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Comments
The problem would almost always go away after stopping the car for a while (usually overnight) but has returned every few weeks. I switched to premium gas from a different station, still does it. I took the car to the dealer and they couldn't reproduce the problem. The Check engine light has never come on, so they didn't know where to start. They checked for loose wires/hoses and ended up changing the Champion spark plugs which they said were "fouled out". Two days later, the problem returned.
Any theories on what might be causing this? I'm taking it back in and I'd love to hear if this problem has happened to anyone else. It seems to be happening more frequently in the last 2-3 weeks.
-Al
Al: I have heard about this problem on Foresters, here and on other forums. You are not the only one. Definitely call the Subaru 1-800 number and have them start a case. In other vehicles, I have seen this type of intermittant behavior caused by a bad ECU or a bad fuel pump. If it happens after a certain amount of driving (timewise) I would suspect the fuel pump. They do get warm after operating for a while.
Craig
When I look in the owners manual for the 15K service, it is essentially an oil change and rotate and balance the wheels and tires. There are some "inspections" (ie steering, brake lines, etc) but as far as work to actually be done, that is all that is listed. My dealer wants to perform a $300 15,000 miles service. They tried to get me when I scheduled the appointment, and they just showed me one of my spark plugs and air filter and asked me whether I knew about Subaru's 15,000 mile service. Not that I knew what I was looking at, but the spark plug looked a helluva lot cleaner after 15K miles than my MG did after 3K!!!!!! Also, the air filter looked a little dusty. I confirmed in the owners manual that the plugs and air cleaner element on the H4 don't need to be changed until 30K. Does anyone have thoughts on this? (Obviously they don't just want to do a $25 oil change, but since the car was coming in for warranty work anyway...) Anyhow, they are leaving the plugs and using the air hose on the filter.
Thanks all for your input.
-juice
They also market it as 'Wisconsin Recommended Maintenance Schedule'.
Profit with a capital P. As Juice said, not necessary, but can be done if you'd like them to.
-Brian
I agree with Craig it is amazing that the motor ran at all, I commend you on a very informative pictorial.
cheers Pat.
Colin, BTW. any ideas on what caused the head gasket to blow? I presume you checked the head for warpage and burn pitting at the site of the blow.
Cheers Pat.
bad news is I'd swear that's plugged in... bugger me. so I sent off a few emails asking for quotes on a new coolant temp sensor. (if I saw one I'd know for sure where it's at! lol)
oh and this car is worse than starting my the camaro when cold, it's impossible to keep from stalling a few times right off. i'd rather fix it than get the knack for cold starting EFI manually. ;-)
-Colin
yep, the head and block seemed true with my equipment (engineer's ruler-- nothing fancy hehe) and the #4 chamber looked just like #2 so nothing odd there. plugs looked good, typical EFI plugs you know bone white but not melted and no spotting.
could be that the head wasn't torqued properly from last year's fun. I didn't have the FSM torque values, I only had a haynes manual which was talking about a 97-98 SOHC 2.2L, which honestly is a near identical casting and the block is the same... but still I don't recall the torquing procedure to be quite the same in the haynes. it did have the hokey-pokey stuff but it just seems a little different as I recall.
other idea-- bad gas resulted in detonation. I had a hesistation problem for a while in late summer until I reset the ECU and it was after a trip when my wife borrowed the car and fueled it who knows where and with who knows what grade of fuel. this car has definitely favored premium ever since the cam swap.
third possibility, that was just a weak spot in the gasket due to manufacturing.
whatever the case, I never saw any coolant leak at all until the day it was niagra falls and I'd lost 2 quarts on the drive home.
-Colin
BTW, the 30k service cost me $241, so your dealer is, pardon the phrase, gouging you. Do yourself a favor and find another service facility.
-wdb
Ed
Colin, directly beneath the alternator are two senders attached to the block. The one by the EJ25 cast mark is round and bigger - look to me like an oil pressure transducer. But further forward behind the timing marker flag is one that looks more like a thermocouple. Again, just a guess.
Steve
Man, I'll say it again - I miss Darlene. This is exactly the type of thing that she would look up and fax to me before I could even say "thanks".
You guys know about all the mods I've done, but there were many more that we looked at and did not do, because with the part diagram I could tell it would not fit.
-juice
Thanks!
Thanks again all!
-juice
-mike
The bad news... saw spots leading to my stall on the way into work this morning and walked back to my car for a look. coolant is pooling on the right side (passenger's side) of the block under the intake manifold and running off the front of the block. I don't know where it's coming from, but an obvious guess is the coolant pipe that runs along the top of the block. The radiator return line that connects to it is not at all wet, besides that it would be unlikely to leak there and run all the way to pool on the block.
sigh...
-Colin
Could it have been left there from before? Probably not.
-juice
-Brian
-mike
$40 K&N Filter, 3hp
$150 complete intake kit, 5hp
$180 UR Underdrive Pulley, 5hp
$400 various cat-back exhausts, 5-15hp
$200? high-flow catalytic converter, 5hp
$400 headers, 5-10hp
Beyond that, you get into cams and forced induction, which gets very involved and pricey.
