JStamberg

Never mind... loose nut! Thanks again for saving me some money! Jim

I have this problem, getting ready to go check and see if it is the loose nut or worse.... if it is stripped, what is the best place to start with fixing it? New wiper arm from junk yard? New part altogether? What exactly is the part I should be looking for? Thanks! You guys rock as always!

I noticed... I thought about doing a jig like the banana there, but I refrained.

The rest of the story: While trying to replace the fuel filter, the lower fitting got jammed. I didn't have the time or tools to fix it right, so my dad brought it back into the shop. They fixed the fuel filter, and they had major problems with the lurching, etc. They did some snooping around, and, if I understood them correctly, one of the plugs into the ECU was partially disconnected. It drives fine now, and they charged us a very reasonable amount of labor for the whole repair... so I have no reason to second-guess the validity. Who would have guessed?

No codes, the idle seems normal. The mileage seems a little low (if I remember right, it was 24, mostly highway). Thanks for the tips guys, that'll keep me busy for a while.

Howdy folks, I haven't posted this question on any Toyota forums yet... I trust you guys and I'm curious to see what ideas you might have first. My dad's car: 1998 Toyota Camry LE (4 cyl, auto trans), 122,000 miles. He recently purchased it from a co-worker. My mom is the primary one who drives it, but only uses it a few times a week, for pretty short distances. While visiting my parents in Iowa my wife and I drove this car, and discovered it has a goofy lurch. Typical situation: Sitting at a stop light/sign, push on accelerator, then the car hesitates and lurches. This doesn't happen every time, but it is often enough (maybe 25% or more of the time) that it is a concern. It only happens from a stop (i.e. at very low speeds). The engine has actually quit on a couple of these situations. I've changed the plugs and wires, and I have a new fuel filter, but I have not installed it yet. Any other ideas of things to check? Thanks!

So simply look at the bone yard for 4 outback struts? No shock mounts or anything like that? I am correct to assume that any 96-99 legacy outback would work? any other models or years that I should check for?

I know after reading over many posts on lifting that this subject has been beat into the ground. But I wanted a bit of taylored advice, so here goes! My family will soon be moving to a small village in "bush" Alaska. I'm considering taking our 96 Legacy LS (2.2 4EAT)... this may be stupid considering it has 200,000+ miles on it (and the car will have to be shipped out there), but I'm beginning to feel comfortable enough with the car that if stuff breaks, I wouldn't mind working on it. The village (about 600 people) we're going to is flat, and does have some paved roads (10-15 miles), but it is a lot of dirt roads, and a lot of snow in the winter. One of my major concerns with bringing the stock legacy to AK, however, is that it may be too low for heavy snow. I'm not planning on doing any offroading, I just don't want to be a snowplow either. Any thoughts on a simple, cost-effective way to gain an effective amount of height out of it? From reading it looks like simply buying the KYB GR-2 Outback struts (same year??) may do the trick. Should I buy new or just grab some from a junk yard? Will I need anything else? Springs, etc? Or just buy the four new struts? Would it be advisable to buy some bigger tires as well? Currently I'm running 195/60R15. Any thoughts on what tire size to bump up to without having to change wheels? Or could even buying some bigger tires give me the height I need? Thanks for the input. Sorry to retread old ground. If you think I'm nuts to be considering even bringing a car with this many miles to western Alaska, you can mention that, too.

Yesterday I tried the carb cleaner as suggested.... I sprayed it all over the hoses and connections, but I didn't notice any changes. Then I sprayed the heck out of the MAF sensor one last time with the MAF cleaner. Lastly, I used Seafoam Deep Creep on the throttle body (just because I already was messing around with the intake hose). I drove it hard for about 20 minutes... came home, checked the air flow again... now its between 2.3 grams/second and 2.5 grams per second. So quite a ways below the 4-7 g/s the book recommends. My question is this: is there some way that I will hurt the car by not changing out the sensor? I.e. what are the consequences of the sensor reading such a low air flow rate? Or is it worth it just to go ahead and replace it with a used one (which I have an offer for), and be done with it? One last curiousty question.... totally unrelated... what is the purpose of the curved plastic black piece located between the air filter and the front right headlight? Mine is not really connected, and I just want to rip it out, but I hate to do that not knowing what the heck it does. Thanks!

