stratman977

I was just getting off the interstate and downshifted twice, my headlights go bright for a second then everything went out for a second then came on. At this point my engine was dead so I pulled off. It wouldn't start. I connected the green connectors for the ecu and the fuel pump wasn't coming on like it should in test mode. My buddy pulled me up the road and in the shop we found that the fuel pump ign fuse was burnt. I put a new one in and it started right up. I drove it 15 miles home and it was fine. I know fuses don't blow for no reason but is it possible that the fuse was just old and had one too many voltage cycles. The only electrical gremlins on the car is my check engine light doesn't always come on when the engine is off but ignition on and the idle air control valve has a loose connection cause some times it opens and closes while running or wont come on for a cold start. That one is hard to find the fault cause its intermittent. I did run wires to the speakers to fix the common ground over the weekend but I don't think that's related. Any ideas on things to check? Im going the inspect the obvious wiring for a defect but what else to look at since its currently working. Its a 1988 gl wagon 4wd ea82 spfi.

If youre going to go to the trouble of removing spot welds can you get better sheet metal from a donor car? You should strip back some of the paint around the bad areas with a wire wheel to see what youre really dealing with. There might not be enough left there to work with or it might not be so bad.

Not to mention the guy was driving it like a total idiot. They showed a pick of bald all season tires somewhere in there as well. I still bet if they threw it in reverse it might have came out. Its all a bunch of crap drama anyway.

I take it you don't have an air impact? Put an old belt on it and use a big screwdriver to twist it up until its tight then hold the belt while you turn.

Should be above 12V with everything off just sitting there. Close to 14v when running, maybe less if you have alot of acessories on. Lower than 12v is ok with key on and engine not running. Generally they test a battery with a load test. Put a known load on it and see how that battery responds. It may still be bad but is showing appropriate voltage readings.

You have to use a multimeter to test at the battery. The dash meter isnt all that accurate.

I agree that its likely the axle. I just put in a set of reman axles from NAPA and experience the clicking in straight line only especially when cold.

I had one a few months ago but I scrapped it. Crushed the tank with a backhoe outrigger and took the whole mess in. Should have saved everythign from the car but I figured there were certain things I'd never use. Maybe call a yard out in washington or oregon or california and see if the will ship you one? How about grabbing one from a newer subaru at the pick and pull and making it work? I would think something from another car could be adapted to work as long as it has the same diameter as the hose connection to the tank.

You need the wire connector plug from the nissan.

Caboobaru was right about the missing washers. That fixed it, I didn't mess with the radius rod cause I wanted to see which ones it was. Thanks to everyone else for the suggestions. Thanks to czny's picture I found one of those washers in my Subaru spare bolt bucket. It had to be from this car because the parts car I had I scrapped the whole strut assembly. I think what I did was throw the old strut bolt in the bucket while I was changing them out and figured the washer went with the bolt and tossed it in there with it. Searched high and low for the other one and it just doesn't want to be found. I know I'll find it next week and it will bother me until I take it back apart and put the right washer on it. I went to the local farm supply and found a 1/2" grade 8 washer that was almost the same thickness and OD and painfully drilled out the center with a step drill. Those loose washers they sell have a decent amount of variance in the thickness so I just picked through the bin until I found one close.

I'm starting to second guess if I my old struts had those conical washers or not. The stud on the strut sticks out farther than the old ones as the dust caps on that stut mount wont go all the way back on. I was able to turn the bearing by hand before I put the new struts on but it took some effort, it didn't free wheel on the top of the strut. I checked my workbench and they weren't sitting there and the werent stuck to the bottom of the old mounts or on the old struts. I don't know how I could have lost them in the 5 minutes between the dissasembly of the old strut and the installation on the new strut. I really think a part that significant I would have remembered seeing them.

I put a washer on the back side of the bushings today and it makes no difference. Tomorrow I'm going to try two washers up front instead of one on the rear and see if this changes anything. I have no conical washers between the top hat and the bearing. They weren't there before so I didn't have them to put them back or back on upside down. Are these a common part or is it a dealer only part? If its a dealer part anyone have a part number? I did jack up the front and went side to side and there's no binding or clunking to speak of. This may be a problem that I need to address but there weren't there before with the old struts so I'm inclined to believe this isn't the cause of my current issue.

