exister99

A couple of weeks ago I took a trip from Boise to Portland. A loud growl started emanating from the engine compartment. The further I drove the louder it got. Upon arriving back in Boise I discovered the aforementioned "Chernobylled Silencer." I took the whole mess out and sure enough the ASV was internally busted. I think I was lucky though since I only found two tiny pieces of melted plasic near my carb intake. I think the hole in the silencer was big enough to let most of the exhaust gasses out. Soob still runs fine. So it's off to my local secret pull yard to harvest parts from hush-hush stash of wrecked Soobs. Yeay! This thread is brilliantly helpful, BTW.

So the ice and snow is here and the Soob was rarin' to go with her studded snow tires. I've driven from Boise to Ketchum a couple of times in blizzard conditions. Unfortuntely the last couple of weeks I have had the following two problems: 1. The 4WD lever is really hard to put back in 2WD after driving around in 4WD for a while. 2. When I stop after some 4WD driving there is a burning smell in the cab. This smell does not occur while in 2WD. What is the likely culprit here? Is the linkage that gets worked by the 4WD lever inside the front differential? Is the front differential a seperate unit from the transmission? Could the rear differential be to blame? I recently did a front end rebuild (half shafts, bearings, struts etc.), but haven't messed with the rear end much. Any suggestions are appreciated before I put her up on jack stands and start diggin in.

I've had my Subi for about 2,000 miles. The oil pressure gauge has always fluctuated pretty wildly from near 0 all the way to 75. I know there is some normal fluctuation with accel and decel, but this seems excessive. Do most of you maintain pretty steady oil pressure? Am I about to fry my engine?

Thanks for the reminder guys. Akira, I checked out your brat picks. Awesome! They gave me lots of ideas for my `84 GL. Where did you score that front tube bumper?

So I have the original radio in my '84 GL. I can't remember how set those mechanical preset buttons. Can you help me out with a reminder?

Does that mean I can use a Nippondenso disty without it and only suffer crappy radio reception?

So what exactly is that thing mounted on top of the ignition coil? It is present in Nippondenso cars but not Hitachis.

Perusing the selection of Subis at a local junkyard I noticed that all of the remaining distys were Nippondenso units. That got me to wondering how easy it is to switch from a Hitachi to a Nippondenso. One obvious issue is that there is some sort of external ignitor unit that mounts on top of the ignition coil above the wheel well. If I pull this unit and the disty and use them both to replace my Hitachi will I have a working engine? Has anyone done this? How did it go?

Thanks for the reply GD, To tell you the truth I haven't yanked the dash on my car to see if it even has an ECU. It is just something I don't want to have to replace. I found some ECUs at the junkyard, but I won't buy them if I don't have to. From what you said I don't think my car has an ECU. It is a non-California `84 with a Hitachi carb. One thing I noticed is that it doesn't seem to have an Oxygen sensor anywhere on the exhaust assembly. Is this a good indication that it doesn't have an ECU/ECM either? I've got an emmissions test coming up. I hope they cut me some slack based on the car's age.

So I was at the junk yard salvaging parts from their selection of Subis, and I came across an '83 GL. I cracked open the dash and where there should have been an ECM there was nothing. It was also clear that there had been nothing there. So the question is, are there '81-'84 Subis that have no ECMs? If so, which ones are they? I found an ECM for an '84 that had some weird business under the hood with two cables going into one unit out of which came the accelerator cable. What was this, and is it controlled by the ECM? Any general pointers on ECM cross compatibility would also be appreciated. Thanks

No, no, no! If you turn the key and click then you have a bad starter solenoid, assuming of course your battery is OK. In my case the starter would turn the engine over, but it would not start. I performed a spark test off the main ignition wire and got no spark. In your case I would get your battery good and charged up. Then if the engine won't turn over I would suspect the starter.

External Ignition Module? As I understand it one of two things is true: Either you have a mechanical breaker system with points and a condenser, or you have an internal ignition module, aka ignition control unit, aka pickup coil. All of figures 10.8 b-f have some sort of breakerless ignition module by whatever name. It is the thing the wires go into instead of hooking up with the condenser and points. Easy on the screws, they're hard to replace...