Mostly just wondering. As I mentioned at the beginning of my post, the MPG has been a little low (not terrible, just lower than expected), and I have had overheating issues in the past. Just finished installing the new knock sensor and taking it around for a spin. Nice and easy job....

That's the conclusion I came to after reading some of the other threads... However, it still doesn't explain the low airflow rate. Here's a bit more info on my timing from the sensors: stays at 20 degrees while idling. It topped out around 50 degrees while on the highway (just for a moment). In city traffic it stayed mostly between 34-46 degrees. These are all numbers from today, so the knock sensor unplugged shouldn't be effecting things at all. The Airflow rate was from today as well (after plugging the knock sensor back in yesterday). Porcupine, I definitely noticed reduced fuel economy and power while the knock sensor was unplugged. Fuel economy got down to 15 MPG. Ouch! Nice to know the car was designed to protect itself from major damage.

Well.... that's the embarassing part.... :-\ It was P0325... faulty knock sensor circuit. I ordered the part last week ($52+$15 S/H); it arrived today. Yesterday I was taking a quick look at the knock sensor to see what all was involved, and I noticed that the knock sensor was not plugged in completely. Obviously when I reset the code, it stays off now. So now I have a new knock sensor, but it appears I may have wasted my money... It seems weird to me that it was unplugged. I had fooled with it several weeks before (after reading the knock sensor threads), just to check it out, but didn't see anything obviously wrong. I plugged it back in, but maybe it wasn't connected completely. After several weeks of driving it must have loosened up just enough to start setting off the code. I guess I win the bonehead award for not double checking the obvious thing before ordering the part. From reading other threads, I guess the knock sensor can be starting to fail without setting off the light, so I'm contemplating changing it out anyways. The company I ordered it from will charge a 20% restocking fee... plus I have to foot the shipping bill (both ways). I figure by the time all that happens, I'm better off just throwing it in my car. The car has 205,000 miles on it, so its probably about due. Of course, I'm always open to other ideas/advice.

Yup, it works well... There is commercial software out there, but I found a nice combination of freeware/GNU software. Specifically: "scantool.net", "wOBD" ("obd2crazy"), and "OBD II Logger." Between these 3, I pretty much have most of what the commercial stuff offers. They're all super easy to use. Thanks for the info on the carb cleaner, I'll hop out and get some. Good thoughts to on not buying a new MAF sensor.

I went ahead and tried using the MAF sensor cleaner (pretty much the same thing as carb cleaner.... but gentler, right? still flamable...), but didn't get any surges/increases in RPM. Would replacing the sensor/reed be the next step? Any other way to test it and make sure that's the problem?

I don't have any carb cleaner handy.... could I use the MAF sensor cleaner I recently purchased?

That rocks... thanks for the offer. I looked over the intake, I don't see anything obvious. Is there any sort of effective way to check for leaks or anything beyond just looking at it?

Excellent... good to know. It seemed a bit steep.

Ok, I'll take a closer look and see what I can find.... I just checked out the price for a new MAF sensor (1stsubaruparts.com)... $272!! I never guessed it would be such an expensive part.

