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Longest trip in a Loyale


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I am curious...

I have been all over new england with a DL carbed and a 93 spfi.1300+ miles straight and never shut it off, was my longest trip, but it was cool temps.

Only going beyond that a few times in other cars. They changed noticably getting into what I call the "tropics of New Jersey" due to the contrast of my state and its weather.

 

Can an old sube handle a trip from one extreme to the other non-stop? traffic jams in nyc on a 90 degree day etc etc..

 

I have read miles-fox adventure and its making me doubt a few things (like the head gaskets in warmer humid weather)..:-\

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Bought a Loyale 5-speed 4WD wagon in Virginia. Put a hitch on it. Bought a trailer. Drove to Oregon to pick up stuff in storage. Gross trailer weight about 1900, plus another 400 or so in wagon. Towed it back to Virginia. A 7000 mile trip with absolutely no problems

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Bought a Loyale 5-speed 4WD wagon in Virginia. Put a hitch on it. Bought a trailer. Drove to Oregon to pick up stuff in storage. Gross trailer weight about 1900, plus another 400 or so in wagon. Towed it back to Virginia. A 7000 mile trip with absolutely no problems

 

How old was it at the time of trip? that is alot of weight. Was it turbo?

I drove a 5spd wagon that was 17, never rebuilt, for over 1300.quite a chore!:lol: Needed bearings all the way around, and was bent to the point of not holding a new transaxle contently .I have since put that same axle in another sube out of frustration-- to prove it was a bent car, it is like new in the second sube, no clicks..the bent one kept passing inspection based on appearance apparently.

Anyway, My doubts are less now with a quiet back end 2wd. my guess is it would go a loooong way.I don't know the Loyales as cross country travelers often. I posted question similar quite some time ago. Seeing if anyone really went nomad since, and now that they are all even older ...to assure my own motivation.

Personal circumstance has got me setting up an old loyale to go absolutely anywhere :)

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Well, I jumped in my winter camo '87 GL 5spd D/R 4WD in Whitefish, MT and drove straight-thru to Baltimore, MD in 54 hours. After several months of work and running around the East (including a NJ Pine Barrens romp with the gang), I jumped back in, this time fully loaded with houshold and personal stuff, including a way full soft bag on the roof and drove straight back to western Montana. The return trip I stopped for one night at a Motel, 'cause there wasn't enough room to nap in the car.

 

When I started the trip, 'Clack' had 202,000 miles on the clock, and I burned one qt of oil each way, cruising at 70-75 the whole way. Moosens can vouch for the Subaru, if not for me ... :grin: I did finish off an iffy front wheel bearing playing in the deep sand.

 

Not bad for a couple of old farts if I do say so myself (me and my Subaru Clack, wait a minute, maybe Paulie too?).

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My trips haven't been of the Montana to Baltimore proportions, but we've done quite a few long trips in our daily driver. It's a stock '92 Loyale 4wd wagon.

 

We just took a 1300 mile round trip to Florida with no real problems. We did each way in a day with only gas/food/potty stops. The end of May isn't the hottest time for Florida, but it was pretty hot a couple of days and we used the AC almost the whole time. And got 30mpg doing 73 on the interstate. Show me a 14 year old 4wd minivan that can do that and I'll buy it :lol:

 

The other big trip we do from the time to time is a 2000 mile round trip to the inlaws in NY state (one day each way here too). Worst problems we've had were a broken hatch handle and a torn CV boot in the same trip.

 

I say, take long trips if your Loyale is in good shape. But then I always bring the service manuals basic tools along anyway :rolleyes:

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I knew they were out there, doing what I hoped :)

I won't hesitate to hop in my old hack job and go go go. It is even a straight unibody this time...:lol:

I once again creep up over 40 mpg @ 152k miles. It must be my foot mastered on the throttle ... I don't seem to find those results very often in the ea82.My DL hit over 50 for a couple of hundred good highway miles at a time and was great on oil. Thanks for the details!

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Hi!

 

Just for Info... Long time Ago, my EA82 Came running from Los Angeles (Yes, at California) to Honduras... At a some part of the road on mexico, the Alternator Belt became too loose, just adjusted the alternator and Voilá! ... It was a Good Nice Trip... a Lot of Stories came from it! :)

 

Also, I travel weekly -or Almost Weekly- from the South Coast (Pacific Ocean) to the North Coast (Caribbean Sea) of our Country, in a "Non Stop" Coast to Coast kind of travels... I call them "FLAT rump roast VOYAGES" :D `cos we finnish those ten or so hours, travelin` in not too good roads (Pot holes in some areas, off road in anothers, etc... ) with that part soo hurting... :-\ ... but I Enjoy those Voyages! :)

