Al Savage's 1983 wagon

[asavage]

Well, I just picked up this "free" 1983 wagon. Had to drive 200 miles with a tow dolly over the Cascades to get it. It has a long and varied history. 199k miles showing, non-runner at the moment, but mostly there. Myrna bought it from a friend who ran a car lot in 1997 for $400, and the tabs on it expired in 2000.

VIN = JN1SU05S4DX008335

[click on any pic for larger version]


As I towed it into town, 220 miles to this point. Poor little Aerostar has towed a lot of rigs over the years, but never as much elevation as this run. Down to 42 MPH on some slopes, I don't push the 3.0l above 4000 RPM anymore, with 212k on the clock and a very hard life before I got it, it just sounds thrashy above four grand. Everyone can kiss my ass and go around me, that's my philosophy. Took only four hours to get from Yakima to Port Townsend, taking a longer route to avoid the $50 Seattle-Bremerton ferry. For those of you interested, I took 82 north from Yakima to Ellensburg, then I-90 east across Snoqualmie Pass (~3k'), roads pretty much bare and wet, good fortune for a change . . .

[I was going to leave for home in the afternoon, but woke up with a clear, strong feeling that I should leave immediately: something about the weather changing, and the pass becoming snowy. I don't have all-wheel-drive, nor "traction devices"; I don't drive where I need them. So I heeded the free advice and left more or less immediately. The pass was a piece of cake to cross. Now, 12 hours later, it's gone from "No Restrictions" to "Chains required", completely bypassing the "Tractions tires Advised" and "Traction Tires Required" stages. Good thing I left when I did! Official report as of now:

SNOQUALMIE PASS


Elevation: 3022 ft / 921M

Temperature: 28ºF / -2ºC

Conditions & Weather:
Compact snow and ice on the roadway. Traffic flow control eastbound at MP 34 by WSP, one lane traffic. // Snowing hard at times.

Restrictions Eastbound:
Chains required on all vehicles except all wheel drive, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited.

Restrictions Westbound:
Chains required on all vehicles except all wheel drive, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited.]


. . . then on west to 18, south to I-5, south to 16, then to 3, then 104, and finally hwy 19 to where you see it. Considering the number of hills I had to pull, getting 15.5 MPG and only four hours was perty good, IMO.


The LR side window was shot out by a neighborhood kid with a pellet gun. Apparently, several windows around the area got the treatment. So I'm in the market for this glass -- anyone got a lead on one, preferably in both good condition and reasonably priced? I guess I should just go to car-part.com and see what they're going for. None in this area.

The driver's door is obviously a different color. There is crazing of the paint on the LF fender, and around the back window is some minor peeling, evidence of both bodywork and a repaint in the past, but a pretty good match overall in paint color.

The dark patches are either adhesive or pitch. In any event, and volatile-soaked rag and some gloves will likely remove it.


Note the severe rotor rust, and non-OEM rims. Oooh, raised donuts . . . er, raised white letters

Only one hubcap came with this wagon. I actually threw away my old three hubcaps last spring, because I put sedan mags on. Figures. Now I'll be looking for another set of factory sedan mags for this one, but my old plastic hubcaps would have made a nice stopgap in the meantime.




Interiour in rather decent condition, better than my '82. Some assembly required. Key doesn't work well, but no worries. Title is clear. One module hanging down by hood release, I'll need to get out the FSM and ID it.


Pretty good holes in these rockers.








A few leaves and sundry had made it inside.


A greasy window regulator got set on this seatback. May clean up. I will have a chance to find out, because I backed into the driver's door strike (which had a wad of black grease on it), got it on my jeans, then sat in the Aerostar, and now I have several black grease stains on the Aero's grey velour seat bottom -- I've driven it seven years without staining the seats, until now. Major bummer. I threw a towel over it for now, I'll have to investigate a cleaning solution for it.




More rust on rockers. My '82 looks similar to this.










This fender is folded under. It's actually a bit worse than this pictures shows, but the rust is clearly visible.


Largish chunk rusted out of front of fender.


Valence ripped from behind license plate.


Lots of pitting in mylar and apron.










Some GP wiring retrofit crap that I'll have to remove.


You can see some of the damage. A battery was installed without the hold-down, and it fell into the fan, got ripped open, and sprayed acid all over.


More GP crap. I'll have to look into this, but IIRC, the connector on the right in the pic is the GP relay feed; I'm not sure without looking it up just what got chopped here.


Red heater hose goes to "tank style" engine heater located under brake booster. Note the fuel preheater unit plumbed in. I'm not sure why. I hope some previous owner wasn't doing some SVO experiments with it, but I doubt it.

Maybe tomorrow I'll put a battery in it and see if the IP belt is intact. Depends on the weather. I'm beat, I'm headed off to bed now.

[goglio704]

I'd drive 200 miles to get that car for free, but you have your work cut out for you. Since this is an 83 it seems like a good time to point out that 83's use a different oil filter. Wix 51094 is the correct filter. Wix 51091 is an alternate, but it is longer and even more of a PITA to change.

[asavage]

More issues today:

* Both steering rack boots bad. No surprise there.

