crash321 Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 (edited) Just wanted to update. I was able to get throught the terminal for a few hours so I went through some suggestions While I had light. First off, now that I could see under the hood, I checked all the connections for the grounds coming off the battery and they were tight and clean. But the one thing that was bad were the battery posts and post clamps. I couldn't believe all the corrosion (and I mean bad all in 6 months). I cleaned them really well and sanded the posts to shiny and the post clamps to a nice brass sheen, reassembled everything, poured coke over the battery and connections, let sit for ten minutes, rinsed with water and coated the posts in fifth wheel grease (all I had at the time, My semi was my "garage" hehehe) I took my supersube down to the Autozone in Hammand IN and got the cold shoulder. I just wanted them to test the battery and they refused, they lost a possible sale and I'll never go back to those bastards again! So I went back to the terminal to see if I could find the problem with the blinker (still on continuously even after I cleaned the battery). I happened to go to the back and for sh""s and giggles I took a look underneath and found a trailer harness from the factory. Funny because there is a harness inside the car Uhaul had installed and that is the one I use. I grabbed hold of it and it was very HOT:Flame: I wiggled the wires and got the continuous light in the right blinker to go off and the blinker to work correctly. So I took some scissors and cut zzz the factory harness off, pulled the wire harness back into the car and taped it up temp so I can take care of it permantly when I get the car home. The harness is located on the drivers side of the car attached to the receiver hitch and the wire harness just goes through a grommet into the body of the car that is accessable by taking the interior panel where the jack is located off and pulling the wire through. As for the Speedo, that is still on the fritz, I have a feeling these failures were not realted but just a big cowinkadink. I will update when the other items are fixed. Hope this helps someone else. Edited January 19, 2009 by crash321 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Good find on the trailer harness. I forgot about that area as a possible trouble source. Others have had similar problems due to a problem with the harness and moisture mainly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash321 Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 It was just dumb luck that I saw it! hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 It was just dumb luck that I saw it! hahaha Good that you located the electrical problem. Something that hot, could have caused a fire, and the total loss of your car. I bet fixing the wiring will solve your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash321 Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Just wanted to update again with what is going on with the car. As I was packing up the car for my 5 hour trek back home I started the car and it ran fine. I let the terminal and got down the road a mile or two and the car stalled out. I immediately started it back up but it would onlt run on two cylinders (extremely rough). I was able to rev it (alot) and limp it into Nielson Subaru in Portage IN. Luckily they were not busy. They verified that the car was in fact running on a couple cylinders but only was able to pull these codes: P1540 vehicle speed sensor Malfunction at low speed P0500 vehicle speed sensor malfunction P1507 Idle control system malfunction (fail safe) P0141 Rear Oxygen Sensor heater curciut Malfunction There were no codes for misfire..... Upon further inspection, the tech found the right bank (passenger side) of the coil pack to be badly burned and corroded along with the wires. He also put it in the air and found alot of mouse damage (O2 sensor was mouse damaged) and also a ground wire from the firewall to the transmission was eaten through. This particular wire was later to be determined the cause of the speedo failure (it also fixed my dash light in the cruise control switch, so now I can see it at night:banana:) The tech (Jeremy) was extremely thorough and knew what he was doing. He was able to diagnose that the VSS was still good and the failure was in the combination meter, but they did not have the parts to fix it. The VSS was aparently pulling ground through the speedo and not the trans due to the wire being eaten through. I promptly ordered one through Thelen Automotive in Bay City MI (closest dealer) and will install it myself when it comes in this thursday. In the meantime I OKed the following repairs: Replace spark plugs replace plug wires replace coil pack replace rear O2 sensor Load test Battery and alternator (my request, and it tested good) Diagnose where problem lay in the speedo system miriade wire repairs from mouse damage All told I about had a heart attack to just get it running to get home..... $1017. I was over a barrel being that I was 5 hours from home and no ability to diagnose the problem and not knowing where to go. But at least the tech answered all my questions, let me watch to see how he did things, and got the car running better than before all of this nonsense started with the cluster failures. Now I do still have a CEL but that is because it is not recieving a VSS signal due to the speedo malfunction. Well I will post when the speedo is in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Not the first time that I have heard of mice chewing on wiring, and causing a lot of damage. Guess none of are smart enough to suggst the mixed electrical gremlins were of mice origins. Now your car sounds fixed. Sorry to read about the high cost. Send the bill to Disney World in Florida, maybe Mickey will pickup the tab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash321 Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 Not the first time that I have heard of mice chewing on wiring, and causing a lot of damage. Guess none of are smart enough to suggst the mixed electrical gremlins were of mice origins. Now your car sounds fixed. Sorry to read about the high cost. Send the bill to Disney World in Florida, maybe Mickey will pickup the tab. Now if those mice were as big as mickey, I could hunt them and put em in the freezer, assuming they taste like chicken :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleming442 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 I called bad ground! Glad you got it straight, crash! For what all you got done at the dealer, a G doesn't sound too bad. Tip: dryer sheets repel mice in stored cars. Maybe wire tie a couple under the hood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash321 Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 (edited) Tip: dryer sheets repel mice in stored cars. Maybe wire tie a couple under the hood? Or a whole box:lol::lol: PS the $1017 does not include the $211 for the speedo fix! Edited January 22, 2009 by crash321 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash321 Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 Here is an update..........http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=95116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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