rallyruss

most amp meters dont read over 10 amps. keep that in mind if you decide to go that route. It is the better test method. 250 miliamps is the max you should have with all loads off. now for the test light method. as stated its not fool proof but somtimes it will lead you in the right direction. yes you will disconect a batt cable( I prefer the ground side for safety) and hook the test light in line completing the circit. test light may be on but rather dim if all is well. dim indicates that the radio or clock are pulling just a little amperage. now if you have a decent drain the light will be a bright. now you go and start pulling fuses one by one. (make sure all doors are closed) when you pull the fuse that has the load on it the light will go out or dim. look at diagram and figure out what runs off that fuse and go from there. also consider things that may not go thru the fuse box. espically thing like the alternator. bad diodes will drain a battery. they use a fusible link for the alt. out under the hood.

repairing it will most likley cost more than its worth. ifyou have been using it to remove stuff hard enough to break the head you have probaly ruined the calibration too. they are not designed to remove stuff. thats what breaker bars are for. many times it takes far more torque to remove somthing than it did to install.

to each his(or her) own. its not like I do this for a living as a journyman level mechanic with 9 years of schooling from two differnent schools. so I will just politly disagree. yes they may be used to remove the seals in question if one is verry carfull but there are other methods that are a bit safer and work well.

he already got it out. (screw method) the seal puller you may be thinking of is not designed to pull seals when there is still a shaft in the way. they are designed more for wheel bearing seals and things of that nature. if you use it on a crank/cam seal ect. you risk scratching the shaft up with the tool.

sorry to hear about your trouble. personally I avoid the penz. like the plauge. I learned that when I got a degree in engine service (yeah stupid thing to get a degree in). I saw what penz does to motors over time. although I dont like the oil you use it still may be a manufactures error. but it does soud like you have a dealer that is taking care of this for you. that is rare around here. I also am a VW lover. but its no secret that VWs have a fair share of problems. still like em. as for the ford idea. hmmm dont know about that. ford has some uhh interesting ways of building cars. most problems arise from the severe cost cutting methods they use. but hey, fords keep me employed as a mechanic so I cant complain. today I got a 90 ford truck with leaky VC gaskets. got 5.4 hours for that job due to stupid enginering. had to remove all the air injection crap and the plenum.

hey Brian meant to reply to this sooner but have been really busy. as a previous owner of that car I can give you a few ideas. first off I would not doubt that the motor is worn. it does not use a lot of oil but it came from a questionable background so who know what its been thru. I checked the turbo while I had it and it too is worn just like the one that was on my wagon. both still made good boost but had a little shaft play and pass a bit of oil. my solution was to go with the TD04 as you know. now I also know that car really liked the gutted down pipe better than the stock one. I still have that one saved for you but will be doing a big cleanout this summer. also the IC would really help you out. that made a big change on the wagon originally. dont mess with the cone air filter stuff. what I sent it with will do just fine. I do have a spare motor in the process of reassembly. nothing crazy just a overhauled motor(that I really want to build with head studs). all I need to complete it is a gasket set (need head gaskets, intake, exhaust) If you are interested in it let me know. mabey we can work out a deal for an inexpensive motor instead of resealing yours. that car never did like clutch dump launches on pavement. but it liked it in the dirt where it could spin its wheels. I have pics if you are interested. Im not here as much as I use to be but I can try to give you a hand.

no but im workin on an idea for the whole family in an avitar pic. me, wife, dog and both wagons.

well the wife got a 04 WRX wagon. only minor mods on it. 17" wheels, window tint, stock boost gauge. gona try and keep this one all stock..... mostly ...kinda...sorta.. so I guess this is my big hello to new gen. I have been here a bit before but mostly lurking. I have worked on new gen stuff a good bit over the last few years and know my way around cars rather well as a mechanic. hope I can help out and get a few tips here.

im with snowman the screw into the seal trick has always worked good for me. I dont evin pre drill a hole. just use a nice pointy screw and drive it in. they grip best that way. then they can be pryed out or I use a adaptor on my small snap on slide hammer that hooks the screw and pops it out.

you can hardly call it a subaru now. I think you are working on reverse enginering the whole car. well it looks good. cant wait to hear how it does. oh yeah the manifold looks sweet on the motor with that crazy red on it.

permatex ultra grey is the easyest to find and works well.