Good Times John! Don't be afraid to dig into the disty. BTW, when I changed the IM I also swapped out the cast magnet as it was broken in two pieces. Though not an ideal situation I doubt it was the cause of the no-starts. Whatever you do don't pay $150+ for a new IM. A Google search for "Suabaru Ignition Module" yielded one for $53. I myself got a used one out of a disty I picked up for $20. I have a backup from a junkyard unit I scored for $15. In all likelyhood these are both good and my original one failed due to an old overheating problem. Also, the Haynes repair manual has exploded view diagrams for all of the different disty models I have seen. I know of no other source for all of these diagrams. Have Fun.

Time to resuscitate this thread! I just ordered a couple of sets of brushes from partsamerica.com for $6.59 a pair. Does anyone know if every alternator in '80s Subarus uses the same size brushes?

Thanks, GeneralDisorder for the tip about the ICs. That makes perfect sense given the symptoms I observed. Actually the disty I am running is a Hitachi. The module is the type with the little yoke the wraps around the disty shaft. I was pleased to find that the disty internals are practically identical on OHC and OHV engines, even though the bodies themselves aren't interchangeable. Given the high price of remanufactured units I have started collecting distys that have bodies or parts that fit in my '84. So far, in addition to the Hitachi running in my wagon I have: 1 Hitachi OHV body with IM and most internals. 1 complete Hitachi OHC without IM. 1 complete Nippondenso with knackered bushings. I am a little curious about the Nippondensos. They seem a little pricier than the Hitachis on the retail side, maybe due to lower volume. Are they as good as the Hitachis? Are they worth rebuilding? Also, thanks Skip for the pointer. I do recall that there was voltage between the coil and the battery with the key on. I just forgot about that test as I followed the flow chart to the inevitable conclusion of a bad IM.

For those of you who like to read about the resolution of certain cases, here it is. Symptoms: Sudden engine death and failure to start. After being left alone for a while (hrs to days) the car starts. While in no-start mode a spark test between the primary ignition wire and engine block is negative, no spark. Cause: Ignition module in distributor was shot. The interesting symptom is the apparent regeneration of the faulty part. The ignition module is the only "electronic" part in the primary circuit. I surmise that its faulty internal parts were failing and then resetting themselves after being left alone for a while, only to eventually fail again. I would venture to say that this start/no-start cycle is indicative of a faulty ignition module. Fix: Replaced the ignition module with a used one and she started right up and stayed running. Hoping this ignition module doesn't fail too.

Has anybody used a copper faced hammer to avoid bunging the threads? I've used a cheapo one on everything from halfshaft replacement to disty rebuilds, and the copper face alway takes the bulk of the abuse. Also, how long a breaker bar do you use to break the castle nut loose? I have used an air ratchet in the past but I fear I may be banging the life out of my regular (non pneumatic) 36mm socket.

Has anybody used a copper faced hammer to avoid bunging the threads? I've used a cheapo one on everything from halfshaft replacement to disty rebuilds, and the copper face alway takes the bulk of the abuse. Also, how long a breaker bar do you use to break the castle nut loose? I have used an air ratchet in the past but I fear I may be banging the life out of my regular (non pneumatic) 36mm socket.

GeneralDisorder, Not sure what an ECS light is. If my O2 sensor was grounded out would it cause the no spark condition?

Trying to conjure up the collective knowledge in this community. My Car: '84 GL 1800 Wagon Just rebuilt my distributor on Sunday. Sitting in a left turn lane on Monday my Subi died. Got pushed off into a parking lot. 2 hours later it started right up. I got half way home and it died again. It hasn't started since. One thing I noticed was the alternator was very hot. I seem to be getting plenty of juice from the battery. I replaced the coil. Did a spark test with the main coil cable and no spark. So I figure it has to be my battery, or fusible links. Could it possibly be the alternator? Did a bad alternator cook my battery? Is there a procedure somewhere for replacing the regulator in my alternator? Any help is appreciated. Thanks