Gurus? ea81 specific?

[ezapar]

85 ea81, has a Weber 32/36 on it.

 

Yesterday while I was headed up the highway to the pass, it started cutting out. It was up a big hill, I was in 3rd. I found that when I let off the gas, it would run better. At 3 grand or so, it runs like a champ. Get the rpms closer to 4k, it freaks out and starts cutting out.

It did not do this on a previous run up the same route, so I don't think it's an elevation thing.

 

Things I think it may be.

 

Coil is weak.

Bad Gas.

Clogged secondary jets.

Fuel pump.

 

Weak alternator. (Voltage drops when I hit the lights, more for the heat. With nothing running, it sits at 14, with just about anything on, it drops to 12.)

[archemitis]

didnt you rescently complain about gettin to the top of a hill and having to crank it over and over to get it runing after shutting it off?

i would think ignition first if it only does it under load at higher rpms.

if it was fuel pump, it would work fine untill your bowl started to get empty.

coil the easiest swap... is this a test?

[[HTi]Johnson]

Fuel filter(s). I swear by replacing those.

[mcbrat]

Johnson']Fuel filter(s). I swear by replacing those.

 

fuel filters and a can of Seafoam in the gas tank first off. I'd hook up a temp voltage guage direct to battery to see if it's really dropping that low... the ea81 guage is very susceptible to issues with the load on the IGN portion of the fuse panel.....

 

I had a write-up somewhere of the "fix" I did for this, but can't find it now.....

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Im going to place my vote for the Ignition Coil. Had problems like this when mine was failing. I coulda swore it was bad fuel filters cause of the symptoms, but replacing them had no effect. On a hunch I replaced the coil and all was better.

 

Problems I was experiencing were noticable at the top of 2nd gear, almost all of 3rd and 4th gear. Car would accelerate up to 3000-3200rpm, anything after that and the car would cut out, buck and refuse to accelerate. I could baby it up to 4000rpm if I did it with a very light foot. Maintaining 65mph was a struggle, and forget climbing any inclines.

 

Ive also had the same symptoms with my RX and my Legacy which turned out to be a faulty plug. Problem returned on my Legacy and I found it was a damaged plug wire.

 

-Brian

[daeron]

fuel filters and a can of Seafoam in the gas tank first off. I'd hook up a temp voltage guage direct to battery to see if it's really dropping that low... the ea81 guage is very susceptible to issues with the load on the IGN portion of the fuse panel.....

 

I had a write-up somewhere of the "fix" I did for this, but can't find it now.....

if this "fix" was to install a relay that switched the IGN power circuit, instead of switching it all through the ignition cylinder, then my relay write up should be somewhat useful, if a bit cumbersome to mine for the data needed for this particular circuit.. when i wrote it I used headlights and starter control circuit as my two "examples" but the concept is the same. Relay has four wires going to it; a signal positive line, a "hi-amp" positive line, a "high amp" output terminal, and a terminal that the relay uses for grounding itself.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=74632

 

Good luck with your problem; I'm just here to link you to the relay data if needed/wanted. Wish I could be of more assistance.

[NV Zeno]

Another possibility: plug wires.

 

Just my 2 bucks .

 

--

 

Please let us know what corrected the problem?

[Reveeen]

What kind of outside temperature?

 

One outstanding feature of the Weber 32/36 is when conditions are "right" (just above "dew point") (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point) they will freeze solid as an ice cube without a source of pre-heated air.

 

The next time it happens, stop and look down the carb throat, one peek will tell the tale.

[GeneralDisorder]

If you have replaced the coil with any aftermarket units - there's a potential there for failure. Seems a lot of manufacturing when south of the border for Accell and MSD etc. Quality control is lacking. The higher your RPM goes the faster the coil has to charge so if the coil is weak it can hit an RPM range where it just doesn't have enough kick to jump the gap.

 

Easy test is to make the plug gap smaller or larger and see if the RPM range where it cuts out changes dramatically. If it doesn't it's probably not the coil. You can also test the primary and secondary coil resistances to see if they are within spec and make sure there is a very high resistance between the two. These two test should rule out the coil if it passes both.

 

The fuel filters are sounding like a good check too. Especially since it started cutting out up a hill like that and ran better when you weren't on it as hard. Don't forget the one next to the pump - but I'm sure you know about that

 

Check the spray pattern from the secondary as it opens too - if it's poor you may have something stuck in the jet at the bottom of the float bowl, or you might have sucked something into the air corrector for the secondary. I've noticed the gauze style filters don't always catch stuff and the air correctors are open to the filter element. I've had that happen off-road and it behaves exactly like your description.

 

GD

[edrach]

Johnson']Fuel filter(s). I swear by replacing those.

I second the fuel filter thing; change them both. Also, add some "dry gas" to the tank. It's that time of year again.

[ezapar]

If you have replaced the coil with any aftermarket units - there's a potential there for failure. Seems a lot of manufacturing when south of the border for Accell and MSD etc. GD

 

Yeah, it's got an Accell.

 

Concensus seems to be fuel filters or coil. I'll try the fuel filters first this weekend.

 

 

I'll buy into the cold air messing with it too, but I haven't driven it since I got back to see if it's still doing it.

[edrach]

Yeah, it's got an Accell.

 

Concensus seems to be fuel filters or coil. I'll try the fuel filters first this weekend.

