Fairtax4me

Does the car have ABS? Some ABS systems have to be bled a certain way or you'll have air in the ABS unit that can cause a spongy pedal condition. The are specs for testing the booster in the FSM I think. Basically check the amount of vacuum at the booster by putting a T adapter in the hose past the check valve. It should be the same as at the engine. Turn the engine off and vacuum should stay the same. If vacuum decreases the booster or check valve could be leaking. With the engine running pump the pedal a few times then release. Turn the engine off. Push the pedal hard down and fully release at least 4 times until the pedal doesn't sink anymore, then hold. While still holding start the engine, the pedal should sink about 1-2". Pretty sure the spec for these cars is in the FSM. If it passes that test, and is getting the proper source vacuum and holding it after the engine is turned off, the booster is good.

A little more detail about the timing differences I'm seeing on the scanner. When its being insolent timing is usually in the 12-18 degree range while trying to accelerate from about 2000 rpm. As rpms increase timing stays in about the same range, but it will sometimes jump around. Then when engine speed gets to about 3000-3500 rpm it will suddenly jump up to the 30-35 degree range and the car takes off. This happens under "normal" acceleration, and engine load is only in the 20-30% range, or only slightly more. If I put the pedal down hard load will increase into the 35-45% range, and this is when I saw the very low timing mentioned before, but it was at 2000 rpm. When its acting normal timing doesn't usually go lower than 20 degrees unless RPMs are very low, like under 1500. Then it may be down around 12-15 degrees, but it rises steadily with the increase in RPM and doesn't jump around any. I've seen it as high as about 40 degrees when accelerating very lightly. With normal acceleration it'll be around 20-25 degrees and increases steadily as rpm increases.

A back flush with water will work better than compressed air. If you still have a coolant leak a low coolant level will cause the same kind of problems. When you refill the cooling system, fill the engine through the upper radiator hose first, then fill the radiator.

What Larry said. Just swap the brackets from the 96 onto the 97. Worst case you have to drill and tap one of the block castings to put a bolt in.

It's usually cheaper for them to have one harness built for several trim levels. Even if they don't use all the stuff in the harness, it's cheaper than building two or three different harnesses. It also makes it easier when adding equipment at the factory. They don't have to run a separate harness for tweeters if the buyer decides to add them as an option when ordering the car.

I built my trick sensor today and put it on. Knock sensor measured at 580k Ohm, the false sensor ended up at 560k Ohm which is close enough that the computer doesn't care. Car still isn't acting up, so I won't really know if it works until ??? Left the knock sensor plugged in for now. Really the only reason for this is to make sure I don't have two bum knock sensors. Don't feel like ordering a new one just to find out it isn't the cause. I'm still convinced its something else, but it never happens continuously for long enough to really tell if replacing this or that one thing at a time actually fixes it. Oh well, it's running fine for the time being and no CEL. Can't ask for much more.

806923060 http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_5/lubrication_system/oil_filler_duct/illustration_1/

Blinking CEL just indicates a current repetitive misfire. Doesn't necessarily mean multiple cylinders are misfiring. It does that to get the average drivers attention in an attempt to alert them to a serious problem that may cause damage to other emissions control systems, mainly the Catalytic converters. Any CEL means something is amiss that will increase emissions. But like dave said, the only reason we have CELs is because of gummint mandated emissions rules.

What other symptoms besides the code? Is the bottom of the transmission pan dented or pushed up? (Like some put a jack under it)

A lot of times one misfire can feel like multiple misfires. Got codes? How do the plugs look? When was the last tune-up?

You get the p1507 code when the IAC can't adjust enough to control idle speed. This is usually a vacuum leak, but can be caused by dirty IAC as well. Cleaning would be the right next step assuming that ALL hoses are attached and in the proper places.

It's just an o-ring. Get it from a dealer for a few bucks, or take the fill tube off and pop the old o ring out to fit up a new one.

Where did you get the TB kit? Reason I ask is some of the cheaper kits might come with shoddy hardware. That bolt didn't back out, it stretched and sheared off just at the end of the threaded section in the bracket. It's possible the bolt was too long and bottomed out or twisted, too low grade, or just plain old cheap. I never use the hardware that comes in the kits because I just don't trust it. When you put it back together dig up the original bolt and use that instead.

Vacuum sounds fine. A little flutter here and there is considered normal. Certainly sounds like its going lean. One fuel injector and it has been replaced, kinda rules it out in a way. Vacuum readings rule out a leak. Fuel pressure seems low to me, but may be normal for these older cars. How many ECT sensors do these things usually have? Seems like there would be two?

