ericem Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 How responsive should it be to the throttle? I find it to be not very responive like if i floor it takes like 3/4 of a second to respond, doesn't even seem to respond quickly if i give it light throttle either. Could this explain why the car seems like it lost power? I am wondering if I should change the o2 sensor as I think i should get better then 19mpg on a N/A. So far the engine has been seafoamed, air filter replaced, plugs and wires replaced, MAF sensor cleaned with electronic cleaner, fuel filter replaced, but with a non oem filter, PCV replaced, cracked knock sensor replaced, ECU temp sensor replaced. What I noticed though was my spark plugs with only like maybe 5,000KM were very carboned up and black and one plug even had sludge on the tip. The plugs were NGK G powers. This time I am using V-powers but seems to drive the same. Help is well appreciated thanks. Sorry for the long post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 How about the throttle body and iacv, have those been cleaned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 How responsive should it be to the throttle? I find it to be not very responive like if i floor it takes like 3/4 of a second to respond, doesn't even seem to respond quickly if i give it light throttle either. Could this explain why the car seems like it lost power? I am wondering if I should change the o2 sensor as I think i should get better then 19mpg on a N/A. So far the engine has been seafoamed, air filter replaced, plugs and wires replaced, MAF sensor cleaned with electronic cleaner, fuel filter replaced, but with a non oem filter, PCV replaced, cracked knock sensor replaced, ECU temp sensor replaced. What I noticed though was my spark plugs with only like maybe 5,000KM were very carboned up and black and one plug even had sludge on the tip. The plugs were NGK G powers. This time I am using V-powers but seems to drive the same. Help is well appreciated thanks. Sorry for the long post.First of all, you shouldn't be revving the motor in park. It clearly states not to do this in the owner's manual. What you describe is exactly the same way it worked in my Legacy. The ECU and the engine just can't respond instantly - it just doesn't work that way. Like I've said a million times before, stop trying to find things wrong with your car! There's nothing wrong with it. 19mpg in the city using the A/C (or even not), with AWD and auto is about average. Odds are, you're a teenager so you jackrabbit most starts, and that contributes to your bad gas mileage as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 lol sorry but I am picky when things aren't perfect. I got 20mpg in on the highway without flooring it often. To be honest fuel economy seems better when I am more heavy on the throttle then when going slower. When my mom drives the car gets about 16-18 city mileage. With me or my dad its like 20-22mpg oddly lol. Yes I did use a cloth and some throttle body cleaner to clean out the throttle body. Not the iac yet though. To be honest I still haven't found it:lol: If someone could point it out that would be greatly appreciated, before hand ill purchase the gasket for the iac because I heard it won't seal correctly after I take it apart. Main thing I want to know is why my plugs are very carboned up after little mileage. BTW I don't always floor it and don't do jackrabbit starts when not needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manarius Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 lol sorry but I am picky when things aren't perfect.There's your problem right there. You drive a car that's almost 15 years old, it can not, and will not be perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Ok lets settle this and rule out one thing. Get a vacumme gauge for less then 20.00 at an autoparts store. Find a vacumme line to plug it into and tell us exactly what it does and how its doing it. The gas mileage seems a low. 19mpg is reasonable around town. Highway should be 25 plus. How many miles are on the car. A few possabilities. It may be tune up time. You may need an O2 sensor. You may have a partially clogged cat. It may be nothing at all. Replace the plugs and wires, they are due. Depending upon driving habits, every individual will get different mpg due to their driving habits. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 Cat was done last year about 40,000km ago. O2 no one is 100% sure so ill give it a try. The wires on the car don't look to good, so ill order a set and the o2 sensor. About the vacuum guage ill give it a try, i am going to get a compression guage and vacumme gauge then to determine if my timing belt might be off a tooth, and ill figure out the vacuum gauge thing. I noticed if I hit the brakes repedetively at idle i can get the engine to almost die then eventually the engine rev's up. Might be normal but just thought id ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Cat was done last year about 40,000km ago. O2 no one is 100% sure so ill give it a try. The wires on the car don't look to good, so ill order a set and the o2 sensor. About the vacuum guage ill give it a try, i am going to get a compression guage and vacumme gauge then to determine if my timing belt might be off a tooth, and ill figure out the vacuum gauge thing. I noticed if I hit the brakes repedetively at idle i can get the engine to almost die then eventually the engine rev's up. Might be normal but just thought id ask. Thats not normal. Something is going on. The thing is that the computers are so good at what they do, they can mask a lot of issues. How many miles on the car year engine and tranny Last time the timing belt was changed. Wires and O2 should be OE, order them on line and save some money. ANother test. Car off. pump breaks 10 times. Foot on break pedal pressing brakes start car. pedal should move to floor. If it does the booster is good. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Have you changed the PCV valve recently? And if it runs worse with your Mom driving it, then you must be a lead foot if she is not. The ECU will learn to respond to certain repeated inputs. This has been seen many time on the Turbo Legacy's. I also have personally seen this depending on how I drive my car. When its a secondary car and gets driven relatively hard each time, it would stumble on midway acceleration since it was used to full throttle. Oh, and its your heavy flywheel that keeps it from spinning up so fast from idle. I have the exedy flywheel and it blips and revs twice as fast as when I had the factory lead brick in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 @nipper just rolled over 300,000km and the engine is original. Belt was done at 260-270k i believe, although I don't think the guy did the belt correctly. I also noticed oil sludge build up under certain spots at the bottom of the timing belt cover. That guy also forgot to torque down my harmonic pulley which came loose. As well as a few steering universals he forgot to tighten as well when he did the rack and pinion. So god knows if the belt was done correct. Ha never thought about the flywheel. I don't really want to change my flywheel atm though XD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uniberp Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 @nipper