JustGo_GL

She did great for another 8 months, and then last week started billowing white smoke out of the exhaust, so we're assuming there's - at best - a blown head gasket.

It's actually almost done! I know it's been a long process, we had a small team and it's feature length, but we're actually nearing completion! I'll definitely post about it here, because the car is pretty much the bona-fide star. I'm really excited about it.

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. It's definitely extremely unlikely I actually junk it, as that would just be incredibly depressing. Selling it to someone more able to invest time in it is more of a possibility. It's tricky, because this thing's taken me across the country six times in the past two years, I've slept a ton of nights in the back with the seats down. I've learned more about this car than any other I'd ever owned by a mile. I love this thing. It's more the unpleasant financial back and forth - how much will this cost, and then the next thing cost, etc etc etc. Rust is definitely a big decider, and I'm genuinely not sure how bad it is at this point. Rust was no issue at all when we got it, but it's been two years on the east coast.

So, for the past few years I've been running an '84 Subaru GL that's had it's share of problems, most of which have been fixed - I've also put a ton of miles on it (60,000 plus) in that timeframe, and moved it out to the east coast, where rust subsequently ate the exhaust system - last weekend on a trip to NYC the muffler fell off, and I've gotten it to a shop where they say every bit of the exhaust system needs to be replaced. None of this is anything I have the time or space to work on myself, and apparently the shop is having no luck finding parts. And all of the wheel bearings need to be replaced. Given that it's thirty plus years old, needs an overhaul of the exhaust, front wheel bearings, and is starting to suffer from rust issues with lower bits of body panel as well, it it time to junk this thing/part it out? Curious for a second or third opinion.

Well new symptom - big oil leak. Ran it for a bit today, started fine, but about an hour after I turned it off it had a nice big oil stain on the ground underneath it. Could all of these issues be related to an oil leak/gasket problem as opposed to something bigger? The mechanic I talked to earlier said he thought it could be a bearing problem, in which case I might as well just start thinking about an EJ22 swap... lol

Thanks I'll check for that

Just had the y-pipe heading to the catalytic converter replaced last week, and the car had been running and sounding great. Took it on a 2,000 mile road trip, and all of a sudden as we're getting home the car is idling really rough, not turning on well, and the oil pressure has dropped. It also sounds like it did pre y-pipe replacement. Any initial thoughts? Obviously an oil leak seems likely, but I just wanted to see if all of these symptoms could be related to that, or if there's something else going on.

Believe me, I did. The main difference is the total absence of a boot as opposed to a rip.

So, I've seen a bunch of posts involving ripped cv boots, but I discovered today mid cross-country trip that my inner passenger side CV boot tore off completely and is gone. I found that a store about three hundred miles away has a split boot that should fit. Basically - with the boot completely gone, how long will the joint last? And is the Split Boot the best option? I'm in Wyoming looking to make it back to NYC where I can deal with replacing the boot properly.

Anyone have any ideas as to where I can find one? It literally just fell off the other day while on a drive, and I have no idea where. Any leads would be great. Thanks!!

Hey folks, So my '84 Subaru GL started sounding a bit differently as it drove quite recently, took the heat shield off and saw that there's a bit of rust on the Y-pipe leaving the engine, and am worried that there might be a few small leaks, though everything else is generally intact, and the pipe hasn't completely shredded itself or anything. Is it risky to keep running in this condition? I've been unable to locate a replacement pipe and I'm scheduled to be going on a long 3K mile journey in the car this coming week. As a note, I can't currently smell anything extra or exhaust-like from the cabin, so that's vaguely reassuring.

Hahaha it just got out of rehab. It's got a shiny new transmission and one of THREE stock neutral safety switches left in the whole damn country, per our mechanic's search.

We're looking at a fall release date, but we've just started Post-Production so it's still TBD. The clif-notes version is an effort to prove that adventure is still accessible and affordable for anyone here in 2014 (2015 now!), not just those with a heavy wallet and a metric ton of disposable income. We did the whole trip for the same amount that the average American spends on food alone, per week, including gas back when it was $4/gallon. It was tough, but we came in under budget by I think $4. Haha It definitely became about a lot more than the money aspect though, as you'd all expect. Car trouble, injuries, illnesses, lack of water - we had our share of difficulties, but pulling up at Bryce Canyon at 7am after a 24 hour drive... words can't describe it. We'll try and keep you guys in the loop!

That's intense! 6,000 in three weeks already felt like a lot - can't imagine 11,000 in TWO. They really are great cars.

Now THAT'S a trip! I'm jealous! We'll have to do that next.

Here's a teaser trailer for the film!

