Just Bought A Gem: 1985 Subaru DL Wagon

[rrgrr]

Nice car, I like that color.

 

Your fuel filter sits under the car next to the fuel pump, just forward of the tank.

 

Near the golf tee there is a round thingy on the Carb Body (looks somewhat like the two others on the choke system) there Should be a small hose coming from that to the carb -(Secondary feeder, I think). It is most likely cracked or missing.

 

Autozone had rebuild kits for around 35 bucks.

 

Hope this helps!

[stoogesman]

Pretty much I need to set this cars vacuum lines back to stock.  All of the emissions stuff is unplugged and from everyone is saying the vacuum lines and caps on the carb are all discombobulated.  

[Scooner]

It kind of begs the question, how the hell did it get to you on the east coast in that driving condition?

[stoogesman]

It kind of begs the question, how the hell did it get to you on the east coast in that driving condition?

 

That I can't answer...  I was told the car was driven from New Mexico to PA in 2011 then parked until yesterday.  I found a log book in the car of when the car did the trip and the mpg's were impecable.  28 and 29 mpg's.  The car when it got to PA was parked in a barn and not driven until I picked her up.  Now it runs like dog crap.

[kerandt]

My 87 GL fuel filter is under the car with the pump. Unfortunately I gave up on the stock carb and went with a Weber. Really is a simple set up in comparison. Nice looking rig. Don't see many that color.

[stoogesman]

My 87 GL fuel filter is under the car with the pump. Unfortunately I gave up on the stock carb and went with a Weber. Really is a simple set up in comparison. Nice looking rig. Don't see many that color.

Thanks!

 

I fell in love with her the moment I saw it on Craiglist.  I picked her up for $1600.

 

I'm debating going with the Weber but don't really want to drop $350 right now

 

First I need to put all the vacuum lines back in there respective homes.  That in itself won't be fun.  There is a diagram on the hood I can refer to but pictures would be better.  Anyone care to snap some nice shots of there stock vacuum setup?  I would forever be in debt to you...Preferably with the air cleaner off so I can see where everything should go. 

[stoogesman]

If my timing belt was in fact broken what sort of symptoms would I be experiencing?

 

As of now I have noticed a slight tick that comes and goes that is coming from the head area.

[MR_Loyale]

The only time I had a wild bucking horse of a car was when my O2 sensor went bad. But you should have a Check Engine Light for that UNLESS the previous owner disconnected it.

 

Try removing the panel where the steering column meets the dash, turn the key to ON without starting it and see if there is a small red light blinking. This is OBDI and sends the codes via blinking lights in long flashes followed by short flashes. Long flashes are the first digit of the code and the short flashes are the second digit.

 

You can find the meaning of the codes here:

 

http://www.troublecodes.net/subaru/

[rrgrr]

The stock vacuum system is a can of worms to try to repoduce 30 years later. There are some pieces that will break and are hard o find replacements, if they are even still with the car. There are some threads here attempting to simplify the system, too, with varying success, -most of them end with a weber swap. Including mine; )

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that you just check all the existing hoses are intact, and there are no vacuum leaks.

Particularly the one I mentioned earlier-I had very similar experience and there were many mysteries, but the bucking problem was Definitely about that short tube connecting the carb to itself on the passenger side.

 

It sounds/looks like someone made it work, it's worth a try to do less if possible.

[l75eya]

The only time I had a wild bucking horse of a car was when my O2 sensor went bad. But you should have a Check Engine Light for that UNLESS the previous owner disconnected it.

 

Try removing the panel where the steering column meets the dash, turn the key to ON without starting it and see if there is a small red light blinking. This is OBDI and sends the codes via blinking lights in long flashes followed by short flashes. Long flashes are the first digit of the code and the short flashes are the second digit.

 

You can find the meaning of the codes here:

 

http://www.troublecodes.net/subaru/

 

Pretty sure his car doesn't have a computer;

If it's anything like my 87 carb car there is no check engine light, just an EGR light where the check engine light is on SPFI and MPFI cars, and all that's for is a service reminder every 60k to clean the EGR system.

