brus brother Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Ever since new, my 2000 Legacy GT has pinged if I use the 89 octane recommended by the SOA. So I just got into the habit of pouring from the top shelf i.e. 91 octane. Now that gas prices have gone through the roof, I again tried 89... ping. The dealer didn't really suggest a fix back when I first got the car. It's amazing that my 90 Loyale will run on practically piss but the 2000 has gone soft. Is there an adjustment to the timing to allow me to use the lower octane? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lothar34 Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Did you try resetting the ECU and letting it recalibrate with the 89 octane gas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted July 5, 2004 Author Share Posted July 5, 2004 How do you reset the ECU? I will try that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lothar34 Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 Make sure there's only the 89 octane gas in the tank. There is a thread with instructions on resetting the ECU somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. I think it goes something like this: Pull the negative cable from the battery and leave it unplugged for about 45 minutes. Plug the cable back in and start the car. Leave it running for about 15 minutes, and don't touch the accelerator during that time. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 That procedure is what I use for OBD I systems. I don't know if it still applies to OBD II stuff. I'm not saying it doesn't, but I'm not saying it does. The pinging could be because of carbon buildup. Subarus are notorious carbon pigs. Search the Net for a product called SeaFoam that has helped for some with carbon, or just give it a good ole Italian tune-up (drive it hard and fast:brow: ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattocs Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 On my 95 Legacy and 96 OBW (OBD II) the ECU resets when you unhook the neg. battery cable for an half hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitz Posted July 5, 2004 Share Posted July 5, 2004 The "learning" capability of the Sube ECU has reached mythical proportions over the years. :^) ECU's are bound to become much more powerful in the near future, but other than stored fault codes and the "limp-home" modes that sometimes accompany them, the only parameter that's learned to the best of my knowledge is the closed-loop fuel trim (adaptive lambda target, which in itself is a reasonably mild adjustment function). The ignition timing derives from a fixed load v.s. RPM map (tempered by real-time atmospheric temperature and pressure data) and is only variable in any major way through temporary corrective retard on account of knock sensor activity. After the knock ceases, the timing moves back to the map. I'm with subyluvr2212 on the carbon issue. To take it further, it's my belief that the extremely oversquare bore/stroke ratio makes the Sube motor more sensitive to carbon buildup with regards to octane requirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted July 6, 2004 Author Share Posted July 6, 2004 Be that as it may... the carbon buildup issue... but I had this problem with the first tank of gas into the car as it rolled off the delivery truck. As I said, I just resigned myself to the higher octane gas until prices hit the ceiling. Anyone out there running 89 octane without problems in the 2000 Legacy GT? What's a boy to do?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panthasoccer4 Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 My 01 legacy runs fine on 87, and will only struggle when its cold (below 20 F). I guess im fortunate enough to not have that bad of carbon problems, although i only have 36,000 on the car. Believe it or not, my car ran terrible on 94 octane, and ive sworn off anything higher than 89. According to everyone on here the seafoam stuff is great, so i third the notion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted July 6, 2004 Author Share Posted July 6, 2004 Is the engine on the 2000 Legacy GT a 2.5? There is a current post which indicates running 91 octane. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18461 I took the car to the local Sub dealer today for "free" oil change today and in response to the ping question, they suggested a tune up first and then they would consider sending gas samples to SOA?? I would have to leave the car foir about 5 hrs.?? The car has 64K miles on the original plugs but they look OK. Anyway, as I stated originally, this condition was present when the car was brandy new. Is there a way of resetting the timing on the computer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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