Im going to try to add the washers to the radius rod bushing since its cheap and easy as a start. Should I add 1 waster to the front and back or just one or two on the front to start?

I was reading some other posts on the topic and I realized I did not clock the top of the spring mount properly. I should have known better but I didn't think of it. I just went out and fixed that which did help but the problem still persists. So John in KY got part of the problem right. Anyhow pulled it out of the garage and it pulled hard to the left, so I was thinking I just needed another alignment but as soon as I made a hard right turn it stopped pulling and then the next hard right it pulls to the right. It seems to me that something is moving when I make a hard turn. There aren't any loose bolts related to the struts or the radius rod or the sway bar because I just checked them. I don't think the alignment made any difference. The guy did actually do it though because the undercoating on the tie rod end was disturbed. The car is an 88 GL Wagon, EA82 SPFI, 4wd.

I just put new struts, strut mounts, ball joints, and radius rod bushings and my steering seems like it wanders. Sometimes it pulls to the left and sometimes it pulls to the right depending on its mood. It drives nice and straight going down the highway but at around town speeds I cant let go of the steering wheel because it takes off. I did this because I noticed my tires were wearing more on the inside than the outside. It did steer nice and straight without problem before as far as I could tell. I took it in for an alignment and the shop said that the camber was not adjustable and all they set was the toe. The camber is slightly positive right now. The radius rod bushing were the ac delco ones that rock auto has listed. They aren't exactly like the factory ones but they seemed to fit and once tightened were pretty close to where I think the stock ones should be. They are as tight as I can get them. The stock ones were just a donut where the ac delco ones had two dounts with a crush zone in the middle. Maybe these bushings are the problem? The only other thing I know is the wheel doesn't have any play in it when I have it up in the air. What do you all think, do I just need to get a better alignment shop to look at it or are there some things that I should check or try before I take it in again? I'm a real dummy when it comes to suspensions.

Those tractor wheels are probably from the front of a john deere 2010, 2020, 3010, etc. 5"x16." The won't have dot markings but they are a single piece tubeless rim and not a split rim

When you use the fishing line the braided type works best but the regular stuff works too. You have to use it like a saw. Just wrap the line around a few screwdriver handles and saw at it. It similar to the cable style windshield remover tool.

If youre worried about the timing procedure, and since the timing belts are new enough to re-use, just mark them with a marker. Put a mark on the cam and crank pullies and on the belts. The just line the marker marks back up when youre done with the water pump.

Maybe the studs that go into the water pump are bent? In that case big honking pry bar should do it. What do you mean by the pulleys shifted? Are they out of alignment? The sahft in the water pump might have pressed in and needs pushed back out. If the water pump took a hit I'd change it since it's cheap and a pretty critical component for not breaking down on the side of the road.

You could try to fill the nicks with jb weld and then sand it smooth. It worked for me on a ford crankshaft that the oil seal wore down the crankshaft a little.

I use the 22mm wrench to hold the fan clutch while backing off the 10mm nuts holding it on. So thats one reason to grab the wrench instead of just the socket. The plugs are 14mm I think. Some of the guys here were just making one out of a spare pulley tensioner nut. It's long and you can just basically glue it into a 14mm socket. Much cheaper than the 14mm I spent $15 on at napa for a carlyle. There are no torx that I have found. I just put ball joints in and the kit came with new bolts and the heads were 15mm. The old ball joint castle nuts on mine were 17mm on one side and 19mm on the other. You might find some other sizes depending on if bolts were replaced along the way.

^^^ I just got a set of those same hubcaps that Rust has on the gl sedan above. What's the trick to removing them without breaking the steel spring tab on them?

I assume youre dealing with the engine driven fan not the electric one? Theres just the 4 nuts on the hub of the engine fan and it slides right off. The electric fan I usually just take it out with the radiator.

Glad it worked out.

Hopefully it will pull out without some major persuasion. If you have trouble with it wanting to spring back when pulling it out, tap the creased area and just around it with a hammer, it relieves the built up residual stress. You don't want to beat the snot out of it though.