wombatsauce

Well, I have put about 3 tanks of gas through this car since doing all the maintenance on it and replacing the radiator cap. I flushed the coolant multiple times - made a flushing tool out of the old crappy Thermostat so I can flush the system w/out leaks. Still left some red crap in there. I would have to hit it with some detergent and I am not sure what I can use. I am pretty sure the GM style red coolant was used in this car, and that, combined with a failed t-stat and radiator cap was the source of the coolant barfing. Engine compartment has been dry since the work. I am working on cleaning the old red coolant marks off the rest of the car now that the engine is clean... Yesterday I drove it about 100 miles, lots with the A/C on and at highway speeds. Couple times I took it through the gear shifting just under redline. Not a drop of coolant. I hope it will last for a while!!! It's been running great, nice and smooth as well. Put your hand on the dash when it's idling and you cannot tell it's running till you look at the tach.

No, it's dark deep brick red and rather thick. It reminds me of the coolant in GM products I have had. I have a gallon of proper coolant, a new t-stat/gasket, two new oil filters (wtf happened to the Suby filter - I could swallow it!), 5qts of 10w30 Castrol, oil filler neck gasket, and a radiator cap to install ASAP. I am hoping it's a combo of too full and a bad radiator cap as I have seen this happen before, but the only thing punching a hole in that is the evidence of this happening multiple times before. I hope so too!! I am planning on swapping this car, but just not yet! I need to sell two other cars to fund this project.

Wow, just checked the mail and my owner's guide is here already.. Thanks anyway! Wish me healthy headgaskets.

Until my owner's guide shows up that is... First off, I owned this car before but it's been 5 years and many other cars so I do not remember everything. I think I used ~4.5qts of 10w40 oil (Castrol) and always a Subaru filter for oil changes. I need to change the oil or whatever is in the engine and put oil in it's place... Poor car! Also, after a drive it barfed coolant out of the holding tank all over the driver's side of the engine bay. I can see that it has done this before as I was wondering what all the "rust coloured" stains were on that side. Well, now I can see that it's the rust coloured coolant that has been spraying over that side of the car for quite some time and was apparently cleaned up for me to view the car... First of all - this car should not be running GM style red coolant right?? I am going to flush it all out today regardless, with the addition of a new radiator cap and thermostat. I just got the car back a couple days ago and have not driven it much since I have not had a chance to change the fluids yet. Today is the day. Going to attempt to do oil, coolant, trans fluid and diff fluid today with a top off of the low brake fluid and power steering. Going to squeeze in spark plugs today as well. I sold this car back in 2005 when I moved away and by the looks of it, I was most likely the last one to maintain it... So if anyone thinks the radiator cap may be the reason the car is puking coolant... Let me know! From my searching on here it sounds like it's head gaskets which would suck... I hope not (at least not yet, just not financially ready for my swap yet). The radiator cap looked like hell and this red coolant stuff is very odd. That is a new development as I vaguely remember doing coolant in this car too.. In short I would like to know: - What grade and amount of oil with a filter change (4.5 qts of 10w40?) - What grade and amount of oil for the trans and diff - What kind of coolant I should be using in this car

Here's something funny... I sold this car around May of 2005 when we moved to Hawaii.. We have since moved back and I have owned a few Imprezas, but my wife (then gf) always talks about this car and how nice it was etc. Well, I saw it on Craigslist and bought it back. On the way home it seemed to stick in 4th gear, but not 5th. Made me laugh.. Hoping to swap it over to 2003 WRX running gear as soon as possible. Nothing crazy, just, a WRX in an Impreza suit. Thanks again for the help!!! How it looked when I got it home yesterday:

Nice!! I really really wanted to pick this car up but was suddenly faced with no ability to pay for or restore it. I assume you picked it up for less than the $3k asking price! Looking forward to see what you do with it - absolutely love these cars.

I have a friend with a '93 Legacy and it won't pass smog. The technician said it spit out the message of "error code 35 control purge solenoid valve...solenoid valve inoperable" but I have not been able to find any info on this and the shop didn't have any ideas. Anyone know? Thanks in advance!!!

