McDave

A ship mechanic told me once he rigged up tarps over the engines so when he got a runaway he could simply drop the tarp over the (supercharged) intake to starve it of air. That would stop them! On cars with cats you may not see any oil smoke, or just a puff on a cold start since the cats tend to burn it all off... somehow. Agree the turbo should have been changed long ago, certainly before the one time he forgot to check the oil level leading up to the engine failure.

How does it accelerate if you manually shift it? I've found as long as I keep mine above 2300 rpm it runs great. The darn things upshift too quickly in auto mode unless you floor it from a stop. Otherwise as mentioned, make sure the timing belts are timed correctly, the exhaust isn't clogged, and consider bumping up the timing to about 23 degrees. A couple treatments of Techron in the gas tank seemed to help mine too. Note: Timing is set with green electrical connectors by the master cylinder connected. Make sure you disconnect them when through.

I'm going to take you at your word as a first timer and tinker-er and recommend you not attempt to do this job yourself, unless you buy a second car first so you can take the time to do the job right the first time. Even if everything goes like clockwork the car will likely be down for a minimum of 2 weeks, particularly if a machine shop reworks the heads (you should have that done too with that many miles). It would probably be easier and cheaper for you to drop a 2.2 in it like GD suggested. It still might take you a week or so though, unless you have vacation time coming. Bottom line - Since you have to keep your family rolling, start looking for a cheap second car now and fix this one later. It's either that or rent a car while a shop fixes this one, imo. In the meantime, there is nothing wrong with modern stop leaks like Alumaseal or Subaru's sealant. They won't stop up your system when used as directed, but they may not be much help with a head gasket already leaking either, though Bars-Leak now makes one for head gaskets that looks interesting.

Put a vacuum gauge on it so that you can read the gauge while driving the car. If the needle starts jumping while it's missing, you have a valve problem again. If the gauge needle remains steady while it's missing, the problem has to be spark or fuel related, not compression (valve) related. Suspect the coil since it's knocking out a pair of cylinders at once.

Just bumping this thread to let you know we're back, and was wondering if you ever solved the problem?

Not good! The abrasive gets everywhere and shortens the life of your engine. ATK engine rebuilders sent out a warning about this several years ago shortly after the Scotchbrite pads came out. On tear down inspections they were finding significant damage caused by the abrasives. Permatex makes a spray on gasket remover that is similar to oven cleaner that does a good job after letting it set for 10 minutes or so. Use a good gasket scraper to get it off and finish with B12 Chemtool carb cleaner. Note: 2 applications of the Permatex Gasket remover may be required to get all the old material off..

Like I said in post #3, it's low on freon. If you can't get the dealer to take care of it, at least have a shop diagnose the problem and consider letting them go ahead and fix it if it's cheap enough. If it needs major repairs though, take the diagnosis to the dealer and insist they fix it under warranty.

Make sure you change your oil and filter the minute the fuel problem is taken care of. I imagine it is very thinned out with gas and will ruin the bearings in short order if you don't. On the upside, the inside of your engine is very clean now.

How disappointing. At least this last round was fairly cheap and easy to do, and like I said in the PM, it was something that had to be done to rule the possibility out and to show ccr that you've done all you could on your end before asking to have the valves checked. If it truly is happening more often, don't throw the old parts out, consider putting them back in to see if it goes back to the way it was before, and take a very close look at the wiring at the sensors. I've seen wires broken inside the insulation with only a couple strands making a connection. Pull gently on each wire near the connector and watch for the plastic insulation to stretch. If it does most of the wire is broken inside and you probably just broke the last of the strands. Also, start the car, warm it to operating temps and wiggle all under hood wires while it's idling to see if you can get the codes to set. As far as what else can be done besides checking for tight valve adjustment or valve guides slipping, it gets complicated. It will take a top tech with the proper equipment and patience to scan while in movie mode and hope to get it to act up in a relatively short time. When we get a car like this it becomes our 'parts chaser' so we can drive it often to the parts store with the scanner hooked up without having to bill you for the hours spent in it. Once they get a positive movie capture, hopefully one of the parameters will point them in the right direction. Bottom line, I wouldn't blame you for calling 'uncle' after ccr does their thing either. But the fact that it appears to be getting worse may actually help make it easier for a shop to find the problem. You just might want to point them to this thread first so they don't start replacing a bunch of parts you don't need. It's going to take intense diagnosing, not parts changing to figure this one out.

Sounds like it's low on freon and as a result the compressor is cycling off and on. If it's not under warranty, have a shop check for and repair the leak, then top off with freon, or evacuate and recharge depending on if they had to open the system to repair the leak. Sometimes it's as simple as a service valve or hose that needs tightened so a full evac and recharge isn't needed.

The stub axle is what passes through the bearings and knuckle. On a 4wd the stub is the outer CV joint of the axle. The posts you've seen here to replace the whole knuckle refers to going to a junkyard for a used assembly.

My '93 Loyale came with 3 of them. One in each fuel line before and after the throttle body, and one back by the fuel pump. I can honestly say I don't hear any fuel flowing.

Oh man, I knew they were bundled. I'm going to have to give my parts guy a hard time. Be sure you post the part number here. They just bolt on. Nothing special to do since they're just magnetic induction pickups.

Yes, all warning lights should come on either in the 'on' or 'crank' positions. That's your bulb check to make sure one hasn't burned out.

