1993 Impreza Wagon FWD Questions

All -

I'm considering the purchase of a '93 Impreza Wagon FWD and would like some input. What are some troubling issues I might encounter? What is this cars reputation in terms of how well it ages? What is a good price considering the issues below? Thanks for you help.

Auto
1.8L engine
143k miles
Rusty
FWD
White
Wagon
Clean title
New timing belt
Tires all hold air and have some tread
Needs battery, exhaust repair, possibly one strut

 

Fwd? Subaru made front wheel drive cars?

 

they made lots of them

 

I guess it must be a fake so I won't buy it. ; )

 

Exactly....

Nah pimp that FWD.

I dont know a good price someone answer honestly!

 

I'd say pay no more than $1000. $30 for a battery, exhaust depends on what it needs, but worst case you can get a full exhaust for that car in decent shape out of a junk yard for $100, and a full set of KYB GR2 replacement struts will cost you around $350 plus installation and an alignment.

So maybe $1700 and you'll have a car in decent shape to drive around.

As far as problems go- with that many miles if the O2 sensors haven't been replaced, they will need to be soon. If it was cared for well the engine and tranny should have another 100K miles in them (if the engine ticks while idling cold it's a bad sign). Stock wheels? If so then chances are better that the wheel bearings are good, but those have been known to fail around that mileage (sooner if the car was driven hard). They are expensive to replace and usually require a few replacement parts in the process of getting them out, so beware.

 

buy it and hope you make it on to pimp my ride

 

wow....you fail.....royally....yes, ALL Subarus were 2WD until 1975....and a rear diff was an option until '96 (here in the US...at least).



if this is the one for $300 here in Duluth. Buy it....yesterday.

I've got the exact same tranny sitting in my parents' garage in the cities......if you want it, you can have it.


also, that car (if it is the same one) used to be AWD. a conversion on it would be extremely simple.

 

the 1.8l is nearly as indestructible as the 2.2l. so engine wise you should be fine, just make sure that some of the routine maintenance has been done (oil changes regularly ect...). rust is a fairly large issue though, how rusty? its hard to fix once you have it and well it just gets worse.

 

Chux -

You pegged the car dead on - it is the one in Duluth and I asked the guy about it being FWD and he told me the previous owner had removed the rear wheel drive.

I went and drove it last night and aside from having to jump start it ('cause of the bad battery) it drove good enough. The exhaust pipe was busted off right after what appeared to be the catalytic converter (excuse my lack of car knowledge).

I appreciate y'all's help on this one. The price is an absolute steal so I think I'm going to go with it and then can sink a few hundred more into it to make it a little quieter and fix up some of the routine stuff.

- Sam

 

Dynapar - as you can see I was posting the pictures above at the same time you asked this question. There are a fair number of rust spots on it both from spots where the body panels have crumpled in accidents as well as a couple "natural" spots like under the rear window and on the fenders.

He had no maintenance history on the car so if I go with it I'll change the oil and tranny fluid - what else? There was a burning oil smell that the owner told me was from a bit of oil pooled atop the engine. This leads me to believe it leaks oil and the guy agreed but said in the year his wife drove it he didn't have to add any.

This guy is a mechanical engineering student and both he and his wife are now driving hot little Hondas and Acuras that he'd done all the work on himself so I was led to believe I could trust his mechanical advice.

- Sam

 

definatly pick it up!!

 

hell if thats the rust you are talking about buy a replacement fender... go through it - change ALL the fluids... start from a clean slate... soak the engine bay down with degreaser and high pressure spray it...

 

Well, I went to the bank and got the money, called the guy and told him I'd buy it. He called me back and told me someone who'd talked to him the day before me was driving up from the cities to buy it : (

Man, I was stoked. I'd downloaded the factory service manual and had a list of good eBay resources for this model bookmarked. Oh well, such is life. Let me know of any good Suby deals as I'm in the market.

 

I paid 1K for mine.
Then the Diff went out on me.
Otherwise - it was an excellent vehicle. It will be an excellent vehicle again.

