Jump to content

Recommended Posts

there was one we talked about with 240k from lousiana. it was a late model v6. Id be curious as to the highest mileage one out there.

Again . . . interesting stories with few hard verified facts. Anybody can claim anything and it's usually impossible to prove or disprove. For somebody who really wants to be in a record book - not very hard to swap in some new parts now and then in a close garage. Who the heck would ever know? Not us, I suspect.

I'll believe what I see controlled and monitored tests. Same goes for fuel mileage claims.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you ever need parts I have over 20 GL and other Loyale 4WD wagons up in my field. All ran when parked there and all taken off road when the back wheels virtually broke off from rust. I just drove a 92 up there that has new timing belts, new front axles, new u-joints in rear driveshaft, new clutch and four new studded snows. Kind of a shame. It broke in back just like the rest of them and there is no fix. Around here it always seems to be bad luck to install a new clutch in anything. Seems every time I do, some other major thing fails shortly after.

A Loyale 4WD wagon with the hi-low and the 5 speed trans was an amazing car for traction. With automatic - it got nowhere near as good traction and incredibly worse gas mileage.

I've been hoping for a few years now to find a rust-free 4WD Loyale somewhere to swap my parts into -but they do not seem to exist in the east.

I wish I lived closer! I can always use parts, and as I have minimalist tendencies...the fact that I now have three vehicles bugs me. So ive considered selling my Loyale. It's not dual range, just push button 4wd, but it only has one or two spots, less than an inch, of surface rust.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish I lived closer! I can always use parts, and as I have minimalist tendencies...the fact that I now have three vehicles bugs me. So ive considered selling my Loyale. It's not dual range, just push button 4wd, but it only has one or two spots, less than an inch, of surface rust.

A guy near me just junked his 4WD Loyale with the push-button 4WD shift. I wanted to kill him ! The car was from down south and surely had a good 5 more years of NY salt-road miles left in it. His 4WD hadn't worked for the past 4 years ever since the local Subaru dealer put a new clutch in it for a ridiculous fee. The dealer told him the non-working 4WD was just a coincidence and it would take another couple of hundred dollars to fix. What a bunch of utter nonsense! So, he traded it in on a 2005 Outback with 140,000 miles on it and paid around $8000. No wonder why dealers get bad names. And to add insult to injury - I looked at his "new" 2005 Subaru and saw it's never had any timing belt work done yet. No rear wheel bearings either. The timing belts and hydraulic adjuster are supposed to be changed at 100K miles. I asked him about that and he claims the dealer says the new Subarus don't ever need new belts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my Loyale. It's not dual range, just push button 4wd,

Is your's stick or auto? The push-button 4WD with auto is a very screwy system that does not work near as well as the stick. Stick just has a solenoid that makes gears engage for drive to the rear axle. Auto trans has a wet clutch pack in the rear of the auto trans that delivers traction to the rear wheels depending on throttle position. At low throttle the rear wheels barely get anything when the 4WD button is engaged. That clutch pack usually burns out early in life and many owners do not even realize it. Nice thing thought - you can put in new ones without pulling the trans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stick. I'm stubborn enough that I probably wouldn't buy a car or truck which was otherwise immaculate, if it was automatic. If I ever buy a new vehicle I might have to change my tune, but the era I'm usually looking for can easily be had with a manual transmission. Swapping out a stick for an automatic is more work than I'm willing to do for a vehicle. If it was as simple as just taking one out and putting the other in...not a big deal. I've considered getting an older dual range tranny for my Loyale. But going from auto to manual, or the other way around (especially), seems like too much work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stick. I'm stubborn enough that I probably wouldn't buy a car or truck which was otherwise immaculate, if it was automatic. If I ever buy a new vehicle I might have to change my tune, but the era I'm usually looking for can easily be had with a manual transmission. Swapping out a stick for an automatic is more work than I'm willing to do for a vehicle. If it was as simple as just taking one out and putting the other in...not a big deal. I've considered getting an older dual range tranny for my Loyale. But going from auto to manual, or the other way around (especially), seems like too much work.

Making swaps in a Subaru is often very difficult. That's why I don't have any good Loyales. All the rust free ones I find down south are 2WD and it would be near impossible to take the parts from one of my rust-bucket 4WDs and convert a 2WD. Too many components mounted in rubber with bolts that will never come out unless heated with a torch (that melts all the rubber).

The problem with the Subaru autos and 4WD was this. Push-button for 4WD that could easily be knocked "on" by accident. If a stick shift on a paved road - you'd instantly feel it. It would steer funny, sound funny and feel funny. With the auto - that doesn't happen. And if the sun is bright and facing you - you cannot see the 4WD warning light on the dashboard. So it seems that many people have driven their 4WD auotmatic-trans Subarus for many miles in 4WD unitl the rear clutches burned out. Most I've come across were this way and the owners did not even realize it. Once the AWD versions came out - it was no longer an issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...