Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

'87 GL Ignition Module Problem


Recommended Posts

Your welcome GT. I guess checking the voltage at the protected side of fuse #20, while the problem is happening, would tell the story about that line for the most part. Testing at the ECU end would be the best though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another quick and easy visual check would be to remove the underside plastic covering under the steering wheel and follow the cable harness coming from the ignition switch. About 6 to 8 inches from the ignition switch the cable plugs into the main harness with a plastic connector. Usually a white one although I've seen light blue and pink ones. Examine the connector since the main current for the ignition runs through one of the wires in the cable. It's not uncommon on the older cars for that one wire's terminal inside the connector to go bad and not carry the current needed to start the car properly. When that happens, the connection gets hot and the connector starts to turn brown (or black) around that wire. If your connector has started to turn brown, it's pretty easy to splice a suitable guage wire (remember we're carrying a fair amount of current here) around the faulty connector. I've had to do this on enough of the older cars to realize this is a pretty common problem. A faulty terminal here can also cause your intermittant starting problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know I'm jumping in here kind of late, but I would double check that the ignition relay is not sticking intemitently. Are you certain that you are getting fuel when it doesn't start? A check of the fuel pump relay wouldn't hurt either. Seems like I usually spend all sorts of time trouble shooting this kind of problem, only to finally discover that I have a failing relay or bad ground or something simple like that. Good Luck! Keith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know I'm jumping in here kind of late, but I would double check that the ignition relay is not sticking intemitently. Are you certain that you are getting fuel when it doesn't start? A check of the fuel pump relay wouldn't hurt either. Seems like I usually spend all sorts of time trouble shooting this kind of problem, only to finally discover that I have a failing relay or bad ground or something simple like that. Good Luck! Keith

Here is a quick low down on this problem for new viewers (at least as far as I understand it):

 

The problem with the car is that it won't start up in the 'start' mode, intermitantly. It does start and run ok doing a compression start so fuel delivery appears to be ok. We suspect that there is intermitant electrical connection problem either in the ignition switch, one of the green fusible links, fuse #20, ignition relay, or wiring to and from these points. All these items supply voltage to pin 18 of the ECU while the key is turned to the start position only.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's been some good posts on this problem... cougar is taking it systematicly and that normally will make things work eventually.

 

I wanted to mention...... Check all of your fuses and make sure they have good contact. Any sign of rust or dirt should be cleaned out and if need be replace

the fuses. I've seen fuses do some weird things with Subarus.

 

"If everything starts to fail.. Check the fuses"!

~Boing~

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...