I'll try to ignore the question about subaru making fwd cars...

 

Sorry bro, I was the one that picked it up. Gonna use it to get around for a little while until my legacy is 100% done with a tranny swap. Then I'm going to transplant the old auto drivetrain from the legacy and get it awd again. Then pobably sell it. So you coukd end up with it after it gets fixed up : ).

 

your legacy is wayyyyyyyy to clean to strip it

 

Lols? Remember the 5mt swap this weekend??? I'm gonna use my leftover rear diff, tranny, and driveshaft from that and throw it in the impreza. Need to put the parts somewhere.

 

OH WORD!!!! for some reason i was thinking you were gonna swap all this crap into the impreza IE engine and stuff

 

Nah bud, I'd never disrespect the T-leg like that. Gonna keep it clean and hawt.

 

I figured someone from here had bought it since Gabe told me it was someone from the Twin Cities. He said you'd called him about it one day before me so I guess you beat me to it. Oh well. Enjoy it - it was a sweet deal.

 

Yeah, for $350 you can't really go wrong.

 

It was $300, but it does need a lot of work, a lot more than what was ever told over the phone or in the ad. I was scared it wouldn't get me home last night. Gotta get the T-Leg up and running asap so I can get this in the garage and fixed up.

 

You probably should've let someone here in Duluth buy it. * wink, wink * * nudge nudge *

 

I got my hands on what seems to be a better Subaru a couple days ago. It's not a wagon and it's not a five speed but I'm happy with it thus far. A 1993 Legacy LS AWD sedan. She's not pretty but she runs nice, doesn't burn oil, has good brakes and tires and (now that my gal and I took the ShopVac to it) is clean and detailed inside.

 

Nice purchase. The EJ22 in that car will run forever as along as you treat it half decently.

 

Help me (I am t3h su><0rs). What's the EJ22? The engine or the tranny?

 

EJ22 is the engine code....2.2L

I am not going to go further as I too am a n00b in subaru, but learning quickly. Check out your local junkyards, I am sure you will find a new fender and corner light on the cheap. oh.. and that mirror needs replacement too

primer it, and call me in a couple months for a B4 swap...putting together a 20' container

 

Thanks, Wakaba. I'm definetely not into cars. Most of the folks on this forum would do anything to squeeze one more horsepower out of their ride. I'm more into squeezing one more mile per gallon out of a vehicle. I have a couple subaru-nerd friends in the cities who'll probably help me fix up whatever this little peach needs done sometime soon. Granted, the body panel repairs aren't necessary but if I could get my hands on them for a couple dozen bucks it'd be worth it.

 

put the fwd chip in when you arent driving in the snow, just put a fuse in the little box on the passenger side behind the strut tower, this will keep the car in fwd until you take the fuse out.

 

this is great, sam got a subaru!!!!!!

 

alex, you are next.

 

I would be cautious of this. In the factory service manual it states that the FWD fuse should only be used in emergencies and not for distances over 10 miles or so. By inserting the fuse you ground out the solenoid which operates the center clutch pack. I am not sure that when this is grounded that the clutch pack is entirely disengaged. I have found very little information about this. If it is not fully disengaged and you drive alot with it partially engaged it has the potential to damage the AWD system. I would avoid it for now, atleast until you can find more info on this topic.

I dont think that you will too hard off with this car for mileage. My car has the same engine (little newer electronics but thats it) and the same transmission. with the car stock I was pulling 32mpgs highway and 27mpgs mixed. A tune up might help your mpgs a little if this car hasnt had one for a while.

 

27 or 32 mpg is pretty dang acceptable. I'll leave the mods to the pros. A tune up is a good idea. And I can afford it considering the price I paid for the car. w00t!

 

I think I've got some stickers you can have to add hp.

 

my friend back in Austrlia had a brumby I think it was, maybe a leone... wagon and he ran LPG in it.. cost him about $20 to drive from Canberra - Sydney and back.... which is about 3hrs each way at 65mph.... and it was fast too... I believe it was turboed