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1996 Subaru Legacy Wagon Issue


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I have a 96 Subaru Legacy wagon. 2.2L 5 speed.

 

Everything was running good on the car till last week when it lost power and broke down. Now the car still starts, but runs poorely. When i give it gas it just boggs and dies. also idles rough

never had an issue before with this car

 

soo i finally got the CEL to come on and here are the codes

 

p0105 Manifold Absolute pressure circuit

p0201 Injector 1 Control Circuit

p0204 Injector 4 Control Circuit

p0301 Cylinder 1 misfire

p0136 02 Sensor Circuit Malfunction

 

soo i figure with throwing all these codes and after checking out all these parts that it is the ecu.

 

soo i took out the ecu.

it looked and smelt fine

 

whatever, i got a new one from a place online

 

now my ecu is 2N 22611 AC930

 

the ecu that i recieved was a 2D 22611 AB414

 

I put the ecu in the car and it will not start at all

 

does anyone have any idea why this is doing that??? my car is a 96, This ecu i baught was supposed to work for a 5 speed 2.2l legacy wagon 95-97

 

 

please help!!!!

 

 

thanks

 

- Mark-

 

Ps: I also do not know for a fact its ECU but i figured it could be since it threw soo many codes

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How many miles on the car?

 

It could be that the "new" ECU is dead. Hard to say though. Will it still start with the old one?

 

All of those are circuit codes except for the misfire code. You could have a loose or broken ground wire somewhere causing the trouble. That would be the easy fix.

 

My first thought was skipped timing belt. Has the timing belt ever been replaced? I'm also always suspicious of vacuum leaks whenever multiple codes show up, or general poor driveability is encountered.

 

There are certain conditions that when present the ECU will cut power to the number one injector, kind of a Failsafe mode, to alert you that there is something seriously wrong and it needs to be checked out ASAP.

 

Try searching those code numbers here on the board and you might come up with some other ideas to check.

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An ECU tends to be one of the most reliable parts, and would rarely be the cause of multiple codes. I'd suggest reinstalling the original one and see if the engine will start.

 

With so many seemingly unrelated circuit problems, the common factor tends to be power or ground issues. A failing main relay, for example, could cause what you're experiencing.

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All this guessing is going to kill you - slow down. Cat converter is bad, your fuel pump is clogged, you have bad gas, your MAF is flipping out....et.al.

 

First - like OBW says (you'll find he knows his stuff), ECU's almost never fail. Usually caused by improper jumping or some other tinkering.

 

Put your old ECU back in, it's fine. When you have multiple codes standard procedure is to clear them and see which come back. It's telling you codes, start with known issue, it doesn't take long.

 

Cylinder misfire is very common on EJ engines - spark plugs or wires likely need changed.

 

On some occasions one fault can trigger others, so it very well could be that only one or two of those are legit.

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You mentioned buying gas at a shady gas station, that could be the source of the problem, particularly if you have had some rainy weather lately. It is easy for a shady place to have bad gas resulting from run off rain water getting past worn out seals on the top of the station's under ground gas tank. Years ago, a cheapie station in my town had this trouble. It resulted in stalled, or nearly stalled cars all over town.

 

Suggest you try adding a can or two of "dry gas" to your gas tank in case this is your problem.

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just did wires n plugs

that could be your problem. did you use Subaru wires and NGK plugs? EJ engines are notorious for not being forgiving to aftermarket stuff, i've seen brand new wires cause CEL's and undrivability (nice word for a late night laugh!)

 

if they weren't Subaru wires and NGK plugs - it could be the problem, how soon after this work did you have the problem?

 

again - all this guessing is going to kill you. i sort of tossed the bad gas, fuel pump, fuel filter, catalytic converter all out there to show you the number of possible "guesses" and how that's a bad way to diagnosis a problem.

 

let's start with what we know: your ECU is not bad, reinstall the old one.

 

clear the codes and see which come back. let the ECU tell us what the problem is and start from there. if they all come back, then so be it, but that rarely happens.

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so finally got it to throw a cel again..

 

 

 

it thru the colde p0301 and p 0302

 

 

 

my guess is i have a grounding issue... im gonna buy all new ground cables and re do them

 

 

 

anyone else got an idea???

 

 

 

i threw my ecu back in the car for good too

 

 

 

starts but runs poorly

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I had a similar problem with mine... In my case I had to wait for the 'ABS' light to go off before making my dashing getaway... :-)

 

In my Sube it usually takes 4 or 5 seconds for it to go off after starting the engine.

 

 

Hope that bit helps,

 

Damien

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Parts don't count as OEM unless they come from Subaru, and say Subaru on them.

 

Double check that the wires are seated correctly in the coil, and that they are fully seated on the spark plugs. They can be a real Pita to get clicked on all the way. A pair of plug wire pliers is a big help on these.

If they're on all the way, and you're positive that they are, switch back to the old wires and see if it changes.

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If, as Fairtax4me suggested, the plug wires are properly seated at both ends, then do see if reinstalling the originals makes a difference. The two cylinders that are misfiring (#1 & #2) are ''wasted spark'' paired -- they share the same coil in the pack. A problem with that coil or either plug wire could cause misfire on both of those cylinders. Once you get back to us after checking the ignition wires, we can offer other ideas if needed.

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