 

 

I'll buy into the cold air messing with it too, but I haven't driven it since I got back to see if it's still doing it.

I have an Accell coil also and NEVER had problems with it in the 7+ years its been on the car. It's the yellow one; my understanding is the silver ones are the crappy ones.

[edrach]

Another thought is the ignitor if you have a Hitachi distributor. A failing ignitor has all the symptoms of a bad coil since it's intimately involved with making spark.

 

Over the years I've had three of them fail on various EA81 cars we've owned. As a matter of fact I carried a spare (from PAP and tested at B& in all the old wagons and our Brat. Our Brat still has the spare in the glovebox.

[calebz]

I have an Accell coil also and NEVER had problems with it in the 7+ years its been on the car. It's the yellow one; my understanding is the silver ones are the crappy ones.

 

 

I think its any of them made after 2002-2003 or so. I have an old one that keeps on truckin. I had one a couple years ago that was new at the time. Lasted 10 months.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

I read on a Toyota forum that the Accel coils were not designed to be mounted horizontally. And that is what usually leads to premature failure. They were designed for VW Bug guys and mean to be mounted vertical.

 

That maybe why we're having so many problems.

[joostvdw]

I believe it was the filling of the coil that caused the trouble combined with the mounting position.

 

The older coils had a harder composite material inside, and the newer ones have oil like materials. When these (the newer) are mounted horizontally, the oil doesn't cool enough and the coil fries. The older solid filled coils didn't have this problem.

[Hodaka Rider]

I read on a Toyota forum that the Accel coils were not designed to be mounted horizontally. And that is what usually leads to premature failure. They were designed for VW Bug guys and mean to be mounted vertical.

 

That maybe why we're having so many problems.

 

I got mine in 2001. Still working to this day, as far as I know. I guess the fact that I live in an area where the roads have lots of corners, and I did a lot of off-roading might explain it if the cooling was the issue, but I think the real reason was that they switched the manufacture to a different facility, and had poorer procedures and quality control. I believe there was an email or something posted in 2003 or so that explained this. Not even sure if these issues still exist.

[northguy]

Eric, I'd look at the temperature problem. Snowman put a weber on Roxanne up here and ended up taking it off and going to spfi after a couple of months because the weber kept freezing up in the cold. I'm by no means an expert, but diagnosing that problem is pretty inexpensive. Good luck with it, and happy Thanksgiving.

[ShawnW]

If its the cold you could probably retrofit one of those carbie shields that they put on the cars stock to the filter somehow for the winter to let it hold some heat in.

 

To me, the key is you drove this route before no problems so you need to go back to that day. What did you change from now to back then...did the Accel go on after that day or did you change jets or timing? If nothing on the brat has changed except for the temp of the outside air and the gas at that point you just need to drain the tank and check for water.

 

Anything you change to try to correct it isnt likely to hurt matters though either. New fuel filters are cheap and easy and really ought to be done anyway...and a new coil (get a SOA one) would be worth it in piece of mind. Cap and rotor (again SOA one) would be worth it too.

[ezapar]

If its the cold you could probably retrofit one of those carbie shields that they put on the cars stock to the filter somehow for the winter to let it hold some heat in.

 

To me, the key is you drove this route before no problems so you need to go back to that day. What did you change from now to back then...did the Accel go on after that day or did you change jets or timing? If nothing on the brat has changed except for the temp of the outside air and the gas at that point you just need to drain the tank and check for water.

 

 

I have one of the pre-filter thingys (pre-charger), maybe I'll stick it back on.

 

I get to wondering if it was bad gas, but really want to check/change the fuel filters. Tomorrow I hope to have time to get under it to check. Lame thing is, I'm somewhat crippled for the next 2-3 weeks, wrench turning is against the rules. This afternoon, once it warms up a little, I'll take it out of the garage and run it to see if it's still acting up.

 

I've run across all sorts of gremlins that come for a day and promptly go away and never come back in my time as a Soobie driver.

[ezapar]

Eric, I'd look at the temperature problem. Snowman put a weber on Roxanne up here and ended up taking it off and going to spfi after a couple of months because the weber kept freezing up in the cold. I'm by no means an expert, but diagnosing that problem is pretty inexpensive. Good luck with it, and happy Thanksgiving.

 

Then again, maybe it would be a good idea to run it this a.m. to see if temperature is what's bugging it. It's about 30 outside right now.

[monstaru]

i had more than one occasion that monstaru acted like that on passes then went back to normal until another pass cam ealong.sometimes in the same day,sometimes months later.usually was able to pull over let her idle for a bit then rock on.of course i change out allkinds of parts like i change socks.cheers, brian

[northguy]

Eric, did you ever figure out the problem? Or did it just "fix itself"? (i.e. stupid thing won't repeat the problem until you're in a hurry to get somewhere...)

[ezapar]

Well, it seems to have fixed itself.

 

I'm betting it had to do with either the gas that was in it, or the temperature/altitude. I ran the tank to empty, and then added more gas. I can't get it to duplicate the symptoms now, it runs great at 4k, even pulling up a hill.

 

The gas light works by the way. lol

[MilesFox]

i would guess something electrical with the coil.

 

my 87 rx once ran a carb motor with an accel coil. the ign would cut out in the upper rpm inless i babied into it.

 

with all the descriotions of symptoms it sounds too similar to my situation. i never could figure it out but maybe i had too much gap in the plugs too (and custom 8mm wires)