I'd work on getting that bolt extracted even if it takes an extra day to avoid switching to the newer tensioner. Question, when you replaced all the timing parts did you use new hardware that was supplied with the kit?

What are the exact codes? This is an auto trans you just replaced right? Did you remove the engine from the car for any reason? Remove the intake manifold or throttle body? Double check all the hoses that go to the airbox and intake tube. There should be a diagram on the bottom of the hood with the routing for all of the vacuum hoses. Check all of your connections compared to the diagram. Any other codes or just the IAC?

Got cam sensor pics too. Was going to put them in the previous post but the uploader names them all image.jpg and just replaces the previously uploaded pic. Anyway, was a bunch of fun seeing the signals display on the screen. I had hopes to see one flutter or have a strange signal, no dice.

I didn't use it, he did. There were so many knobs and switches and dials I had no clue what all was going on. I plugged the paper clips into the harness connector and hooked the alligator clips he handed me. He turnedthis and that then flipped a switch and it slowly buzzed to life. After about 30 seconds for the tubes to warm up he said OK fire it up, I hit the key, and there we had a nice wavy line on the screen with a pattern that looked just like the crank sensor output. 1 2 1 2 1. Revved the engine to about 2500 rpm as he adjusted some knobs to keep the display stable. The only difference we saw was the peaks grew taller (voltage increased). Speaking of the crank sensor. There was some oddness after I removed the probes from the connector. The engine didn't want to start. Got codes for the crank sensor. So I unplugged it, then plugged it back in, then it started fine. I might pull the sockets out of the connector and make sure they each fit tightly on the pins on the sensor just in case there's a loose connection there. I did remove both sensors, and found a very small amount of either glue or corrosion on one pin on the cam sensor. Couldn't tell exactly but it was only a little dot right in the middle of the pin. Scraped it off and checked the socket side and didn't see anything on there. He didnt have the right resistors to make up 570k ohm to try the knock sensor removal idea. At least not without stringing like 15 of them together. Gonna hit up the rat shack tomorrow and see what they have and come up with something.

The reason people often swap to the older style is the new style tensioner a are more easily damaged when compressing the piston. The belt should not be tight, but the tensioner should not move up which would allow the belt to flap around. I would go back and get the old style bracket. Look for any 90-95 Subaru wih an EJ engine.

Crank and cam sensor signals looks good, but we couldn't take the car for a drive and monitor signals at the same time. It acted stupid for about 5 minutes when I first left for my buddy's house this afternoon, then it cleared up and drove just fine after that. Timing stayed up where it should be according to that chart, which should be pretty close I would think. 4 years difference but basically the same engine. It actually seemed to run better today than it has in several weeks, but that could just be in my mind. Hooked up the O-scope and we got nice clean signals from both sensors, but whatever the cause of the weirdness corrected itself so this test may be useless. I have pics of the scope monitor that show the signals really well (as well as I could get a picture of at least). I did dig up my spare sensors and ignitor, so if it starts acting strange again they only take a minute or so to swap, I can pull over and pop one in to see what it does.

No little filter do-hickey, took it off the car a long time ago chasing MAP issues. Suppose I could put it back. No EGR. Presslab I was actually looking at the timing charts you posted in another thread, I think they're for a 2.5, but they can't be too different than what a 2.2 uses. I can't see IAM with my scanner, only the overall spark advance. When it dropped to 6 degrees that was at about 2200 rpm, 50% load. I can record live data with my scanner, but for some reason they made the data connector 9 pin serial, which my laptop doesn't have. I haven't felt like paying for a serial to USB adapter just so I can transfer data from the scanner to the laptop. Anyway, I'm gonna take a closer look at load and timing values today and see if they seem any different than yesterday.

Check for a fuse in the FWD fuse holder. Passenger strut tower. Should not be a fuse there. If there is a fuse there, check the driveshaft, the rear half may be gone. (Literally not there) The AWD clutches wear and cause torque bind, and a common fix is to remove the rear section of the driveshaft. Trans still works fine in FWD. some people think they get better fuel economy with the trans set in FWD. Not what the fuse holder is supposed to be for, but people do it anyway.

In a previous thread he tried that. Unsuccessfully. :-\ The 05 has 5 O2 sensors, and they're them newfangled fancy kind that use ECU reference voltage combined with the sensor output. Would be cool if someone figured out a way to trick them.

