stratman977

It's not even a matter of being careful, I can't get the windshield knife to penetrate the adhesive. It looks like the window weld on the windshield but it's really hard. I was able to cut it somewhat from the inside using a utility knife though. The windshield was a ppg so I'd assume it was replaced somewhere along the line. The adhesive was gooey as I'd expect. The inspection sticker on it expired 3/97 so its not fresh adhesive either.

I got a 1986 4x4 wagon out of a friends field and am parting it out, mainly to get the 5 speed d/r transmission to put into my auto wagon. The car has no underside left so its headed to the scrap yard after I take anything usable out of it. I wanted to save the glass and I was sucessfull at getting the windshield out with one of those knife and cable style removal tools. The side wagon glass though has a hard adhesive and the windhsield tool won't cut it. Anyone have any luck removing the side glass without breaking it? It's one of those things that if I don't keep the side windows, a rock will fly out of a lawnmower and break one in my other wagon next week.

Any evidence of the cam or the rocker getting hot? If your lifters are good than you don't have proper oil flow to them or the cam for some reason.

I would bet you have a clogged oil passage and one side is not oiling. I had really loud lifters after tearing mine down and found a piece of rtv stuck where the cam tower o ring is. My tick didn't start right away though and I think its because it took a mile or two for the assembly grease to wear off.

Mine is SPFI. A race would be fun. Probably the only time one of us could win.

My initial reaction was about 5 minutes. I time it every day getting on the highway to work. My ramp has a stop at the end and if I hit 55 by the time I see the first 55mph sign I'm doing good. 23 seconds 1988 4wd Wagon with 3at and 123k on it.

I can verify this to be the case. I had one of those bypass hoses spring a leak. It was a pinhole that only opened up when the engine was above 2500 rpm. I had the exact same symptoms. Huge clouds of steam behind me. I went and changed the head gasket cause I had immediately figured it failed and after I had it back together it did the same thing on the test drive. Since the engine was clean from being taken apart I was able to trace the leak down. The sad thing is that I replaced one bypass hose and not the other when I had it apart. (Didn't realize there was two when I bought parts.) If I had changed them both I would have never known the real cause.

#1 is to keep it clean, especially the underside. I even open the doors and wash inside the doors and rockers when at the carwash. I'm using fluid film it seems to be working. You need to get the inside of the rockers, doors, fenders with the fluid film. My wagon had access holes drilled into it all over the place to spray oil. I just stick my fluid film gun up to the holes and fumigate the crap out of the insides until I see it dripping out. It does need touched up a few times through salt season. The wheel wells I touch up everytime I wash it. I just spray the gun in there real quick. I use about a gallon a year. http://www.kellsportproducts.com/fluidfilmkits.html

Mine runs that way. Usually a quick pump on the pedal brings it down. I messed with the screw in the throttle body and it didn't make a whole lot of difference.

I tried it again just now and at first the IACV didn't open but after about 30 seconds of chugging and sputtering the IACV opened up and the engine smoothed right out. Can you put a drop of oil in the actuator or clean them somehow or do I need to replace it?

When I went out from work yesterday the engine light was on and it was running cold blooded. The IACV definately wasn't working. I thought the IACV was stuck so I tapped on it and nothing. When I got home I tested the wiring for the IACV with the test connectors together and it had 10+ volts. I had a spare IACV so I swaped it out and it was back to working normal. Now this morning I go out to start it and the IACV is not working again? It was below 20 yesterday and about 5F this morning but the car was in the unheated garage which may have been 20F. I just put a temperature sender in a month ago. Its a 1988 Gl Wagon with SFI. Anyone have any ideas on what to check or any experience? Maybe I just need to purchase a brand new IACV but I want to fix the issue not throw parts at it.

Are you sure its the head gasket? Mine had a leak from the rear of the pan and drips along the crossmember so it looks like its coming from the head but it's not. It could be just accumulating and then at startup the fan blows the oil out. Clean everything real good and keep checking it for the source of the leak.

Just pulled the pan and replaced with just ultra gray. I also replaced the pan bolts. 2 or 3 of them didn't look so great. The threads in the block are in good shape though. I got everything real clean and put some blue Loctite in the holes but I'm 100% sure some of the ultra gray got in the holes as well so I hope they stay snug. The new bolts didn't have the Phillips head so I packed a 10mm socket full of grease to hold the bolt. The grease helps keep the bolt from flopping in the socket and it keeps the bolt from sinking all the way into the socket. Took some finesse but they went in without too much trouble.

I did the pan with the engine in the car the second time. The access holes don't line up real well though so its a royal pain in the butt. I had to bend the screwdriver to get it into the Phillips hole but once its on the slot you're golden. You can also get at them with 1/4 inch drive extension and a swivel. The bolts are a pain in the butt to get back in though. I don't see why I couldn't get it clean from oil. I had the mating surface real clean when I used the ultra gray.

My bolts are not stripped. They tighten up just fine just they won't stay tightened. I will try it without the gasket this time and some loctite on the bolts. Anyone have any tricks to get the 4 rear pan bolts back in?

I resealed my engine about a month ago. I got rid of the oil leaks for a few weeks and it started leaking out of the pan. I just used the cork gasket and no RTV. Last Saturday I pulled the pan and decided to replace the gasket again and I used some ultra gray on it this time. I noticed that the pan bolts weren't really that tight when I pulled it. This time it lasted 2 days and then I started leaking again. The bolts werent that tight again so I re-tightened them. That lasted about a day and not there loose again. My question is: Will using loctite on the pan bolts do the trick or is this more due to the gasket shrinking because of hot and cold cycles of the engine? I realize the gasket should eventually seat but I cant for the life of me see why this should keep coming loose. Also since I have leaked through the rtv do I need to pull the pan again and re-apply the ultra gray or wil it be ok if I just tighten up the bolts? I have another gasket but you all know how much fun it is pulling the pan while in the car. As a side note the pan is not warped in any way as far as I can tell.

