'94 Loyale 5-speed tune-up

[z4x0r]

Well, where should I begin?

 

I recently received a '94 Loyale from gramps, and I want to make this a fun, reliable car. Something I could race, even. Before I drove the car, I knew the car would need mechanical work and lots of it, followed by lifting it and otherwise customizing it.

 

Firstly, I noticed my car was running hot. And smoking. And making put-put noises, especially with more throttle. My father's a mechanic, and he helped me replace the intake gasket and tighten a few exhaust manifold bolts and that made it sound better and lose *less* coolant and oil. However, it's still running hot, losing oil or some other fluid that's burning off into smoke, and way too many dashboard warning lights are on. These lights include check engine light (not initially, but comes on after a bit of driving then begins to flash), brake fluid, voltage, and parking brake (?). I certainly don't drive with my parking brake set, so what's up with that?

 

As far as the engine goes, I'm not sure where to start. I'm losing fluid somewhere; what are the common places? My father and I plan to do a full tune-up soon, but what are common issues, or issues that need to be addressed firstly?

 

Once it's finally running strong and reliable, I want to make it faster, quicker, cooler, and overall less laugh-at-able (Protip: my friend keeps challenging me to a race against his VTEC Civic because he knows he'll win). I'd like to give it a bit of off-road and a little bit of tuner, but I'm fairly unfamiliar with EA82s and what mods are available. I've thought of adding a turbo or swapping the engine, but both seem cost-prohibitive (I'm a student.)

 

What should I look at to get my baby in tip-top condition, and what can I do to "pimp my ride?" :cool:

 

Thanks in advance!

[Frank B]

Race...no

Pimp...no

Reliable...yes, once it's fixed.

 

You'll give your buddy a run for his money or blow his doors off if you swap in an EJ22, search the board and read all about that. If you decide to do that, forget about all the engine problems and put your money into a good EJ22 swap.

If you want to fix it, your looking at a tear down to replace the head gaskets, and every other gasket and seal in the engine, if the heads aren't crackrd too bad, as well as a new radiator. The brake fluid light is from the sensor in the master cylinder, you may just be low on brake fluid, or need a new sensor. The parking brake light, probably a bad switch, look near the handle under the plastic covers.

Check engine light, read about it here;

http://www.troublecodes.net/Subaru/

 

Good luck, and post some pics.

[Quidam]

Hi,

 

How many miles are on this thing?

 

Doug

[GeneralDisorder]

I recently received a '94 Loyale from gramps, and I want to make this a fun, reliable car. Something I could race, even. Before I drove the car, I knew the car would need mechanical work and lots of it, followed by lifting it and otherwise customizing it.

 

You won't be racing it, and you definitely won't be racing it if it's lifted. You have to understand.... the EA82 has 90 HP. It barely has enough to pull it's hulking self up a decent mountain. Add a lift and large tires and you'll be lucky to see the needle pass 80 MPH.

 

All that, and the Loyale isn't well suited to lifting anyway. Wheelbase is too long, wrong engine, wrong transmission, too heavy, etc, etc.

 

Firstly, I noticed my car was running hot. And smoking. And making put-put noises, especially with more throttle. My father's a mechanic, and he helped me replace the intake gasket and tighten a few exhaust manifold bolts and that made it sound better and lose *less* coolant and oil. However, it's still running hot, losing oil or some other fluid that's burning off into smoke, and way too many dashboard warning lights are on. These lights include check engine light (not initially, but comes on after a bit of driving then begins to flash), brake fluid, voltage, and parking brake (?). I certainly don't drive with my parking brake set, so what's up with that?

 

Your engine needs a reseal, and your alternator is toast.

 

As far as the engine goes, I'm not sure where to start. I'm losing fluid somewhere; what are the common places? My father and I plan to do a full tune-up soon, but what are common issues, or issues that need to be addressed firstly?

 

Pull the engine and do a complete reseal from the head-gaskets up. Replace the alt with a decent rebuilt (bosch seem to be alright). Do yourself a favor and do the timing belts, tensioners, idler, water pump, and all coolant hoses while you are at it. Flush the heater core and radiator. You are probably looking at around $300 to $500 in parts and several weekends of labor to make it decent and reliable.

 

Once it's finally running strong and reliable, I want to make it faster, quicker, cooler, and overall less laugh-at-able (Protip: my friend keeps challenging me to a race against his VTEC Civic because he knows he'll win). I'd like to give it a bit of off-road and a little bit of tuner, but I'm fairly unfamiliar with EA82s and what mods are available. I've thought of adding a turbo or swapping the engine, but both seem cost-prohibitive (I'm a student.)

 

The only way you'll make it fast enough to beat that vtec is with an EJ22 swap.... which you clearly aren't ready for. Nothing will make your existing engine any faster, and there's no aftermarket for your car.

 

No race, no pimp..... just drive - got it?

 

GD

[The Dude Abides]

GD is as blunt as a mack truck but right on. Not a great raceing car but great daily driver. The only thing you can beat your buddy on is during the winter or on a dirt road. Fix it and drive it as is. Great allaround daily drivers but customizing them takes alot of cobbling of parts. You cant even get aftermarket wheels for them, only 5 lug swap, peugots, or 6 lug conversion.

[idosubaru]

overheating = really bad. track down the leak now. there's no way for us to tell you where it's loosing coolant, we can't see it. overheat too often and you're going to ruin the engine, so get to that first.

 

check engine light - read the code and let us know what it is.

 

as for racing, that's just not what this car is made for. you'd be much better off just recognizing it for what it can do...which is give you reliable and inexpensive transportation, than trying to make it do something it can't.

 

the idea you need to one-up your friend and beat him is a good one to let go of. who cares? move on from the idea that faster, bigger, better is fun, it's not one that leads to success in life.

 

spend hundreds of dollars on exhaust, intake and other upgrades for about 100 hp car, not really what you're looking for probably.

[The Dude Abides]

Everyone laughed at my car until the snow fell. Then it was how does it do that.

[z4x0r]

Wow, thanks for the great replies everyone!

 

The car has 130,000 miles on it, as does the engine. As for my funny lights in the dash, I flung the front belt off of the pulleys somehow, and it must have been off for a while since when I tried to start it after school, the battery was dead.

 

Put the belt back on, and all my warnings are gone, save for the engine light. We've put the poor old Suby in our shop until we make her more reliable.

 

If I'm going to put a bit of money and time in repairing the EA82, the EJ22 swap sounds very good right now, especially if I can find an EJ22T and swap some 2.5 liter heads on. Now, excuse my youthful ignorance, but I can't find how much a fair price on an EJ22T would be. If it would be cheaper to buy a standard EJ22 and put a turbocharger on, I'd be willing to do that. If someone could give me a ballpark figure, that'd be great.

 

As far as racing goes... I've decided if I want to race, I need a race car. The Loyale is anything but that, but it was a free hand-me-down from grandpa, suits my current needs well, and if I do any racing, it will be time-only runs at our local drag strip.

 

I'll make her into a great daily driver, something nice and reliable that will be the envy of my peers. :cool:

 

Thanks, everyone! I'll take some pictures soon.