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Made a tube to brace the radiator support longitudinally and to protect the exhaust. Bracket bolts to the body right in front of the subframe where the bumper brace was bolted in stock. Added a tube to brace that and protect the oil filter and cooler. Tubes welded back in to connect the radiator support to the bumper and to mount a piece of sheetmetal. B cut a piece of 1/8" 4130 plate for the front of the skid and I welded that in. Old airbox guard was mostly destroyed so I made a new one. Welded as much as I could on the car, then we unbolted it. B cut a piece of 4130 sheetmetal to protect the condenser and radiator. Radiator and condenser mounts welded on new radiator support. Basically ready for paint. I would like to get this thing back on the road ASAP but I'm going to see if the paint shop can get this all painted up fairly soon. Have new lines/hoses for the oil cooler, new radiator, etc. B took a pair of good engine mounts off my spare EZ30. So we have to swap some of that out.

I'd investigate your relays for your lighting issues. Getting stuff to work after repeatedly flipping the switch sounds to me like a relay issue. Look into service manuals online, or better yet buy a set of hardcopies. Well worth the investment and will tell you all you want to know and more. I believe the wiring should be the same as any 3rd gen/L-Series/Leone with a turbo MPFI engine. An XT is basically an L-Series with a cooler body and interior. I could be wrong though, I've never been fortunate enough to work on one nor see one in the flesh. Check everything that goes into the ECU before you plug it in. Takes time but with the car's age it's better to begin checking stuff now. :]

Thanks for the tip, I'll take out the dash and check it out. Something I should probably do anyways; I don't put a lot of faith in 80s circuitry. And I think that confirms for me that the issue is the ignition switch. I'll replace it and update on my success for failure.

I don’t think the EA82 era ECUs were integrated into the dash anymore than having a check engine light and referencing a reed switch on the speedo cable for the VSS. Do some research into issues with the digi dash, the EA81 MY’s digi dash was known for issues with some of the components dying, taking out the dash with it. You could have a similar issue in the EA82 digi dash. Cheers Bennie

Have you checked the timing belt to make sure it’s not broken?

Update: There didn't seem to be any voltage at the ignition switch, so I switched it out with the one on my 89 XT, and I now have radio! But no still no dash lights :(. But this does seem to lead me down the path that the issue may lie elsewhere, and not at the ECU. If anyone knows to what extent the dash would communicate with the ECU (or the MPFI Controller as the manual calls it), lemme know. But I'll keep digging. I hope that one day I will see that magnificent digi-dash.

I heard a sizzling and the engine slowly stopped? Like wires shorting out? Slowly stopped? RPM dropped but it was still going? Have you checked for Spark? Put an extra plug in, ground it and turn it over. Nice strong blue spark? If so, add a small amount of fuel into the intake throttle body. Does it start and run for a bit? Is it cranking over normally? What prompted the engine change? Did you do the timing belt or any other maintenance on the engine before the installation?

Just a quick update to this: I have gotten hazards to come back to life just by flipping the twitch about a million times, slowly beginning to wonder if the issue lies somewhere other than the ECU. The 1988 manual says that most body electronics go through the fusible links and ignition. I've double checked the links and they are all clean and they don't seem to be damaged in any way. So I'll try to diagnose the ignition switch next.

Howdy! I just got my hands on a new (to me, not to the world) 1986 XT Turbo, that's been sitting in the previous owner's driveway since at least 2009. It has less than 100k miles, no accident history, and very little rust, or at least, not enough rust to make any holes. The reason it was sitting was because the ECU was fried. To what extent I do not know, all I know that he plugged in a wire and then realized it shouldn't be there, and there was no power. It looks like there is a fair bit of custom wiring that I am still in the process of investigating. I was able to get my hands on a replacement ECU, and I'm just waiting for it to arrive. However, there are some things that make me wonder if the issue could be deeper. There are some electrical systems work, but others that don't that I would expect to work. For example, brake lights and highlights work, but not the hazards, or turn signals. And I expected the radio and digi-dash to at least come up with light, but there's nothing. Looking at some wiring diagrams I think (If I'm reading it right) some of these systems should work without the ECU, but I could be wrong? I already plan to replace all the relays I can reach, and check every fuse, I assume that's a good place to start. Does anyone have any suggestions for where I should look out for? Thanks in advance!

97 legacy Outback, twin cam 2.5 recently swapped an engine into said car, Got it running, ran like a sewing machine sounded beautiful all of the sudden I heard a sizzling and the engine slowly stopped and won’t restart. no spark, but I have fuel and I believe the injectors are firing, I have a bunch of spare parts laying around that are known good so so I started changing them out one by one, including coil pack, igniter, plug wires I did a visual on the ecu no burn marks. im at a loss I heard the noise that something burned up but no smoke and to visual indicators my next step will be to remove the intake to see if anything under it got pinched but i figured I’d see if anyone else has had a similar situation first before I start tearing things off

One other, often overlooked, maintenance item: Change oil in rear-differential. First, check for oil leaking from the differential, especially from around the input-shaft, and from around the left and right output shafts. Ideally, the differential case should appear dry and not oily. If there is evidence of oil leakage, then the oil-level should be checked, and it's not much extra work to drain and replace the oil. However, if the diff-case is dry, with no apparent oil-leakage, you might be tempted to leave well-alone; but it's really not difficult to drain and change the oil. There should be 2 plugs on the the rear face of the diff. Use a 1/2"-square male driver to release the plugs. Always remove the top (filler) plug first, in case the plug is seized. On most Subarus, the rear diff takes about 1L of 75W-90 gear oil. The trick to filling the fresh oil, is to buy a cheap 'turkey baster' (squeezy-bulb type), and use that to get the fresh oil in through the upper fill-plug; fill until the oil reaches the bottom of the fill-plug. And you're done.

