Lack of power??

[Midwst]

Well crap. I just decided to keep the Legacy and now it is running like hell. sounds like it is not getting oil pressure on restart. On hot restart, runs really rough, like a dead miss and that sickening not quite enough oil sound. Has plenty of oil. Timing belt was replaced...but by previous owner. Odd thing is car runs fine when started cold...excepts takes a little while longer to build oil pressure than I would like. I know this is the wrong forum...but any ideas? Obviously need to reseal the oil pump. I would suspect fuel, but it runs all uncoordinated, like a 3 legged race. Will also posts this on New Generation forum and see what I come up with. Damnit! Engine and a tranny job...god I hope not. May take you up on your offer Miles Fox.

[MilesFox]

if it starts hard on a warm start i would suspect the engine temperature sensor, not the one for the gauge but the one for the ecu.

[Midwst]

Actually starts fine on a hot start, just runs like holly hell.

[MilesFox]

i fits running like a misfire maybe the injector resistor is going out. anyway my buddy had a legacy with a misfire it idla nd while driving. it didnt buck or kick but you can tell one cyl wast firing all the time. no amount of changing the wire, changing the injector, or changing the whole motor for thet matter made a difference. then he changed the resistor and all was good

 

 

this resistor is located on the firewall and is encased in aluminum, long rectangular housing on a triangular mounting plate. maybe you an heve this part tested or compare it to resistance values in some sort of suabru manual

[Midwst]

good idea. It occurs to the that the oil pump is driven by the crankshaft. If the car has a dead miss, the crankshaft turns unevenly, causing oil pump not to pump as well. Fix the miss, fix half of the oil pressure problem. Will check basics too, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, injectors. Maybe I can save this baby after all. Will fix miss first, then reseal oil pump. any way to tell if distributor is worn out...guess that wouldn't be it, becasue that would be a constant miss. This is intermitant. Electrical or fuel I think. Is the distributor mechanical or electric driven?

[subaruru]

When I test drove the automatic Loyale, the car was miserably slow. I turned onto a really steep hill and it took some time to get up it. The car seemed to work pretty hard to finally get up to 55 mph. The acceleration from a stop light is very slow. TheSubaruJunkie says thats just the way auto Loyales are. Slower than Geo metros. I spoke with another Loyale owner, who says it could be a sign that the car has been overheated and has engine damage. Other people said a possible problem with a restricted exhaust or the distributor. What IS normal for an auto Loyale? I am so damn poor I can't afford to replace an engine...or even rebuild one so I am very cautious. Besides, there aren't any decent used Loyale engines in my area, so I'd have to go reman or have it shipped in.

 

Hey! The bit about "overheated and has engine damage" really struck a note. My old 86 Subaru GL Loyale used to have lots more uphill pull until I had an overheating problem (one of the pipes that came out of the engine developed a hole because the former owner ran it with water only (!)), and it heated up to the border with the red area. Ever since then, my Loyale has been a gutless wonder, it idles like crap, but runs slightly better when it warms up, but the main problem is the lack of power which only begin to manifest itself AFTER the overheating problem. A damaged head gasket? A damaged (melted?) timing belt? Thanks for 'listening", and I would appreciate any informative reply, especially replies that suggest some process of elimination for arriving at the problem.