alia176

Select monitor is Subaru's diagostic device. Do a search on this board and you'll get lots of hits. You might be another candidate for this device..seeing as how we're sort of flying blind! Ali

Sorry to hear bro, that truly sucks! I posted a plea for the use of a select monitor so that I can attack this thing intelligently. Let's keep at this and get while we're at it! Ali

Hey folks, Is there anyone in the IL, IN, WI and Iowa area that has one of these that I can use? I'll drive my cars up to your place just so I can troubleshoot my '95 Legacy and my '92 SVX. The OBD-II is not good for this type of thing unfortunately. Basically, I have some great troubleshooting info from the factory shop manuals that involves using the Select Monitor. W/o this tool, I won't be able to intelligently trouble shoot my problems. My issues are: P0301 and P0303 - Legacy (#1 and #3 cyl misfire) Cruise control problems in the SVX. I have done as much as one can do w/o simply throwing more parts at the Legacy. I've changed the ECU, coil pack, knock sensor, spark plugs and wires. I'd say that the biggest impact came from changing the ECU. For four months, the car was error code free. I'll swap the injectors from one side to the other to see if anything changes. On my SVX, I'm not able to go very far w/o the Select Monitor. I checked the usuals (vacuum pump, cracked hose, etc) to no avail. I know I can take the cars to a dealer but I don't feel that they'll be willing to listen to the process I've gone through. Furthermore, I don't want to pay them extra labor hours in trying to get up to speed to where I am. If worse comes to worse, I'll have no choice but to take it to them. I had done this before and the dealership wasn't able to recreate the problem. If anyone has a favorite diagnostician in the Chicagoland area, please let me know. My wife only drives the Legacy on surface streets due to the fear of stalling (again) in the hwy and getting run over by a 18 wheeler. Thanks. Ali bolingbrook, IL

I hooked up my timing light to all spark plugs to look for anomalies. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything unusual. They all seem to fire at the same rate. Maybe tomorrow, I'll try to switch the injectors from one side to the other! Ali

I've used the stethescope on the injectors and wasn't able to ascertain whether I was hearing that injector or something else. But it was a very rythmic sound. Interesting thing about my timing....it seems not as it should be. I'll check it again since I can't remember the degrees...but it seemed to me that the timing was way off. This was before I did the timing belt. Afterwards, the timing was still off. This is neither here nor there, but I just couldn't understand why the timing wasn't on spec. According to my Haynes manual, there really wasn't any way to change it. Is this really true? Ali

Yes, the coil was a new one. I simply checked the resistance values per the manual and one of the values came out slightly out of spec. Car still ran great except those occasional stalling. I don't see how the coil misfires either...you'd think that 1 and 2 would both experience misfires. That's why I'm going to change the injectors from one side to the other to see what happens. If the fault follows the injectors then I have something concrete to go on. THe spark plugs and wires were changed. I just don't want to throw any more parts at it. Ali

I understand your frustration as I'm in teh same boat! My wife's car is grounded until I fix this stalling issue. Once, she almost got rear ended on the hwy with a 18wheeler due to this problem. In my case, I'm experiencing the famous #1 and #3 cyl misfires. Let us know how the new coil works out. I"m on my second coil. We'll figure it out Ali

Hey guys, Just curious to see what's the latest? did you replace the coil pack? If not, I need to talk to you off line and troubleshoot thing issue. I have the same problem but more intermmitent. I'd love to have this opportunity to help you troubleshoot yours. I even have a coil pack that you can try to see if it helps. Thanks. Ali alia176atyahoodotcom

Markus, Have you had this question answered? If so, what did you find out? If you still want to know, I'll try this experiement tonight for you. I'm trying to figure out a misfire on #3 and #1 so I'll be in there messing around. Ali

Hey guys, I'd like to swap the #1 and #3 injectors with the #2 and #4 in the hopes of tracking down my #1 and #3 cyl misfire code. Are the O rings generic type of O rings or are they something special? I'm sure to rip one or two so I figured I'd call the local stealership to see if they have any. They quoted me $13/each Wow! I'll soak the injector tips in FI cleaner or something. Ali '95 Legacy

Does anyone make any aftermarket headlight harness that will allow me to run higher watt light bulbs for Subarus? I know place like Painlesswiring prolly has a generic harness for the type of bulbs. However, I'm looking for a Subaru Legacy harness. I can make one up if I had to but prefer to purchase a custom made harness. Thanks. Ali '95 Legacy Wagon

Hey folks, I'm still on the hunt for the famous #1 and #3 cyl misfire code. I started off with running compression test in each cylinder and inspecting the spark plugs. Here're the numbers: cyl 1 - 195 psi cyl 3 - 195 cyl 2 - 200 cyl 4 - 166 :-\ cyl #4 obviously is low on on compression and I'll test it further. At the time, I didn't have anything long enough to throw couple of drops of oil in the cylinder to see if there'd be any effect. The spark plugs are only six months old and they're NGK. They were all gapped to .040" at the time. Here're the gaps now: cyl 1 - .047" cyl 3 - .047" cyl 2 - .045" cyl 4 - .050" I regapped everything to .040". I'm surprised to see the gaps increased by that much. Also, what's up with the #4 cyl? Low compression means high heat equals gaps to increase? Sometime this week I'll hook up the vacuum gauge to the intake manifold and interpret the readings while under load. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the above numbers. The spark plugs had a white color on one side of the electrodes. Also, couple of them had some surface rust on the metallic area where the socket engages. I assume that some water stayed in the hole after a car wash? I took some pics BTW. I'm trying to figure out if there's blockages in my cats. I'm also chasing a P0420 (catalyst below thresh hold) code. I don't what happened first: bad O2 sensors caused the cats to burn up or bad cats allowing excess fuel to trip the code. My wife did confirm that she smelled burned rubber/wire type smell when the engine started to die on the freeway. Bad cats? I'd hate to install brand new O2 sensors if they're going to go bad soon due to fouled cats. Has anyone installed cats that aren't oem? I mean, have you taken your car to a muffler shop and had them install a set for you? If so, what was the cost? Thanks for any inputs. Ali '95 Legacy wagon 2.2L 124k miles automatic, new(ish) plugs, wires, coil pack, knock sensor, clean EGR.

