MR_Loyale

First off CONGRATULATIONS! Now the first thing you are going to do is change the fluid, right? Take good care of that new dual range man. It will take you on your next trip across the country! And I'd powerwash the grease and crap off it while you got it out of there. Will make it easier to see if anything leaks later on plus not as much of a mess to work on during installation and regular fluid changes.

YEP! If you can't hear it, it's not a problem right? LOL

Deploy the anti-tick device.

Looking at that video, did you paint your instrument cluster dials yellow? Or are my eyes fooling me?

I have had gurgling sounds on my Loyale and had to "burp" the cooling system. Basically when it is cold, start the engine with the radiator cap off and gently squeeze the hoses that run to and from the radiator and watch for bubbles to "belch" out of radiator (car should be idling). Has always fixed it on my Loyale. Doesn't require a Subaru dealer, specialized mechanic or expensive person, just some effort. Not sure if this applies to later models though.

Yes! Yes! The one who doth that which hath not been doth before, let the jackals howl their protests for an eternity, for all glory is to that one who is the first.

Excellent point about the brittle plastic.

If you can get the VIN we might be able to determine the owner.

I got Ash's power windows all working again. They would go down but not up. The master switch was bad and I fixed it. Did a writeup if anyone is interested. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/149642-power-window-master-swich-fix/ I was so happy I took Ash to the car wash where the touchless machine blew off a trim piece.

After the big trip in Uno, I finally had some time this weekend to give some attention to Ash. Before the trip I had started to examine the power window issue. Namely, the windows go down but they don't go up except by reaching over to the sub switch. Yesterday I made it out to the JY and got a new master switch because I was able to prove that was the issue. How did I do so you may ask? I simply swapped Uno's master switch into Ash. Yeah not very clever I know, but it did prove that the master switch was the issue. Got back yesterday from the JY with the replacement master switch and it did not work. It was worse than Ash's original one. I almost took off for the JY again today until I had a thought to take the original apart and see if it could be repaired. The first thing that happened was all the little contact bits came tumbling out and the thing looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone (as the song goes). After a few swear words, I paused for about 15 minutes and decided I would see if I could get it working. All he bit seemed to be there. I cleaned up the contacts and after a few false starts, got the thing back together. Took iot outside and it worked. I was sooooo happy I took Ash to the car wash and got the "Beary Best" . Since he had been sitting so long I wanted to protect his finish. He has virtually zero rust and I would like to keep it that way. Unfortunately a trim bit was blown off in the car wash. When the wash was done, I hopped out and grabbed his trim bit and drove off. I will glue it back on later. For now I got working power windows.

I will definitely be there as long as it is on a weekend. Never been because until this year the only Subie I owned was FWD. Looking forward to it.

