McDave

You're welcome! I just wanted to add a word of caution - be careful where you spray the B12. It's pretty strong stuff. It's great for cleaning and freeing up metal parts and carbs, but it's strong enough to melt plastics and paint. If you need to clean up a throttle bore that is sticking for instance, it's better to spray the B12 on a rag and wipe it out manually rather that spraying the bore down and risk the chance of the stuff finding it's way into the electronics of the iac and tps sensors. It will work fine for cleaning out your IAC throat and egr valve, just don't get too carried away with it in other areas and you'll do more good than harm.

I take that back. My boss/sidekick reminded me we did recheck one when it was taking a long time for the exhaust to quit smoking. It retested good (though maybe a little bit of yellowing of the test fluid), so we waited for the exhaust to clear, and it did. It's a tool we don't use that often, but for the $40 we paid for it back then, it's paid for itself many times over. We even get refills of the fluid from the local Snap-on driver.

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=88082 I ran out of popcorn while waiting for some member's results.

That's a good question. I don't think I've ever tested one after doing the job. I would think a good flush would be enough to get rid of any trapped gasses. They are sensitive, but you would think all the gas would have had a chance to dissipate while the engine is torn down.

What you need is a Combustion Leak Detector. Pour the test fluid in the top of the test cylinder, put the bottom of the cylinder into the radiator neck (or remote tank of it doesn't have a neck), making sure the coolant level is low enough so you don't suck up any coolant, then stick the hose in a vacuum port of the running engine. The vacuum will pull air out of the radiator and if there is exhaust gas in the cooling system the test fluid will turn from green to yellow. We've been using one for years at the shop, though it has a vacuum squeeze bulb instead of a vacuum hose. I guess every Subaru owner should have one. It does if the head is cracked enough leading into the exhaust port. A head gasket blown into the cooling system wouldn't show in the exhaust port.

There is a screw recessed in the front side of the throttle body just above the idle air control valve (IAC) that is used to adjust base idle speed. But that's not your problem. I would clean the IAC by starting the car and taking the IAC hose off the air horn and spray Berryman's B12 carb cleaner down the hose. You'll have to operate the throttle with your other hand to keep it running. If that didn't fix it then you probably have some carbon built up on the egr valve holding the valve open. Take the valve off and clean all the carbon out with B12. Slip your finger under the top to lift up the diaphram to get to the inside of the valve too. Either one of those should do it. No adjustment required.

Well that sure eliminated a bunch of possibilities! I would still swap the injectors since that would be a 'free' check. Also take a very close look at the injector wiring harness while you're at it. Manufacturers often pair up the power feeds to the injectors while using individual grounds to trigger each injector. The positive wire junction may be buried in the harness, but a temporary short on either side of the junction could take out both injectors at once. A fsm wiring diagram might show that.

That's always been my experience too. If it doesn't ping at part throttle with an inop egr, then the timing is likely retarded. What I find odd is that these cars seem to get egr when the engine is cold. You would think the ecu would take the cts into account and wait for it to warm up some before it allows egr. It helps to prevent a cold bog and allows the cat to warm up quicker. Weird.

I've been battling this on my Loyale ever since I got it a couple months ago. I've finally got it figured out. I recently got my hands on another y-pipe/cat, gutted the cat, then installed it on my car. It did get a noticeable improvement in power but it still had the off-idle bog that lasted until the rpms got over 2400 rpms. Having already checked everything else including tps, maf, cts, ecu, O2, fuel filter, pump, regulator, plugs, wires, coil, ground circuits, ad nausium, I concluded that either the injector wasn't flowing well, or there was carbon build-up on the back side of the intake valves. So yesterday I added a "Treats up to 20 gallons" bottle of Techron Injector Cleaner to the tank, filled it up with gas, and took it on a 150 mile trip. Ho boy did that fix it! After about 25 miles I noticed it was pulling hills like it had the cruise control set, and it doesn't even have cruise! Pulling away from stops it has plenty of power now, and I can even get rubber if there's a little bit of gravel. The 3AT transmission still upshifts too quickly, but at least it now has the power to go ahead and accelerate instead of bogging and forcing me to floor it or manually downshift. I did go ahead and put my original y-pipe/cat back on today since the other one was real noisey, and it did lose some power. But it's still much better than it was before. I'll give it awhile to see if the Techron by chance cleans out the cat too, but if it doesn't I'll probably go ahead and buy another cat. So the problem may be twofold. Injector partially restricted and not flowing well, and/or carbon buildup on the intake valves. The Techron took care of that. A restriction in the front cat may be hurting overall power too, and could even be the cause of the carbon build-up in the first place. I'll report back later if it clears up on it's own (doubtful), or if a new cat gives back some of the power I had with the gutted cat.

