Syonyk

A good check for a destroyed bearing is to drain the oil. If the oil has a metallic sheen on the top, there's a lot of metal in the oil, and it's almost always from a bearing. -=Russ=-

I can help with a few things, turbo & ECU specific stuff is out of my realm (I haven't delved deeply into Subaru ECUs, I know RX-7 ECUs fairly well, though). The valves on an EA82 have hydraulic lash adjusters that tend to build up gunk and not work properly. A ticking noise (or tapping, or in some cases louder) from the engine that's purely RPM-sensitive (not load sensitive) is the lash adjusters. Seafoam in the oil and some high RPM love often quiets these down. Low oil pressure or a leaking cam cover oil passage o-ring can also cause loud lifters. The o-ring between the cam covers & head often gets hard and starts leaking. You can do this with the engine in the car, but if it's leaking like you say, you might be better off pulling the engine & doing a full reseal on it. -=Russ=-

How did you set the timing? With the center of 3 ||| marks on the flywheel lined up with the arrow, one index mark on the cam sprocket should be pointing straight up, and the other should be pointing straight down. -=Russ=-

Actually, he typed it in all caps. The forum automatically does that if you type it in all caps. -=Russ=-

And preferably throw some snowballs down at them. -=Russ=-

Have you been using HEET or such in the gas? In the cold, water in the gas line can freeze in the fuel filter. With the lower fuel pressure of the carb fuel pump, a bit of ice could easily keep enough fuel from getting to the carb. When the float level gets low, you'll lose higher power outputs (same as a motorcycle running out of gas). Try adding fuel line dryer. And then add a bottle for each fillup until it gets warmer than freezing regularly. -=Russ=-

Ooooh.... I need one of those! -=Russ=-

Ohio, eh? *ponders* How difficult would it be to do a manual swap into that car? I have an '87 GL with a quite good condition dual range 4WD SPFI drivetrain that's in a body that's not in the greatest condition. -=Russ=-

The way I look at it, a car is a way to get from point A to point B. Doing that in a fun fashion, with not a lot of gas, through basically anything that the weather throws at you, is more important than looks. A Subaru will get you through basically anything. -=Russ=-

You have to ask? I'll echo what was said above. If someone will only respect you because you have a new car, their respect isn't worth your time. At some point in your life, you may eventually need a newer car. As much as I love cruising around in my GL, I know that if I keep doing more sales stuff, I'll need something that's in better shape (I can't keep hiding in parking lots forever). Also, I've noticed that when a guy gets married, his wife's parents usually expect him to keep a decent car around for his wife to drive. It's fine if he rolls around in something old & kind of beat up, but their daughter deserves something fairly nice. This isn't that point in your life. Car payments are more expensive than parts payments. And shop time is a LOT more expensive than just buying parts. You've got a car that's known for rolling through 300k miles without needing any major work, that's easy to work on, and that has a wonderful user community around it to help with pretty much anything that can go wrong. You also have a car that, in slick conditions, can beat out basically anything else on the road. A friend of mine with an '04 Civic Si was more than happy to talk smack about a snow drag race... until it snowed. I took him for a ride in the Subaru, and he was blown away by how well it gripped and pulled up out of ditches & such that he would have been stuck until spring in. Keep the Subaru. Don't give up a wonderful car because other people can't see past the fact that it's as old as they are. -=Russ=-

The lock was frozen. Get some lock lubricant/deicer, and spray it in. I've been using powdered graphite on my locks, and it seems to help them stay moving. -=Russ=-

I spent my Saturday afternoon in Iowa playing around in the snow having a ball... no pictures either, though I should have taken one - I had the wheel wells crammed with white snow, and the wheels were packed as well, the rear hatch was covered with snow I'd thrown up, and there were icicles hanging off assorted places. It was beautiful. I also impressed the pants off a friend of mine pulling out of a ditch I slid into (while zero-angle drifting a bit fast for the corner). "Whooo! That was fun. *twiddle into 4WD-Lo* Up and out!" -=Russ=-

