RallyKeith

I like your thought about the leaky injector, but agree that you should see some smoke if that were the case. It could also be the fuel filter. If it sat that long it may have gunked up the fuel filter and it's taking time to build pressure through the filter. Keith

A few quick comments. #1 I've got a 96 Legacy with an AT and it is hands down the best AT I've ever driven. No gear hunting, solid shifting, and geared very well. To top it off it's a Legacy GT (originally EJ25) with a 2.2, so the engine is technically under powered for the shift maps in the TCU, but it works just as good! #2 My experiance with my '05 LGT and the sport shift 5EAT are as follows: A) The more open the throttle, the faster it shifts... IE Full throttle = fast shifts, off the throttle = very slow shifts. Electronic throtle body + advanced TCU = poor response. The TCU has too many modes and likes to default back to a mode that atually slows throttle response for better fuel consumption. Makes a 250hp car feel like a big giant brick. Even in sport shift mode if you haven't been driving agressively enough it will go into a mode that slows the initial throttle response. I think for a performance minded person the Subaru autos and programming have gotten over complicated and it has taken away from sporting drivability, although it is nice that I could bounce off the rev limiter in 1st all day (if I wanted) and the 5EAT in sport shift mode would not shift into second. #3 If you want to drive a really bad AT, try a base model Pontiac Vibe like my wife has. Geard to run low RPM on the highway and the motor is just dead below 4000 RPM. With the AC on it has to use 2nd gear to maintain 55 on some of the hills in PA..... Interesting side note, I was actually able to get my LGT to bounce off the rev limiter in first gear on several ocassion in full auto mode. Only auto I've ever had do that. Keith

I've got a 96 Legacy GT Wagon 4EAT that has had the Check Engine Light on for a legitimately bad front Catalytic convertor. A few months ago I broke one of the ABS tone rings in the front trying to get a rotor off. I don't drive this ca very often, but yesterday I drove it and noticed that while my ABS light comes on a soon as I hit the brakes for the first time, my check engine light is no longer on. Is that normal? Before someone asks, the bulb for the light is still good. The light comes on and goes out when I first start the car. Keith

Sometimes Life can be a pain. We'll only be there Saturday, and can only stay until about 5. I don't even think I'll have time to wash my car until I get there. Is there still a plan to meet at the Waffle House in the morning? If so we can be there for that.

Sorry to tell you guys this, but I've killed 4 (yes 4) Brand new Gold Series Batteries from Advance in the past two years. Thank god for the 3 year free replacement. So anyhow, it's not the battery in anyway. I'm thinking there may be something else going on that is intermittent and I didn't see it in the 2 minutes I was testing. I have a multimeter that logs that I plan to setup over night sometime. Keith

They do have free wifi, but you have to get a password from somewhere. I'll see if I can find that info again.

How much is considered to be an acceptable draw when the car is off? I have a 96 that kills a battery if the car sits for two weeks. I've done the ammeter in series and only get about 40mA when the car is off. I haven't tried disconnecting the alternator yet.

Is your car a 5spd or an automatic? I'm assuming you swapped a 2.2 in place of a 2.5 I did the same thing and swapped in the ECU from the 95 2.2 I installed and it causes a slight issue with the trans shifting. The 95 2.2s have a lower redline rpm than the 2.5s. with the 95 2.2 ECU you can hit the rev limiter in 1st gear for about a second before the trans shifts, because the TCU thinks it has another 500rpm to go. This only seems to happen in 1st and it only happens during a foot to the floor pull out, but it does happen. Other than that you're fine, but not gaining anything. I swapped mine hoping I would get better fuel economy but it didn't make a difference. The stupid 4.11 final drive ratio just kills it. Keith

Kind of like all the ricers that thought the sound of a turbo blow off valve was soooo cool they invented this: http://www.takakaira.co.jp/accessories/nightpager/nightpager.html

Well, it looks like I defenitely have to come now. The wife and I decided to spend our Economic Stimulus Tax rebate a little early and bought a '79 Triumph spitfire project car. It's pretty complete, just needs to be painted and assembled for the most part. This means I'll defenitely be coming so that I can shop for any parts I need, and to see a few examples to make sure I'm doing things right. This also means I'm not going to go through the effort of dragging our Rally car out this year. It's just too much work and money, especially since Diesel is $4.25 a gallon and that's what our tow vehicle takes. Anyhow, here is a link to pictures for those who might be interested. http://www.rallyracers.net/spitfire Keith

FWIW Cheapest Direct fit I've found is $99. Cheaspest Universal 4 wire is $45. Bosch 4 wire Universal is $50. So it's more like saving $50 from what I've found.