* No power to Ign. switch. I didn't bring the '83 FSM with me today (grabbed the '82 FSM by mistake/habit) and apparently it's different enough. Looong cliplead from battery to Ign. switch harness, and the dash lit up, GPs get juice, but no starter. 'Nuther clip lead to starter, and it lit off -- not right away, no I had to sneak up on it over the course of half an hour. Came up on two cylinders, and combined with the general state of the GP wiring, one of the previous helpers probably toasted most of the GPs. I've got a spare set (been buying them off eBay when they come up real cheap), so I'll likely yank them all this week. Maybe get ambitious and do a compression check too.

Anyway, I'll have to whip out the '83 FSM and see what's up with those two electrical problems.

* Keys that I received worked poorly, and only in the Ign and driver's door, not in the tailgate. I cut a new one using the code in the glovebox, made a couple copies, now all locks operate, including the glovebox.

* No brake fluid. Well, I expect any car that's been sitting to leak its hydraulics. I wiped out the reservoir as possible, filled it up, and I can get some pedal, so I can at least move the wagon around a bit. I'll have to push it inside this week and reconnect the driveshaft (disconnected it in Yakima before the tow, bailing wired it off to one side).

* Rear bolt (?) on alternator missing, so the alternator is moving around a lot -- it'll eventually break the front ear. This I have to fix pronto.

* Belts are shredding and I actually got hit with a piece, it left crap on my left lens. Always wear safety glasses, blah blah. This wagon actually comes with two or three new belts in the console, so replacing them will occur eventually. I have to decide if I'm going to replace the IP belt sooner rather than later -- probably will go ahead and do it all at once.

* Air intake snorkel missing, and air filter lid is drilled for a 3" hole, with a sort of flap over it. Anybody have a spare air filter lid, snorkel, LR side glass?

* Antenna is stuck down. I hate the wagon power antenna, it's a royal pain to work on. Radio seems to work.

* All lights work. How odd, but I'll take it! Rear wiper and washer pump non-op. Front washer runs but is not pumping, so time to see if compressed air might help there.

* Needs an oil change bad. Comes with a new oil filter.

* If the fuel gauge can be believed, come with a full tank of fuel. Well, that's a bonus, and makes me feel a little better about smearing grease over the seat of a good pair of jeans and my Aero's velour seat.

[kassim503]

good idea disconnecting the driveshaft, 200 miles is way too much a dry tranny, i think there is a wagon hubcap on ebay somewhere, ill check tommorow. thats a good deal for the trip. i have a friend that might have a snorkel for a gasser, but i think the diesel takes a different one.

[asavage]

I'm pretty sure that the air intake snorkel & air filter lid are the same between the gasser & diesel . . . OK, I'll look it up in the Parts Catalog . . .

The air filter is the same. The lid is part of the Cleaner Assy., which is different between the gasser and diesel, but it the lid looks identical in the pic (the base looks different).

Yup, the snorkel is different. The one shown is different, and looks like it might just terminate at the side of the battery, unlike the diesel one which does a 90° turn to the front.

So, you're right: the snorkel is different. But the air filter lid may be the same.

[glenlloyd]

I think it's a great acquisition, despite its present condition, and worth the trip. I'm trying to remember what model those odd steel wheels came from, I've seen them before but I don't recall where.

Unless you've found one I'll check on the air cleaner top next time I'm home. That gasser that donated the strut housings has one IIRC. I do not however, have a rear glass for wagon.

Even as it is the engine compartment looks pretty decent. At least no one left the intake open etc.

Steve a

[kassim503]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 7939491549

only caps i can find, i have a snorkel for a 83 gasser if u need one

[asavage]

Urgh. I hate the stock caps. I threw away two marginal ones when I got my wagon back.

I passed up a set of caps on eBay last year that looked as good as those, for $15 + $20 shipping, I'm sure not going to pay $110 for a set! But I do appreciate your passing on the link -- keep 'em coming.

I suppose that if I was "restoring" or trying to stay original, those caps would be a bargain. Fortunately, I'm not

[asavage]

The blog continues . . .

LF tire went flat, took it to local tire store, they said unrepairable due to sidewall damage, so I let them sell me a used one.

I finally got enough ahead to push the '83 into the shop today, reconnected the driveline, drained and refilled the diff while I was there (Valvoline 80W90, the cheap stuff; after a couple thou on that I'll drain it and switch to synthetic). It was way black.

Started in on the belts, in order to swivel the alternator enough to get at its front mounting bolt to remove it and match it to install the one that's missing on the back. Rediscovered that you can't (shouldn't) replace the PS belt without removing the fan pulleys. I did anyway, by bumping the starter with tension applied to the old belt . . .

[Remote starter was already "installed": some of the electrical problems with this rig include

a) No power to ignition switch on White wire. Schematic says that this is fed directly from the center (Brown) fusible link, with no intervening connectors;

b) When I use a looooong clip lead to feed power to the Ign switch, all works except the starter. Another long clip lead to the starter is how I started it weeks ago.

