youareabus Posted October 3, 2006 Share Posted October 3, 2006 OK, I've cleared the codes as the USRM says and the CEL goes out. It lights back up as soon as the engine is re-started. I can't see any led's on the computer blinking. I even checked at night and no sign of anything blinking at all. So straighten me out here. After searching and reading every post I could find on this, the ECU is suposed to blink the "OK" code whenever the key is turned to the "on" position. Do I have to pull the ECU out and hang it from under the dash to see the codes? Where on the ECU are the LED's? Walk me through this as even though this has been talked about a lot, there are peices missing that likely are filled in as soon as you do it the first time. 92 Loyale FWD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syonyk Posted October 3, 2006 Share Posted October 3, 2006 First, did you disconnect both the white & green connectors after clearing the codes? Second, the light flashing on the ECU should be visible if you pull the lower dash panel off - under the steering wheel, there's a large panel. Remove it (should be 5 or 6 screws/trim holder things), and you can see the LED flashing on the ECU without removing anything else. -=Russ=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 3, 2006 Share Posted October 3, 2006 sounds like one of the plugs is still connected that shouldn't be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youareabus Posted October 3, 2006 Author Share Posted October 3, 2006 Nope. The plastic cover is off so I'm looking right at the bottom of the ECU. There IS a metal shield over just the ECU though, appears to be a mounting bracket. There are NO test connectors still connected. On this one there are a green pair and a white pair and they are in the engine compartment next to the spare on the drivers side. OK, curious, there is another box about the same size mounted to the bottom of the package shelf in the trunk. That one is marked with a generic "control unit". The one above the steering column looks just about the same with no sticker and more wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 Nope. The plastic cover is off so I'm looking right at the bottom of the ECU. There IS a metal shield over just the ECU though, appears to be a mounting bracket. At about the center of the side facing the driver's seat, there is a hole in the sheet metal sheild of the ECU. The LED is visible through the hole, but it does not stick out or point out the hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youareabus Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 There are 2 under-dash covers on my Loyale. The first one is gone and the second one is the lower dash cover. I found the LED and pulled the codes. Thank you for your help here. The codes I got are 34 and 35. EGR solenoid or circuit, and Purge control solenoid or circuit. I cleared the codes again, (connect the 2 connector sets, start the engine, CEL goes out, shut it off) and disconnected the connectors and started the engine again. Instant CEL. I also tried this with the EGR solenoid connector disconnected and it did the same thing. It still throws BOTH codes instantly on restart so there has to be a commonality here. Where to go from here, has anyone fought this battle before and can give me a good reason why this is most likely X, Y, or Z? THANKS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 well, that is indicating that you have an issue with your egr solenoid (or the circuit) and your purge control solenoid (or the circuit). clearing the codes, then immediately getting them again, means that they are real issues that need to be dealt with. i know the egr solenoid has a quick-and-dirty fix, but i dont know the details. you can do a search though, as it has been discussed recently.. EDIT thank you, cougar, for knowing what i was trying to say to him, better than I did myself. like i said, common issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 Since you are getting codes for both solenoids it seems that the problem may be with the common return line to them from the ECU. My info shows that a blk/wht wire ties the two solenoids together and also ties to a air solenoid. These all tie to the same blk/wht wire on pin 16 of the ECU. I would check to make sure you have continuity from pin 16 and to both of the blk/wht wires on the solenoids. You should see close to zero ohms between the two points. Also check the connector to them and see if there is a contact problem. It may just be a dirty connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youareabus Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 OK, I tied 2 37 ohm resistors together in series to make 74 Mohms and made up 2 of those with male spade connectors. I pulled the connectors on the EGR solenoid and the purge solenoid and installed them and cleared the codes again. My CEL still came back on right away but it is only throwing the 35 code now(purge). So unless the 34 code comes back I fixed the EGR solenoid problem and will replace the part when I can. I still don't know why the Purge code is coming back unless it's looking for a different resistance. Cougar - I'll check that out. The connectors are good at the engine end but I'll check the continuity of the white/black wire between them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 To check the solenoids for continuity all you have to do is measure their resistance. I think the normal coil resistance should be around 40 to 65 ohms if I remember correctly. If you have good readings then the units are ok electrically at least. The fact that the resistors fixed the EGR problem indicates that the coil for that solenoid is open. You can easily check that with your meter. Another way to verify the return wire connections is to check the voltage on the blk/wht wire at each of the solenoids while the car is running. If the wire to the ECU is ok then you should see not more than around 1 volt on the line with reference to ground. This may be a little easier check than looking at the resistance. If the voltage is high then you probably have a open connection to pin 16. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 did you disconnect your bat for about 20 mins and then reconnect it and this still comes up immidiatly?? it should take about 3-5 mins for the ECU to figure everything out again... like a goldfish hehe:banana: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youareabus Posted October 5, 2006 Author Share Posted October 5, 2006 Nope. I didn't do that but I will give it a shot. I just figured that if the CEL went out with the "clear" procedure then that was that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youareabus Posted October 8, 2006 Author Share Posted October 8, 2006 I changed the resistor on the Purge solenoid to 40Mohms and cleared the codes. I restarted and still code 35. I disconnected the batterey for 24 hours and restarted. Still code 35. I did do a continuity check between the 2 connectors on the wht/blk wire and the resistance was zero so the circuit is OK. Where do I go from here to find the real problem on code 35? Could this actually be the ECU? I hope not as it seems pretty silly to replace the ECU for an Purge solenoid error code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 I changed the resistor on the Purge solenoid to 40Mohms and cleared the codes. If you mean 40 Meg ohms, it will be an error - open circuit. Where do I go from here to find the real problem on code 35? Could this actually be the ECU? I hope not as it seems pretty silly to replace the ECU for an Purge solenoid error code. Find the pin in the connector for the ECU that fires the solenoid in question. check with an ohm meter that you read the resistance of the solenoid or "test" resistor. Risky if you make a mistake: apply 12V to the wire, listen for the solenoid to click. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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