Rampage

Yep, a lot of people want that push button. That is a simple, cute trick to make the control unit think the hatch is closed and turn off the power. I looked at one wiring diagram and the Power Rear Gate uses 5 pages and involves 21 connectors. A lot of communication between different modules.

You might have fixed it with the new belt. You said the belt squealed on start up and then when you turned the headlights on the smell came back. Both of those cause the alternator to charge and put a load on the belt. A lot of times I use a small wire brush and clean out the grooves in the pulleys with the engine at an idle. Be careful.

Had the same problem with our 95. Turned out to be a cracked (carbon) brush. There are two of them that ride against the spinning commutator. Vibrations from accelerating would cause it to loose connection. I took it apart and found the cracked brush so I took it to a local shop and got new brushes and bearings. Worked fine after that.

Good idea replacing the hub and bearing as an assembly. I have pulled the inner races of the bearing off the hub and see grooves worn in the hub from the inner races.

Block the wheels if needed. Hook up jumper cables from another car, or use a jump pack, turn the key just to the ON position and push the brake pedal and it should shift it into neutral. Do not put it back into Park because it will lock again. And you will need the key ON so you can turn the steering wheel. Or you can remove the shift lock solenoid. It is located under and to the right of the big space on the shifter for P and N. Also, I think that you will not be able to turn the key and remove it unless the shifter is in park and voltage is applied to the battery.

Very good !!! You made it through that ordeal. Our cars are RHD, so the relay is on the right side and I have to work left handed under the dash. Agreed, what a pain. Our 95 has 473+k miles on it and still the original fuel pump relay. I had to change the main relay in our 97 close to 300k.

Less than 1 volt does sound like the relay. Now for the fun part, getting to the relay. I have changed it and the main relay. The fuel pump relay is the round one and snaps into a metal U shaped clip on the bracket. The FSM shows a picture of them and the bracket holding them. It also lists what to remove to get to them. Disconnect the battery first. Good luck.

Rhino Linings spray on bed liner. The body shops around here told me it was a good product. Price and results. My wife used to deliver mail and the car door was collecting a lot of scratches from the mailbox doors dropping against it, so I sprayed some on the drivers door from the chrome down to the handle. It really works.

Good job. That stuff on the outside of the tank, could it be epoxy? JB Weld, Permatex and others make an epoxy for fuel tanks. I have used the one that comes with fiberglass matting. I changed the fuel tank on our RHD 95 Legacy wagon. It is not a fun job. I was able to use a lift at a friends garage. I used small ratchet straps one on each side of the diff to hold it while removing the tank. Does this look like your tank? 1986 Subaru XT Fuel Tanks & Components at CARiD.com Don't know if you want to spend that much money on one. It is bare metal and needs primer and paint. I put bed liner on mine to handle the stones on back roads.

3 years on a Carter pump is pretty good. With our 95 Legacy the Carter 2in. and 1.5in. diameter pump would quit in 11 months, just short of the 1 year warranty. I replaced it several times under warranty, then a Denso pump showed up in the Carter box. That one lasted a long time. If I remember right, the OE was a Denso. The next time you hook up the green test connectors and the pump does not want to start, check the voltage on the positive wire to the pump with the connector still plugged in. If the voltage is low, the relay is the problem. If the voltage is almost 12v, tap the oval mounting plate with a small hammer. If the pump starts running the pump is bad. Some times they will not start when the pressure is still high. I think it has to do with the contact of the brushes with the commutator on the armature.

With the negative pump wire being shielded with the wire mesh makes me wonder if the ECU is using PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the ground for the pump. The positive should be steady voltage from the relay. By varying the negative pump wire to ground it will vary the speed of the fuel pump motor thereby controlling fuel pressure. If they used a simple voltage regulator on the negative it would not have to be shielded. It would take a scope to see which type it is. Ask your dad about PWM. ECU Input signals to control that, TPS and fuel pressure sensor comes to mind. Hopefully someone knows.

Cool, I erased my reply to have you do just that. Usually a break in a wire is near the connector, but I have found them other places.