More on this later . . . ]

. . . pulling it up & forward while cranking. Got the old one out, put the new one one, minor scoring of the backside of the new belt (new belts came with the wagon, Thanks Myrna!).

That out of the way, I grabbed the alternator to swivel it outboard to access the front lower pivot bolt, and the whole thing came off in my hand!



The rear pivot bolt had been missing long enough to break the alternator housing. Good thing I've got two spares (tested good) on the shelf -- I bought them a couple of years ago from a fellow in BC. He shipped them without any padding under them, just sitting on the cardboard, and there was some damage but they're still useable.

OK, so that's something to do tomorrow, after I get the spare alternator from storage. What to do today?

[edit: the rest of this story got moved to this new thread, to facilitate linking to the FAQ.]

[asavage]

Today, I repaired the broken junction in the wire harness, approx. under the fuel filter. Re-loomed it as practical. Now the key actually does something useful.

Put a "spare" alternator on, it's charging fine. The heavy ground wire (8ga?) for it had the ring terminal broken off, soldered on a new one. New accessory belts are on.

Found PS reservoir empty. Filled it, and the rack's leaking on the pass. side. New rack time. Yeah, I know they come up on eBay.

So . . . I got a chance to drive it tonight. Lots of shaking in front. Feels more like tire imbalance than the loose & leaking rack, but I was able to run it up to 75 and it's stable, even though it does vibrate.

First impression of the OD: it's a lot quieter at 70 MPH than without. Toggling OD on & off (the light on the rocker doesn't work, but the switch does) shows an impressive drop in RPM when engaged. It goes into OD at very low speed at light throttle though, as low as 24 MPH which I think is too low. The switch is nice.

Still starts hard. Didn't get a chance to pull the GPs, it looks like a bit of work and I needed to free up the bay for tomorrow, so I'm leaving that for another time. At 55°F, it took about twelve seconds of cranking to light off, with much smoke, and it came up rough. It's definitely running on all six -- it pulls well, feels like possibly better than my '82 -- so GPs are my first bet, since someone has obviously been running them directly, bypassing the controller.

Drivers' door latch needs cleaning: hard to get it to open from inside. Need to change the engine oil too. And get pics of the AT for Steve -- I'm going to try to borrow a pit to do that.

[asavage]

For Steve: the A/C Compressor is Hitachi MJS170. I happened to see the label when I had the alternator off.

[glenlloyd]

For Steve: the A/C Compressor is Hitachi MJS170. I happened to see the label when I had the alternator off.

Thanks for that verification. It's odd that the FSM doesn't discuss the diesel compressor at all, only the gasser. Some sources list the two as different units, others suggest they are the same. AuctionFrontier has listed them specifically for Maxima diesel in the past as well. I'm not sure what gives unless it's actually a clutch issue and not the main compressor body itself.

Steve A

[glenlloyd]

First impression of the OD: it's a lot quieter at 70 MPH than without. Toggling OD on & off (the light on the rocker doesn't work, but the switch does) shows an impressive drop in RPM when engaged. It goes into OD at very low speed at light throttle though, as low as 24 MPH which I think is too low. The switch is nice.

So what's your impression with the OD on? Did it feel weak or in your opinion was it pulling ok, even at the lower RPM? Did the transmission feel as though it had shifting problems?

thanks
Steve A

[asavage]

It seems to pull OK with OD on, but I only ran it four miles on mostly level two-lane highway. On the way back I had an opportunity to floor it for about ten seconds up a moderate grade (not in OD, of course). I can't really say. It didn't seem underpowered at any time. It actually seems to pull better than the lower-mileage '82, but then I haven't actually driven the '82 in about five months.

This trans shifts quite differently from my '82. The upshifts are a bit higher and harder, and it part-throttle downshifts better. I may not have full vacuum available, I haven't put a gauge on it, and I've found and fixed at least three vacuum leaks without even looking for them, so the different shift feel/pattern may be entirely vacuum related, or wrong or low oil, or worn out oil, or some combination, but it doesn't feel like it's slipping at any time. Seems solid enough, if more abrupt than my '82.

As you know, I was keenly interested in the transmission primarily, as someday one of my three LD28s is going in an old American wagon (TBD = To Be Determined and/or TurboBioDiesel), and I want lower engine speed (and noise level) at times. I might possibly even go with a 5-spd, but the L4N71B is my first choice.

[Carimbo]

Make this two of us--

a) No power to ignition switch on White wire. Schematic says that this is fed directly from the center (Brown) fusible link, with no intervening connectors;

b) When I use a looooong clip lead to feed power to the Ign switch, all works except the starter. Another long clip lead to the starter is how I started it weeks ago.

More on this later . . .

My '82 Sedan suffered the same problem last summer. I added an additional wire (from the fused side of the fusible link to the starter relay) to serve the same purpose-- did not have a chance to remove the fuel filter to inspect and fully repair the probable deteriorated wires under there. Al, thanks to your descriptions and pics I will zero in on that wireloom location and have at it next spring when the weather is better.

What do you think caused it? Longtime persistent leak from windshield washer bottle? Battery acid leak?

If anyone else has had this problem maybe this procedure is worth a sticky.