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A friend of the family wants to part with her 1992 Loyale Wagon. She wants $600 for it. It has 270K miles but the car drives very nicely and has newer axles, alternator, tires, etc. etc. Motor compression is fine. It is throwing a CEL and she doesn't want to chase down what it is. I really don't need another car (my '90 Legacy w/225K is still going strong thank you) but I'm thinking a $600 AWD car w/o rust or tranny probs? How bad can the CEL be?

 

Anybody have a link for checking codes on this car?

 

Thanks for any help/opinions/things to look for

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A friend of the family wants to part with her 1992 Loyale Wagon. She wants $600 for it. It has 170K miles but the car drives very nicely and has newer axles, alternator, tires, etc. etc. Motor compression is fine. It is throwing a CEL and she doesn't want to chase down what it is. I really don't need another car (my '90 Legacy w/225K is still going strong thank you) but I'm thinking a $600 AWD car w/o rust or tranny probs? How bad can the CEL be?

 

Anybody have a link for checking codes on this car?

 

Thanks for any help/opinions/things to look for

 

sounds like a good deal. hell i would pick that up at that price and flip it just to make a buck.

 

First thing, not AWD but 4WD. It's still like the older GLs in the since that you have 4WD but rather then a lever to engage it you just have the button on the shifter.

 

Well that assumes that it's a 5 speed.

 

And on the CEL most of the old stuff I have ran in to was like a solenoid for the purge system or egr. But to check it the light you are looking for in on the ECU. It has a little hole in the front that you read the blinks with the key on and it not running. And you don't have to plug in any test connectors to do that either.

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sounds like a good deal. hell i would pick that up at that price and flip it just to make a buck.

 

First thing, not AWD but 4WD. It's still like the older GLs in the since that you have 4WD but rather then a lever to engage it you just have the button on the shifter.

 

Well that assumes that it's a 5 speed.

 

And on the CEL most of the old stuff I have ran in to was like a solenoid for the purge system or egr. But to check it the light you are looking for in on the ECU. It has a little hole in the front that you read the blinks with the key on and it not running. And you don't have to plug in any test connectors to do that either.

 

Thanks for the quick reply...on my Legacy you check the blinks of the engine light itself (OBD-I right?) where am I checking for this light and where might I find a way to translate the blinks? How easy is it to get to the ECU? I'm hoping it's just something like the EGR.

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Thanks for the quick reply...on my Legacy you check the blinks of the engine light itself (OBD-I right?) where am I checking for this light and where might I find a way to translate the blinks? How easy is it to get to the ECU? I'm hoping it's just something like the EGR.

 

On Loyales the ECU is bolted to the bottom of the steeering colmn. If you remove the lower dash panel under the column it's visible, and the little light to watch is right in the middle of the ecu tucked into a little sight hole. Once you know where it is you can actually see the light through the gap under the coulmn without removing the panels. But for the first time better to pull the panel.

Somewhere on this site is a link to trouble codes. Or you could just post the findings and I or someone else can look in the books for the corresponding code.

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the process is outlined in detail, including doing a complete dealer-check mode test, in the USRM. We use the USRM instead of stickies, and it gets overlooked too often. USRM== Ultimate Subaru Repair Manual, click the link at the top right corner of the screen.

 

However, as was mentioned, since you have an active CEL, you can just look at the O2 monitor lamp (the little LED he mentioned) and read the active codes as they are. One long blink equals "ten," and one short would be "one.." SO for instance, two long blinks, then three short ones, would be a number 23.

 

The process is outlined in the USRM in much more detail, and that writeup includes a list of the trouble code meanings.

 

OR you could go to http://www.ch601.org/engines.htm and download the two parts of the FSM, the CEL check procedure is in the second part, around page 40 of the second PDF file or so? page number is a wild guess.

 

good luck, if you do not want the car then someone should mention this to the poster who has a current thread looking for a subaru in the PNW.

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Hello all. Forgive the dumb question but doesn't a Subaru have a code port? If so you can take it to an Autozone and they will check it for free. Just a thought. Cheers. Dave.

 

The older ones do not have a "code port" - all code reading is done via the LED on the ECU.

someone correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think they did the plug in ports until around the mid 90's - even my 90 Legacy (not Loyale) doesnt have a port to plug in to - they just moved the location of the test connectors from under the hood to under the dash...

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Hello all. Forgive the dumb question but doesn't a Subaru have a code port? If so you can take it to an Autozone and they will check it for free. Just a thought. Cheers. Dave.

 

 

i think you are thinking of the OBD2 port witch was installed on all cars in 96 when OBD2 was mandated by uncle sam.

 

And i worked at autozone, we only checked the OBD2 stuff.

 

Now correct me if im wrong, but if I remember right, the legacy got an early start with OBD2 in their new body style in 95 but the rest of them went in 96.

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i think you are thinking of the OBD2 port witch was installed on all cars in 96 when OBD2 was mandated by uncle sam.

 

And i worked at autozone, we only checked the OBD2 stuff.

 

Now correct me if im wrong, but if I remember right, the legacy got an early start with OBD2 in their new body style in 95 but the rest of them went in 96.

 

Correct, Legacies got obd-II in 95.

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  • 2 weeks later...

so, the car was brought over today...the interior is PERFECT...no rips, cracks, NADA. No dents to the body bigger then a fingernail. The headlights aren't even cloudy. I drove it, motor and tranny seem fine (I'll do a compression test tomorrow), 4wd engaged and seemed to operate prefectly. The previous owner had the error codes pulled which they listed as 34 EGR & 24 Idle air bypass problem. For $800 even though I'm currently unemployed I'm not sure I can pass this up. What should my next steps be?

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so, the car was brought over today...the interior is PERFECT...no rips, cracks, NADA. No dents to the body bigger then a fingernail. The headlights aren't even cloudy. I drove it, motor and tranny seem fine (I'll do a compression test tomorrow), 4wd engaged and seemed to operate prefectly. The previous owner had the error codes pulled which they listed as 34 EGR & 24 Idle air bypass problem. For $800 even though I'm currently unemployed I'm not sure I can pass this up. What should my next steps be?

 

Looks like it also threw a code 11 crank angle sensor..what am I in for there. I have to talk to the previous owner but she said the shop she took it to "disabled" the CEL. How do you suppose they did that?

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Looks like it also threw a code 11 crank angle sensor..what am I in for there. I have to talk to the previous owner but she said the shop she took it to "disabled" the CEL. How do you suppose they did that?

 

 

Oes the CEL come on when the key is on/eng. off? Is it behaving normally and flashing when you put the car in D-check(green connected)? Maybe she means they cleared an intermitent code. Only one that worries me is the Air bypass code. That one could actually affect driving. (so could the Crank angle code but thatcode 11 is often thrown in d-check for some reason. I think if you tap the key a bit to far?.) If it runs good I'd say sweet deal

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I just drove the car around today and took it to a softball game and the car behaved just fine and threw now codes...I haven't messed with the plugs though to try and pull the codes for myself. It pulls strong right up to the redline in all the gears, no creaks or groans in the chassis, newish struts/clutch/tires. 4wd engages and disengages w/o any ominous sounds.

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