I pulled a new wire from the computer to the iacv and now its working. I went through the body to engine connectors and pulled the wire through the harness inside of the fender instead of rigging it up. It's a pretty big job to repair a circuit properly. Bad part is that I found a little rust to deal with behind the fender.

I tried thumping the iacv with a screwdriver handle this morning and nothing happened so I tested the signal and there's no voltage being sent to the valve. It's sfi and the idle screw i'm mentioning is right in the throttle body behind the iacv valve. I just changed the temperature sensor with a new one. I followed the logic in the Subaru repair manual and got to the repair harness diagnosis. Sure enough my wiring at the ecu is a major cob job. It looks as if there was a remote starter or an alarm of some sorts installed at one point. There's definitely an open circuit between the ecu and the iacv. I'm going to hold off for another day on this repair. I have other cars to drive but I've learned you never start a new project on a sunday night. I'm actually a little disgusted at this point.

Here's a picture of my 88 Gl Wagon.

I tried spraying the vacuum connections with carb cleaner and haven't noticed anything at all. I notice that it stumbles a little when I turn the heat on which is why I'm thinking vacuum leak. Plus everything rubber on mine that is hard as a rock. My work is right near the interstate and it's an older part of I-70 that doesn't have much of a speed up ramp to get on, usually you have to stop and wait for an opening. I had an incident last week where there was traffic and no one would move over. There was gaps big enough for a sports car to pull out in but not a Subaru. The guy behind me kept honking which had me really irritated and I stomped on the gas and it stalled. I was able to get out of the way but I don't want to have that happen again, so I know how you feel.

I have been working on an 88 GL wagon. Its main issue is that it doesn't want to idle when especially when cold and then it also stalls when pulling out until its warmed up. I really need to fix the stalling cause its a safety issue. Its an auto, 4wd, single range, ea82. I just recently put all new seals in the engine, water pump, thermostat, timing belt, tensioners, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil, pcv valve, air filter, coolant temperature sensor (tx96). I also checked the timing with the test connector together and it seemed like it was set maybe on 21 degrees so I bumped the distributor just a little. I checked the rpm with the pickup on my multimeter when I set the timing and it was averaging around 720 rpm to 750 rpm. The idle screw is about 1.5 turns out, and the throttle position is showing contact on the top terminals when the throttle is closed. I had 5 or 6 codes and I'm down to 3 now. 24, 34, and 51. I bought a used idle air control valve and put that in and it made no difference so I tested the old and the new with a power probe and both of them actuate just fine. I did not troubleshoot beyond that yet. The code 51 troubles me because the car doesn't have a manual transmission. What's also odd is that I didn't have this code before I tore the engine apart??? I think I have some vacuum leaks and I noticed that the hose going to the pcv valve had a crack at the end. I'm going to see if I can order new hoses for the intake system at the dealer Monday. I also took a bunch of the vacuum hoses to advance auto tonight and the didn't have what I needed so I'm going to try NAPA tomorrow and see what they got. What have you guys been doing with the large hoses and vacuum hoses? My plan of action is to fix the vacuum leaks and see where that gets me and then tackle the engine codes one at a time. Sorry for the lengthy post. Any input on where to go next would be appreciated.

I have some anaerobic sealant. Is the best way to just add a little and spread it around with your finger or do you just add a tiny bead to the outside edge and let it smoosh out. I think this is a good idea but I'm usually sloppy with anything that comes out of a tube so I need to be careful I guess.

Wow I was really confused and didn't even know it. I definitely didn't think that was the o ring that everyone was referring to in the cam tower. Mine really looked like a hard plastic washer and not an o ring. Makes alot more sense now. I'm kinda glad I had the issue with the rtv happened cause I would have been driving it with the bad o ring in it and not even know what the problem was. Ordered these today at the dealership and should be in Wednesday. Thanks!

I'm new to the forum and new to subaru's. I just got a 1988 GL Wagon from a buddy a month or so ago after trying to get it from him for at least a year. Its got some mechanical issues that I'm trying to sort out. The biggest is major oil leaks and the timing belt was way overdue. It has been driven regularly over the years but not alot. It has 120k. I pulled the engine and changed all of the gaskets, oil pump seals/springs, water pump, timing belt, etc. I have been reading on here about common issues and tried to address what I could with the engine being apart. It ran good after I put it back in and after about 20 miles the passenger side started ticking badly. Before I changed out the oil pump seals it had almost no oil pressure at idle but it didn't tick at all before. I figured with it having significantly better oil pressure and no TOD before something was wrong. I traced it down to a piece of rtv that got stuck in the oil passage. I think I used a little too much rtv and on that side I smeared it when I was placing the cam case on. One of the plastic washers that goes between the cam case and the head was a little distorted and after I disassembled the second time it was broken. In the exploded view on the manual this part is not shown in the list of parts. Can anyone help me with a part number so I can order this from the dealer. I only have chapters 2,3,4,5 from the factory manual. The dealer I've been using has a hard time finding part numbers from the exploded diagram so I thought I would ask here first. The part i'm referring to is pointed to in the pic. I really wanted to put the engine back in this weekend but I guess I'll have to wait on this washer. The car is single point fuel injection and is naturally aspirated, single range auto, 4wd if that helps.