censer and code issue's - Check engine light

[mhendrick]

I own a '92 Loyale and one of the censer's has triggered the Check Engine. She's a bit hard to start and rouge, finally when she warms up then it's okay and after driving her around a bit she's just fine. Trying to locate two senors which no one seems to know what they are ... no mechanic in my town know's a thing about Subaru's and I'am a 67 year old woman and no mechanic myself. How do I go about locating the senor's and knowing exactly what she needs? I love my car and bought her new in '92. mch

[somick]

There is a lot of information here on the board about how to read codes. You will need to go no your knees and open a knee bolster (under your steering wheel) I think about 6 screws total. You wil see a silver rectangular box there (your car's computer). If you move wires a little down you will see a tiny bulb on the car's computer. They call it O2 sensor. Put your key in the ignition and turn it to on, but do not start the car. You will see O2 sensor start flashing. Count short and long flashes and come back here. Somebody will help you decode the error code.

 

Good luck,

 

Sam

[mhendrick]

Thank you so much and I'll do exactly what you said.. REALLY THANK U... mch

[ruparts]

hi,

the little light location is right , but you will have to plug together the diagnostic connectors to actually have the light show any codes, the connectors should be there in the same area i believe.. mine is 88 so 92 may be somewhere else (under hood ) i am not sure on where , but they have to be connected to read the codes. someone familiar with 92 might chime in on this. there are two sets of test connectors , read memory and clear memory, on mine the read memory connectors are 1 wire each green plastic 1 male, 1 female, plug them together and then you can read any codes stored in the computer.

many times the coolent temp sensor (on the intake manifold) can cause those issues you mentioned, and its corrosion on the connection to it at fault many times.

[mhendrick]

Thank you all very much for helping and it's really appreciated. Love my Subbie she's the best car I've ever owned. The only time she won't start right up is when the battery is dead ... personally think that's quite a record for 20 years...and that's the truth. Maybe it's the talking to her everyday.

 

The mechanic's here don't want to mess with my car as they say it's too old.

There's one green plastic small tag and one red they're both attached to separate wires.... looks like one on the left and other on right.

 

The shop hooked it up to a diagnostic machine and they thought it read

a problem with emissions . As long as it's not too cold out and I drive it every day things usually work pretty good. I,m not much of a mechanic but can learn. Just want to keep her running and in good health. mch

[mhendrick]

Here's what I found the prior mechanic's left several wires dangling. There are two on the left ;one has a blue plastic cover and the other has a pink cover and with it is one with a white plastic cover both of them have several wires bundled together and attached to them on the left side up under the dash.

 

Then in the center are two clear or white plastic ends and another white plastic with a brown plastic end attached.

 

When I first start her up after sitting over night the check engine light comes on and she sounds like she's running on only 3 cylinders and it's fairly rough sounding. If I take her out and drive around a bit the light goes off and she's running great everything goes back sounding good.

 

The one mechanic told me it was an emissions sensor and needed to be replaced but they couldn't locate one so I was on my own.

mch

[mhendrick]

hi,

the little light location is right , but you will have to plug together the diagnostic connectors to actually have the light show any codes, the connectors should be there in the same area i believe.. mine is 88 so 92 may be somewhere else (under hood ) i am not sure on where , but they have to be connected to read the codes. someone familiar with 92 might chime in on this. there are two sets of test connectors , read memory and clear memory, on mine the read memory connectors are 1 wire each green plastic 1 male, 1 female, plug them together and then you can read any codes stored in the computer.

many times the coolent temp sensor (on the intake manifold) can cause those issues you mentioned, and its corrosion on the connection to it at fault many times.

 

Where is the or about where is the intake manifold and would you know how I could clean the corrosion or replace it ? mch

[somick]

hi,

the little light location is right , but you will have to plug together the diagnostic connectors to actually have the light show any codes, the connectors should be there in the same area i believe.. mine is 88 so 92 may be somewhere else (under hood ) i am not sure on where , but they have to be connected to read the codes. someone familiar with 92 might chime in on this. there are two sets of test connectors , read memory and clear memory, on mine the read memory connectors are 1 wire each green plastic 1 male, 1 female, plug them together and then you can read any codes stored in the computer.

many times the coolent temp sensor (on the intake manifold) can cause those issues you mentioned, and its corrosion on the connection to it at fault many times.

Yes, that what Haynes manual says, but on my Loyale it works the other way around.

Any way, the two green connectors that need to be shorted are located under the hood. They are at the driver side at the very top, near the fire wall. To the right of the fuel filter.

Try checking codes with and without connectors shorted.

 

Good luck,

Sam

[somick]

Here's what I found the prior mechanic's left several wires dangling. There are two on the left ;one has a blue plastic cover and the other has a pink cover and with it is one with a white plastic cover both of them have several wires bundled together and attached to them on the left side up under the dash.

 

Then in the center are two clear or white plastic ends and another white plastic with a brown plastic end attached.

 

When I first start her up after sitting over night the check engine light comes on and she sounds like she's running on only 3 cylinders and it's fairly rough sounding. If I take her out and drive around a bit the light goes off and she's running great everything goes back sounding good.

 

The one mechanic told me it was an emissions sensor and needed to be replaced but they couldn't locate one so I was on my own.

mch

How about regular maintenance items: distributor cap, wires, spark plugs?

 

Sam