Thanks for all the responses. I'll track down this vapor hose and replace it. Good idea to do the fuel filter. I guess I should do the air filter as well. Last summer I changed oil+filter and transmission fluid, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the torque bind was gone after sitting with new fluid in the transmission for the winter. For the AC, would it be worth replacing O rings before charging the system? Or is that only safe to do after getting it fully evacuated? Are there other things I should proactively do? This car sits at a summer cabin and we'll use it for a couple months each year. It has ~165k miles and got reasonably maintained until about 2016 when it was essentially abandoned (outside in the PNW unfortunately). I just put it in the garage until next year, but could plan work and buy parts before returning next year. Thanks!

I swapped out throttle body with another one that may or may not have a good throttle position sensor. The P0638 only shows up after about an hour of highway driving. So I took a trip today and after about an hour the P0638 showed up. So now I would like to try a PCM from a different car to see if that cures the car. Do I need one specifically for a 2005 Outback or are there other Subarus using the same PCM?

While you're at it, it would be a good idea to replace the fuel-filter (the black canister that one of the fuel-lines is connected to).

Fuel related yes. Two are fuel lines, the chewed one is the vapour from the tank to the purge control solenoid/carbon canister. Unsure which one it is exactly, definitely vapour line though. Cheers Bennie

The hose is the vapor line for the fuel system. Go here for fsm for car: Index of /Auto/Japan/Subaru O.

Those 3 lines are fuel lines. Replace them. If it's been sitting that long, most likely no ac refrigerant in the system. The orings on the compressor and condenser are common leak points. You can get a cheap charge kit and put it in. You might get lucky!

First post, new to Subarus. I've found some useful info here already, thanks! I'm resurrecting a 1996 Legacy 2.2L that was sitting for most of the last decade in my wife's grandma's garage. I've got it running and driving seemingly as it should, with only two known issues at the moment. 1) rodent chewed vacuum hose (I think), what is it? It hissed with vacuum when running. see pic 2) AC not working. The dash button doesn't light up when pressed. I don't have a full grasp of the system yet, most of my knowledge is from this thread. Here's what I've learned: Fuses: 10A Fuse in engine compartment good. 12V is delivered to AC relay can’t find second fuse that is supposedly in the interior fuse box, don't see anything related to heat or AC AC relay functions AC compressor spins when the relay is jumped Air does not get cold. I ran the compressor for longer than I should have if there’s no refrigerant, something I subsequently learned. oops dual pressure sensor switch on the drier is open circuit conclusion Faulty dual pressure sensor switch or refrigerant quantity insufficient” Makes sense that refrigerant is low because it didn’t blow cold when i ran the compressor for a while but since the light on the dash doesn't turn on, is there another problem also? or is there a string of sensors/switches in series, which must all be closed in order to power that dash light? Thanks for the help!

That mounts to the steering column mount bolt. You can see the marks from the flat aluminium/metal plate “washers” that fit in the same area. Cheers Bennie

1989 GL SPFI Been slowly getting my interior back together and I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of this wire's routing before removing it. I cannot find this wire in any diagrams in my parts catalog nor my FSM. It's not the radio ground wire that goes from behind the dash to the mount near the shift boot, that's in place. It's too short to really go anywhere except the ECU mount, but the ECU doesn't ground through the case, or am I incorrect? Also I'm not 100% sure the one end mounts to the steering column, but I remember the wire being located in this general area. Your view is of the ECU mount area from the driver's side. Thanks! :]

Yeah, that Dewalt ratchet was a birthday gift to myself and that thing is super handy. Love that you can swap between 3/8 and 1/2 drive on it too.

That radiator looks due for replacement. P.S. The little powerstack battery works really well in that ratchet.

I was just looking at this old rally photo of the Subaru WRC team (I assume in the mid 90s?) and I just noticed that the cars in the back of the photo are Leones/Loyales and not Legacys! I thought it was surprising since all the photos i see from this time are the early Legacys. Does anyone have any or know of any other photos of these 555 Leones. I honestly think it wouldn't look too bad, although I prefer the white blue and gold on the rally Leones.

Hello my friend, I noticed you're looking for the pinout for this module in question. Did you find it by chance? I'm having the same problem. The technical specifications would be Subaru Legacy 2.5cc 1997 EJ20 engine, white ECU connector.

Had a few minutes last night to piddle so I got started removing the radiator and hoses. Didn't get the thermostat out but I hope to sometime this week. Someone used a piece of PVC to merge the busted lower hose together at some point and looked to be slightly kinked. And not in a good kind of kink either.