So... this past week, the weather sucked (or was awesome, depending on your point of view). Lots of snow, cold, icy, more snow, colder, etc. I pulled my '87 GL (D/R 5 speed) out of a junkyard last February, after the bulk of the snow season was over. So, I never really got to play with it in the snow. I've had a good bit of time to play with it in the snow now, and I think I'm ruined for life. :-/ I'll never be happy with a 2WD car in the winter ever again. I understand now why people use these things for trans-Canada trips & such. Right now, I have cheap all season tires on it, so not even good winter tires. I've spent a good bit of time playing in the snow, and it's simply amazing. When I want to keep it going straight, it goes straight. It just sticks to the road in 4WD. And in FWD, it handles like every other FWD car I've driven (except without the torque steer) - crappy. Yet, if I want, I can throw it sideways, and it's the most well behaved car I've ever had sideways. Even from 60-70 degrees off angle, I can recover it, and it just won't snap. I did manage to run off a park road into a ditch while basically perpendicular to the road (the road curved out from under me), and all I had to do was put it in 4WD-Lo & zip right back out (totally blowing my friend away, who figured I was going to be stuck there until we could get a tow truck). A quote on another board from said friend: The heater rules, the cargo space rules, the handling in the snow is insane (with good snow/ice tires, I think it would be basically unstoppable), and... damn. The guys at the junkyard thought I was kind of nuts for spending the better part of a day rigging up enough of a fuel pump to get it home (as I was actually buying it, one of the guys said, "Man, you really wanted that thing, didn't you?"). I don't regret it at all - best car I've ever owned, hands down. </gushing> -=Russ=-

Depending on what the requirements for the site are, I may be able to offer hosting for a very reasonable fee. I work for a small IT firm, and we do a decent amount of server hosting. Plus, several of my coworkers have owned old gen Subarus at various points. If the site owner/owners are interested, feel free to contact me. The important factors are what kind of sustained output the site creates (in megabits per second), rough total transfer per month, and what the requirements for hosting are (Windows/Linux, IIS/Apache, what database, etc). Also, we don't really enforce bandwidth limits on our servers. If something transfers a lot of data, we may point it out, but we currently have nothing to cut a website off for heavy transfer (and given I'm the one who would have to write something like that, and I don't feel like doing it, and nobody has told me to do it, I don't see that "feature" in the near future, or ever). -=Russ=-

*blinks* Holy bumped thread, batman! I've still got the GL, and it's still running strong. I don't really hit redline very often, because there's just not much power above 6k RPM or so. I've put around 12k miles on it since February. This winter promises to be a lot of fun. I'm working on my 4WD gravel/snow drifting. :-) -=Russ=-

Detonation & pinging are the same thing. Check your timing. -=Russ=-

Regardless of what's causing the problem, a new thermostat & coolant flush wouldn't be a bad idea. Maybe some new coolant lines, too. -=Russ=-

Cold, snowing/sleeting, icy, and I'm having a blast. This is my first full winter with my '87 GL (5 speed, D/R 4WD). I'm really looking forward to it. While it's probably a bit late now for it, I've been looking at getting a set of ice tires. I drive pretty much entirely city/highway, and while the roads get cleared, they often glaze over. So I'm thinking a set of Blizzak ice compound tires would be a good set. Any other suggestions? Also, how difficult is it to install a remote starter? As near as I can tell, the EA82s don't have a clutch safety switch, or a neutral switch. At least, both of my Subarus have let me start it in gear without problems. I always park it in neutral with the parking brake firmly applied, so I'm not too concerned about it wandering off when I try to start it. However, for a shop to install the needed sensors & such, it's going to be $300-$400 (clutch sensor, neutral sensor, hood position switch, etc). I can get a simple unit for $99. Is installation a pretty straightforward task? Thanks! -=Russ=-

I agree with the previous posts regarding the timing or belts being wrong. Pull the flywheel access cover. Rotate the engine. You'll have the main timing marks, and then you'll also have 3 scribed lines closely together. Line the flywheel up with the center line at the mark. One cam mark should be pointing straight up. The other should be pointing straight down. If you rotate the flywheel 360 degrees, they will swap spots (up points down, down points up). -=Russ=-

Yea, but it's a lot quieter than an open exhaust system. I have a glasspack hanging out under the car, and the sound is actually pretty decent. Unfortunately, it sounds really good at high RPM and wide open throttle, which isn't good for my fuel economy or my license. -=Russ=-

Seriously? Alaska, 10F, cold? I always figured you guys waited until 0F or so to stop wearing shorts. You didn't explicitly mention it - have you confirmed that the oil level is normal? -=Russ=-

Always good to get new people excited about Subarus! These things just love to run (mostly). I pulled my GL out of a junkyard (hadn't been processed yet, they still had the title & it still had it's fluids), put a new fuel pump in, adjusted the rear brakes, and took it on a 1600+ mile road trip the next weekend. -=Russ=-

If it's anything like the rest of the clutches they make, more power than you're going to make off an EA82 block without some serious bottom end work. I'll send an email tomorrow to them - I'm in the market for a new clutch. For clarification, the 4WD EA82s & turbo EA82s use the same clutch, correct? -=Russ=-

A former wagon of mine seems to be running just fine with no covers (I haven't received a call saying it's broken yet). I'm planning to pull them off my GL when I get around to doing some front engine area work. I was planning to pull the engine & reseal it, but I may just skip that and pay to get the driveway powerwashed in the spring. -=Russ=-