BSOD2600 Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Two days ago, I drove my car (94 turbo legacy) from home to school. As I was hunting around in the parking lot for a space, the engine suddenly died. I tried to restart, but it wouldn't catch. I could hear the starting engaging and it sounded like it was close to catching, but never would. Got it towed to a local mechanic 2 days ago in the afternoon. Yesterday, the mechanic finally calls back and tells me my ECM needs to be replaced. Apparently only half of my injectors are firing, because the ground for them is not pulsing. He also found that the front O2 sensor wire going into the ECM was cut in the ECM (which would explain my semi-poor in-town gas mileage -- why not codes though? I had pulled codes myself 2 weeks ago didn't get O2). He also said there are a lot of bare wires under the dash, which probably caused it (I didn't do that). I asked if they had checked the timing belt, and he had (thinking maybe it jumped). The mechanic said a new ECM is ~$600 -- but Subaru doesn't sell them anymore. I found a user on legacycentral who can get me a used one cheap (thankfully!) I recently had the car swapped from a 4EAT to 5MT too about a month ago. Talking with a subaru friend, he was saying that he's never had an ECU just plain short itself out. Typically its because someone is messing around with wires with the battery connected -- and even still, the one he had die still worked. Currently, I've got the replacement ECU going to arrive here via USPS priority mail. The mechanic said it'll be around $150 to fix the wiring. This story all sound plausible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 What you say does sound like it could be true and if it is, it is pretty rare . The injectors are grounded in the ECU. Apparently something has failed in it to only fire two injectors. I don't know enough about the ECU circuit design to explain what might cause this to happen unfortunately. The O2 sensor should have thrown a code error if it wasn't connected. It appears someone has fiddled with the internals of the ECU and may be why things failed in it. The money to fix the wiring sounds within reason but it is hard to say how much time is needed for the repairs. The car did run so things couldn't be too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 It is rare but it happens. If the O2 failure is inside the TCU it wont throw a code. nipper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSOD2600 Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 It is rare but it happens. If the O2 failure is inside the TCU it wont throw a code. Since my car no longer has an TCU from the 5MT conversion, your statement still applies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Since my car no longer has an TCU from the 5MT conversion, your statement still applies? oops it was atypo, i meant ECU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSOD2600 Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Alright, so the shop STILL hasn't fixed my car. Biking to/from school in sub-freezing temps sucks rump roast. Anyways, talked to them last friday and they wanted me to stop by their shop to show me whats going on (conversely, last week when I dropped off the ECU, they wouldn't let me in the bay). The mechanic showed/told me a few things this morning: 1) The knock and crank sensor wires were frayed/almost falling apart. He taped/fixed those 2) Injectors 1 & 3 are not getting any pulse from the ECU. 3) There is continuity from the injectors to the ECU connector. 4) The starter voltage is weak. 5) Injectors 2 & 4 work, but one is 'pulsing fast'. He hasn't tried using the ECU I gave him yet. Not sure if he's afraid he's going to fry it or what. He also made a comment that he's not sure the existing ECU is dead, because of these electrical problems. But from what it sounds like, he's basically stumped on what to do next. When I tried talking to the shop manager about what type of costs I was looking at already for what the mechanic is done, he wouldn't tell me. Said to call him back this afternoon and that working further on the car would be, "considerable costs". It's been two weeks with out having a car and I want it back! I'm leary of having the car towed to the local subaru dealership for them to work on it, because of the increased costs... but it sound like it might be my only option. Suggestions on what to do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I think this shop is full of CRAP, i would get out of there ASAP, sounds like this is NOT realated to the ECM in any way at all. And they won't confirm the price so you should not have to pay anything, except the cost of inspecting the issue. Can be a issue with wiring more or less, but you might as well try the new ECM. But the shop sounds like they will charge you more then u would want to spend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech1967 Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Ask around town for a tech that's good with electrical/electronics. I was scared to put the ecu in the first few nasty electrical problems I did cause if you can't be sure you found what killed the first computer then there is no guarantee the second one won't go. They don't sound sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSOD2600 Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Ask around town for a tech that's good with electrical/electronics. I have with no decent responses. Two people at school recommended the shop the car is currently at. Personally, I'm not impressed by the management or their competence level. Don't plan on going back to the shop... yet on the otherhand, my car doesn't run and I don't know anyone else (except the subaru dealer) thats good in this podunk town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech1967 Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 There is a difference between what you get at the counter and what happens in the back. You want the guys name and you want to know that he's working on your vehicle. You don't want another guy that runs to THE GUY for help, or a shop helper/apprentice (do you have an apprentice program down there?) working under his supervision. Don't assume that because you asked for him that he's doing the job. You might want to buy him a beer and discuss your car. You might find out that due to the condition of your car that it's kind of an open ended job that he has no way of knowing how long it might take or how much it may cost. The counter will rarely pass on this kind of opinion on as it tends to scare away the customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSOD2600 Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 More info. Called back the garage to get the price. He said it would be $70, even though his mechanic has spent ~6 hours diagnosing it. Said the next step is spendy, which would entail taking wiring harness apart and looking for problems. Said the mechanic already traced all the wires from the ECU (if that was the case, he should've found a problem, I'd thought? Forgot to ask). Called up the local subaru dealer and they charge a flat fee of $74 for diagnosis. The guy I talked to, wasn't sure if my MT swap would cause any problems -- after talking to his manager, they won't work on it. *sigh* guess I'm stuck with the current garage to work on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted February 6, 2007 Share Posted February 6, 2007 More info. Called back the garage to get the price. He said it would be $70, even though his mechanic has spent ~6 hours diagnosing it. Said the next step is spendy, which would entail taking wiring harness apart and looking for problems. Said the mechanic already traced all the wires from the ECU (if that was the case, he should've found a problem, I'd thought? Forgot to ask). Called up the local subaru dealer and they charge a flat fee of $74 for diagnosis. The guy I talked to, wasn't sure if my MT swap would cause any problems -- after talking to his manager, they won't work on it. *sigh* guess I'm stuck with the current garage to work on it. dang, that sucks, well atleast they told u how much they are charging. Here where i am the dealer is actually OWNED by subaru Canada not a franchise thing. Thats why i drvie 30km for any service even a oil change. The shop here does great jobs with anything and RIGHT away knows exactly what is wrong(when something does go wrong, pretty rare) And they treat me real good, i pay top buck but its worth it, one time when i had to get my wiper assembly replaced they ordered the wrong one, and they gave me a BRAND NEW 2007 subaru forester to rent for 1 month my mom loved that car, definitly nice to drive a new vehicle, and it was free of charge and i could not see them fitting that into the repair price of 500(got all the interior lights replaced ALL OF them, shifter, everything, wiper assembly, oil changed for everything, and i think the brakes as well). As a rental loaded cost 200 for 1 week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSOD2600 Posted February 13, 2007 Author Share Posted February 13, 2007 Update: Well, I *finally* got my car back. ************ing 3 weeks without it sucked rump roast. I wasn't about to have the old shop (Babcocks Garage) tear into the wiring harness, so I had it towed to Harleys Auto Repair last Tuesday. Word of advice for any one Googling -- Stay away from Babcocks with your Subaru! Harley's immediately diagnosed that timing was off. Apparently the belt jumped. Took them 4 business days, but eventually they got it fixed. They replaced the hydraulic belt tensioner ($175), put on a timing belt kit (Napa #2522540 @ $335), and labor $273 for a grand ************ing total of $786! I really hope this is the last major thing that goes wrong with this car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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