For a yard car this may not be a problem. With a 4EAT when the ATF is cold the transmission will not shift into 4th gear. If it is hot the shift points are raised.

Check the knock sensor. If it has any cracks in the body, replace it. Wife was driving our 95 and randomly the engine would shut off and she would pull over and stop, and the engine would start right up and work fine the rest of the day. Then it started to happen more often. I found that answer here years ago.

Don't forget the ground for the fuel pump. It needs both hot and ground to run. It will be the other big wire on the connector at the pump. If you see voltage on that ground wire when the pump is supposed to run, then the other end of it is not making good contact to body ground. When you have the pump assy. out the 2 wires from the pump have a connector that plugs into the bottom side of the big connector. I found one of those pins burned off one time. The ECU controls the relay for the fuel pump. If the engine is not cranking or running it turns off the fuel pump after a few seconds. The Load Pro that lmdew mentioned can be a useful tool. I don't have one. It can apply a half amp load to a 12v circuit which can be very helpful at times but not always. Remove the panel under the steering wheel and lay it on the floor. Look for two green (test) connectors. Plug them together and turn the IGN SW to ON. The ECU will cycle the fuel pump, relays, solenoids and the radiator fans on and off. The cycle will repeat until you turn the key off. Very helpful to see if those things are working. When you hear the fans go off the fuel pump should cycle on and off. Remember to unplug them.

What happens from a slow leak or bad radiator cap is it lowers the pressure in the system and that lowers the boiling point of the coolant allowing it to boil and create air bubbles.

Wow... So, it does like the newer battery. Sure beats poking around with meters. Gotta remember that next time it happens.

RockAuto has one listing for a reman power steering pump for the turbo model. LINK.

Try 8 degrees like the carb. Looking at the valve timing The Turbo cams have the valves open for less duration that the MPFI non-turbo. The valves are open longer with the non-turbo cams. The Turbo forces air into the cylinder so the valves do not have to be open very long. The NA uses the piston to pull air into the cylinder so the valves are open longer. The ECU controls the injectors as to how much fuel is added to the air going in. It kind of makes sense that at higher rpms the pistons cannot pull in enough air and fuel to get a good burn. Or, am I over thinking it. Back in the day, to get more horsepower we used cams ground to open the valve quick and hold it open as long as possible, then close it quick.

Unbolt and remove the FPR and try the air on the fuel rail. It should flow through easy. The system runs at 36 PSI using the vacuum. Without the vacuum the pressure is more like 40 something, I think. The fuel pump is capable of close to 80 to 100 psi, so it has a lot of push and a high flow rate. If the car is AWD, it has a saddle gas tank. The return hose goes into the tank and the fuel flows through a jet pump to siphon gas from the other side of the tank and bring it over to the side with the pump. In order to do that, it has to have a good flow out of the FPR.

Looking at the picture you posted, is this pressure regulator connected to the fuel filter that comes from the fuel pump? That would work if the return line to the tank is blocked off. It would be harder on the pump though. How many hose connections are on this regulator? If it is 2 then it should be piped in to replace the original pressure regulator from the fuel rail to the return line. Then 36 - 40 psi should work fine.

I thought the fuel pressure is supposed to be 36.3 psi. Am I wrong?

Looking at the front, the Check Engine light is under the Tach just to the left of Oil Pressure that is under the center of the Tach. You're right, it is not in the bottom row.

Is there power at fuses 19, 20 and 21 if all of them are in there?

Pull the fuel pump fuse so the engine will not run. Start the engine and run it until it dies. Crank it and check for spark out of the coil front and rear. If there is no spark on the rear coil, then follow the video I posted and use a test light to check for pulses into the coil pack and input and output at the igniter. Some of the checks require that the test light clip lead be hooked to battery positive and others connected to the negative. Example: 12 volts is fed into both of the coils in the coil pack on one wire and the igniter will switch a ground to the other end of each coil. Testing those wires plugged into the coil with a test light connected to ground the light will be bright and flicker a little dimmer. If the connector is disconnected from the coil then you move the test light lead to battery positive and then the light will be off and flicker on when there is a pulse.