presslab

I use ES-12a which is a mix of propane and isobutane meant to have similar vapor pressures to R12. I imagine you can get something similar over there. Hydrocarbon refrigerants are compatible with any oil, unlike R134a. So if you want to flush your system and replace the oil, I'd recommend double-end-capped PAG, which is shown to be the best lubricant, or POE which is compatible with both R12 and R134a. The pressure switches and condenser are designed for R12 on my '88, so I didn't want to "convert" to R134a. The ES-12a works great! They specify to not charge into a "hard vacuum"; in reality what that means is you should add a bit of air into the system, it's been shown that this improves things a bit with the hydrocarbon refrigerants. 1) Vacuum it down for an hour to boil out the moisture, and then let it suck a bit of air back in until the vacuum is gone. Point a large shop fan at the radiator/condenser if you have one. 2) Charge with liquid (can inverted) with the compressor off, and let it sit for a few minutes to allow the refrigerant to evaporate. 3) Start the engine and block the throttle for a fast idle about 1500 RPM. Engage compressor and then SLOWLY charge with liquid. Don't add it too fast or you can damage the compressor. 4) Keep adding refrigerant until the high side pressure is about twice that of the ambient temperature in Fahrenheit, plus 20 PSI. For instance, on a 90-degree Fahrenheit day, twice 90 is 180, plus 20 equals 200 PSI. Low side should be less than 35 PSI.

Your O2 sensor should be toggling back and forth from a low voltage (like 0.1V) to a high voltage (like 0.9V). If it isn't, this means your ECU is not running closed loop for some reason, and can cause lots of problems/misfiring. Check your O2 voltage back at the ECU, maybe you have a broken wire. Check the voltage from the ground of the O2 sensor (where it screws in) to the ground of the ECU while running. Or maybe you have a different problem and the ECU has run out of adjustment range. How are you measuring your ground resistance? Is "0.03K Ohm" a typo, as that "K" makes it actually 30 ohms.

Yes I believe SSM1 was used through 1998. I built my SSM1 cable with a Scosche Su02B radio harness and a FTDI cable TTL-232RG-VSW5V-WE, like described here: http://www.4bc.org/vanagon/engine.html The newer FTDI cable I used is nice; it has LEDs for TX/RX, but it's $21. There is a cheaper FTDI setup here, although the free shipping can take a month. http://dx.com/p/ftdi-basic-breakout-arduino-usb-to-ttl-upload-tool-for-mwc-black-142041 I pretty much use JECScan software for dumping/general memory access, and EvoScan for logging SSM1 along with WBo2.

Does the check engine light come on with the key in the run position? If not maybe you have a bad ignition relay. You'll still get power to the coil if this is bad. There is an ignitor on the coil bracket that can fail. And there is a ground connection there that could be bad as well.

The only way I could figure that you're seeing timing that far off is if the ECU is confused as to the engine RPM and therefore pulling your timing from the wrong spot in the map. Maybe your 97 is completely different than my 92 map but I'd guess not. I couldn't find a ROM for a 97 online to look at and I figure you have an OBD2 cable, and not a SSM1 cable, and can't download it. Have you tried looking at the RPM from the scanner to see if it jives with your actual engine RPM? I guess now that it's not acting up it will be impossible to diagnose. Anyway cam/crank sensors still come to mind. They're just coils of wire, and the wire could have an intermittent open/short. Did you backprobe the connectors? That's ok, but poking things into the front side can damage the terminals creating an intermittent connection; I figure you know this but just checking.

Okay, I found a diagram here which is for JDM but I'd guess pretty similar: http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Legacy%20Outback/1997/Service%20Manual/WIRING%20DIAGRAM%20SECTION.pdf Pages 25, 75, 107, 117 ,118, probably other pages too. So replace my "headlamp filament" words with "side marker filament" then, as turning on the headlamps means turning on the side markers too. Same idea. Anyway it still sounds like a problem with a ground somewhere, I wouldn't be quick to dismiss it just because the headlights are switched to ground. :-p I doubt it's a bad bulb; it would need to fail in a way where both filaments are attached to each other but not to ground. It could be the bulb holder is corroded/broken and not making a good ground connection to the bulb.

No spark you say? Have someone crank the engine with the disty cap off and make sure the rotor spins. If the pass side timing belt breaks it won't spin and the engine won't even try to run.

I'm gonna go with a bad ground too. With the headlights off, the turn signal current is going through the headlamp filament to ground, rather than the ground wire it's supposed to be going through. With the headlamp on, the current can't go through the headlamp as it's already turned on.

That paint job looks really nice and those decals are sharp!

Bummer, hope you get it back intact. I'm not so sure. Let's see, if he's dumb enough to post on a forum that logs his IP (and his IP is easily traceable to his home computer with just a subpoena) he's probably not smart enough to have a devious plan like this. Maybe he's just a dude that got his car stolen. Seems like I hear of more and more soobs getting stolen lately. :-\

TireRack says that 6/32" is the recommended minimum for snow use: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=51 There are wear bars on tires that go across the tread gaps. These should show you when you reach 2/32" of tread depth. Also by looking at these wear bars, you can get an idea of where you should be measuring the tread depth. The brand and type of tire can make a big difference in snow too. For snow/ice what you want is a tire with lots of edges to bite into the road, aka "siping" along with nice soft rubber. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping_(rubber)

Subaru once specified a maximum difference of 1/4" in tire rolling circumference. Although they also supplied a doughnut spare that violates that. Anyway the difference of 4.1 and 4.111 is 0.27%. 1/4" on a 205/50-15 tire for example is 0.35%. I think you will be just fine, just be sure to rotate the tires as scheduled.

