Joining the ranks of Subaru owners

[rickg]

Chrysler Cirrus be gone! Finally!
Trading it in for a trusty (hopefully) Subaru tonight. A nice clean older model, a Loyale wagon.

[Kuan]

Right on Rick! Wagons rock!

[rickg]

Ricers-r-us

[vwbuge]

Dump all your used oil into the rockers on that thing. The Legacies are a little better at fighting off the rust. If you don't keep up on that the dog legs will disappear faster than buttermilk biscuits at a family reunion in the ghetto. I have owned quite a few Soobs and they run forever but rot quickly. I still have my Legacy wagon. AWD 5-spd. She has alot of miles. (241,000 and runs good)

[rickg]

Yeah, I looked at alot of rusty ones to find this one. Seems pretty clean, far as I can see anywhere. It must have been parked in a garage alot.
And yes, gutless as hell! I think my diesel could outrun the thing

[BenzOnline]

haha finally that cirrus is gone. Must have been alot of problems eh?

[rickg]

Originally posted by BenzOnline
haha finally that cirrus is gone. Must have been alot of problems eh?

After dumping a little over 4-grand in the stupid thing the past year or so, and still not feeling like we could trust it, yes, it's out of our hair :p Someone elses problem now!

[rickg]

Originally posted by 123c
Way to go man

These cars will go forever like benzes. The only weak parts on these cars are the cv joints and axles, as I am finding out first hand

I looked at one over the weekend that just had new joints put in, but walked away from it as it was getting cancer. This one has a bit of a rumble, so suspect it needs either joints, bearings or both. But at least it's something I can fix myself.

[rickg]

Oh, good! I was wondering about that

[morgantruce]

Oh, I've got three Soobs right now. One of my '88 GL's has been in my garage for three weeks now--taking up the Mercedes' place. Been trying to remove a DOJ from rear hub--to replace the wheel bearing. The differential end came out in two seconds. The OTHER end... I've used two cans of PB Blaster, a lot of heat, and I don't know how much persuasion with a very heavy sledge hammer. I give it 30 minutes twice a day... going on three weeks now. Great exercise and lot's of cussin'.I'm about ready to call the junk man. I want to put my Mercedes back in the garage!

[BenzOnline]

wow you dumped 4grand into the cirrus? what was wrong with it?

[dtf]

One thing I've always loved about Subarus is that the head lights go off when you turn the car off. I've had several, including an indispensable GL hatchback - it could hold as much as a truck! Good luck with it and remember that they like to break timing belts at around 60,000 miles - every 60,000 miles. Subaru might have fixed that problem by 1992 though.

[morgantruce]

I think all the Loyales have the same EA82 engine as the later GL models---a great engine with the exception of the timing belts which are time consuming to replace. When you do replace, be SURE to consider changing the water pump while you're that far in there. Even more important is replacing the one-inch O-ring on the pipe going into the water pump.

The EA82 engine is a "non-interference" engine. If a timing belt breaks, the car just stops---no damage to valve-train. Nice feature. Use a good quality timing belt and it will go the whole 60K miles.

The 60K timing belt dance is the whole reason I started looking at non-Subaru cars... and wound up with my 240D.

Some tips:

Lubricate the hood latch release mechanism very well.

When the car is on a lift, spray rust preventative on the fuel pump (behind right rear tire). The pumps are notorious for rusting out "at the exit end" and are expensive (but easy) to replace and rare in the junkyard.

That great big axle nut you see with the hub cap off--the one with the cotter pin---has to be torqued extremely tight. Many garage mechanics mistake it for a wheel bearing adjustment thing. The washer below it has to be installed "cupped in"

Change the fuel filter (near driver's front shock) every 15K and use a bit of injector cleaner every few tankfulls---and the fuel injection system will never give a problem. These cars start instantly.

With a phillips, gently snug up the oil pan screws to stop drips there. Eventually, the cam cover gaskets will start leaking---they are not hard to replace (pull battery for driver's side). Only the rear-most bolt is troublesome, but a 10mm combination wrench will do it---if you attack it from behind the driver's side wheel with the car on jackstand. There is only one path---and you will feel quite accomplished when you discover it!

-----

Some good news: The Gods must have been listening to my previous post----the axle let loose from the hub this morning. Say Hallelujah!

[rickg]

Hey, thanks for all the added insight I'll add all that stuff to my "to do" list.
Right now I have the right front axle off. It decided to blow an inner CV boot the other day, so decided to tackle it myself. (That was the reason I traded the Chisler for it after all ) Not too bad a job. The joint is in the early stages of wear I see, so I'll go ahead and do both ends and have new bearings put in the steering knuckle while I have it apart, then I'll do the other side a little later. I don't want to have to worry about it not knowing when they may have ever been done in the past.
the timing belt looks like a bit of a PIA to do looking at the manual, but I'll tackle it some weekend soon too.
These things are kinda fun to drive. They actually ride and handle better than they look

Mark, that Chisler got waaay out of hand. Part of the prob was I had a lot of the work done at a dealer. But the couple times we tried an indie shop, I wasn't real impressed. I can't remember all we did to it, but started with the fuel pump. Then both front brake calipers and rotors(did that myself) Radiator R&R went to the dealer, and had a starter put in at the same time. Timing belts and water pump alone were a little over a grand$. Oil pressure sending unit started leaking for the second time. Trannie cooling line leaks, as well as a power steering pump line. Oh, and a camshaft seal leaked. When we dumped it, it needed tie-rod ends, the A/C was not working very well, and it had a funny surging feeling when cruising at about 45 mph. And I wanted to dump it before the trannie went, as they are known to do at about the mileage it had(120k). What a POS!!

[rickg]

Oh, and here's a picture of the critter itself