The problem with using used sensors is you won't know if they are the old design or if they came out of an overheated engine. Then if it still triggers the cel you will be left wondering if it could still be the sensors. The new sensors are sold separately, not bundled and were in stock at the dealer I called. That's often a good sign that they replace lots of them. The part numbers listed below also show up on the online sites like http://www.subarugenuineparts.com/ Crank sensor #22053 AA 052 - $34.22 list price, $25.05 online. Cam sensor #22056 AA 062 - $61.72 list, $45.18 online. 1 of each are needed.

The bundled sensors I'm talking about is the cam and crank sensor. I've already checked on the online dealers and haven't found them listed. Send me a PM with your year/model/engine size and the last 8 digits of your VIN and I'll call my dealer tomorrow to sort out what's available and get the part number(s) and prices for you.

They reused your old sensors? Change them suckers out! Be sure to ask for the bundled pair. I don't know if they are still offering them that way, but they were back when they were under the initial recall. Anytime they offer a deal like that (both for less than the price of either) on parts, they know they have/had a big problem and want to make the customer happy. I've gotten expensive recalled parts before that were priced just high enough to cover shipping costs. If they aren't bundled any longer, I would still buy both since they apparently made changes to both. You might also ask if there is a difference between the 2.2 and 2.5 sensors as was brought up earier in this thread, just out of curiosity.

I haven't given up. It's not in my vocabulary in this bidness.

And I simply explained why his half joking suggestion and your suggestion would be a bad choice. I'm going to refer back to my post #62. I went through the database again to see if there were any updates. 95% of the Fixes still point to valvetrain problems such as too tight valve clearance. I had hoped that we could rule that out with a vacuum gauge test, and we probably can. The other 5% were solved with a cam and crank sensor change. Remember though, this was a recall item and the sensors were sold as a pair for less than either separately. Chances are this was done first to most cars before the techs started looking for other causes of the 303, 304 misfire combo, so the actual cures are likely a much higher percentage. As far as the ecm not setting a P0400 code for the disconnected egr, this doesn't concern me too much. Many many times ecms do not set codes that they should, and if/when they do it may take a long time before they do, particularly on early OBD II cars and particularly on early OBD II import cars (GM was way ahead of the other makes back then as OBD II was mostly based on their system). If it were my car, I would do what was easiest and cheapest first. The c/c sensors may not be cheaper than valve cover gaskets, but would be easier to change than checking and re-shimming the valve clearance, and would actually make more sense based on the vacuum gauge tests and the recall of those parts. PS While changing the sensors take a very close look at the connectors looking for corroded, bent, or pushed out pins. Consider doing the same at the ecm if you haven't already.

Oh I'm not yelling, yet. I did end my sentence with an ! for emphasis since I seem to be having a hard time getting through to you. Look, if you want to ignore the light on your car, that's your prerogative. But please don't advocate that others here do potentially damaging things to their cars by disabling theirs. I would if I could. One of the reasons I'm so concerned, other than helping a fellow Suby owner, is that one of these problem cars could roll into my shop any day now and I would like to know what it's going to take to fix it without having to spend a 'huge amount' of time and customer's money. I do this on several forums on various makes of cars to sharpen my own repair skills and to help others in the process. Now can we get back to work and on topic please?

I had a car in the shop last week with a cel. When the light came on they noticed the temp gauge was reading hot too. It turns out the electric cooling fans had blown a fuse and the code was for the "radiator fan circuit". Had that light not come on, chances are they would have overheated the engine bad enough to need major repairs, and it would have happened in less than the week or two it would have taken you to scan for problems. Do/did you scan for problems every week or two? Fix the dang thing right in the first place!

I too am a career mechanic and on all makes of cars. Some cars, particularly the older ones reset their monitors, if they even have them, quickly. Others need several warm-up, cool-down, and various driving conditions to reset all their monitors and that can take up to a couple weeks depending on your usage. Then there is the type of inspection that your city/state does. Some just make sure your cel light works and your tailpipe sniffs clean. Others plug into your computer and scan for codes and to make sure all the monitors have been reset. If the monitors haven't been reset they know you've either had recent repairs or you are trying to put one over on them. Fail, come back later. It's still a bad idea for the other reason I explained. What happens when something else goes wrong? Say your O2 sensor gets old and weak. The car still runs fine but since the light doesn't work your only clue there may be a problem is you notice your gas mileage is down. By that point you have been running rich enough for so long that you have possibly damaged your cats. Now you're faced with a very large repair bill on top of the original problem. That's just one example of what could go wrong. There are many many others that will cost you more in the long run than if you had just fixed it right to start with, not to mention all the pollution your car is spewing in the meantime.

Two reasons not to pull or tape up the bulb. If you do live in an emissions inspection area you will fail anyway because your computer needs up to a week or so to run all the tests and clear all monitors. The inspection station will fail you automatically if the monitors haven't all been reset, even if the light hasn't come back on yet. They're wise to that trick. Second reason it's not a good idea is if/when something else goes wrong the light won't be there to alert you to the problem. You could easily ruin your cats if the problem is bad enough to flash the light continuously and you never see it.

The carpet w/padding needs to come out of the car and draped over a table or fence upside down to dry in the sun. Otherwise the padding will take forever to dry and will turn moldy. My first day on the job at a Houston dealership after graduating from tech was right after a flood. There were about 300 cars with their carpet drying upside down in the sun on every speck of free space. Looked like a 3rd world laundry service. I can imagine what's it's going to be like down there for the next few weeks. Glad I'm not there!

Ooops, boy did I get that wrong. I was thinking mph/kph and even got that backwards. Dang metric system.