Steptoe's photos

from memory (not with me at the moment) it may have numbers but not recognised Subaru or Nissan numbering ....good point though. I might have to Google them, or get at again, disconnect and see what does not work

I am sure if I unplugged it I would eventually find out ...looked on wiring diagram, no joy Looks like a resistor unit, too light duty wires me thinks, dash light dimming ? is !999 SF Forester, but likely very common to all EJ era thanks

One could prepare a short U shaped bypass link using a male spade terminal each end to bypass the relay for breakdown situations. Need two for these brown relays DPST Connect only when need engine running, disconnect at stop

L Series also had these ? I have stripped out 4 L Series , an XT, all turbo except one carby, and never found a brown relay , up to 1989 - they were all the 22A cylindrical ones. Interesting. I also have a spare brown one from a wrecked 00 Impreza in use now, and it has 249,000 km use, also 01 Foz 140,000 km so always saw them as being Ej body items, yet some listings for these brown things did indicate some earlier applications

Silicon eh? You remind me of a long time ago when I did an oil change on an old engine that then developed an oil light issue after a "good run" up the highway. I was wondering if the stuff I saw sitting at the bottom of the oil container 4 or 5 litre, white plastic, had anything to do with it. I took the container to a government analytical lab to have it identified as "silica" which I was explained was basically , sand !! I took this back to the manager of the place I bought it - my boss, my work place ! He told me to have a look in another, and it was the same ! He directed me to pour the bottle into the bulk oil vat supplying the workshop. We did a few more - all the same !! An additive falling out of suspension ? Talking to head office in an effort to recover costs to resolve the oil pressure issue, I was basically told by them to have my legal reps contact theirs. I think after this point, the company stopped usig white plastic for their oil bottles.

Got my order in from the US of A in five days ! The ignition relay as Rock call it, for the SF Foz actually came as what I suspect is a superceded number of the later years . 25232AA020 made in China, despite the export order stating country of origin as Japan. The yellow part number sticker, and JIDECO cast into the casing. Mitsuba also on yellow label.

"Find" as in source them (which ones?) ? Or how did they feel in service ? The inserts were advertised on a forum, i stupidly trusted another forum member and paid for them to be posted to me, shelved until ready to tackle the job. They were advertised as only 5,000km of use. The EA82 strut, spring and strut top came out of my RXA that had been converted from air suspension to RX before I bought it. The springs were std height but after market, so a little extra stiffer - love the ride.

I tried the search function but it just rotated and rotated.... Having now spent some time playing with my intended donor 99 EJ202 Forester, I find that the ignition coil gets it's power from the ignition switch - not from a relay. Surely nobody trusts an EJ ECU in use conversion to run faithfully on old EA ignition switch power for things such as ECU and coil ? ? From my most recent learnings, I would only be using the brown double switching 2M "main relays" as Fuji call them, or "ignition relays" as the rest of the world call them - for the reliability of two sets of relay contacts for the one demand. What have others done here? Given the number of EJ conversions, converters and people sayin "put an EJ in it " - I am expecting loads of comment.

a wrecker did that to me some years back with an EA81 TW I was buying bits off it as time and coin allowed. He crushed it with a nice gearbox, fuel tank, touring wagon digital dash and many other bits. He was preparing to close the business and taking things in order as they sat, to the on-site crusher.

If an AUDM EA82 had mpfi, their boxes got 25 spline outputs for the front stubs. I doubt spfi got the upgrade. Really best to put the diff ratio check on yourself especially after 35 years of possible changes by owners/repairers etc. Most rear diffs still have the ratio sticker visible - after a good clean up. r

hello czny, long time no hear I went for precisely this relay , out of a choice of two that actually came up as ignition relay of all things, for the 1999MY Forester. Their product description including precious metals and short circuit protection had me sold. Thanks for the buyer experience review. I appreciate it, and trust others will at some stage into the future The terminology chosen for relays by Subaru for this era may not have been the best. An example is that this is the "main relay" yet really seems to power up the injectors and sensors, and ECU nothing really "main" when the bulk of other power demanding things are considered. The "ignition" relay seems to be mainly for items off the IGN position of keyswitch, not the actual ignition of the fuel that I kept reading it as. The ignition coil comes direct off the back of the ignition switch - no relay involved. Listings for these relays call them ignition relay whereas my ignition relay are the cylindrical, aluminium cased 22A jobbies.