 

I don't think carb cars have an oxygen sensor either.

 

To OP, I just skimmed through the posts here but your problem is most definitely vac line and/or carb related. Especially considering the vac lines have been messed with already, I'd start there. Timing should be 8*

Most of the vac lines you can just cap off, so if you are trouble-shooting, start by doing that.

If you're really interested in trying to retain the stock carburettor, I have ALL the emissions crap from when I put a weber on my car. Let me know if you are interested in that (air box, all solenoids, vac lines themselves, etc, etc)

 

But finally, I would just recommend putting a weber on it. it really wakes up the engine and it's not that bad to install. I'd help you through it all as everybody else on here would and there are some great guides to follow. Mine install was done recently too, so that's all fresh in my head. Best of luck and gorgeous car!

[stoogesman]

Ok so I just removed the carb to get the model #.  This is the model # stamped on my current Hitachi carb.

 

DCZ328-504 507

 

I called Carquest and they only have a 504a rebuild kit?  Does the 'a' make a difference??

 

 

[Trident]

If you look under the car just in front of the passenger side rear wheel you'll find the fuel pump and filter mounted on a flat plate. Once you deal with the fuel lines and electrical connector for the fuel pump, you can unbolt the plate and remove the whole assembly.

[stoogesman]

So let me ask the carb experts this...

 

The way my carb is wired up in the pictures I posted yesterday, would that absolutely make it run as bad as it is now?  Or is it something deeper in the carb.  I plan on rebuilding it irregardless.  I am having trouble finding diagrams to wire up the carb how it should be (stock).

[l75eya]

From what i remember there's only one blue wire to the carb for the choke and even if that were disconnected it would only affect it when running cold. Btw got your pm, haven't gotten to a computer yet. On my phone

[stoogesman]

From what i remember there's only one blue wire to the carb for the choke and even if that were disconnected it would only affect it when running cold. Btw got your pm, haven't gotten to a computer yet. On my phone

Sorry, I didn't mean wired.  I meant all the vacuum stuff hooked up incorrectly or capped/not capped.

[l75eya]

Ah, gotcha.

 

To answer your question, it's hard to say really. And I'm by no means a carb expert, but with the extensive amount of emissions crap hooked up to the manifold and the carburettor, if any of those vac lines are messed up, or more importantly if there's a vac leak, it'll make it run bad.

 

On the flip side of that, even if all the vac lines are correct and there's a small bit of debris inside the carburettor clogging one of the jets or tubes or orifices, it'll also make it not run right. The whole reason I ripped my hitachi off and put a weber there was because it wouldn't idle, and that was most likely due to something clogged inside the carb.

The issue is that the hitachi carb is just...pretty crappy, and all the emissions stuff is just more points of failure in the future, plus rebuilding one is more of a pain than it's worth, so I went ahead and got the weber, but I don't really have to worry about passing inspection either so that was one less thing I had to worry about when switching over to the weber. Not that it wouldn't pass, to that extent I wouldn't know one way or the other but; just another thing to think about.

[rrgrr]

Yes -the carb will be very difficult to sort with all the "mods" to the vac system. I consider myself pretty good with carbs, but even with a working model to look at (friend's car), it was a pain to try to get right.

I was having idle/choke issues, which I was working on when I started getting the bucking like you mentioned -had good idle, but when driven it would buck and die over 2500-3000 rpms. That's when I discovered a small split in the secondary feeder hose like I mentioned.

 

Also, I think the rebuild kit is for a couple different models -and may contain some extras you won't need. You can rebuild most of it w/o removing the carb -just take the top half off, I think 5 screws hold it on.

[stoogesman]

Thanks everyone for there feedback.  This will take some time to sort out.  I'm still going to rebuild the carb with a friend who knows more and then try to hook up the carb correctly?  Let me ask everyone this....  Even if all the emissions stuff is unhooked, can the carb still be hooked up correctly?  In my current set-up, all emissions hoses were cut or pulled from where they formally went to.  Now just a few hoses remain (pcv on passenger side) and other hoses to carb, and some of the ports in the front by the radiator side are capped.  