So, I posted a bit a while back about how four of us were making a documentary with an '84 GL, a cross country road trip on the cheap (camping pretty much the whole way, we hauled not only our film gear, but tents, food, etc), and we just made it back to NYC (after starting in NYC, driving to Seattle, and then turning around) after about a month and a half, and the car was incredible. Also had, well, tons of issues as I'll explain - and I've never been the most mechanically inclined until getting this car and learning about it, so my expertise and experience was certainly limited on the road. Having read this forum and the help from people with some of our previous issues was incredibly helpful for me and for the trip, so first of all I just wanted to say thanks! At the start of the adventure the car had roughly 106,000 miles on it. We've returned to the city with over 118,500. Prior to this, the car hadn't done ten thousand miles of driving in the last ten years combined. I made it out to Seattle with the Wagon, wound up having to replace a blown tire (also somehow the venting hose from the transmission got shuffled about and excess fluid was dripping on to the catalytic converter and burning up, causing smoke under the hood. When I pulled into a rest stop in Ohio I thought it was going to be a lot worse than it was, just moved the hose to a different place and no more trouble) before realizing just how old all of my tires actually were and swapping them all out before the trip back to NYC. This was the main drama, just did regular fluid checks and changes in preparation for the adventure. Even managed to get 28 mpg on the trip out, which was fantastic. After the solo trip west, four of us got in the car and drove it all over the country avoiding major roads and taking the Wagon to as many extreme type locations as we could while filming it all for a documentary - we did some tough roads like Burr Trail and White Rim Road in Utah, then took it up to 12,000 feet in Colorado before fording streams on our way southeast. And yeah, there's a laundry list of things that went wrong along the way, some of which we fixed, some of which we just had to live with: - Car intermittently still refuses to start, lights and everything turn on just no click under the hood (has been an issue for a few months now, I've swapped starter solenoids, ignition switch, battery cables, etc, still no good - I'm looking at the Neutral Safety Switch as the likely culprit now). - Alternator died on us in Colorado, luckily found the right one at a nearby mechanics, I wanted to take a crack at replacing it, but in the interest of time we had it put back on by the pros (I'm still learning about the car and how to work on it, so this was probably a good choice). - Wiper Motor died in the midst of a massive rainstorm in Texas. We were doing the whole trip on a tiny budget, so rather than replace the motor while taking the trip, we rigged up some pea-cord and made it so the guy in the passenger seat could pull the wipers back and forth from the inside. Terrible for the gears, probably, but I expect to have to replace the whole setup anyway. - Transmission (3AT) crapped out on us in Arkansas, we lost reverse gear and then third before I messed about, changed the transmission fluid and we were able to warm it up and coax the trans back into third - now we always have 2nd and 3rd in Drive, and mostly have 1st although when cold it'll occasionally skip it (we can shift manually through the gears just fine). We're still lacking reverse, though, and at this point in the trip we still had over a thousand miles to go. 4wd still works, though. Oh, and the car idles forward in neutral, which is fun too. - After the transmission problems the car's starting problem got dramatically worse, which again leads me to suspect the NSS. We can always jump the starter with pliers to get it going, wound up mounting the spare tire on the roof along with a bunch of our gear to make it easier to access the starter quickly. - The Brakes are very nearly gone, I'm pretty convinced, they're screeching something fierce in the front and the drums in the back like to sing any time we slow down. Now that we're back I'll take a crack at rectifying this problem myself. - Near the end of the trip the engine felt like it was beginning to run a bit rough, I suspect some issues with the carb, but I could be wrong. We lost a bit in terms of MPG, and the overall sound of the engine is a bit lower in pitch than it was before. Again, now that we're back I'll have the time to try and tune it up and do all the general necessary maintenance. - A seatbelt in the back stopped working. That should be an easyish fix. So yeah, there's a lot that needs to be done to get the car back in great shape, but it DID get us the whole way, and man did we all love driving it. Seriously, even laden down with nearly a thousand pounds of gear and people, it performed tremendously on all of these crazy amazing roads, even taking terribly steep switchbacks on dirt down and up with no trouble whatsoever. Originally we thought about selling it after the trip, but now I can't even imagine getting rid of it. I'm pretty officially a convert, and the GL really was the star of the trip. Just wanted to post about it and say again, thanks for the help from those of you who offered advice, and this forum's just an amazing place and a fantastic resource. Here are some photos:

So I've driven roughly 3,000 miles with the car so far cross country from NYC, here's a picture from near Sunrise Point at Mount Rainier!

Okay, and another edit, because I should have mentioned this: Now, if I keep turning the key over and over, it'll ALWAYS eventually start. This was not the case before. So now I can pretty much always eventually get it started, it just might take ten or fifteen clicks.

So. More news. Got the ignition switch this morning, swapped it in. The problem was lessened, the car would start more often now, but still sometimes clicks and won't go for a bit. Decided to go get the battery tested just for the heck of it. Turns out the battery tested badly, and needed to be replaced. SO, I replace the battery. Still, the problem isn't solved. So, going through the checklist: 1: Replaced Solenoid Contacts 2: Tested the starter motor (jumping it with pliers, it turns over immediately if you do this) 3: Replaced Ignition Switch (seemed to help, but not solve the problem) 4: Swapped out the old bad battery for the new one. Made no apparent difference. I guess the Neutral Safety Switch is all I have left to check, except I have virtually no idea how to do that. To the forum search I go.

Okay, so I'm definitely inclined to agree with the ignition switch issue, as the click IS coming from the column. Also, we can short the starter motor and it'll always go, so the starter itself is fine. Getting a replacement ignition switch tomorrow (a local mechanic has several for this version with the tilt wheel in his warehouse, remarkably enough) and will swap it in, then report back.

Alright folks, so here's the situation. I finally managed to pull out the starter motor and swapped in the new contacts for the solenoid. I'm still having the same problem, the car will start at times and at others I'll get the clicking sound. I'm starting to suspect something along the lines of an ignition switch problem, or even something with the key. I've also read about potential neutral safety switch issue, but I'm not sure that's completely applicable, as the car does SOMETIMES start.

Thanks guys. I know it seems like a relatively dumb/easy thing to ask, but I appreciate the responses - it does seem like the simplest answer is to just store the spare elsewhere.

Hey folks, So as I've been fiddling around in my ea81 engine (84 GL Wagon), I've noticed that the mounting that holds the spare tire under the hood has been digging into the foam that protects the line that runs directly underneath it, to the point that it's starting to scratch and dig at the actual rubber of the line itself. A: Is this a big problem (it seems potentially dangerous) B: Does this happen often? C: Is there a simple solution? Thanks folks, Greg

So, I know I just posted in here, but I went on a bit of a daytrip to this fantastic road called Storm King Highway in NY, and got some pretty excellent photos, so I figured I'd share them.