check engine light on engine missing

[olivia123]

My wife has a 98 outback wagon, 2.5 auto trans, so I don’t drive it very much. The check engine light came on about a week ago and was intermittent for a few days and now seems to be staying on all the time. Until yesterday the car still was running normally with the light on. Yesterday, a very hot day, the car seemed to be losing power especially on up grades and was surging when starting from a stop and in general seemed to be missing.

 

When I got home I left it running and opened the hood. I heard what sounded to me like a clicking sound that seemed to be caused by air rather than metal to metal. The AC was still on and both fans were running as they should be I think. I was thinking vacuum leak.

 

I started it up this morning and all seemed normal except the check engine light was still on. I drove it for about 15 minutes including some upgrades and all seemed normal. When I got back that the AC was cycling on and on frequently as it idled and when it was on I could here the clicking sound I mentioned earlier. When the AC came on the driver’s side fan came on first then the passenger. I thought they were supposed to come on at the same time. I don’t have a reader to pull codes.

 

I am thinking about putting plugs and wires on it as I haven’t done that since I’ve had the car, about 40,000 miles. I have read several threads on changing the plugs on the 2.5 and actually decided to give it a go a couple of months ago but I couldn’t even get the tee boot off the front plug on the pass side. So any tips on removing these would also be appreciated. Sorry for the length of this post. This forum has bailed me out many times in the past and thanks in advance for the advice.

[heartless]

first & foremost - go get the code read!! the car is trying to tell you something, find out what it is! It makes absolutely no sense to start throwing money & time at a problem when you dont know what the problem is.

 

places like Advance Auto & Autozone will read codes for you for free if you can get the car to them.

[subie_chick]

Auto Zone and Advanced Auto will read check engine light codes for you for free! I get it done all of the time! I always ask them to write it down or print it for me, they do this in hopes that you will buy parts from them. It only takes 5 minutes for them to do this!

Also, sometimes you can get them to clear your code for you, they are not suppose to but some will if you explain to them you want to see if it was just an intermittent thing or if its persistent!

 

 

 

Good Luck!

 

Lisa

[olivia123]

Thanks for the tip to go to Advance Auto to read codes. They lent me the reader so I was able to use it myself in the paring lot. I found a P0325 knock sensor code and reset it. On the way home the CEL came back on. I have read some posts about the knock sensor and the symptoms seem pretty similar to what I’m having. So I will locate it, run the continuity test and most likely just replace it and see what happens.

 

Any suggestions where to purchase? Third party sensors OK?

[heartless]

i dont know on the 2.5's - but the one on my 2.2 is aftermarket (dont remember where i got it from) and works fine - hopefully someone with more experience with the 2.5 will chime in here.

[nipper]

A knock sensor code is a knock sensro 99% of the time. They are a common failure on soobys. Just replace it with a generic one.

[olivia123]

First thanks to all who responded, it got me focused on the knock sensor. Anway when I went to locate the sensor I couldn’t find it and came to realize that it was covered with nut shells, thanks to a local squirrel I think. So I blew off the shells with my air compressor blower and got to thinking that just maybe that was causing the problem. So I disconnected the neg bat terminal to reset the code and have been driving it for three days no CEL and the car is running fine. Just a coincidence or is there any possibility that the sensor being covered with shells could cause it to not behave normally?

[bstone]

Time to make Squirrel soup!

 

It you cleaned the sensor and the light it off then don't replace it. How is it driving? Any more loss of power?

[SuBrat84]

It is possible that the nut shells bouncing around on top of the sensor could cause issues.. It's more likely that your Rodent has chewed through a wire and when you blew it off you made the wire so it's not shorting out anymore. Look real close for bare wires.. Some electrical tape might go a long way in this situation!

[Rooster2]

First thanks to all who responded, it got me focused on the knock sensor. Anway when I went to locate the sensor I couldn’t find it and came to realize that it was covered with nut shells, thanks to a local squirrel I think. So I blew off the shells with my air compressor blower and got to thinking that just maybe that was causing the problem. So I disconnected the neg bat terminal to reset the code and have been driving it for three days no CEL and the car is running fine. Just a coincidence or is there any possibility that the sensor being covered with shells could cause it to not behave normally?

 

No, don't think that nut shells would cause the knock sensor to misbehave. My 98 OBW had the knock sensor go bad. CEL would come on, then turn itself off, then back on again a couple of days later. Don't be surprised if the CEL comes back on soon. If so, replace the knock sensor, and it should cure your problem. I bought my sensor at Auto Zone. They were nice enough to read the code at no charge, so I gave them my business.

 

A dealer would have charged a diagnostic fee of about $80 to read the codes. There is a time when it is best to go to AZ, this was one of them.