My 95 Legacy started showing a CEL. I checked the code and its saying the front O2 sensor has a bad heater circuit (P0141). The car has 210,000 miles on it, so I can't complain that it took this long for it to fail. Only thing is I'd rather not spend $100 for a plug in replacement if the universal ones you attach to your original connector will work. My father had a bad experiance with one on a Volvo, but I think that was mainly because it was a Volvo. Has anybody used a universal (probably Bosch) and had any trouble? Thanks, Keith

I'm about 90% certain you just need to take off the dog bone, and my bet is that when you go to take it off you're going to have a fight getting the bolt out because of the pressure on it. I went through this when swapping the 2.5 for the 2.2 in my 96. Keith

Having gone from Rallying Legacys to Rallying Imprezas I will simpley say don't waste your time with a Legacy. The Impreza is a much stiffer chassis with a lower center of gravity. It is rather amazing the difference in how a 93 Legacy drives compared to a 93 Impreza. The Impreza chassis simpley out performs the Legacy. Keith

I'll be there again this year. This time I'll probably bring the '06 Imp. I'd bring the Rally car but it's so much work for so little interest. We'll see. Maybe if I convince myself to stay for the autocross I'll bring it. Keith

I actually had a cat rust apart at the seam. The other common problem with that vintage is the flange at the rear of the second cat, where the donut gasket is that Skip mentioned. That flange likes to rust away. Where in PA are you? Keith

I was just going to say that! Rough idle to me is totally different than a vibration through the steering wheel.

Guess what.... just shy of three weeks and it still hasn't failed. It's been in the single digit temps a few days here. Of course, I haven't driven the car in the past two and it seemed to happen to me twice as often as the wife. Keith

Did you look at his bio? He claims to be,

Ok, so this past weekend I replaced the Nuetral Safety switch. When I bought this car I had to put a trans in it. The Junkyard trans didn't have the switch on it so I had to swap mine over. (For a refresher this is an automatic, so this is a big switch with a lever that connects to the cable coming from the shift lever and senses what position the gear selector is in.) Anyhow, when I swapped the switch over it was stuck, like they used double sided tape, to the trans and the case for the switch cracked when I pulled it off. I took the switch apart and cleaned everything up, put fresh silicone grease in, and sealed it up as best as I could. So with this seemingly odd starting issue I decided that since this thing was hacked together I would replace it right away. That god for my Chase Subaru Master card rewards check because the replacement parts cost about $97 with my modest discount at the dealer. So far it's been 5 days and no problems. This doesn't mean it's fixed for sure, but so far so good. While I was in there I wired up the relay discussed but left it unhooked until I get another failure. If it does not want to start all the little lady has to do is pull the black wire off the starter and plug it onto the open terminal on relay I mounted to the fire wall. I put a little splitter block on the starter terminal so the wire coming off the relay is already hooked up. I'll post if and when it fails again! Keith

Exactly what I thought, but I couldn't find anything, and there were no stored codes for it. I was also thinking it could have been the air intake tube partially off the back side of the MAF or throttle body allowing air in post MAF, but everything there was fine as well. I didn't touch anything and it started workign fine again after the 1-2 minute shut off.

I just thought I would share this one with you guys. Yesterday morning I was driving the '06 to work when at 60mph in 5th gear and 2/3 throttle the engine lost all power and the CEL came on. It did not stall, but instead would not rev or make power. A quick inspection under the hood showed nothing. I shut off the car and started it again, and now the RPMs were flopping from 2k to 200, back and forth every 2 seconds, and it still made no power. I shut the car off and looked under the hood again. Still saw nothing. Now the car had been sitting off for a minute or two, so I started it again. It started hard (cranked for 5-7 seconds and finally started when I pushed down the gas pedal a little) but this time it ran and made power. I started driving it again and since it seemed to be driving fine, even though the CEL was still on, I drove straight to the Dealership. They said it threw a P0607 Code which stands for Control Module Perfomance. The said that there was a Re-flash for my ECU that had been issued some time ago, but was never done to this car. So they did it and expect that's all it was, a known issue in the ECU programming that should be fixed by the re-flash. The funny part of the story is that I had been having what I thought was some strange behavior from the DBW electronic throttle. Now, it's only been one day, but those things seem to be much better now.

Allright guys, enough of the bickering. As of 4pm yesterday I have a lifetime of bickering to look forward to at home. On a serious note, the battery cables didn't fix it. I won't be able to get to it until january, but I'll post up back then with what I find. I'm guessing at this point that I'm going to be installing that relay! Keith

Yeah, I guess I should have mentioned that. I don't think It's the neutral safety switch since when it does this is won't start in neutral either. Also, I had personally replaced the contacts in the OE starter in the car and had this same problem continue. I documented that in the other thread I link to.

Sorry, I'm thinking along the same lines as Nipper. Cold fluid makes for better pressure. I also believe there is a seal that when warn expands at temperature and causes a loss in pressure. These things would add up badly. Keith