The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hi guys,
Im looking at buying an L series wagon and im struggling to find some decent info on the car.
Im looking for information on different model/year variations and anything i need to look for when buying one.
I would also be very interested to hear your opinions on the L Series as well.
Cheers

Luke

p.s I live in melbourne and if anyone knows of an L Series wagon 4 sale thats worth having a look at, dont hesitate to let me know. cheers

u cant go wrong with an L series mate.
great offroad beasts (with bigger tyres etc), good on fuel, (powerful once turbocharged ), parts arent expensive and theres a wealth of knowledge on this forum to help u out with anything u need.
csomeone correct me if im wrong but the sportswagons DL and GLs are fairly standard but some have electric mirrors, whereas the touring wagons have central locking, mirrors, windows etc. one in good nick should be around $3500 onwards.

great car mate nothing really go wrong with em hey ive had one for 3yrs and the only thing ive done to it is replace the shocks and some suspension bushes...its neva let me down...the turbo one can have head gasket problems but the n/a are pretty well bullit proof....as long as they are looked afta (serviced etc) they will go foreva mines got 370000km on it...some of them have lifter noise but its easy to fix the oil pump o.rings wear out causing a tappet noise but apart from that there great...thats my opinion anyway..

L-series wagon's are cool!

mine's done well over 300 000km and its rarely skipped a beat. and they are real cheap to fix!(thats if you manage to break anything) LOL

alex

I've owned two L-Series, 1985 4WD sedan and 1989 4WD wagon. I'd buy one again as a second car / offroad project.

To be brief, DL is the pov-pack model, GL adds velour trim and power steering etc, Tourers are above GL spec with a few more features etc, they also had high roofs, and most had a digital dash.

Being manufactured for 10 years there were plenty of subtle changes, some were EFI, some turbo, most carby. There were 2WD, part time 4WD (bugger all were constant AWD unless an import), some had push-button 4WD, other had traditional stick shift with Lo range. The autos were initially a 3 speeds didn't have a lo range. ( The later models were usually a bit better.)

Best advice is to get one that has been looked after and you shouldn't have many issues. (Pretty much the same for most cars).

Thanks for the replys guys. Much appreciated!

Just a quick question...
Is this actually an L series or something different, and if so is 93 model known for having any particular faults?

http://www.motorsm.com/AUS/cars/used/di ... p?aid=4027

It just looks little different to the ones ive seen around. I just put it down to being a 93 model but i thought i would ask to be on the safe side.

that is most certainly an L series..and a very clean looking one:D:D

they all look like that..lol....except for the touring wagons with a raised roof

dave

look for rust under the windscreen, and battery, taht seems to be the first place that goes on wagons

cruzingbrumby wrote:look for rust under the windscreen, and battery, taht seems to be the first place that goes on wagons

Behind the tyre in the spare tyre well too (under the bonnet son).

Thats pretty good looking - be interesting to see how many k's it has on it. Even though its DL at least it has power steer and air con.

For interest's sake here's a couple of parts out of the L-Series Owner's Manuals:

http://www.geocities.com/subarushrine/turning.html

http://www.geocities.com/subarushrine/hillholder.html

They all look like that do they? lol Well there's plenty more stupid questions where that came from.

As for the Touring Wagon, is there any realistic advantage to the raised roof? Or is it more of an aesthetic thing?

Apparently that 93 wagon has 300,000 k's on the clock. It's a fair bit, but from what i hear they have a fair bit of life in them. I suppose it all depends on the condition of the car doesnt it. A good car is a good car regardless of k's. Any thoughts?

if it hasnt had any work done to it expect it to blow smoke & leak oil & have lifter noise! But this wont stop it from doing 400,000!

L series sedans (called Leone and GL) were sold between 1984 and 1989. Wagons (normal roof) were sold between 1984 and 1993. Touring wagons (raised roof) were sold between 1985 and 1989.