[stoogesman]

So I was finally able to talk to the previous owner who now lives in Thailand.  She emailed me with this info about the car.

 

"I think it might be that I lived at 9000 miles with him so there might be some sort of tuning up that would make him more optimal to your current elevation. Did the log book show that the gas mileage went down a bit as we went? I think I remember noticing that and attributing it to the elevation. I think I remember there being a sticker under the hood saying something specifically about this car is tuned to high elevation actually......

 

I had it to my friend's mechanic shop for a few long sessions when I bought it because it seemed to have been sitting in someone's garage for many years without maybe even being started. I can't recall exactly what he did, there were definitely some old gaskets that needed replacing. In the end it ran quite well for me. My daily commute was very hilly with some decent elevation gains and it behaved well. I seem to remember something also about some hoses that were kind of rearranged weirdly that my mechanic had to fix."

 

So as of now the car is set up for high altitude, which leaves me with more questions lol.   

[stoogesman]

Ok so BIG news.  I went out and capped some ports on the carb today and the car drives under throttle perfectly now!  The pictures below show the front and the back of the carb and where I capped it.  The caps I added are blue and red.

 

Can someone explain what exactly it is that I capped and why it worked???

 

Front after capping:

 

 

 

Rear after capping:

 

[stoogesman]

So now that the carb is working much better than it has, I notice now that the car when completely cold it idles quite high and then settles down after a couple of minutes once I touch the gas real quick.  Then she settles down and idles perfectly.  I see here are adjustments on the electric choke that says open/close.  Where abouts should mine be set at?  Right now I have it in the middles.

[turbosubarubrat]

So now that the carb is working much better than it has, I notice now that the car when completely cold it idles quite high and then settles down after a couple of minutes once I touch the gas real quick.  Then she settles down and idles perfectly.  I see here are adjustments on the electric choke that says open/close.  Where abouts should mine be set at?  Right now I have it in the middles.

That is because of vacuum advance. When the car is cold the distributor advances (2000-2500) so the motor doesn't die. while it warms up the advance goes off dropping the rpm back to idle.  Which also can be achieved faster by a tap of the pedal if the advance doesn't go off when it should. Idle should be around 750 and it sounds like your choke is set right if it's starting up good. From what you said the engine sounds like it's running like it should.

[stoogesman]

That is because of vacuum advance. When the car is cold the distributor advances (2000-2500) so the motor doesn't die. while it warms up the advance goes off dropping the rpm back to idle.  Which also can be achieved faster by a tap of the pedal if the advance doesn't go off when it should. Idle should be around 750 and it sounds like your choke is set right if it's starting up good. From what you said the engine sounds like it's running like it should.

You're exactly right about tapping the gas pedal to get the idle to drop down.  The carb seems like its running great and the motor runs awesome now!

 

My next task is to find out what is clicking at 15mph or under in any gear including neutral in a straight line or turning.  It seems as tho it is coming from the rear and ONLY occurs when it is in front wheel drive. If I kick it into 4wd the clicking noise in the rear goes away.  Could this be something in one of the rear wheels' hub, failing rear axle or something more sinister?  It's odd that it goes away when 4wd is actuated.

[stoogesman]

What is the recommened gear oil I should use for the trans and pumpkin? Any specific brand that works best on these older cars?

[silverback]

Is there an 'owner's manual' in the glove box?

 

Manual transmission and differential should be an API Classification  GL-5 gear oil.  Don't go crazy on expensive oils.  GL-5 rated and the temperature ranges in your area will determine the gear oil weight.  Perhaps 80--90Wt for your climate.

 

Off the top of my head, I would guess the transmission takes 3.5 quarts and the pumpkin takes 1.7 pints.

The transmission is very slow to fill from the dip stick tube. Go very slow, take your time because you do not want to spill from the 'burping' of air at the filler tube.  The spillage drips onto the catalytic converter. Your vehicle will have the 'smell of 60's muscle cars'.  ( Kids,  Google that one ).

 

Nice wagon.

Edited November 13, 2014 by silverback