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$150 GL-10 is running! and renewed faith in SEAFOAM!!


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For those that haven't followed the story,

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29450

89 GL-10 Turbo AWD 5-speed.

It didn't have an intake, airbox, MAF or battery. It had been sitting a while, and on the windsheild in chalk was written, lifter tap.

 

Well, I finally had a chance to really play with the car today. I installed the MAF and intake hose I bought from WJM, an airbox I bought at a local junkyard, picked up a battery, oil, filter, air filter, fuel filter, 2 cans of sea foam, thermostat and anti freeze.

Changed the fluids, installed the parts, put an entire pint of Sea Foam in the oil, the other pint in the tank with 2 gallons of fresh fuel(had less than a quarter tank in it to start), and fired it up! WHAT A RACKET!!!! I have never heard such noise from a valve train in my life! I shut the engine down after five seconds cause it scared me! Checked all the fluids again, went out on a limb and fired it back up. After ten minutes of idling, I started revving it up a little bit more at a time. The longer it ran the quieter it got! Within 20 minutes the lifter noise was gone! GONE! Amazing. I took it for a quick ride up the road(just a few miles) and it runs great! A little stumble and a little faint click out of one of the axles, but thats it. Maybe after a tank of good fuel the stumble will go away.

 

While changing the oil filter I noticed that the oil pressure sending unit was gone! I was a little upset at first but a faint flicker of a memory tickled my brain and I remembered back in 98 when I had my first Subaru, I had to replace the oil pump and I removed the sender on the new pump and tossed it in my tool box, and used the old one. Well guess what, it was still in my tool box.

 

Isn't there a light on the dash that comes on when the turbo starts making boost?

And one on the dash when the center locking dash in "on"?

I didn't see either.

 

I'll get tags on it soon, and sell the hatch.

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yeah, theres a light by the little car diagram on the IP that says 'turbo' after you start making boost. and the diff lock light will appear in the center of the car diagram, but sometimes it take a bit for it to engage. you have to be driving kinda slow, in a straight line.

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Frank,

nice score, well done

 

On the turbo light, since some of the parts

on the pass side inner fender were disturbed or missing.

 

The boost pressure switch may have been disconnected

from the intake manifold.

 

The switch you are looking for, looks like this

boost pressure switch

 

Also in this area is the Waste Gate (or boost control) Duty Solenoid.

 

If it was also disconnected from the intake manifold

the turbo's waste gate may be disconnected.

 

Meaning the turbo will boost with no control

and could possibly cause problems.

 

Might be woth looking at.

The solenoid is mounted on the pass side strut tower.

 

It should have three rubber lines and an electrical connection.

Here is the WGDS shown off the car, plumbed properly.

Waste Gate Duty Solenoid

 

Again nice score, good luck and have fun.

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I take it from the picture you have identified the boost pressure switch.

 

Pull the barrel shaped electrical connector apart.

 

Short the terminals on the car harness side

(remember this sensor is only a pressure switch

that closes at like .25 PSI)

 

See if the light lights with the key on,

unlikely but the lamp could be burned out.

 

If so, then make sure the hose to the switch leads directly to an intake manifold hose barb.

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A Kragen employee the other day told me they did not carry Sea Foam. Furthermore, he said its only use was for marine applications to deal with rust. I would have bought MMO, but the store was out of that.

He said Subaru ticking was due to the boxer engine desgn, and that air-cooled VW's suffered from the same problem. I left at that point, didn't want to deal with his ignorance & get into the HLA issue, etc. with him. Maybe I'll have better luck at Autozone....

Ray Mac.

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A Kragen employee the other day told me they did not carry Sea Foam. Furthermore, he said its only use was for marine applications to deal with rust. I would have bought MMO, but the store was out of that.

He said Subaru ticking was due to the boxer engine desgn, and that air-cooled VW's suffered from the same problem. I left at that point, didn't want to deal with his ignorance & get into the HLA issue, etc. with him. Maybe I'll have better luck at Autozone....

Ray Mac.