The cars were facelifted in 1987. Try and not buy the pre facelift cars as they tend to rust much worse than post facelift (I think the undercoat formula was changed for the facelift).

Spots prone to rust are front pillars (behind windscreen), rear pillars (behind trim) and rear guards (tips).

Mechanically all are the same, with 1989 being the only year to get fuel injection.

In terms of faults look out for:
- Blown headgasket (milky oil or oily water)
- Blocked radiator (overheating when idling after some high speed driving with a warm engine)
- Leaking heater core (radiator fluid smell/radiator fluid in footwell/disappearing radiator fluid)
- Bushes gone (squeaks at the front, rust dust where the rear suspension mounts on body)
- Leaking sunroof (rubber gone)
- Busted CV joints (click when doing hard turns)

The bloke who sold me mine reckoned that the EFI models had head problems, he said that the carby ones were the ones to go for. Don't know how true this is though. I've had mine for around 3 months. Had no real problems. The fuel guage is terrible. The driving position is a little close to the steering wheel. It feels like the seat should go back another couple of notches but doesn't. I think you'd have to alter the seat position if you were any taller than me (6'0") The good points are the turning circle and power steering. Great car for manouvering in tight spaces. When I got the car the floor pan/underlay was all wet. The car looked like it had been through a shallow creek or something and got water in. I stripped the whole interior out of it and found the leak; two holes under the back seat that were covered from factory with a glue on piece of vinyl which had come off. I removed this and used sealant to fit some rubber instead. Should be water tight now. It also needs a tacho. My car has 170,000kms which is why I bought it. With stock wheels and shit front tyres the thing wheelspins a bit, this is also due to the worn out clutch which is hard to operate smoothly. They are also hard to fit a stereo in because there isn't depth in the dash for modern head units to fit flush. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the advice guys. keep it comin if you think of anything of interest. its helping a lot. Ill keep you updated as my hunt for a wagon progresses.

yeah, come back in here and tell us what you are looking at, how much and the differences YOU finding

Has anybody else had any problems with EFI models?

And does anyone know if this is a pre or post facelift model? i cant recognise the differences yet. cheers

http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales ... make_id=14

jackfoxinc wrote:And does anyone know if this is a pre or post facelift model? i cant recognise the differences yet. cheers

http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales ... make_id=14

When you say "facelift" i'm guessing you mean the change in the grill (colour coded to car and different design) and front side indicators(small part orange, rest is a parker light)? That model car is the second look they had which if i'm correct came in around '87, previous model had a black grill of fragmented lines and corner indicators were all orange. The later models also had a different dash arrangement. The fan switch is bigger, headlight switch is located on the indicator stalk rather on the rhs of the instrument cluster, temp control switches are grey with a black border, previous models were flat and all grey. Body shape remains the same.

Also the different models came with different instruement clusters, these clusters are the same from the "facelifted" models. DLs came with the speedo, temp and fuel guages. GL and touring wagons came with the speedo, temp, fuel and taco (rev counter) guages. RX turbo and Vortex (i believe) came with the GL dash plus oil pressure and amps guages. Some of the guys on the board have wired these dashes into a DL sucessfully if you want to upgrade on the model you have.

jackfoxinc wrote:Has anybody else had any problems with EFI models?

I've had my EFI on the road for almost 6 months. Its a pick a part engine that i've only replaced the head gaskets on. The only problem i'm encountering is random smoke blowing (guessing its the PCV or previous use). They run well when you know what your doing (i've had to adjust the throttle sensor), so far i've had mine out to 5500 revs still going hard to 6 befoe i realised how high it was. Good strong engine. I can't compare to a carby job cos i havn't driven it when it was still a carb (I couldn't help myself with the engine change).

Hope you find yourself a good one. I think the most important bit is finding a straight rust free body, engine an gearbox are easy to change, but a body you need to go through rego again (at least in vic).



Happy Hunting.