You can probably combine a couple of these to get another 10-15 horsepower out of it, but beyond that it's not very cost effective.
I've ridden in two turbocharged 2.5l cars (Imprezas), and they are brilliantly fast. It's amazing what they can do for $3-5 grand. Basically you get what you pay for. Those two cars would pin you in your seat, easily quicker than a stock WRX.
-juice
I own 4 subarus all of which run Bosch platinum plugs.
I recently had ONE service manager tell me that the Platinum plugs in the 1996 2.2 liter Subaru have to go, because the 2.2 liter enginge was "not designed" for platinum plugs.
I told him I have these in all my cars, they all run fine, that I've been working o ncars for 40 years, and so long as it was the correct temperature range plug, and fit in the car, it did not matter whether the plug was made out of platinum or irridium, or steel.
Anybody ever hear of this from any other dealer? I contacted subaru with the question and am awaiting their response - if any.
Personally I think this is one service manager's [non-permissible content removed]. but am open to researching even though his comments make no sense to me.
PS. enging runs fine, no missess, revs up, good mileage, what brought this to bear is a "check engine" light and bad sensor in the car which I am replacing.
please give me your input
thanks
-mike
you're incorrect about the state of tune. the EJ25 SOHC is tuned for lots of midrange and part-throttle torque. foreign markets that get this engine get it just exactly as we do.
if there were something very easy and inexpensive to do to boost power, subaru would be doing it to the production engines.
-Colin
-mike
Our EJ25 engines have been tuned/designed with N. American customer tastes in mind. The engines produce good low and mid range torque.
The most cost-effective way (not necessarily the cheapest way in absolute $$s) is to turbocharge the engine. You probably get the most bang for the buck there.
Ken
I didn't fiddle with the upper radiator hose this morning because it was really hot, but obviously that's the best cause for a leak like I described.
at lunch I popped the hood and gave the cool hose a wiggle-- yep, loose. checked the hose clamp... loose. fished around in my glovebox for this mini-screwdriver my mother-in-law put in my xmas stock a few years back and tightened it right up. I doubted I'd ever use this silly little thing but it works, bless her.
more good news-- our execs announced today at the company xmas lunch that they're giving us another 1/2 day off for a good year, so I'm outta here at noon tomorrow. I'm gonna wash my car, she deserves it.
-Colin
I get a half day tomorrow, too, plus Monday and Tuesday off for the next two weeks! Oh, and next Friday is my Compressed Work Schedule day off. Do I ever work? :-)
-juice
-mike
Did I mention I get 3 days of paternity leave?
-juice
I'd like to wash/vacuum my car tomorrow, but the weather will be in the 50s with wind. Not the best but I may brave it. Actually, I have to wash two cars -- my new Bean and the old wagon which my parents will be picking up. I'd wax too, but I am still waiting on a shipment from Klasse.
Craig
The reason I asked about the burn spot in particular was my earliest cars when I lived in Ireland were mostly Austins, They had an engine that had the bad habit of blowing the gasket out between 3 and 4 cylinder, the burn track in the head and block was sometimes so bad that the head or block or both were scrap.
In the days when money was really tight I used to pull the head slap on a gasket and then maybe get a couple more months of driving. I got so proficient that I could have the head off and on in about an hour.
Anyway like I said i am glad that the saga is over for you.
Cheers Pat.
-juice
Cheers Pat.
-juice
-Colin
teardown pic from Saturday, arrow pointing at the temp sensor (184kb jpeg, 1280x960)
the sensor is on the back of the coolant pipe that contains the thermostat. it is very well concealed with the intake manifold and other bits in place!
pic of the loose connector, gonna kick my buddy's [non-permissible content removed] for this (184kb jpeg, 1280x960) this is a shot leaning over the passenger side fender, part of the intake plumbing already removed and a disconnected vacuum line can be seen as well. I'd remove much more to find the place it plugs in even though it's short length told me it couldn't be far.
oh, and who is the fool doing all this stuff? here I am with my lovely (and patient) wife Lisa, april 2000 at my friend's wedding. I'm half-lit and 20 minutes from an unrehearsed speech in front of 200 or so.
-Colin
-mike
This guy Kevin was running Nitrous in an Outback Sport, and the 1/4 mile times were pretty amazing for a 2.2l wagon. I'm not sure if he documented the installation, but you may want to search on i Club if you're truly interested.
That really stresses all the engine internals, though, so any tiny failure could be catastrophic.
-juice
-mike
-juice
Too bad we couldn't get a tape of it.
Ron
Craig
LOF: $30.57
30K service: $227.92
I remember when Carol first had her Jeep serviced locally. Every time she had gone to one of the Baltimore area dealers, even for one of the routine services, the bill had been around $200 if not more. She had an LOF-style service done by the local dealer here and the bill was more like $30! She looked at the bill, looked at the service manager, and said, "did you do everything?" The only thing they didn't do was to pad her bill with a bunch of frufru ;-)
Cheers,
-wdb
You can see how a part that probably does not cost a lot in the scheme of things turns into an astronomical repair bill because of some of the inaccessable places they choose to install stuff.
Cheers Pat.