further update is Subaru in Australia says NLA for the first part number, the 25232AA020 is on back order from Japan , price A$88

follow up on my local searches .....results are why I am back looking at US for stuff. The RY-56 comes up in rock cat, and lists off a few Subaru part numbers including the ones I know. Then, in the actual Forester section for 1999, ignition, relays, there is a brown ignition relay that states these RY688 also have added short circuit protection - assuming diode or resistor built in. In Aussie dollars they are 25 for the RY-56, and about 40 for the RY-688

Am hoping to drop by an Australian stockist of automotive electrical with the turd brown one to see if we have a generic RY-56 relay. The inter motor listing specs and blurb sounds impressive.

I am thinking back to the GF8 Impreza of 2000MY , made in late 99, that became the eventual donor of the long motor in this Foz. I don't recall an immobiliser module being separate from the ECU so may be a case with the Denso ECU bolted on the block - to have a separate immobiliser. I have seen Imp ECU for sale on eBay with the immobiliser , ignition switch, lock and barrel and "antennae" ring that sits around lock's front. - as a job lot. From what I can make out from the manuals is the key's internal chip? is tuned to the immobiliser module and for security purposes not discussed further in the manual other than saying a limited number of people know how to code key to module. The ring around ignition barrel is just an antennae to pick up the signal. As for the workers comp claim - I dare say it was the poor cyclist's family needing to claim against their loss - possibly not knowing the full circumstances. Yes, hard to read due to being a photo using phone, of microfische screen, of a scan of a 1916 newspaper ! Seems no different for a few MB or few KB reproduction.

and while waiting to fix things, found a reason not to ride my bike with a cat in a bag

Yes, agree, I am thinking the same about my injector cut issue from the main relay. Seems to be OK now after the relay got a fright on my test rig. What I don't want is an immediate need for a change of underwear halfway through an overtake ...... I have some "good second hand " ones to try first

it is well worth investigating if the problem is repairable before replacing the whole thing. In the earlier days of electronic gear changing of auto trans, I have seen a few cases of issues remaining after a reconditioned unit installed. Bad power supply found to be the cause

Have you tested and noted what you are getting out of all the wires while running, then pull the drive belt to see what differs?

well, what does dark say to you? In old school auto trans thought, this means the fluid has either been in too long or cooked. Did you sniff it for a burnt smell ?

eight grand ??

well, that query fell flat with all the combined genius in here .:( this beast is up and running, suspecting the main relay, as it was the last thing I pulled and tested. I am wondering if my test rig for relays may have cleaned up some dicky contacts inside the glue sealed relay. Running an air horn compressor freely, as the new load for the relay, was maybe a bit like sending a couch potato for it's first 100m dash in it's life After reinstalling the same original relay, not only did I get a start, I got a run and even a short test drive with none of the issues of before. Now, the immobiliser , apart from power and grounding connections to the ECU, it has two wires of interest. At some point, both wires back probe tested all connected up, there is 01.83Volts in each, until it is started and runnng, then they both have higher Voltage, like 10.80 Volts Anyone understand this?

would you want to continue the chance that the issue might happen again, if you replaced the sensor?

sometimes easier said than done if throwing bits at it, at least try one component at a time,test, next, so you know what it was

Now that I am geared up to be able monitor two power circuits (main relay output for the injectors + ignition switch and fuse No. 11 for the coil power) while driving, not only does it start, it does not miss or stumble, or carry on while revving it in the safety of my yard.. A moment to name the beast, for a reason ....