population causes any old beater from the 80s to easily fetch 150% of KBB value. If the thing will drive from dorm to school to record store it's sold. I wish I had stocked up on Soobs when I was still in Boise. You guys in the Northwest should consider yourselves lucky.

Note that the catalytic converter has been chopped from that rolled car so if you are trying to orient yourself by the location of the cat it might thow you off. That car used to have a cat just downstream from where the two pipes on the Y-pipe meet.

I can't tell you exactly where your pipes go as my car is an '84. I just replaced the entire exhaust with bolt on components I bought on the Internet. I think everything downstream from the cat was like $150.

If it were the fuel pump then pumping the throttle wouldn't keep your engine alive, pumping the throttle does nothing to the fuel pump. If your fuel pump is getting no power then I would suspect the FPCU. These fuel pumps on old Soobs are virtually indestructable. Many ppl have replaced them just 'cuz only to find that the new one they installed is crap compared to the factory one. A quick way to verify that it is your FPCU is to disconnect the FPCU and hot wire the fuel pump. If it comes to life then it's your FPCU. My FPCU currently dies when the temps hit the 30s so I keep a wire with 2 spade connectors to hotwire the fuel pump and be on my way. Hotwiring the fuel pump is a handy survival skill to have no matter what. Just be sure to disconnect your FPCU BEFORE hotwiring. Then have a look at the schematics and it should be obvious which wires should be jumpered. Also note that running with a hotwired fuel pump is ill-advised and UNSAFE since you are bypassing all of the safety features of the FPCU.

It is my impression that Chilton's Manuals feature a greater number of more accurate schematics than Haynes. If you think Chilton's is suspect there is a good chance someone mucked with your Soob's wiring in the past. I always use my Chilton's for schematic reference. Good thing for them too, since they generally suck at everything else.

Every so often one will show up on eBay for about $100. I picked one up there recently and keep it stashed as a back up. You can also rebuild it yourself in a few hours. Napa carries the bushings and they tap out pretty easily with a punch. A new ignition module can be spendy, but I scored my current one for an incredible $20 on eBay. One good thing to know is that while the EA81 and EA82 distributors have different bodies many of the internals are the same. I have a whole box of distributors that I use for parts etc. All in all I could probably conjure up 3 working distributors which should be enough to last me until the sun burns out.

I'm trying to figure out why you can't just get under there and look...

I haven't done my rear bearings yet, but when I did the front one I got a big brass drift punch, basically just a big brass dowel, about 3/4 inch across and a foot long. I took the knuckle out and layed it on some beefy scrap wood. Then I banged all around the outer race until the bearings came out. Used the same punch to bang the new bearings back in. I actually only replaced a couple of the bearings. Give them a good cleaning and listen to them spin. Follow your ears when deciding which to replace.

Well, there's also the matter of that little FM suppressor gadget. I guess that's not a problem if you install a CD changer.

Speaking of Factory Service Manuals, where did you get yours? Is it an original from your car's model year? Any idea where I might find one?

Are you talking about the little vacuum advance diaphragm on the side? I have never been able to find those new. Can you post a link? I was very pleased to discover that the ignition module on the Hitachis (which is a high failure item on any disty) were also used on many other vehicles over a span of many years, which means they are more easily available. I was even more pleased to find a new one on eBay for $20. Most of our cars probably fall somewhere on a reliability/performance continuum based on our expectations of them. It would appear that Hitachis are better for vehicles on the reliability end of the continuum while Nippondensos are better suited to those closer to the performance end. As long as my Soob and its distributor reliably get me and my canoe to the river and back (with the occasional deep water crossing thrown in) I am a happy kid.

I've never used the Nippondenso, but I am really happy with my Hitachi. Really easy to rebuild when the bushings wear out and super durable thereafter. With the Nippondenso you need some little external static squasher or something. If your car doesn't have this then switching to Nippondenso may not be the best option for you. Anyway, I have accumulated a collection of Hitachi distributors for parts so that my Soob will have a distributor for perpetuity.

EGR valves on Subarus are pretty simple compared to the ones on newer cars. I took mine off when I had the carburetor out and was able to clean most of the carbon buildup off of it with small brush. Then I checked its operation by sucking on the tube and listening for the opening and closing of the valve. Pretty straightforward little part overall.

I shift at 5000 RPM all of the time. That redline is at 5500 RPM for a reason, as a target! Of course I take excellent care of my engine, use a good synthetic oil and premium filter and keep fuel and spark tuned at all times. Ask most Soobsters and they will tell you that their Soobs love to live at 5000 RPM. Besides, how else would you hit 80 MPH in a 4 speed?

Next time it won't start I would check the float bowl to make sure the fuel is actually getting to the carburetor. If it is getting fuel I would hook up a load tester to the battery when it is cold. My battery was acting weird below 40 degrees and finally died when the temps hit 25, so it was off to Wal-Mart for a new battery.

Yeah Man! Feels warm and fuzzy to be right. Did you manage to score one for a good price?

This is where a healthy selection of jumper wires comes in handy. I rigged some up just the other day to hot wire the fuel pump in case my FPCU ever goes out again. Stash them somewhere in the back and you are only a quick hot wire away from getting back on the road.

I just installed a new (rebuilt) Hitchi carburetor in my EA81. I set the idle at around 950. Every so often the idle will suddenly dip down to 450 or so, stay there for a few minutes and then come back up to 950. Sometimes it occurs when it has been running 5 minutes, other times after a 1/2 hour on the freeway. Occasionally a hearty rev will bring the idle back up to 950, but usually it will just stay down at 450 no matter what I do until it decides to snap out of it and climb back up to 950. It hasn't stalled out on me yet, but I do need to pass smog next month and would rather have a steady highish idle for that. Any ideas about what may be causing it? I replaced the PCV valve when I replaced the carburetor. Could I have a vacuum leak that opens and closes intermittently? I removed and inspected the EGR valve too when I did the PCV valve. It opened and closed correctly when vacuum was applied to it. If anyone else has had this problem on the EA81 please chime in.

It could be your ignition control module. That is the little plastic thing in the distributor with two wires going to it and a hole for the distributor shaft to go through. It contains a circuit inside that decides when to fire off a spark. When this circuit gets little cracks in it then it starts to die at the most inopportune times, like while sitting at a light. The part runs like $160 retail, but I just scored a brand new one on eBay for $20. Good luck.

Actually I just bought mine from one of the chain stores that sells them with a lifetime warranty. Every time they crap out I just bring them in and swap them out for a new one. I've done it several times. Go with your gut on the axles. I've had to limp home on trashed DOJ joints twice and wouldn't care to repeat the experience, so I am perhaps overly aggressive on half shaft replacement. For the hassle of pulling them I have always figured it best to replace the whole shaft. I do keep a spare set of junkyard shafts with intact boots in the shed for the day when the stores stop selling them.

Since these relays have a finite service life one pulled from the junkyard is likely to fail soon anyway. Soldering in a brand new relay is IMO the best fix for a faulty relay, especially if you can find one that is an exact replacement like I did. Also, junkyard Soobs are hard to come by in Central Texas. You can bet that the next time I come across a junkyard Soob I am pulling the FPCU, mostly so I can use it as a prototype to build my own from discrete components. All part of my ongoing effort to take the Soob to the 500,000 mile mark.

Don't bother with new boots. If the boots are torn then the joint is already damaged and needs to be replaced. You should definitely replace the whole joint and halfshaft.