87 GL w/ carb - fuel system problem

[coltonOR]

Newbie alert - I bought my first Subaru 2 weeks ago (87 GL Wagon - AWD/5 spd). A friend swears by the posters on this forum so here goes:

 

Car ran fine for about a week and then stalled pulling out of driveway. I could start it up again but it wouldn't idle any more, just immediately died. Got it back to the garage and installed a new fuel filter. No help. I then removed the air filter housing and took a can of carb cleaner to the carb and gave the idle adjustment screw a full turn to the right. Car started right up with a high idle and ran. I slowly backed the idle screw back to original position and car idled fine at approx. 1000rpm (according to tach).

 

Car then ran fine for another week.

 

Yesterday I was on the highway going about 55 up a hill and the car started to lurch a bit and lose power. I down shifted to 4th and gave it some gas and it struggled for a few seconds but seemed to clear itself up and got me home with no other issues.

 

Today I was out on highway and it did the same thing but didn't seem to recover this time. I pulled over to side of road and let idle for a minute and then started back on my way. Now car seems fine until it reaches about 35-40 mph and shifting from 3rd to 4th. It then starts to lurch and lose power and I have to slow back down to a roll and start over again from 1st or 2nd gear. Occassionally it stalls and I have to restart. When lurching I can put gas to floor and it doesn't seem to do anything.

 

Any suggestions on where to start?

 

Thanks in advance.

[NorthWet]

First thought was fuel filter; still might be, even with you changing the filter. Second thought was fuel pump issues.

[[HTi]Johnson]

Maybe a weak fuel pump. You said that you can go until you hit 35-40, maybe the fuel pump isn't filling the bowl up enough? Replacing the filter just reduced the stress on the fuel pump for a little while. That's my theory.

[smelly_cat]

I got a 84 1800 with a carb and I get the same problem, I think it has to do with the float valve sticking or the float is miss adjusted. does the gas recirculate from the carb back to the fule tank on your 87? SC

[TheSubaruJunkie]

May also be a bad catalytic converter, but I would inspect the fuel pump. You can get cheap replacement pumps from Autozone or napa. Check all the wiring to make sure it is getting good contact, if something wiggles loose it will take a min to drain the bowl then you'll experience problems as you described.

 

-Brian

[Cougar]

Like the others said I would suspect the fuel pump as the cause of the trouble. There may be a power problem to the pump so check the fusible links to make sure they are making good connection. They are in the plastic box mounted on the coolant reservior.

 

The fuel pump relay may be doing this also. It may be under the dash to the right side of the steering column. To eliminate power trouble you can monitor the voltage to the pump on the wires under the rear seat on the passenger side. If the voltage is ok to the pump you should also do a fuel pressure check to see if the pump is bad.

[Mudboat]

Sounds like a carb rebuild is needed to me... Every time I had fuel related issues in a soob, I had the carb rebuilt at a reliable shop. Fixed the problem every time..

[coltonOR]

It does appear to be a carb problem. I finally gave up and took it to the shop and they determined that the float valve was sticking. I'm having it rebuilt today and hopefully that will have me on the road again tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the responses.