 

The Past Holy week, we traveled from the Island to a Nice Beach located in Nicaragua, called "Monterlimar" ... it was a Non-Stop engine, eXpress Voyage that started early in the mornin` and finished early in the NEXT Mornin` :eek: ... Yes, it`s True! I shared the driver`s Seat with my Dad... It was Soo Nice. About 1,400 Kilometers without shuttin` off the Engine... Gotta Love that Weberized EA82!!! :headbang:

 

...Yes!, I did put on it New Oil (I Always use 20W50 MOTUL Brand, `cos it got MINERAL Base, NO Petroleum, so it won`t leave much dirt, and the "Tick of Death" Goes with this oil... See this Page, a Subaru is in its very first Image: http://www.motul.com/ , Also here the Dealer ONLY suggest that Oil) And I did put on it, brand new Spark Plugs, and Gearbox Oil (Motul Too), Coolant, brake fluid, and Power Steerin` Fluid. So the Voyage was Soo Nice, and the car Went and Came Back without any Issue...

 

well... It was just for Sharing my experiences...

 

Also I did travel with it to almost All Central American Countries... But That is Another Story... :)

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I am curious...

I have been all over new england with a DL carbed and a 93 spfi.1300+ miles straight and never shut it off, was my longest trip, but it was cool temps.

Only going beyond that a few times in other cars. They changed noticably getting into what I call the "tropics of New Jersey" due to the contrast of my state and its weather.

 

Can an old sube handle a trip from one extreme to the other non-stop? traffic jams in nyc on a 90 degree day etc etc..

I took off from Newark, NJ in my newly purchased (sight unseen :-\) 1989 GL-10 Turbo Touring Wagon, and put 4815 miles on it before arriving back in Anchorage, AK, 5 days later. My first 'day' (day = time between sleeping, not necessarily 24 hours.) was an approx. 1,600 mile leg that took me through Ohio (80°+) around mid-day, through a road construction zone near Chicago around evening rush hour, and stopping for the night somewhere in Minnesota (30°) the next morning, and she seemed to do pretty well.

 

Granted, I 'overheated' on the Ohio Turnpike, according to my digi-dash, but I am not sure how much I trust that thing.

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I took off from Newark, NJ in my newly purchased (sight unseen :-\) 1989 GL-10 Turbo Touring Wagon, and put 4815 miles on it before arriving back in Anchorage, AK, 5 days later. My first 'day' (day = time between sleeping, not necessarily 24 hours.) was an approx. 1,600 mile leg that took me through Ohio (80°+) around mid-day, through a road construction zone near Chicago around evening rush hour, and stopping for the night somewhere in Minnesota (30°) the next morning, and she seemed to do pretty well.

 

Granted, I 'overheated' on the Ohio Turnpike, according to my digi-dash, but I am not sure how much I trust that thing.

 

From the sounds of it, your car safely crossed what I was inquiring about..

There is a contrasting geological "line", travelers have to cross it all the time, south to extreme north and vice versa.I have gone countless times up and down the east coast to notice this. This line changes just south of new york, or in the city mid summer. I had a hunch that the boxer would do good, just ignore the guages .I haven't had a vehicle yet that didn't give me some kind of notice from northern new england to farther south.In fact I just blew up a 96 corsica <97k miles last year for no reason, after a trip south. It was single digits in maine and far different by new york.I should have known I forgot my omen with inline 4 cyls.I never tried a sube yet.Not long ago, a relative mysteriously blew up an intake plenum on a similar trip south cold to very warm in what seems to be a half day trip sometimes. I don't get much conversation out of it either .Discouraging facts indeed..My nose tells me when I've crossed into the completely different tropical like air mass.:drunk: I bet the sube could do it at 200k miles :)

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I Always use 20W50 MOTUL Brand, `cos it got MINERAL Base, NO Petroleum

 

Hate to poop on your popcicle, but mineral oil is petroleum oil.

 

2 trips, michigan to seattle and back, broke a timing belt every other trip.

 

Michigan to San Diego to Seattle, no problems

 

Michigan to New Jersey and back, no problems

 

Michigan to Minneapolis and back, no problems

 

Michigan to Connecticut and back, no problems

 

Michigan to Baltimore and back, no problems

 

All trips were subaru related in some form or another

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  • 9 months later...

Well, just to add another story.

 

I have a 1989 GL-10 Turbo bought for $50. The engine blew on the Blue Ridge Parkway and was replaced with a 1988 XT MPFI non turbo engine with 120K miles. The care then made it back to Colorado where it became a daily beater.

