Costatus Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 First time posting here, been lurking for awhile. I recently purchased a 1986 Subaru GL station wagon Carbureted EA82 5spd 4wd 218k. The car is a turd and has more rust and random colored body panels than numbers in it's VIN. But it was only $175! Car was running/driving daily and then I went to start it one morning like normal and nothing... -Things I've checked so far: Plugs/cap/rotor Coil Fuel pump/fuel filter Relays/condition of wires Fuses Vacuum lines -Things I've found out: No 12v to fuel pump at all but pump works fine when wired to 12v No spark at the plugs at all No 12v to either coil leads + or - No voltage coming out of coil main lead going to dist. Checked the screw on the dist. Rotor. Replaced relays and nothing changed Bench tested the coil to find 1ohm on primary winding and 9000 on secondary. Even replaced the " fuel pump control unit" aka FPCU or Revolution sensor. It's the small black box located in the drivers foot well near the hood latch area. I've come up with nothing after hrs of scouring through this forum on this issue except a few dead threads on the FPCU. Questions : Could the control/ignition module inside the dist. Be bad ? Although would this cause no power to fuel pump? I'm familar with subarus pretty well mostly ej engines but this ea82 should be simple enough is there something I'm missing that's obvious ? Any opinions or answers is greatly appreciated as I've been at it for 2 days and no luck at all. THANKS!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 ignition switch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 and nothing...! what does that mean? if you literally had nothing then that means no power: 1. battery 2. terminals 3. battery cables 4. main fuse/fusible links (if equipped) if by "nothing" you mean you have power but the engine won't turn over: 1. starter 2. ignition switch 3. battery cable if by "nothing" you mean the engine turns over but never runs.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 No 12v at the coil and no 12v to pump you have a blown fusible link. Small box between battery and coolant resevior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costatus Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 what does that mean? if you literally had nothing then that means no power: 1. battery 2. terminals 3. battery cables 4. main fuse/fusible links (if equipped) if by "nothing" you mean you have power but the engine won't turn over: 1. starter 2. ignition switch 3. battery cable if by "nothing" you mean the engine turns over but never runs.... No 12v at the coil and no 12v to pump you have a blown fusible link. Small box between battery and coolant resevior. Sorry let me clarify by "nothing" I mean the car won't start. Engine cranks and cranks no start. Battery terminals good Starter is fine the engine cranks Everything else on the car still works and has power all lights/ interior etc. I checked all 3 fusable links and they all had continuity through them. I will replace them anyways and try that. Are the ignitions on these cars problematic? I'll try and different ignition also. Thanks for the quick replies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdMobile Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 I'm guessing fusible link, or ignition module. Yes, a failed IM will keep the fuel pump from getting power... the fuel pump control module looks for ignition pulses before it will allow voltage output to the fuel pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costatus Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 I'm guessing fusible link, or ignition module. Yes, a failed IM will keep the fuel pump from getting power... the fuel pump control module looks for ignition pulses before it will allow voltage output to the fuel pump. Thanks for that info. I will replace the fusible links even tho I think the stock ones are good and I will replace the IM. I just wasn't sure about the IM because I'm not even getting 12v to the coil leads which is where the IM gets it's power from but I will try it anyways, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jono Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 (edited) the coil maks the spark, the IM switches to make the coil make the spark. How'd you check the coil ? That is is there ? Not corroded away in the tower? Lucky it did not die on the road somewhre, but conveniently let you down at home I found if it is a FL, won't even crank - on EA81 bodies. My EA82 FL corroded or broke at 110 kph, touch, untouched itself, power surge spike killed things, rendered useless for three weeks ! As Gloyale has a lot of experience and makes the call for the FL, I am gonna suggest maybe the FL is in a state of decay from corrosion or broken so may stil have power across for a test lamp but not for its proper duties. My FLs failed on two cars around year 23. Edited October 5, 2014 by jono Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costatus Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 the coil maks the spark, the IM switches to make the coil make the spark. How'd you check the coil ? That is is there ? Not corroded away in the tower? Lucky it did not die on the road somewhre, but conveniently let you down at home I found if it is a FL, won't even crank - on EA81 bodies. My EA82 FL corroded or broke at 110 kph, touch, untouched itself, power surge spike killed things, rendered useless for three weeks ! As Gloyale has a lot of experience and makes the call for the FL, I am gonna suggest maybe the FL is in a state of decay from corrosion or broken so may stil have power across for a test lamp but not for its proper duties. My FLs failed on two cars around year 23. I checked the coil by doing a bench test with my ohm meter and it checked out according to specs I found on this forum. I made sure it had a good ground as well. I don't think the problem is the coil because I think the no 12v at the fuel pump is related to my no spark issue. There's no rust in the engine bay only rust is on the exterior body. As for the Fusable Links all I did to test them was do a continuity test so they may be bad like you had mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costatus Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Ok I'm in the shop right now working on this thing and still no luck. I did a little more research on the site and did another test. With test light on coil (-) I get the light on with Ignition on but when cranking I get no pulse the light just stays on. Some say this means bad ignition module or faulty wiring to IM. Is this correct? Also tested leads at the FPCU and got 12v with ig. On - black/white 12v with if. On but not when cranking - black/blue Black- ground was good Does that rule out my ignition switch? Also tryed coil (+) jumpered to 12v and crank but no spark or fuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costatus Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 (edited) Thank you to everyone who quickly helped me out today I really apreciate it. This forum has been super helpful. Got the car running with another distributor from a junkyard 86 GL. I assume the ignition module was the problem but I couldn't figure out how to just replace it so swapped dist. And she runs great again !! ???????? Edited October 6, 2014 by Costatus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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