blitz

Yeah, 93 because I've got another 5 degrees or so of advance dialed-in via 56k resistance in series with the AIT sensor. That's 5 degrees on top of the 10 or so I was losing to the knock sensor (15 total). Also I'm ducting cold air in from the fender while retaining the torquey stock intake tract, and have a cooler thermostat installed. It really woke this motor up and especially helped build solid tractor-like throttle response below 4k. I have one last thing I want to do which is coat the inside of the aluminum manifold with an industrial thermo-coating. That's gotta be good for another 3 or 4 ft/lbs. in heat-soak driving conditions.

The ECU does a self-check for an open or short condition of the sensor circuit via a voltage drop across the sensor's resistance. As long as you replace the sensor with a matching resistor value, the ECU doesn't know the difference. Just make sure the resistor has a good ground. I took care of that like real men used to (before the inclusion of granny features). I increased the fuel octane/de-carboned the cylinders as required. It fixed the "problem" for 19 cents. I studied those solutions, but decided that it would bother me to not know if the sensor was messing with my timing behind my back, so I just got rid of it. How do you determine when you've got it right? It's too crude of a system. I don't have any info on upgrade sensors or anything like that.

I need to add that my vehicle is N/A, and has the stock exhaust (I can hear the slightest trace of knock). I wouldn't recommend disabling the sensor on a turbo vehicle or one that has a loud exhaust.

Truk, here's a little info I've picked up about the sensors. On Subes and GM's anyway, they're tuned to the frequency of the bore size, meaning that if you remove a cylinder head, rotate the crank to get a piston at BDC, then tap that bore with a brass hammer, it will have a fairly well-defined bell-like pitch which is proportional to the bore diameter (larger bore has a lower pitch). If the pistons are clattering in the bore, the sensor picks it up. It's a crude system which is hampered even more by the boxer design. It would be better to have two sensors (one mounted directly on each cylinder bank. But as it's mounted centrally on the crankcase it picks up all the resonances of the rotating mechanisms within the crankcase as well. My '02 was doing what you describe during the test drive when I signed for it at the dealer. It had a gummy, gooey, throttle non-response. Above a certain RPM the sensor is ignored by the ECU as you describe, so in city traffic driving you get a lot of down-shifting by the auto-trans in order to make routine maneuvers. It makes for an unpleasant driving experience. I measured my sensor at almost exactly 560k, cut the wire to the sensor, soldered in a 560k resistor connected at one end to ground as a dummy "sensor", and I haven't looked back. The sensor is out of the circuit.

Interesting. I have some cold slap and it' s always sounded like only one cylinder making noise.

I kinda wondered about this. I'd figure that an UNDERsquare design would be better adapted to a diesel, whereas the boxer layout is typically an oversquare design because packaging limitations (overall width). That appears to be a conflict. Also a big bore is contrary to good efficiency because of greater thermal loss to the oil and cooling system (piston crown & combustion chamber respectively). Oh well, it was a thought.

Measure it with an ohmeter. Normal resistance for MY'02 sensor is right about a half Meg, but I think the '96 has a slightly different part and I'm not sure what the normal reading is on that. You'd have to consult the service manual for the correct spec. Also check the connector and the lead which feeds it from the harness (for a possible open or pinch to ground condition).

I'm not sure I understand your question. Just to clarify: You drive over an up-and-down bump, and it causes the rear of the car to: 1. Sway side-to-side? OR 2. Perform of a rocking motion?

I hear a lot of people raving about the fuel mileage and off-the-line torque of the TDI Golf, so I visited the VW site the other day, and frankly I wasn't getting exited about being seen driving a new Volkswagen or giving up AWD. Naturally, the thought of a Sube boxer entered my mind... 2.2l, 190 Ft./Lbs. practically off-idle... 40 mpg... the perfect snow-tractor and foul-weather stoplight jumper. If Subaru made an AWD TDI boxer, would you buy one? I'm sorta thinkin' that it would be pretty bitchin'.

That's pretty good. Another scenario I keep envisioning is a hi-helix type roots (ala whipple) driven via a miniature CVT tranny to provide variable speed. Man, if they could combine this together with a variable compression engine it would be awsome! Steady-state cruising at 15:1 compression and no blower. As throttle is opened, the compression would vary down to about 10:1 still with no blower boost up to about 1/2 throttle opening. Then from there up to WOT, compression would vary down to 7:1 as blower boost variably builds to a max of 20 psi. It would be the best of power under acceleration with incredible economy for cruise.

Here it is: Very long thread. http://www.rs25.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=9816&perpage=15&highlight=electric%20supercharger&pagenumber=1 Apparently this is not the same product that you were referring to Grounded1.

Just did a search, it was rs25.com Apparently the vendor chickened out on submitting a unit for testing: http://www.rs25.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=13198&highlight=electric+supercharger I'll try to dig up the original thread, it got a little wild.

Isn't this the one that was being tested on NASIOC? I wonder how that turned out. I was a sucker and bought an e-ram a couple years back. That piece of crap didn't do a damn thing. In fact I think it actually made my car a bit slower, my butt dyno's pretty good. I was tempted to take a dump in it, wrap it up, and send it back.

I never measured the timing change, but it's noticable both in throttle crispness and in octane requirement. I'm not too keen on the fooling the coolant temp sensor. It would seem like cruising with a rich mixture would kill your fuel mileage and overheat the cat converter. Fooling the air-temp sensor actually improves the cruising mileage because of the bumped-up timing.