well my wife sold her Jetta a while back. now she has found a 2004 silver WRX wagon. I guess thats better than the Audi A4 she was considering. she has not actually paid for it yet but she really likes it. any thing we should know before moving into the world of the new gen? oh yeah its a 5 speed. only mods are some 17" wheels and window tint. 12,000 miles I am a bit concerned about the trany. I have seen some bad stuff while working on rally cars. I know this is going to be a street car but it still concerns me a bit.

hey brian been out of the loop so I dont know if you got the IC installed yet. but I will tell you what I found. on my wagon WITH the intercooler. 25 deg. btdc is the max I can run safely. I set it to this because I had a spec that told my 25 out of a chilton book. tried 26 one time. no good. dont make the knock sensor work. it really does a poor job of controling knock. with out an IC keep it at 20 deg.

the three wire is the same as the 4 just without pin 1 (the throttle switch). dont guess at it. it sounds as though you need to look up how the TPS works then you will understand how it needs to work better.

ok if you are going to do it please rember that it may not idle well with a missing closed position switch. I would consider wiring in a good micro switch. or find that other throttle body. Good luck

coolant temp reaction time would be too slow. IAT sensor might be quick enough. when I did my testing I saw huge changes in temps on the intake side of the intercooler in a verry short time. evin on the outlet side changes were rather quick.

I have seen it happen. It involves the combination of a lifter problem and a broken belt. result one bent valve.

or a real fluke. with a temp probe. thats what I use.

so It runs right? if so check vacume. good motor at idle will usually have over 18inches of vac. or do a compression test. thats a better test of motor condition. what you describe may be normal. the movement of the pistons will cause air to suck in and out at the filler if its open.

yes it can be done. not incredibly dificult. just need to find a good doner trany and all the needed parts including the shifter assy. cables linkages ect. it should be a bolt on otherwise.

hmm 85. so does this mean it has the dash operated light switch? if so I had the exact same problem on my 85 gl. it was a bad connection in the switch. you can take it apart and try to clean the contacts up but its probably best to just find a new/good used unit to swap in. then I just leave em on all the time as they turn off with the car off. saves wear and tear on the switch.

well hoist and stand should be coverd then. yeah I have the old down pipe I made for that car. someone else gutted it. I just added an extra dump pipe for the waste gate. Its ugly so I can sell it to you for the low low price of free. or if you prefer I could use the old flange and build you a nice DP from scratch. of course then I would need a little more to cover time and materials. also would need to know how you plan to do the exhaust.

three wire systems no longer used the idle switch in the ECMs programing. it checked TPS signal voltage on start up and used that as its base line to determine closed throttle. if you had the urge to put your foot on the throttle then it knows to use the last good reading. now the four wire system uses the same type of potentiometer for the TPS but also has a closed throttle switch built into the sensor as well. that is the 4th wire. now if you are using a 91 harness I would assume that you also are using a 91 ecm. if so you can adapt the TPS singal from the 96 sensor to the 91 harness/ecm but you cannot give it the proper closed throttle signal without adding a microswitch mounted to close when the throttle closes. so to adress the original issue. will it idle without the proper closed throttle signal. yes I think it would most of the time. It may have a unstable idle and possibly have problems with cold starting. I looked up a little info for you. on the 91 harness for the TPS. pin1 Brown (closed throttle switch) pin2 black (ground?) pin3 red (referance voltage?) pin4 white (TPS signal wire) question marks - untill I look at a better reference I am not positive. on the 96 the diagram is horribly un detailed all I can say for sure is that pin 3 is the TPS signal wire. if you intend to try and run the 96 sensor on the 91 I can get some more detailed info as to what to splice where. let me know if you need it. good luck.

its a bit more involved than other EA motors but not too bad. exhaust is easy. just pull the down pipe and remove all the rest with the motor. that DP will not be rusted too badly as its only been on there a while. I leave all i can on the motor untill its out(intake, exhaust ect.). are you considering an overhaul while its out? or just fixing the leak and clutch? I would offer to loan you my cherry picker and engine stand but you would have to come down to San Jo to pick em up.

interesting. I have routed the RCA and power wires together without any alternator noise. did it on my current and previous set up. my cousin did have that problem before in a system he did. never found the cause. dont know how he wired it. I know he added one of those capacitor/noise reducers to quiet it down. he was told it was because of the low grade amp he used.