axgutt Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 1995 Legacy L Wagon, 2.2L, 5 spd, 186,000 miles. Having noticed that there seemed to be more corrosion around my battery terminals than there was terminal material, I decided to try and clean it up. I took off the negative cable (couldn't disconnect the positive one) and cleaned everything as well as I could with a wire brush and a special terminal brush. I then hosed it down, dried and reconnected everything. Anyway, now when I start it up the revs shoot up to 2k really quick when it first turns over, then immediately it drops to virtually nothing (or stalls) then kicks back up again. Once it's running, it revs slower than normal, then picks up after about 30 seconds or so. I wasn't sure if I might have damaged something. One more thing which may or may not be related. I also crawled around under the dash trying to fix the vent control - it's not switching between the floor and the regular vents properly. While under there, I noticed two green plugs that look like they would fit together, but they're not. I wasn't sure what they were, so I didn't want to connect them. Any ideas on what they might be? I've attached a picture. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intrigueing Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 When you disconnected the battery, you reset the ECU. After resetting the ECU you need to let the car warm up at idle, without touching the accelerator. If you touched the gas during warmup, the ECU will be lost and will cause the car to run weird. Try disconnecting the battery and let the car idle for 15 minutes then turn it off - without touching the gas! Cars often have extra connectors for options you don't have, it is just cheaper to make them all the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frag Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Just a possibility worth investigating if your troubleshooting does'nt take you anywhere. Just left of the battery (looking into the engine compartment) and below it and to the right of the dip stick, is the cam position sensor. Maybe a mixture of water and acid entered the connection when you cleaned and flushed the battery. Try disconnecting it and cleaning the contacts with electrical contact cleaner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EOppegaard Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 I had the same problem when I disconnected my battery. The ECU just needs to be reset, all I had to do was disconnect the battery again, reconnect, then let the car startup, and just clear itself up. I may also not be correct on this one, however those green plugs may deal with reading the Codes on the ECU...anyone else aggree with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axgutt Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Thanks for all of the resonses - I'm going to try disconnecting the battery for a while, then reconnecting, starting, and idling to reset the ECU. As for the green plugs under the dash, I don't know if this helps, but the car does have the terminal for plugging in a code reader - they used it at Autozone to pull the code for me once. They were surprised that a 95 model had it - I guess most manufacturers didn't start installing them until 96. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frag Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 I hope you're right and that a simple resetting will cure the problem. But if this idea sounds stange to me is that i have had numerous occasions to unplug the neg side of the battery to do work in the engine compartment and never did I have any problems after that. Always drove off immediately after starting the car and everything went fine. Why would my car behave differently? Just a question from an ever inquiring mind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avk Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 axgutt: Can you tell if there a sticker underside the hood that says "OBDII certified"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
83projectbrat Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 ahh my the looks of the green plugs, they are "test connectors" all new subarus come with them plugged in and we have to unplug them when they come in to get the check engine light off. the light will come on if they are plugged in.. just dont worry about them matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 green connectors are the green T diag connectors. More info on my site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axgutt Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 I unplugged the negative battery terminal for an hour, then reconnected it and restarted the engine without touching the accelerator. I then let it run for 15 minutes, and everything appears to be back to normal. Thanks to everyone for the tips. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alias20035 Posted November 11, 2003 Share Posted November 11, 2003 Originally posted by frag I hope you're right and that a simple resetting will cure the problem. But if this idea sounds stange to me is that i have had numerous occasions to unplug the neg side of the battery to do work in the engine compartment and never did I have any problems after that. Always drove off immediately after starting the car and everything went fine. Why would my car behave differently? Just a question from an ever inquiring mind... I have unplugged my battery many times, and on some occasions the ECU resets and the engine acts weird, and sometimes it doesn't. When it does reset and act weird I let the idle get under control (perhaps 1 minute) and then drive off, driving no different than normal. I now reset my ECU using my ODBII tool, as it will confirm the reset and clearance of any stored codes. When I do this the engine always acts weird for a minute or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.