Have another not entirely drive-able car. I could patch it together and go up the street a few times but it would be very loud. This sounds pretty close to what it's doing. Thing is, it's there one day gone the next, and its been doing this for as long as I can remember. I think the cat would have plugged up entirely by now. Have a vacuum gauge, it does drop considerably when the throttle is opened. Same with the MAP reading on the scanner. Drops to something like 5-6" when under heavy throttle. But it doesn't seem to jump around or waver in unison with the power problem. Seems to be pretty steady even when the car isn't acting up. Not to mention, engine still pulls pretty hard at higher RPM. It's all theoretical at this point, but that's an idea worth trying. Resistor I hadn't thought of, but I expected the engine to ping like hell after moving the sensor off of it, and it didn't. It didn't ping at all. I have a friend with muchos of spare resistors laying around, I'll get him to rig something up for me and try that too. TPS I get a smooth increase when looking at values on the scanner, but I haven't checked it with an ohmmeter yet. Did replace it a while ago, like a year and a half, for gits and shiggles. I'll put that one on the list for testing. The other things on the list are replace the igniter (have two spares, might as well, not like its hard to get to), check cam and crank sensor signals on my buddies o-scope, possibly swap in and compare spares if we have time.

This one has me kinda baffled. I made it two days with a "new" ECU with all I/M monitors set (green light) and everything working fine. Today, car runs like crap. Drove the car across town to meet friends for lunch, car ran fine. Leaving the restaurant, the same old weird intermittent power issue (that I've dealt with for what seems like years now) once again reared its ugly head. Same MO as before, very light throttle produces no problems, medium throttle (about 15% or more) the car has no guts. Won't get out of its own way, lots of hills around here and it really had a hard time getting up some of them today. Put the gas pedal down hard and it bogs bad until it gets to about 3000 RPM then all of a sudden it kicks and the car takes off like nothing's wrong. Shift gears and the fun starts all over again. Pulled the scan tool out of the door pocket and plugged it in to see how things look, and the big thing that stands out is the timing advance. Wih easy throttle it stay up around 30-35 degrees. A little more throttle and it drops back, way back, usually to around only 10 degrees. Calculated load is only about 25 - 30%. Throttle position about the same. Knock sensor I'm thinking, so I get out the spare, hook it up, no change. Thinking now that maybe it's actually pinging and the ECU is pulling timing for a good reason. So I hatch a plan, I build a jumper wire and bolt it on the knock sensor, bolt the other end to the block. Now the sensor is grounded, but its not actually touching the block, it's pulled off to the side away from everything so there's (theoretically at least) no way for it to pick up knock. My thinking here is, the ECU still has a clean signal from the sensor, so shouldn't go into fail safe, and with no chance of picking up the pinging from the block, the ECU won't know about it and will keep timing up where it's supposed to be. If its actually pinging, I should hear it pretty clearly. Right? Drive up the road, no pinging, no CEL, ECU is still pulling timing back to sometimes as low as 6 degrees. No change at all in the symptoms. Now I'm trying to figure out, what else does the ECU use to pull timing? I know its dependent on load, throttle position, and knock. If its not picking up knock, why does the timing come and go as it pleases? And the whole problem comes and goes as it pleases? It's there today, it might be gone tomorrow. Does anybody know for sure which other sensors play a part in pulling back ignition timing? Crank sensor? Cam sensor? Things I've checked/verified while this problem is occurring: ECT is good: usually around 190 degrees. Problem has occurred when engine is either cold or warm. Map values are now good (thanks to the new ECU). Fuel pressure does NOT waver during power loss problem. At idle pressure sits around 35 psi, and climbs to 40+ under throttle. Fuel trims are within -5 to +5%. Usually -5 to 0. Drops no lower than -10% when coasting in gear. Tends to stay around 0 to +5% during acceleration. O2 sensor voltages are good. New spark plugs and wires about three weeks ago. MAF sensor gets cleaned every 3 months. Have replaced MAF in the past during troubleshooting of this problem with known good spare and have no change. Knock sensor clean, and replaced with known good spare, no change. ECT, have no reason to suspect because it reports the correct temp, and doesn't change, has been replaced in the past with known good spare. Fuel filter changed about 6 months ago, air filter 2-3 months ago. No vacuum leaks or split hoses. I know there are other things but I'm having a hard time remembering them all right now. The last time this issue popped up in a noticeable way was about a month ago, which finally prompted me to replace the ECU. The problem has followed along to the replacement. Has to be something else on the car that I haven't replaced yet. Igniter, cam and crank sensors, oil pressure sensor, fuel temp sensor. Those are about the only things I haven't swapped.