Has your Loyale power window master switch quit working? Perhaps all but one of the switches(on the master panel) works slow in a particular direction. In my case, I couldn't get the windows on Ash (my red sedan) to go back up once they went down without reaching over to the sub switch. And when they did go up, they were slow. I had already greased the mechanisms so I was certain that wasn't the problem. Through a series of troubleshooting steps, including swapping in a good working unit from an identical Loyale (and folks thought me crazy for buying another one - who's laughing now???), I determined the master switch panel was at fault. Off to the junkyard I went and grabbed one off a Loyale wagon. Though it was a different interior color, at least it would work - or so I thought. When I got home, I eagerly plugged it in only to discover that it too had problems such that some of the windows wouldn't go either way. Disappointed, I got on the computer and searched ROW52 for more Loyales. As I was just ready to head out the door, I thought to try taking the original one apart and see what's what inside. The fact is there was a good chance I would get another dud or soon to be dud. After all, these cars are at least 20 years old. I couldn't break the original by taking it apart since it was already broken. Turns out they can be fixed with about 30 minutes worth of effort and a little bit of patience. Here is how. The contact plates inside the unit can get dirty over time such as say 20 years. Over that time grease, dust and carbon from the small arc generated each time the switch is used builds up on the contact plates increasing the resistance. This is one reason why some windows work slowly. If you can get electrical cleaner into there, it might make it work again. This did not work in my case. The solution is disassembly and cleaning of the contact plates. This means removing the master switch from the car and taking it apart. Removing the Master Switch From The Car Begin by removing the door latch backer trim part. This simply clips in place with two clip forks molded into the part. Pry gently on the top and bottom left sides to remove. Remove the two square hole covers from the arm rest by gently prying them off. Then unscrew the two Phillips screws and set the armrest, the screws and square covers aside together so they won't get lost. The door panel pops off by gently prying around the edges of the door panel releasing the plastic snap clips that hold the panel in place. Unplug the connector on the master switch panel. Remove four screws on the metal backing plate holding the switch in place and remove the switch from the door panel. Set the door panel aside and take the switch inside to a clean work surface as there are lots of small parts that can get lost forever. DO NOT DO THIS AT THE GREASY WORKBENCH!! A cleaned kitchen table is ideal. Wifey will have to deal with it. Switch Disassembly and Cleaning At the work surface, using a small Phillips screwdriver, remove the two screws holding the insulator sheet in place. Set the insulator sheet aside. Remove the six screws holding the switch body to the faceplate. Carefully remove the body and laugh heartily as all the contact plates and other bits come tumbling out daring you to get them all back in the correct order. After you have finished laughing, gather all the bits together and sort them as shown below. You should have eight screws, six small arch contact rockers, one large arch contact roller and a small see saw contact bar. You may also have a few small brass rollers that tumbled out. These go onto the back of the plastic switch itself and sit in a spring loaded fork like the wheel of a wheel barrow. The contact plates are the metal pads on the rocker arms and in the body. You will need to clean these off using a combination of abrasion and electronics cleaner. In my case I used steel wool on the pads on the rocker arms and a phillips screwdriver on the ones in the body. I used MAF Sensor cleaner I had lying around to help clean out the body. In the picture above, the rocker arm on the left has been cleaned, the one on the right is not clean. Once the plates on the arms and in the body are clean, it must now all be reassembled. This is where patience will come in handy. Get a set of tweezers or forceps to help in reassembly. Start by laying all the pieces out on the work surface as shown below. Note the orientation of the pivots on the small rocker arm contacts. The pivot arms are offset from center so that in its neutral state, the switch will make contact with either the top or bottom contact plates depending on whether or not it is offset top or offset bottom. This is the heart of how the switch is able to reverse the polarity of the window motor to change directions. Place each contact arm into its slot in the body. The pivot arms must sit properly in their slots in the body or the switch will not work. The dip of the contact rocker goes downward to create a valley inside the switch. The wheel sits in this valley when the switch is in the neutral position. Tweezers can be helpful for placing the contact arms into the body. Think of it as the Subaru version of the vintage child's game "Operation". Feel free to exclaim "HA! HA! HA!" as in the commercial. Once all the contact arms are in place, the switch top plates can be placed. This is where it can get tricky. Each plastic switch top must be carefully placed into its position in the body without the small brass wheel falling out. A small dab of Vaseline or proper electrical grease can be helpful to keep the wheel in place while inserting the switch top into the body. The switch tops have a spring loaded fork that can also fallout. I found that holding the body at about 40 degrees and then with the switch top at 40 degrees in the other hand bring switch top into the body while rotating to line it up, the fork and wheel were less likely to fall out of the plastic switch top. Once in place, the switch will be kind of floppy because they sit on springs that get compressed when the unit is assembled. Get each switch top into position and then carefully mate the faceplate on top to the body using the six inner screw on the body. Add the insulator plate and the final two screw. Operate each switch by hand to ensure they work smoothly as before. If they do not, then remove the screws and re-seat the switch that doesn't work properly. Once they all move smoothly, take the unit out to the car, plug it in and verify all switches work correctly. Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.

You may not be as smart as you think you are, but having realized this you are now wiser than you were before.

Patrick, any chance you could just post a link then you wouldn't have to send it individually to everyone who asks. Most manufacturers make their manuals available online in pdf form these days anyway.

Can you post a spec sheet on these? Things such as the hardness of the bolts and the spec of the steel used (type, thickness etc). Also a shot of the strut lifts on its side so we can see the welds. Thanks.

Yeah the first time that happened to me was on a cold evening. Also, the vacuum storage tank can sometimes leak. I had to replace the one on my Loyale 5 years ago. I think they said it was the last one when I ordered it from Subaru.

Ya sure. But first you got to tell me where to find that Nigerian prince who still has my money.

Welcome Nick! I drove through your fine state this summer in my Subaru of course. Loved Marblehead Lighthouse State Park. If you ever get to Washington State in your Subaru, PM me and I will show you some places you can put it to the test.

Modern cars also have government mandated black boxes. An extension of the nanny state right in your car. Cash for clunkers was designed to get all the non-monitored vehicles off the road so you'd have no recourse but to get a nanny car. I ain't givin up my Loyale ever. From my cold dead hands... LOL.

Happy first rev!

Me neither. I just go into a bar, find the biggest baddest dude and insult him. Then he knocks those bad teeth out for nothin.

What did the Jeep guys think of that?

Is that the TM70F transmission?

Why don't they do it like this anymore?

Park the car and start the engine. Open the hood and manually rev the engine by manipulating the throttle cable. Give it a good high sustained rev to force any leak.