Sapper 157

Your humble opinion is worth a lot to me Jeszek. So i will diagnose it farther. The thermostat should be good.. I replaced it two weeks ago with a super-stant 180 thermostat. I will try to get a compression test done

Okay so I am almost certain that it is a bad HG. Today I took the cap off and brought the RPMs up to about 3000. The higher the rpm got, the more bubbles came. So I dont think im gonna like the answer to this but do I have to pull the engine to change the HGs?

Oh.... well if we are forgetting the gauge on the dash then I honestly have no clue if it is actually getting warmer than normal.

i might have an issue. It keeps getting warm on me and I have replaced the stat and flushed the system but it still seems to be getting warm. Today I took the rad cap off and let it run up to temp to get any air bubbles out. There were quite a few bubbles and then it kinda got better the longer it ran. My worry is that what I saw was not air bubbles but warning signs of a blown HG. If I run it again tomorrow and get the same results, then I guess I got a blow HG huh?

In theory, if my head gaskets were damaged... I should be seeing or smelling coolant in the exhaust correct?

Really? I was under the impression that replacing the rear shocks could raise the rear by up to two or three inches. When i replaced mine, it seemed to raise it a least an inch. (Although I did not offically take before and after measurements)

Alright will do.

Brush guard maybe?

My car has been idling strangely lately, it will hover around 1000 rpms when warm, but it tends to go up and down erratically. I have cleaned the carburetor only heaven knows how many times, I have brand new fuel filters and an almost brand new fuel pump, so that should be good. My spark plug wire are aftermarket and the cheapest ones I could get and I'm thinking they are the problem. Because when I replaced my disty cap there was a ton of green bluish corrosion in one of the contacts that the spark plug goes into. that same spark plug wire has a little bit of corrosion on the diode that goes into the little contact. I tested the spark plug wire today with a digital multimeter and it came up as 6.40ish ohms (DMM was on the 20K ohms setting, so I guess that is 6400ish ohms right?) but when I moved the wire it would jump to 16.00 ohms. is this normal or do I have a defective wire?

I put new rear shocks on about a month ago. Really loving them. the old ones were totally shot. I replaced them with Gabriel ULTRA shocks.

So what are the best ways to "burb" a cooling system of the air? I know that one way involves parking on a hill but im not sure what the exact procedure is. I just re flushed the system (got a whole bunch of sandy looking crap out) and I think there must still be some air in it because it is still running too warm.

Your story is very similar to others who have also had wagons in the past, subaroo808. The stories all seem a like and its usually some old guy that walks up to me and says "Nice car ya got thar. I used to have one just like it back in '88. I took the little dam' thing ta hell n' back and it just kept on a puttin'. If I remembers' right, I think I sold it to some junkie for two hundred bucks." The sad thing is how quickly these little workhorses are thrown away. It breaks my heart to see a wagon that has not lived a full life yet and is just left to die at some junkyard somewhere.

Cool. Thanks guys!

So I was wondering if the 160 degree thermostats that I have been seeing are any good. Does anyone run them? Do they keep the car cooler? Are there any negative effects of running a stat that is 20 degrees cooler?

Sorry if took me so long to upload this. Hopefully you have fixed the problem by now but in case you haven't here is the pic.

Amsoil is the very best oil money can buy. But at 12 bucks a quart it is really spendy. I usually go with Valvoline SnyPower or Quaker State Ultimate Durability. http://oil-tech.com/motoroil-comparison.php ​Here is a comparison of some of the top oil companies. If you don't want to break the bank by going with amsoil (and believe me I don't blame you if you don't!) then you can use this cart to find a good medium.

Synthetic all the way. Right now I'm using 10W-40 Valvoline High Mileage blended synthetic; hoping I can rejuvenate some of the seals by using HM oil becauseI have a few small leaks. Next oi lchange I'm going for Valvoline full synthetic 10W-40. For oil filters my family has used FRAM for 20+ years. I use only their high end Ultra filters

So far they're great! I love em'!

Yep. I think the reason having a manuel makes you a less likely target is because --at least in the USA-- hardly anyone knows how to drive them anymore. The majority of cars out there are automatics, which take no prior experience to drive other than the very basics

Been really busy lately. I got a new set of KENDA tires mounted and balanced for $290. I also had Burneel Tire Co. mount a newer tire I had on one of my spare rims so now I have a full size, barely used spare. GOODBY DOUGHNUT SPARE! I hate those stupid things! in my opinion they are just plain worthless! Anyways, I also installed new ball joints, a new drivers side CV joint, and replaced the bad bearings on the passenger side, Also fixed the high idle and put new threads and bolts in the thermostat housing. (old ones were stripped and causing major coolant leak) Also replaced fuel filters (twice unfortunately) and drained bad gas

Yep. It was a accelerator cable that was too tight. Problem resolved! (For now)

If you have a Manuel tranny, ive read that having that alone can reduce your chances of having your car stolen by up o 40%.

Im thinking it might just be a tight accelerator cable. Ill repost tonight if i am able to reslove the problem

I figured out that the getting warm was my thermostat. Im giving motorads high flow thermostat a try, so far im very pleased with the results.

BALL JOINT UPDATE Both ball joints fit. My original ones where layered with rust and their boots where blown, so its a good thing i replaced them! I put the ball joint with the detached boot on and when I put the control arm back on (that is what it is called right?) There was still not enough pressure to force the boot lip around the bottom of the ball joint. In other words, the boot didn't seal. So i ended up covering the gap with some RTV silicone. But the sealed boot ball joint worked like a charm