 

When the engine had 150K and the car had 225K, the road trip started. We left CO for Bozeman, MT and back. On the return trip we had a additonal gear in the form of a whitewater raft frame and all need accessories. Once back in CO, packed for a 6 month journey through Mexico and Central America. The car was loaded down to the max. All camping gear and supplies needed to make the journey, including a Mt. Bike, kayak, raft oars, raft frame. When we crossed from La Paz to Matazlan, the car was weighed and based on the Subaru specs, we were hauling about 1200 lbs of gear.

 

The trip took us from Colorado to SF, CA then south through Baja then after a ferry crossing to Matazlan down through Guatemala crossing from west to east and into Honduras. After touring Honduras, we then drove through Nicaragua to our temporary (3 month) location in Costa Rica.

 

While in Costa Rica, we lightened our load on most occasions for our local trips. But when going to Panama to renew our visas and to complete the journey to the Panama Canal the load was only about 1/2 of the beginning of the journey.

 

After returning to Costa Rica, we sold the raft to lighten the load. The car was evaluated by a mechanic and a few minor problems were fixed for $50 including changing the oil. The mechanic valued the car at $1500 - $2000 usd.

 

With confidance in the car, we took an almost completely different route on the return taking us through new terrain. We encounterd various road conditons ranging from perfect high speed highways, to low speed highways with pot holes that a full size truck could not get out of, to the worst washboard roads known to man, to rally style dirt road driving, and even an attempt to drive up a volcano where only the steepness and lack of horse power turned us back. After retruning to the US (exactly 6 months later) into Arizona back to SF, CA and then back home to Colorado.

 

Unfortunately, the car blew a head gasket after the 25k mile journey in 7 months with only oil changes, 2 flat tires (same tire, different holes and repaired on the road) and a rusted out exhaust pipe near the 2nd catilic converter (easily replacable in Mexico). We were less than 150 miles from our final destination but were able to limp the car to its final destination where I am going to put another 88 XT MPFI non turbo into the car to let it live again.

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Went from Sedona AZ to northeast Pa with 800 pounds of stuff in the back. In Kansas my carb started acting up but she kept on chugging at 75 mph with hardly a struggle.It was in the 90s all the way untill Kentucky when it started raining and the temp dropped to like 50. Oh and the engine had 198.000 miles on it at the time.

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A few years back I drove to Albuquerque and back via Sedona, AZ in our '86 Loyale wagon. The car had around 200K on the engine and drivetrain. We drove over 3500 miles round-trip in pretty hot weather without a problem at any time. I would do it again in our '91 Legacy with 188K without a second thought.

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I drive 2-3 time a year from Kenosha, WI(read Chicago) to Corvallis, OR. I also make my way out to Pennsylvania at least once a year. Always in a Soob. Often in the winter. I preffer to go the North Dakota route. It's colder, but you skip the terrible wind and snowdrifts of western SD and Wyoming. That and my great, great, great, great uncle is general Custer. And we all know his experience in Wyoming.

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I didn't do it, but my brother took my old 88 GL on a 1500 mile total trip through New Mexico and then back. He said it did wonderful.

 

I'm about to take my 84 Turbo on a 750 mile round trip. Should be fun. She'll do just fine. I have faith in her.

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my old white DL did over a dozen runs from los angeles to phoenix and back... 700 or so miles each run, put some miles on it!

 

the red GL didnt last long enough, but i took it from lake havasu to las vegas, going back through the hoover dam... 400 miles or so

 

the GL i have now... i've gone from los angeles to santa fe and back... almost 2,000 miles... in 2 days :-\ (thank goodness for cruise control)

 

even though mine always seem to run funny... i still trust 'em to take long trips :grin:

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when my dad was working in Missouri Valley, Iowa, I decided to go visit him and spend a few days with him to see what his work was like, what iowa was like etc. etc. '87 ea82 4wd d/r wagon. made the 900 mile trip to Iowa the first day, 13 hours of straight driving. spent a day there and decided while I was that far West, might as well see the Rockies.

 

drove another 400 miles to Golden Colorado and met up with some fellow subists (Dr Krazy, ShawnW, and some other guys) had some fun, toured around Denver the next day.. and made my way back to Iowa a day later. it was raining, and there are ALOT of dirt roads in Iowa. found a non-mantainance road, and guess what!! the first run went without a hitch, got high centered the second time. took till the next day to even find anybody to pull me out. it took a very large tractor to get me out. nobody else would even touch the mud i was stuck in. it was some really thick mucky CRAP. so that was over with, went to Omaha zoo with my dad and left that night.

 

900 more miles back home. in all i put 2800 miles on the car on that trip. it did REALLY well too. felt really solid then entire time and never gave any signs of trouble. averaged about 28 mpg, I had about 100 pounds of stuff with me.

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