just rolled over 300,000km and the engine is original. Belt was done at 260-270k i believe, although I don't think the guy did the belt correctly. I also noticed oil sludge build up under certain spots at the bottom of the timing belt cover. That guy also forgot to torque down my harmonic pulley which came loose. As well as a few steering universals he forgot to tighten as well when he did the rack and pinion. So god knows if the belt was done correct. Ha never thought about the flywheel. I don't really want to change my flywheel atm though XD Since this is a non-interference engine you are possibly surviving bad belt timing. If the crank pulley was loose, it can damage or beark the woodruff key and throw the crank sprocket off too, but that's a pretty catastrphic case. Bad cam timing can cause all the symptoms you describe, and the vac gauge will give you the answers. The Hayne manual has a procedure for vacuum testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 I did replace the key, but I am not sure about the sprocket. Ill have to pickup a heynes manual and a vacuum guage and a compression guage sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Ha never thought about the flywheel. I don't really want to change my flywheel atm though XD There is no need to change it. Your car is acting normal... I remember those days, wanted to fiddle with everything on my Brat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 @nipper just rolled over 300,000km and the engine is original. Belt was done at 260-270k i believe, although I don't think the guy did the belt correctly. I also noticed oil sludge build up under certain spots at the bottom of the timing belt cover. That guy also forgot to torque down my harmonic pulley which came loose. As well as a few steering universals he forgot to tighten as well when he did the rack and pinion. So god knows if the belt was done correct. Ha never thought about the flywheel. I don't really want to change my flywheel atm though XD *shakes head* well the sludge are oil seal leaks. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 Replacing the seals will be fun. Going to get a seal kit I guess while im at it. Just thought Id ask incase anyone knows. For the rear housing of the transmission does it have a gasket? Or is it sealed with RTV ? Going to remove the rear case and inspect the shoes and test the solenoid. Really annoyed with this torque steer and front wheel slippage. Winter will be pretty bad so I better rebuild it. Someone at a subaru dealership told me there is a small screen filter which sometimes gets clogged and created the AWD lag. Thats if the transmission was actually rebuilt. So ill be finding out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Replacing the seals will be fun. Going to get a seal kit I guess while im at it. Just thought Id ask incase anyone knows. For the rear housing of the transmission does it have a gasket? Or is it sealed with RTV ? Going to remove the rear case and inspect the shoes and test the solenoid. Really annoyed with this torque steer and front wheel slippage. Winter will be pretty bad so I better rebuild it. Someone at a subaru dealership told me there is a small screen filter which sometimes gets clogged and created the AWD lag. Thats if the transmission was actually rebuilt. So ill be finding out. er um .... SHoes? Housing??? Back away from the transmission. If your having torque steer and front wheels slipping, you have no AWD at all. Leave the screen alone. It will only cause you heartache in the long run. How did we get here from revving the engine in park anyway? nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 Lol ok nevermind. First ill fix this engine then ill work on the AWD rebuild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Right on man! One step at a time. Then you can work on that ashtray issue...j/k haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Well today got the vacuum gauge. Also bought a feeler guage so I can setup my TPS. I screwed around with it a bit by guessing seemed a little better still was a guess. So I read what the manual said how to calibrate the TPS. Now waiting for my mother to get home with the car so I can do everything. Now its 10 PM where is she Anway lol where should I hookup the vacuum guage? BTW a manual came with the guage says 12-15 means incoorect timing? and 18-21 hg is good. That sound about right? There is more info on it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Well today got the vacuum gauge. Also bought a feeler guage so I can setup my TPS. I screwed around with it a bit by guessing seemed a little better still was a guess. So ready what the manual said to do to calibrate the TPS. Now waiting for my mother to get home with the car so I can do everything. Now its 10 PM where is she Anway lol where should I hookup the vacuum guage? BTW a manual came with the guage says 12-15 means incoorect timing? and 18-21 hg is good. That sound about right? There is more info on it though. http://www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/projects/vac/uum.htm nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virrdog Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Now its 10 PM where is she Sorry about that, I didn't know she was in the car you wanted to work on. She should be home by now... :-p Sorry, the door was just too wide open on that one :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 lol. Now shes back Oh well to late going to have to work on it tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Well checked with the guage. Got 21 in-hg. So seems good was consistent. Plugged it in via the power booter line. I think my problem is the powerbooster has a leak. Also setup the TPS correctly as the manual stated with a feeler, revs perfectly, when i gun it, rpm's flow just like they should no pop's or delay. I did the powerbooster test btw. Now i need to find a low mileage powerbooster. For now ill push the stock booster. Also shifts better now that the TPS is setup. Another good thing done was change the veryyyyyy thick and black oil. Also noticed there wasn't really any oil So flushed out the bad oil and refilled with some high mileage oil 5w-30. Definitely explained why the engine was knocking hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Well checked with the guage. Got 21 in-hg. So seems good was consistent. Plugged it in via the power booter line. I think my problem is the powerbooster has a leak. Also setup the TPS correctly as the manual stated with a feeler, revs perfectly, when i gun it, rpm's flow just like they should no pop's or delay. I did the powerbooster test btw. Now i need to find a low mileage powerbooster. For now ill push the stock booster. Also shifts better now that the TPS is setup. Another good thing done was change the veryyyyyy thick and black oil. Also noticed there wasn't really any oil So flushed out the bad oil and refilled with some high mileage oil 5w-30. Definitely explained why the engine was knocking hard That steady 21 inches tells you the engine as far as the rings and valves are in good shape. Also means no exhaust issues. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 Yay! Pretty good considering before testing there was no oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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