 

Well, if you get a chance to go back to Kragen, you tell that fruitloop to pull his head out of his nether regions and actually take a look at a can of Sea Foam, so that maybe the next time someone asks him for info about it, he can get his info straight instead of just pulling something out of the air at random. That really chaps my hide when people just blurt out something instead of just simply saying," I don't know sir. Let me ask and see if anyone else knows about it.", as I used to work at Autozone and would constantly have to get onto my coworkers for saying things like that. Finally after awhile, they just began to refer people to me because I was(and I'm not trying to stroke my own ego here) only employee at my store that actually took the time to read labels, do research, etc on the products that we stocked. Sorry for the rant:cool: , but I just read the label and it says nothing of the sort anywhere on it.

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How long should one run seafoam before changing oil. I've got an upcoming oil change on the '95, must be done before Friday week (long trip ahead). Not enough time, or dump it in?

 

I run it until it is time to change the oil. Best bet would be to change the oil, then add it afterwords. But that is just my $.02 .

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Yeehaw! Seafoam :D

 

Im picking up a free Loyale on SAT. Just gonna show up with a tool puuch and a can of sea foam and drive away with a big :grin: on my face!

 

As for when to run it; I use it as a cleaning product. Not really as a constant addative. In your crank case it gets cooked off pretty fast so its not like you add a can and it stays in there for 3000 miles. I use it like a Vics Vapor Rub for my engine :drunk:

 

Like when my lifters were ticking REALLY bad. I added a full can to the crank case. Drive around 50 miles, drained the oil, added new oil and another can. Drove around 100 miles giving it the Italian tune-up (read: high RPMs!) Again drained the oil but this time just replaced with oil. No more lifter tick'n and I havent heard them tick since :)

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In the past, I have run it in the crankcase of my cars for 3000 miles with no problems at all. But then again, I wouldn't run another can for about 2 oil changes after that. EH, who knows! Your method makes more sense anyway. Either way, SeaFoam still kicks major butt!!!!

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A Kragen employee the other day told me they did not carry Sea Foam. Furthermore, he said its only use was for marine applications to deal with rust. I would have bought MMO, but the store was out of that.

He said Subaru ticking was due to the boxer engine desgn, and that air-cooled VW's suffered from the same problem. I left at that point, didn't want to deal with his ignorance & get into the HLA issue, etc. with him. Maybe I'll have better luck at Autozone....

Ray Mac.

 

Seafoam began it's life in the marine world. It was made and first used to de-carbonize marine engines, which is basically what we use it for. I believe the HQ is in Michigan, or somewhere close on the lakes, so that makes sense.

The Autozone here just started carrying it, but NAPA should have it for sure.

 

Whenever I get a car, I usually put an entire can of seafoam in the oil(with fresh oil and filter) and run it for 500 miles before changing it out. If the vehicle has been sitting a while, I usually do it twice before starting the normal intervals. I used to use the Sea Foam Trans Tune the same way untill I learned that it can actually be too strong to leave in the tranny. I would only use it if you plan on having a flush performed that would change out ALL the fluid in the tranny.

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  • 1 month later...

It lives and breathes!

 

I had a bit of a stumble/dead spot problem with the car. If driving at a steady speed, the power would drop off, then come back as if you were hitting a switch. Also had a problem with the turbo light not comming on, but I swapped out the boost sensor and waste gate control solenoid with some I picked up from Scrapdaddytatum and now the light comes on. I also found out why me differential lock was not engageing, the vacuum line was disconnected, easy enough.

I swapped out the MAF with a spare I picked up, but didn't cure the stumble. So I removed and cleaned the TPS (throttle position sensor) and added a new ground wire between the engine and body. That fixed it! I don't know which action fixed it, but it's fixed. I took it for a quick ride to feel it out, and let me tell you, I haven't had a car scare me from going that fast and accelerating that quick in a loooong time! the engine was redlined BEFORE the power dropped off, awesome! I love this car! I think I have a total of $300 in it.

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took a pint of Seafoam and poured 1/2 into my carb and the other 1/2 into the gas tank.

 

Now I am getting great response even when it's cold. It use to stumble badly for 2-3 mins if I tried to drive cold. I could barely get it above 30 mph but now there's a lot less stumble and no problems w/accelaration

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