My check engine light came on recently (96 Legacy LS 2.2 4EAT), and I decided to pick up my own scan tool, rather than paying someone else to do it. (By the way, if you are looking for one, I got a China-made knock off of the ElmScan 5 for about $85 w/ shipping and handling from a guy on ebay... it hooks into my laptops usb port... works great... free software available online... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=014&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=330163025508&rd=1) Anyhow, I have had problems with low gas mileage (18-20 mpg in town) and with overheating (see previous thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76566).... so I've been curious to see if I could learn anything from the data the sensors are putting out. In the Haynes manual is says that the MAF sensor should be reading between 4 and 7 grams per second when the engine is idling, and that it should increase steadily with throttle increase. My car is only showing about 2.7 g/s at idle.... Is that unacceptable? (I have tried using MAF Sensor cleaner on the sensor... the sensor looked fine beforehand, however.) Any thoughts on what is normal? It seems to me that if the MAF sensor is detecting less than the actual amount of air coming into the engine, then it will not put enough fuel into the engine... resulting in a lean mixture... detonation... knock sensor retarding engine timing... hurting performance, fuel economy, etc. Let me know if you want some of the other sensor data... I logged about 15 minutes of driving on city streets and highway. Thanks in advance!

Once again, kudos to the guys of this board who take the time to not only figure things out, but share the knowledge with others. I had been getting progressively frustrated (as my locks got progressively less responsive) with my 96 Legacy. This fix took me less than a couple hours to do, and NO new parts (other than a small bit of JB weld). I did it a couple of weeks ago... the automatic unlock hasn't missed once since! Thanks!

Due to the mentioned move, I have neglected to leave the update to my scenario. Here's what I found: A friend and I decided to go ahead and start tearing into the engine... basically working our way towards the head gasket. I had previously put the dye in the coolant, but hadn't noticed any leaks. We were just to the point of getting ready to remove the timing belt, when my friend (wisely) suggested I take one last look around for any leaks... I cralled under the car... and voila... there was an itty bitty drip of (dyed) coolant on the bottom of the water pump. As previously mentioned, the water pump had been recently replaced.... so I took it back in to the same shop, the part was still under warranty, and they gave me a discount on replacing it. I also had them install a new thermostat and timing belt while they were in there... just for good measure. I've easily put a couple thousand miles on the car since then, and I haven't noticed any significant change in the coolant level in the overflow tank. Sorry for the wild goose chase, gentlemen.... but as always, I appreciate your help. I brag to a lot of my friends how I was always scared of doing maintenance on my car till I found out about this board. You guys give me the confidence to tear into stuff I would normally never tackle on my own.

Helped me too... I feel like a bonehead. Thanks for taking the time to answer our silly questions! And with a bit of humour, too.

John, thank you for the good, in-depth explanation. That helps a lot. I'll look into getting the hydrocarbon test done (any advice on where? is that a dealer only thing? Or would some normal shops be able to do that as well?). I really appreciate guys like you who are taking the time to help others out, without expecting anything in return. Keep it up! Since the engine does have so many miles on it (over 202k now), I'm leaning towards finding a replacement engine, or simply selling off the car (we'll be moving to western AK soon, and we want to make sure the vehicle is worth taking with us). Either way, this is very helpful in knowing which course to take.

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

Thanks, Nipper. Good advice about having someone else check the smell. Here's an interesting development in the situation. We live on the west side of the Appalachians in TN. Last night we drove someone to the Asheville, NC airport (over the mountains) about an 90 minutes away. I was driving pretty hard (with the AC on) to get our friend to the airport on time. This time I was trying to pay much better attention to the engine temp. It seemed to be fine until we were sitting in front of the airport in the unloading zone. Then it was right below the "H". There was a small puddle of coolant under the front left of the car (around the water pump and reservoir). The resevoir was almost completely full and a bit foamy at the top. The radiator cap (which I recently replaced due to advice given here) was warm, but not hot. We waited there for about 20 minutes. The coolant in the resevoir went back down to a normal level (I assume as the coolant went back into the radiator). We drove it home, took it a bit easier on the engine (slower, no AC), and the engine temp stayed at its normal placed (just below halfway). I checked things out this morning, and the radiator was full and the resevoir had lost maybe half of the total fluid it can hold. I put the dye in this morning. Any thoughts?