I'm sorry.. checking engine codes with no CEL

[daeron]

allright, i have a 2wd, 87 GL10, ea-82, spfi, automatic trans. I am having an issue that i suspect is either the MAF or the TP sensor.. but before i tear into a bunch of legwork, i wanted to check the diagnostics.

EDIT the first three posts i made could be skipped, issue figured out to that point. scroll down to my next bold question for where I am at now please. thank you, i thought i would save you some time in reading obsolete material.

 

 

 

ive read the USRM, i know there are two connectors that pertain to checking codes, and i know the process fairly well, ive read it in the partial 89 FSM a couple times through, it makes sense.. except, of course, for the fact that i cannot locate the connectors on my car. I was searching, with the covers off below the wheel, i can see the ECU.. but the only unplugged wires down there are one single wire with a red or pink plug (its pink but it may have been red at one point.. old, yanno?) and there is one single side of like a 12-18 pin connector.. i was trying to find what that went to (theres only one plug, nothing for it to connect to...) and came in here to do a search... and it started raining. so i figured id go ahead and post, since im kind of at a stand still anyhow. I wanted to get pics, hopefully i can get a cam soon and do so.. is that pink plug anything? it might be the door chime, i remember finding that in the past changing a turn signal flasher.. my dear brother had already unplugged it. good thing

 

Anyhow, those are the only unplugged connectors under the dash i could see. In the engine bay, there are two unplugged connectors... right in front of the wiper motor, right?? one of them is the green connector used to set the timing.. is this also the read memory connector?? and there is one, white, single-wire connector there too.. the two wires going to either side of the white plug, and the four for the green plug, all branch out of the main wiring harness at the same point and are of about the same length.. is that single white plug the test mode connector?

 

i tried the green connector hypothesis, plugged it in, and turned the key to on.. looked around, and couldnt see a flashing light. im looking at the large black box, i cant recall the markings on it and its raining, but it had a huge battery of yellow plugs on the drivers side, and i couldnt find a blinky light. That, however, could just have been from poor angles.. the light is located on the passenger's side of the box? like, set in to it like a power led in a car amplifier? if it is located in the passenger's side face of the box that is the ECU, i can find it. literal confirmation of that would be appreciated. maybe im bonkers, i just stopped writing the post to re-check that 89 fsm, and it didnt say where the connectors are, or what kind/how many wires each had. the USRM only revealed that they vary in location, and i havent bothered to check my haynes manual. I will find that and make sure its no help after i post, and i will try to get some fotos to illustrate my questions.

 

but to sum up

1. what is the large harness without a mate under my dash, any thoughts?

 

2. i have a one wire pink or red connector under the dash, a single wire white plug and the two wire green plug for the timing under the hood. which of these plugs, if any of them, are my read memory and test mode plugs?

 

and

3. where on the ecu is the LED located? the FSM showed it on the face of the box that points towards the driver.. and im going to go see if i can locate it now, if its stopped raining.

 

thanks, i know its been covered, but as far as i can tell my specific questions are varies-by-model-year, and a precursory search didnt return anything that was anywhere near enough of a match to my model...and my machine is running lagged out right now, so an extended search isnt really something i have time for right now. i appreciate the feedback.

 

-shawn

[mikeshoup]

White is the read memory connector.

Green is the diagnostics/timing/stuff connector.

 

To see what's stored in the memory, connect the white connector.

 

The other connectors are for diagnostics, or parts you don't have.

 

The LED is on the black box bolted to the bottom of your steering column. The light will be on the side facing toward the rear of the car.

 

Someone really should add to the FSM that white/black connectors are the read memory, and the green is the test mode...

[daeron]

well golly gee, gilligan, it only took you two minutes after posting to go outside and find the LED light....

 

I are dumb:banana: :banana:

 

did subaru ever make one of those short school buses?

 

the other questions still stand though

 

well further update, having found the LED i tried the single conductor white plug under the hood (the pinky WAS the door chime) and i think its giving me information

 

im getting pen and paper now.