Hey guys, Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death but I wasn't able to find any specific info on wire color codes. I bought a universal Bosch O2 sensor from Autozone and it came with two white and one black wire. My oem O2 sensor has the same exact wires. Ok, that's a no brainer you say. Unfortunately, I'm unsure as to how to splice in the white wires from my new unit to the white wires of the old unit. I am assuming that +signal and +heater wires are interchangeable? I am also assuming that the black wire from my new unit goes to the black wire (ground) of the oem sensor? BTW, the wire color change on the engine side of the O2 sensor connector plug. The instruction that came with the Bosch left me a little confused. In order to use the table they provide, you need to know whether your oem unit is a Bosche, A, B, or C type sensor. What are types A, B, C type O2 sensor and how the heck would I know that? Anyway, any insight into this matter would be very helpful. thanks. Ali '95 Wagon

In my case, I feel that the problem is electrical related and NOT mechanical. Think about it, how come all is well after restarting the engine? There's not a hint of trouble after the restart and sometimes many miles and months go by. I'm ordering two O2 sensors today. Last night a quick test revealed that the O2 sensors heat resistance values were out of spec by a lot! Spec calls for 30 ohm and I was getting around 4.2 ohm. Now, this isn't a big deal since it's only the heater circuilt. That only means that the ECU won't go into close loop mode until the O2 sensors are good and hot from the exhaust gas. However, I'm going on the assumption that an engine with 125k miles on it prolly needs new sensors anyway. Perhaps this will eiliminate the P0420 code (catalyst below threshold value). On another quick note, the ignition coiled checked out ok too. I knew they'd be fine since they're only three months old but ..... Stay tuned...

Hey guys, I was raptured as I was reading this thread! I have the same two codes plus a bonus code P0420. Little history: '95 Legacy wagon, 2.2 engine, 120k miles. For a long time P0303 kept showing up. Did the usuals - coil pack, plugs, wires, etc. Engine would shudder and wanted to stall on my wife many times. She almost got rearended a few times on the hwy. While P0303 was showing up, a second code P0420 (catalyst below threshold) began to pop up. Same symptoms as before. NOw I'm getting P0301 (#1 cyl misfire). I'll try the dollar bill test. I'm very intrigued! I'll do a leakdown test and a compression test as well. If she fails both tests then perhaps it's time to pull the heads! Thanks. Ali

Bump Wanted to see where Christina is with the P0420. Ali '95 Wagon (P0420 and P0301)

This may help out some people! I thought I share some info with you on my '95 Legacy codes: P0401 (#1 cyl misfire) and P0420 (catalyst below threshold). Interestingly enough, I used to get the P0403 codes all the time until the coil pack was replaced with an OEM unit. I am buying the injector theory with the misfires. However, I'm a bit clueless as to the cause of the P0420. Can someone translate that code to english for me? I've been getting this code for some time but don't really know how to diagnose it. Thanks. Ali '95 wagon, 130k miles,auto, 2.2L

I thought I give everyone an update as well. Let's see, '95 Legacy wagon, was experiencing P0303 (#3 cyl misfire) code and the engine was stalling right after popping up this code. I replaced the coil pack and for about two months all was well. Now for the bad news Last week the car stalled and threw two codes: P0420 - Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 1 P0301 - Cylinder 1 Misfire Detected I'm open to suggestions!

I like the disconnectng the wiring concept as a temp solution. But I think there's an issue somewhere in there that needs to be addressed. Anyone know how to diagnose the ABS system using a jumper wire and read the blinking ABS light thing? My manual doesn't say anything about being able to read the code. All it says to have the dealer plug into the diagnostic plug and pull the code. Thanks, Ali

Well, that was easy. I'll check out the fault code and see if it confirms the bad relay. Thanks.

I got a call from my wife telling me that the ABS light just came on. No biggy, I told her. I'll pull the codes when she gets home. The next phone call was 10 min later with the hood open. She said that the ABS system/body/motor/pump/whatever was still running or buzzing....after the ignition is shut off . She stuck the cell near the area and yup, I heard the same buzzing. Evidently the buzzing stopped sometime later but I had her pull the Neg cable off the battery to prevent drainage. I can assume it could be one of the following: motor or valve relay (opening/closing fast) or motor running? Any thoughts? Thanks. ali '95 Legacy wagon 130k miles, automatic

I miss my west coast days. I'm originally from Nevada so rust was foreign to me until I moved to Ill-annoy. Now I'm initimately familiar with PB Blaster, wax undercoating and anti-seize paste Ali

Good job man, this job can truly be a PITA in the salt belt! Now you can feel some of the pain I went through with my wife's '95. In my case, the sawsall came in real handy! You're on the downhill stretch now however so enjoy the remainder of the project. Ali

Oh goody, let the games begin. Do me a favor and stick a microphone near your work area so that we can hear all the choice words that're about to come forth !!! Ali

99, I haven't been in here a while....what's the latest? You done with everything? Al