That's a sweet RX. I have wanted one forever, but CA smog laws would make it not too fun I imagine. As far as removing your headlight and such for colder air on a turbo car - seriously, especially with an intercooler, it won't make a differece. Go get a cheap digital thermometer with the in/out and the sensor on a wire and prove me wrong.

Haha.. No worries, just wanted to make sure you weren't looking for a reply somewhere else. Yeah, the Justy is a different animal altogether. I tell ya, if I could find a GLF or even better an RX in OK shape, I would jump on it. The Justy is a blast and I hope to keep it always, but it's very rare and hard to find parts for... It would be hard to free myself of my '01 Impreza though. It has the same spirit and quirky attitude of my old RX but feels more up to date and modern. Plus, it hauls arse and goes around corners very nicely. Subaru always for me either way. Oh yeah, another dreamer would be an '82 4WD hatch. Love those...

Did you post in the right thread? This is a Justy...

I am hoping. I know the older 5spds were notorious for this as well. Sort of like a stick in a bucket of rocks... Redline MTL has for all intents and purposes "cured" a 300ZXT B/W 5spd, 2 Celica 5spds, an older Impreza 5spd (tho requires GL-5...) and a few others. My Z was horrible - loud CRUNCH in 2nd and nearly impossible to downshift into 2nd (thankfully my tractor experience helped here). After about 200 miles with the Redline, smooth as silk - seriously I could powershift on boost and it was smooth. I am hoping for similar results. I was excited to see the Justy requires GL-4.

Yeah, I think we will probably end up making a cover. I changed the spark plugs this weekend and broke my intake pipe in the process... Grrrr... Just the blowby tube that comes off the pipe, but still - that sucks. I patched it with some rubber hose and hose clamps, but am trying to find a new pipe if that's even possible. This thing needs rear struts really badly, and I noticed both outer front CV boots are shot, so I am going to take care of those items first, then a timing belt job with water and oil pumps as well. Thanks for the tip! I will probably end up spending a ton on this little car before too long, but it is SO fun. I finished the whole tune-up except for the fuel filter which I just didn't get to yet. It runs so much better and stronger, though it still seems to have a slight miss which is odd. The only thing left to change are the plug wires. It needed two rear tires too, which I thought wouldn't be a problem... Wrong! I got laughed at by 3 different tire people who all said "we don't sell anything that small" to my request for a pair of 165/65-R13s. I found them on tirerack.com for $48 each, so they will be here Wed. Also picked up some Redline MTL for the tranny, it's GL-4 rated and has smoothed out many crunchy trannys in the past for me. 2nd is a little crunchy on this one... Just about done catching up with the last 3 years of neglect this poor little fella saw! It's a great car. Always wanted one, and it's been awesome so far. So is there any source for parts for these cars anymore? I am pretty bummed at how hard it is to find parts for it. I am going to try to contact some old friends in Israel to see if they can help. Tons of old Subies over there... I actually came back with a lot of parts for an older Impreza I had on a trip over there.

Thankfully it was actually worth $2500 and it's mine now. Loving it. Great car. Needed some things, needs a few more, but whatta blast. It cleaned up nice - interior is perfect except missing the luggage cover. Cheers!

Wooo! Got the Justy I wanted and just finished a few maintenance items. It only had 50k miles, but the girl that owned it didn't really maintain it for the last year. A thermostat, cap, rotor, oil change and plugs has woken it up. Such a fun little car! Major stokage... Awesome little city car. Cheers!

This is awesome! I love the Justy and always have. I have known Subarus since birth as my dad used to work on them. My mom had a red '74 4WD wagon and from that car on we probably had over 500 different Subies. I had pics of me working on them when I was a teeny kid. My first car was an '88 RX. I currently drive an '01 Impreza coupe. My friends call me the Subaru Whore... Haha.. I have been searching for a Justy for so long. A friend of my dad's bought an '88 4WD 2dr 5spd when I was a kid and I would always ask him for rides in it. It was my favourite Suby because it was teeny, a blast, and still 4WD!! Anyway I may have found one, if so I will post pics if I get it. I hope so - I drove it and even though it has a lot of problems, it made me laugh and chuckle the whole time - it's so awesome...