 

i KNEW i shouldnt have posted.... but i didnt think the rain was gonna let up :- )

 

edit

 

i literally went outside as soon as i had made my first post, found the LED, and came back and typed up my gilligan comment.. THEN went to check the rest out before i posted a second time, because i had already learned my lesson. so if i plug the green one in and turn the key to on, the diagnostics mode is entered, and i can check any codes from that.. cool thanks for the help. i would have still been barking at it backwards, so to speak.. because i had assumed the opposite.

[daeron]

allright, i had NO check engine light on.. i have seen it before, when i plugged all those connectors in to give it a test drive :- ) it didnt run any better, that was before i discovered the USMB needless to say. actually, it was why i discovered the USMB.... and also the other day, i forgot to plug the CTS back in before i started the car. Occasionally, when making sharp, hard Uturns, i see a red light in that area come on, but i had thought it was brake fluid... couldnt tell, im in the middle of a uturn at speed, i cant look at the red flash that comes on for half a second in my peripheral vision. you dont think that could be a momentary CEL??

 

my codes were 11, 13, and 21. 21 is the thermosensor, makes sense, i saw a CEL until i plugged it back in and it hasnt been cleared... but the other two seem to point towards CAS... the USRM entry lists 1987 fuel injected models.. but doesnt specify SPFI, the 88 and later says SPFI, so im not sure which to go by, but 87 says 11=Ignition Pulse/Crank Angle Sensor and 88 says 11=Crank Angle Sensor or Circuit.. both agree on 13, Crank Angle Sensor or Circuit..

 

yikes, thats a new one on me... but like i said, i have no CEL historically.. so im gonna try clearing these codes. havent checked diagnostic mode yet... but i dont know if those codes on the USRM pertain to that.... but im gonna go try diagnostic mode, and see what blinks up. could i be wrong about my red light on my u-turns, could that be causing an erroneous CAS issue that would be stored in my ECU?? i ask because it happened like, three days ago, and its happened once or twice since ive had the car.... so if it COULD cause it, it would naturally still be in the memory.... the FSM says 11=no reference pulse, and 13 = no position pulse.. how could it work if it was really a problem?

[daeron]

okay i figured out the diagnostics.. i plugged the green plug in, turned the motor on, and revved above 2,000 for forty seconds to turn on my check engine light, and it threw out 31, 32, 33, 51, and 61..

31 Throttle Sensor or Circuit

32 Oxygen Sensor or Circuit

33 Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) or Circuit

51 Neutral Switch Continuously in the On Position

61 Parking Switch or Circuit

 

so those last three... uhm.. the car was in park, still, in my parking lot.. are these last three error codes legitimate troubles, or can i ignore them?? beyond that, i see my TPS is indicated.. as i thought might be the case.. and my o2 sensor! those are fairly cheap arent they? anyways that ones a no0brainer, new o2 sensor, no big deal.. but the speed and transmission sensors, do i need to be concerned about them?

 

i know ive posted alot of stuff that ive worked my own way around, but now ive got the codes and im unsure what they really mean, when you get down to the grits of the situation..... as i said in my oroiginal post, i suspected the TPS in the first place, thats why im checking my codes with no CEL issues..

 

and i almost had one in my hands the other day in the junkyard.. there was a car without alternator or compressor already, so i went to grab it.. but one of the screw head stripped out, and i wasnt well supplied with tools to choose from :- (

 

so to sum up the whole bloody thread to this point, if you havent read it yet,

 

all i need to know is, with the ECU throwing the above codes in diagnostic mode, do i need to worry about the vehicle speed, and park/neutral switch sensors?

[daeron]

bump, boldfaced question in last post never got answered. i got a CEL the other day too, oddly enough. My TPS has been going from bad to worse and havent checked stored codes yet to see what turned it on the other day, but i will soon.. but the CAS codes i still dont understand...nor the vehicle spped, and transmission codes thrown in diagnostic mode. thanks for any further input.

[calebz]

Clear the codes and drive for a bit. See if any new ones pop up.