Replacing/repairing Digital Gauge Clusters?

[RebarKnight]

Greetings!

 

This is my first time posting on this forum, and I am by NO means a gearhead. I am somewhat competent when it comes to engine care and maintenance, that's about it.  

 

So here's the gist: 

 

I bought a 1984 GL-10 Turbo Coupe from a friend of mine for a very reasonable price about four years ago. My friend's father is a mechanic and actually trained on this era of Subaru's back in the 80's. I had him rebuild the engine and spruce everything up. He did just that and upon attempting to drive it to the PNW from Colorado the Turbo failed. Flash forward past the 300-mile flatbed trip back to it's mechanic and a long search for a replacement turbo.

 

The turbo is now replaced and the engine is essentially rebuilt, but the Gl-10 won't start, save for intermittently, and doesn't seem to want to stay running. They determine it's an issue either with the wiring or the digital gauge cluster. After the mechanics spent some time with the car they leaned towards the gauge cluster being the issue. 

 

I've been hoping to drive this old girl up to my home for years now, and by the grace of my friend's father's patience and his ability to investigate this issue as a side project I've been waiting patiently. It's to the point where I am not sure if I should just sell this beauty and give up on the dream, or if there is something I am/they are potentially missing that is pretty commonplace which could remedy the situation. The mechanic's son had mentioned something in the past about a retired Arcade Board repair guy who specialized in the circuitry found in these digital dash gauge clusters but since hasn't been able to track down any leads as to how to connect with him.

 

I am inches away from having my friend just sell the vehicle for me, square up with the mechanics, and take the loss. Any advice or insights from owners/knowledgeable parties would be greatly appreciated! 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read through the babble of a particularly non-mechanically inclined enthusiast. 

 

Cheers,

Nick

[DaveT]

I'm not the GL 10 turbo expert, but I am not aware of anything in the gauge / cluster that could kill the engine.

 

Lots of other sensor / electrical things could.  They all just need to be gone through to rule out.

[crazyhorse001]

+1 on what Dave t said. It should run with the cluster unhooked completely. If you're referring to an XT, I'm sure it will. If it starts then dies, I'd be looking at fuel delivery first. These are relatively simple engines, even with the fuel injection.

[l75eya]

I wonder if there's anyway you can bolt on a carb intake and carburetor just to drive it home..

[turbosubarubrat]

I almost guarantee its the ecm. When they're this old its a really common problem. You could try to get someone to fix it, try to find another one, or go with a aftermarket ecu system like msd. I take it the car is still in Colorado not Portland, OR. If it is in portland i would be interested in it. Or you could bring it to the shop i work at. If you really want the car why don't you trailer it back using a uhaul truck and trailer? Shawn Watson has parted out a few of these ea81t turbo cars recently over at his shop in colorado. A couple other guys on here might have one but they are getting really hard to come by. Johns subaru junkyard in Gaston Oregon might have one too.