Sorry, didn't want to hijack the thread with my technobabble unless someone was actually interested. Anyway I installed a 6-position rotary switch that allows me to add resistance in series with the IAT sensor in 5 steps 2.2k, 4.7k, 10k, 22k, & 56k. Each step gives about 1 degree of advance on the butt dyno (and on the spark-knock-o-meter), so I load up the tank with premium and just crank the knob all the way to the right. It also adds fuel to the WOT (open-loop) map, but doesn't affect the part-throttle fuel since closed-loop mixture is based on the O2 sensor target. Most modern emissions engines seem to have timing retarded a fair amount in an effort to reduce peak combustion pressure/temperature, so adding advance really wakes up the throttle response and the low & mid-range torque. It doesn't seem to add anything to the top-end (above 5k). The timing advance work really well together with cold-air induction, like peanut butter & chocolate. As mentioned, I have the knock sensor removed from the equation. If I hear any trace of knock, I just back the switch down a notch. If my exhaust system were louder, I'd probably use the knock sensor to trigger a dash-mounted LED that would indicate knock.

Well... since it wasn't smart enough to be able to distinguish spark knock from normal operating noise, I removed it from the circuit and substituted a resistor in its place to keep the ECU happy. Now I'm the arbiter of timing adjustment via a 6-position switch on the console. If you'd like details, speak up and I'll ramble-on.

My '02 OBS had a knock sensor that was being triggered more or less constantly by mechanical engine noise, but I fixed it.

The pads are simply changing position, fore or aft. Disk brakes are simple mechanisms. During brake application the hydraulic pressure pushing on the piston, deliberately distorts (stretches outward) the neoprene piston seal. When the hydraulic pressure is removed, the seal resumes it's shape (retracts) which in turn retracts the piston off of the rotor face. Because the stretched seal is the only thing pulling the piston back off the rotor, it's important that both halves of the caliper (and pads) remain completely free of any friction or bind. Mud or rust scale WILL cause the caliper, slides, and/or pads to bind, which in turn will cause accelerated pad/rotor wear. This pad thunk thing is a long-standing and well documented sube phemomenon. All Subaru would have to do the eliminate the noise would be to fit all the parts together really tight and my guess it that they don't want to. I'll second the suggestion to keep the slides lightly lubed with silicone brake grease at all times to keep things moving freely and to retard rust formation. After I lubed my brakes, the thunk did lessen a bit. They ship 'em completey dry from the factory.

WOT = wide open throttle. TPS = throttle position sensor. If you're looking into the engine compartment, it's located on the left side of the throttle body. It's black plastic about the size of a half-dollar, and is essentially a wire-wound 5k potentiometer that's attached to the throttle shaft. It has three leads: +5 VDC supplied to the top lead, 0 VDC (ground) supplied to the bottom lead, and then variable 0-5 VDC output (depending on throttle position) taken from the center lead and sent to the ECU and TCU. Measure the voltage at all three leads. You can also shut the ignition off, unplug the connector from the TPS, and measure it's resistance value. I'm only guessing at what the problem could be, but I did notice that common trait between the symptoms, and it's easy enough to check it with a meter.

Possible problem related to the TPS signal. Yet no code... interesting. The line pressure (shift hardness) of the 4EAT is controlled by throttle position, the idea being that the shift quality gets firmer as you get further into the throttle. You're getting WOT (full line pressure) shift quality and WOT (open loop) fuel mileage numbers. It's possible that the TPS is defective. Check for excess carbon at the tailpipe exit, then... if you know how to use a digital voltmeter, check the output voltage from the TPS as you move the throttle (key on, engine off). It should vary from .5 VDC to about 4.5 VDC as the throttle is increased.

It's normal. Actually all disk brakes do it, but it seems like Subaru lets the pads flop around more than most, possibly to help thwart caliper binding due to mud and rust from off-roading excursions, etc.

I have the rear drums on my '02 OBS and I actually find them to be quite good. It's the front disks that I find lacking.

Alright then, I'll accept my penance. What tempted me was that my last car was a cheap Dodge (Mitsubishi) Colt econobox that ended up actually being a fantastic car. Manual trans, manual steering, no A/C, no radio, crank windows. Four wheels, an engine, a steering wheel and a seat. Car ran flawlessly for 11 years, 196k miles and got 40 mpg. Still had the original clutch! I sincerely appreciate the heads up.

Texan & Eyesore, Thanks man. I needed a dope slap. I had a chance to look closer at the front end and it appears that the previous owner had applied the inertia of the the moving Lanos into some much larger object hard enough re-arrange the geometry of the front clip but not damage the rubber bumper or actually bend any sheet metal (basically the gaps between the body panels, the alignment of the hood closure, and the mounting position of the visible part of the lower radiator were all skewed). Consumer reports had absolutely nothing good to say about this hunk 'o crap except that it was cheap.

I'm considering a second car for those times when my OBS is down for uhhh... let's say a new windshield, headgaskets, oil seals, heatshield removal, etc... anyway, my landlord (who's a used car dealer) has a really clean Daewoo Lanos for $3,500. Anyone know if these things are worth a crap? What about getting parts? It's either this, or maybe get something new like a Forester T.