TomRhere

I do believe Harve disconnected all of the door switches, but I can't say that for sure. Nothing mentioned about possible water intrusion. I really have no idea myself on "options" of this vehicle. Just know what Harve has said. I'll do my best to get back with him over the weekend, see if I can glean any more info. Do appreciate the thoughts sofar..........................

Asking this for a friend, Harve, who wrenches on cars for extra cash. Not much Subaru experience. Lady brought the car over with the passenger door open light on. Says it stays on even with the key off. Harve worked the switch by hand a couple of times, and the light finally went out. Had the lady open/shut the drivers door, and the passenger one lit up again. She asked Harve if he could just unplug the switch(s), and he did so. No more door open light. That was a week ago. Lady brought the car back this past Tuesday, with all of the door open lights on, even with the key off. Harve is at a loss on this. I'm thinking some kind of back feed in the wiring, possibly a bad alt. I have no experience with any Subaru's other than EA81 and EA82 models. Thoughts and ideas are greatly welcomed.

Had a '79 Dodge Omni, similar clutch set up with the clutch disc recessed in the flywheel.. Clutch disc shattered, loose bits wedged in with un-broken parts and wedged the clutch so it was always engaged. That was a 1st for me.

I would swap in another T-stat, just cause. It could be cause of your issue.

Chances are the end has broke off of the bi-metallic spring. That is the most likely cause of choke not setting. You have to drill the rivets out that hold the cover on to replace the spring. Use self-tapping #8-32 screws to put the cover back on.

Probably a broken clutch fork.

A properly functioning EGR system won't effect engine operation. EGR system that's been blocked off, won't effect engine operation, provided it's all sealed correctly. A faulty EGR valve that doesn't seal/close, will cause idle issues. The port on the pictured manifold is where the tube from the head attaches. Carded/SPFI EA82 engines use the same tube from head to manifold, and that tube will fit the EA81 engine with an EA82 intake mounted. Test fit the EA82 manifold to your engine first, you may find that it hits the mating area of the engine case halves. It will want to rock side to side, and it won't seal at the gaskets correctly. Depends on the actual casting really, but it does happen with some engines. A little grinding of the seam is the fix, and it doesn't effect engine any.

Faulty door switch(s) or the wiring can cause issues also. On Wagons, the control unit is behind the left trim panel in the cargo area, to the rear of the wheel well.

Best shot of the hand rails I could find. http://www.subarubrat.com/PICS/side2.JPG

An '83 would have 2 filters as djellum said.

If you slide the front seat forward, and pull the bottom of the rear seat, and remove the trim on the "B" pillar, you can remove the door card on the rear door. Had to do so on Son's '88 for the same reason, door wouldn't open. That one was due to failing latch mechanism, but I was able to get to the latch and get it open.

Passenger side, rear, just in front of the tire. Mounts on a shelf, under the car.

Pesky varmints really love the sound deadening material under the carpet. Sounds like what you found from the description. If you remove the plastic grilles for the cowl area, you'll most likely find the nest in the opening for the heater air intake. Same for the opening for the fresh air intake on the driver's side.

Not going to possibly destroy the bushings by trying to remove them. Seems the center tube has become one with the bushings and doesn't want to let go easily. Not going to force it. I can send you the whole arm if you want, along with the big-end bushings.

When I bought that BRAT, it had a home-brewed, sortta 2" lift in it. Engine/trans crossmembers where spaced down with some double-stacked hockey pucks from "Play it again, Sports". No strut top lift. Tires were definitely doing the \ / thing. I removed all that stuff. Straight "designed for a Subaru lift" is the best way to go.

Noah did a lot of mix-n-match to do that setup. SPFI short block, MPFI heads and intake, XT drive pulleys and timing bracket, VW CIS injection system. CIS = Continuous Injection System, fully mechanical no electronics. Used some nuts found on all Subaru's to adapt the injectors to the manifold. Axle nuts if I recall correctly. (yeah, right) :] The spaghetti of braided hosing in the pics are for the injectors, fed from the main body. There is a 5th port on the main body to add another injector feed, as for fuel enrichment for turbo. Noah didn't do turbo. Original ECU was still in the Wagon when I got it, and believe it still controlled the disty. I dropped a SPFI engine/harness back into it and had it running, with issues. That is why Noah did the swap to CIS. I gave up on it and swapped it over to run a Weber. Wagon was an '88 GL10 FWD Auto. The trans had it's own issues, but my Son, Chris, drove it for about a year. Wagon succumbed to salt cancer and was parted out. Really is a shame that Noah's threads on this conversion were lost. Noah's names on here were OhNoah and CIS_Subaru, but he has left the Subaru fold the last I heard from him.

Ok... Have 1 set of the big-end bushings, used but still in great shape. Good small-end bushings that refuse to come out of the shifter. Working on remedy to that.

I have the big-end ones, will check on the small-end ones.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1270099,parttype,2564 I would check the switch on top of the steering column. If it gets left on, it will kill the battery quickly.

Ok, other than doing the 445+ mile tank of gas, I haven't ran it down to the empty mark again. Payday/weekend gets here and I've just topped it off so as to make sure I have gas for the week. Anyways, car is loving the new wheel bearings...... Rolls much easier now. Last 2 fill-ups were 292.8 miles, 8.720 gallons added. 349.4 miles, 10.413 gallons added. I stop filling when I hear it gurgling in the fill-tube, run it up to the next dollar. Calculator is telling me that the average MPG for these fill-ups/miles driven are in the 32+ MPG range, up from the 28-29 MPG I was doing before hand.

Thanks skishop69. That does make some sense to me. I'll give it a try.

Plugs, wires, cap & rotor are fairly new. I'll have to check on the coil condenser. The ones I talked to mentioned it, but didn't think it would be the cause as the noise comes and goes depending on engine load. Definitely rpm related, but is only there when engine is free-running, or being driven by the wheels vs. engine driving the wheels. Happens only at idle, shift points, and going down grade/hills. Noise is more of a pop or crack. I've been near engines running non-resistor plug wires before, I know what that does to a radio. Very similar sounding.

This is my '88 GL Wagon. SPFI/EA81, XT6 alt. Tried to catch some of the Tiger's ball game this last Wednesday. FM station was spotty at best as I was at the outer limits of that station range, so I opted to try the AM station as I was closer to that tower at the time. 1st time I have tried the AM band on this car, it works, but... There is noise similar to what one would get with bad plug wires, but only when the engine is idling or when you let off the throttle. Under acceleration, the noise goes away and reception is clear. Driving down the road, noise only happens when I let off the throttle to shift gears, or the car is going down a rise or hill, noise is there. Accelerating up thru the gears, or pulling up a hill, noise goes away. And it does match engine rpms, in other words, an audible tach. I've had issues like this on other cars, but they were constant, not depending on accel/decell. Those were traced to either bad alt or bad condenser on the coil. Talked with a few other car buffs, and they are at a loss as I am on it. Any ideas?

Ground wire doesn't need to be in a specific spot, it just needs to be there. You can use one of the fan mount bolts and run a longer wire to reach the body.

The fill vent comes off the top of the tank, short section of hose over to the small tube on the filler tube. Wondering if someone has dropped the tank and has kinked the vent hose during installation. Just can't see the vent getting blocked any other way, but......