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2001 forester not starting, looking for second opinions


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Hopefully someone with more Subaru experience can help me out.

 

here's the long spark notes.

 

-hydrolocked the ej251

-replaced with new ej257 shortblock (04)

-used the ej251 heads, intake, wiring, timing gears, etc etc (everything aside from the ej257 shortblock and ej257 headgaskets)

-fired right up.

-had idle issues.

-cleaned iacv and it fixed the Idle.

-drove car ~300miles with no issues

-Started having overfueling issues.

-fixed issues with new Bosch upstream o2(all the autostore had in stock).

-punched out cats becuase I cooked them with the overfueling.

-put new coilpack(Delphi), plugs(ngk iridium) and plug wires(ngk),becuase the plugs were trashed from all the fuel and the coil pack and wires had roughly 15,000miles on them.

-drove the car another 800miles no issues, ran great.

-my idle issues began coming back so I ordered a crappy iacv that was far from OEM but should have at least worked for a couple hours(200+$is alot to spend on a part just to find out its not the issue)

-put the new iacv and started car.

-idled up to 3000rpm and slowly dropped to around 1500(relearning? That was my thoughts)

-tach and fuel gauge both droped to zero and E. And fuel level warning light came on.

-engine remained running for about a second then rough idled and died.

Managed to start it again but had to keep it WOT or it would die, sounded as if the timing was way out or it was running on one cylinder. Got it into my garage and it wouldn't start again, just hiccups and backfires and cranks.

-put the old iacv in and made no difference.

-checked fuses, all good.

-thought perhaps I somehow killed/shorted the ecu with the craptastic cheap new iacv.

-installed new used ecu along with new front o2(Denso), cam sensor, crank sensor knock sensor, fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator and cleaned the map sensor(I changed all the sensors becuase I didn't feel like checking each sensor to see if anywere bad.)

-checked the timing belt, still set right....turned it by hand a few times to make sure it repeated.

-put everything back together and went to start it but the battery was deadish from sitting in the cold.

-hooked up to charger on boost.

-fired right up and sounds smooth and tach was working again but it wouldn't idle and would imediatly die when throttle is released(this was with my old iacv)

-started again this time using the throttle to get it around an idle rpm and car began to idle at 300rpm by itself.

-took battery charger off and imediatly died.

-took altenator to be tested, checked out good. Battery was weak so I replaced it.

-tried to start it with brand new battery and it just cranks and cranks and occasionaly will try to fire by just give a hiccup and go back to cranking. Fuel gauge still reads e and warning light is on, and yes there is fuel(3/4 of a tank)

 

 

Im thinking the fuel pump is starting to go bad, or has gone bad? Im waiting on my garage to open up and I'm going to check it.

 

Any other thoughts, things I could check?

 

Sorry for the lengthy post. Just trying to give as much info as I can to try and figure this thing out so I actualy have a winter vehicle again

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Put a little fuel in the Intake through the throttle.  If it starts and runs for a short time, then you know it's fuel related.  

 

Is the CEL on?  If so what's the code/s?

 

Good Luck

Unfortunately my cel is burned out. I use my torque app to read codes but I have to do it randomly or guess when there might be a code, currently there is no faults.

 

I'm going to try some starting fluid once I get it in the garage. And also plumb a fuel pressure gauge in to make sure its getting proper pressure, I believe its 44psi?

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Make sure the plugs on the bell-housing are plugged together all the way.

This was a problem early on when I very first put the engine in. Friend that was helping me never fully clicked one of the connectors together, my fault for not going over it all myself but found that and fixed it. I'll try disconnecting all the plugs and reconnecting them, easy enough to try.

 

 

2 things come to mind; a missing/loose ground wire somewhere, and/or, the IACV hose is loose from the underside of the intake.

Loose ground wire had crossed my mind so I did put two new grounds direct from the negative terminal using battery cable wire. One from negative to the strut tower and one from negative to the block. I will look over all my factory grounds once it gets in the garage.

 

Hadn't thought of the iacv hose, ill also look into that as most of the hoses on this engine are baked and wearing out, could probly use replacing anyways.

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Fuel pressure should be 36psi while running. anything higher means it probably has a fuel pressure regulator issue.

 

If it over field itself, it's possible it washed the cylinders and now it doesn't have enough compression to start. Easiest thing to do is hold the throttle wide open and crank. It will shut the fuel off to the injectors and hopefully burn off the excess that's in there.

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Speaking of ground wires, the ECU grounds through the intake manifold. On the 01 you should have two sets of ground wires right up top of the manifold. Make sure those are clean and tight.

Thanks, will take them off and clean them up.

 

Fuel pressure should be 36psi while running. anything higher means it probably has a fuel pressure regulator issue.

If it over field itself, it's possible it washed the cylinders and now it doesn't have enough compression to start. Easiest thing to do is hold the throttle wide open and crank. It will shut the fuel off to the injectors and hopefully burn off the excess that's in there.

Just installed a new regulator so hopefully thats good, wouldn't be the first time a new part is bad though.

 

I had driven the car 800 miles with numerous Starts and stops after all the overfueling so I'm assuming that's not the case. I will be doing a compression test regardless, want to make sure my valves are all seating good.

 

Check all your hoses. Esp the iacv hose...

Thanks will do, that iacv is the most annoying thing ever.

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Quick update. Problem seems to be fixed. Ground wires on top of the passenger side(usdm) of the intake manifold weren't completely tight. Took them off, cleaned with sand paper, re installed. Started right up. Idle was still really low(250-300rpm), switched to my cheapoh 25$ ebay iacv and got a little better. Started wiggling wires, tps wasn't making good connection, cleaned and re installed, idle was back to normal and car is running seemingly good now.

 

Thanks all that helped, ill update again after I put a few miles on to confirm its all good.

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Fun times, my car obviously hates going to work as much as I do haha. Drove 100 miles tho weekend all fine. Started up this morning no issues, got to gas station after filling up started car and presto chango, wont hop an idle and just dies when you let off the throttle. Didn't get to pull codes but I'm thinking its either my cheapo iacv or possibly my tps crapping out.

Edited by tjras
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