Thanks a bunch Turbone! I haven't had a chance to work on the air filter setup. I like what you've done there. Is yours loud? Mine does the PSSSSSSSHHHHH when I let off the throttle, it's the WRX BPV I have installed; maybe a little too ricey for me, heh!

Well keeping the pipes warm (and the cat too) keeps the flow up. It's the reason that racers wrap their headers to keep the heat in. The hot exhaust gasses flowing by the colder pipe creates turbulence. I checked my highway mileage the other day, going about 72 MPH, and getting on it to pass a few people here and there. It was 25.3 MPG, better than the car's rating yet with three times the horsepower. I could probably get 1 or 2 more MPG if I didn't pass anyone, and didn't use oxygenated gas.

I figured you were abducted by elves, seeing as you didn't answer any of the questions above. Sure must have been cold at the North Pole.

Finally upgraded from my old column mounted paddles to on-the-wheel paddles!

Yeah I vote new bung too, but I'd probably cut the old one off (quick with an angle grinder/cut-off wheel) flush with the pipe and weld the new one on top. Bungs are only a few bucks and I'm sure your old threads are gonna be trashed.

Looks like there's some corrosion or something going on, in addition to the crispiness. You might be able to strip the wire back a bit and crimp/solder on a new ring terminal without replacing the whole thing. That is if the corrosion isn't all the way up the wire. The gap shouldn't cause that as long as it's tight and clean. When you fix it a dab of dielectric grease on the ring terminal before you put it together will keep it from corroding.

It's all good.

For a 95 Legacy you'll need a Phase 1 transaxle. You can tell the Phase 2 apart as it has a spin-on filter, where the one you want does not. Phase 1 were available up to 99 in some cars. You'll also need to make sure the final drive ratio is the same as your old one, or else you'll need a different rear diff as well. Even still there are subtle differences between them, so ideally you'll get the same part number you already have, but you'll probably have no problems as long as you meet the above.

Ahem...And to thank someone on my $hit list... It only affects emissions. Keep in mind however that the charcoal canister reduces emissions as much as a catalytic converter does. A stuck closed solenoid could cause this problem, stuck open would probably just make it idle weird.

Here's the code in question. Basically if the trans temp is below "ATF_TempCold" it will set bit 6 in shiftFlags1. If bit 6 (or 7) is set in shiftFlags1 and the calculated gear is 4th, it will reduce the gear to 3rd. It does a bunch of other things with trans temp like it has a temperature compensation for the Duty A (line pressure) solenoid, so that it will lower the duty cycle because the fluid is cold and thick. It looks at all sorts of inputs, even the battery voltage, to determine the operation of the solenoids. seg006:D683 cmpa ATF_TempColdseg006:D686 bhi loc_D68Aseg006:D688 orab #$20 ; ' 'seg006:D68Aseg006:D68A loc_D68A: ; CODE XREF: GetADC+63jseg006:D68A stab shiftFlags1 and... seg006:D8F2 ldaa shiftFlags1seg006:D8F4 anda #$60 ; '`'seg006:D8F6 beq loc_D901seg006:D8F8 ldaa byte_BCseg006:D8FA cmpa #3seg006:D8FC bne loc_D901seg006:D8FE dec byte_BCseg006:D901seg006:D901 loc_D901: ; CODE XREF: CalcShift+8j

The stock timing maps I posted in that thread were out of a 1992 EJ22E ECU, "F9" label. As far as I know, the ECU will never pull back the timing below the "Base Timing" shown on the left. Under knock, it will pull back the "Max Advance" on the right. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=134517 USB serial adapters are cheap online. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10311&cs_id=1031104&p_id=3726&seq=1&format=2 I built my USB SSM1 cable for about $35. This works with EvoScan, JECScan, etc.

It's certainly in the code in my 1992 TCU. Perhaps later TCUs did away with this, I don't know. I can show you the code tonight when I get home. In 3rd gear you can go any reasonable speed, I don't see how it's dangerous. If I recall I can do about 120 MPH in 3rd. Heck my trans will pull 2nd all the way to 80 MPH. Running the engine faster warms it up sooner reducing emissions and wear.

At 25% load if it's anything like my '92 it will not pull back timing regardless of how much it's knocking. There is no timing to pull in the max advance map at that load. Furthermore the only place on the map that will even go as low as 6 degrees BTDC is max load at < 1200 RPM, so I have doubts about that number as well. Perhaps the ECU is getting a bad signal from a sensor which is causing it to pull back the timing. Like mentioned before, the cam and crank sensor come to mind. I don't think the ECU uses the TPS for timing, it uses engine load which it calculates from the MAF and RPM. What is the IAM (ignition advance multiplier)? That right there will tell you if the ECU thinks it's knocking. When you say fuel trims do you mean short term fuel trim? What is the long term at? Have you hooked a WBo2 sensor up to verify the mixture? If you dump your ROM I can probably find the timing maps for you. You can do this with any old serial SSM cable and JECScan.