I had a y-pipe and cat on my car up until a few minutes ago that had a rattle that sounded more like a real bad lifter tapping on the right bank. It would come and go mostly when the engine was cold, then go away once it heated up. This particular y-pipe came off a carbed engine and the only heat shields it had was around the cat, none on the pipes. I really thought I had a problem with the engine it was so bad. After taking the pipe off it was obvious that the pipe's inner metal liner just below the flange is what was rattling/tapping, though I couldn't actually move it by hand. Weird. I put the original y-pipe/cat back on and it hasn't made a peep since.

It would help if we knew what "everything" was done already. Coil would be my first guess. Here's some things you can do to help isolate the problem. Swap #3 and #4 wires with #1 and #2 to see if the problem moves. If that didn't change anything, Swap #3 and #4 plugs with #1 and #2 to see if the problem moves. If that didn't change anything, Swap #3 and #4 injectors with #1 and #2 to see if the problem moves. This last one is a long shot but what the heck, you've had the problem for a long time. It's possible your exhaust valve guides have dropped down and are holding the valve open at times. An easy way to tell if this is the case is to hook up a vacuum gauge with a long enough hose so you can watch it while driving the car. If the needle starts bouncing when it misfires, suspect the guides. To check them you can drop your exhaust y-pipe and rotate the crank until the exhaust valves open on each cylinder. If they've dropped you will see the guide, a metal sleeve, sticking out past the head surface towards the valve head. You can use #1 and #2 for reference.

Man they are close, but the taller height would probably be a deal killer. Check out this disclaimer: This manufacturer reserves the right to change design and construction materials without notice. For example, a radiator listed as copper/brass may be supplied as plastic/aluminum, a radiator listed as 3 row may be supplied as a 2 row, or a radiator for a manual-transmission vehicle may be supplied with oil cooler fittings (which are unnecessary for a manual transmission but allow the same part number to be used for both manual and automatic vehicles). Regardless of design, the manufacturer offers the same warranty and the same assurance that the part will fit the vehicle application listed and perform as well or better than original equipment.

What part numbers or year/model categories did you use to search with? I've looked on that site many times and always drew a blank.

Dude, put one of the quality 5/8ths inch ones in there before you or your car blows a head gasket! We've had 30+ days over 100 here in Texas this summer and I've been using A/C like crazy with one of the good copper/brass radiators. The gauge never gets up to the half way mark. BTW... How well is your fan clutch working? It should be moving lots of air (you can hear it with the hood up) when you first start it cold. Then after about 30 seconds it should quiet down, then when it gets good and hot it should start moving lots of air again. Also when hot, the fan should stop spinning the instant you shut the key off and the motor stops.

The worst thing you can do is mess with the factory paint by scuffing it and "treating" it with whatever. The best you can do is keep it clean and waxed. As for the underside, sure treat it with phosphorous acids like POR15 or Ospho (Ace Hardware) to neutralize any rust. This will leave a black primer type surface. Knock off any loose scale with a wire brush first. You will then need to spray it with a top coat of paint after 24 hours or the rust will return. I would even consider pulling off the door panels and treating the inside of the doors too. Just make sure you unstop all the drain holes once you're finished. Same goes for any drain holes in the door sills and fenders.

I bet you end up with an aluminum one if you do that. If the size is going to be the same, the difference must be in the materials.

That's odd. An intake leak usually causes high idle, but then that is a pretty big leak! Is it the intake that's broke or the head? Car been in a wreck? Edit: I'm guessing it's the lower half of the intake that's broke? Bummer.

Quote from his first post: " i had the heads pressure tested 2 times passed both times had the heads surfaced."

The longest I've seen is about 15 minutes, but gawd, it sure does seem like an hour. Time stands still when you get that sinking feeling that you may have to do it all over again. But when it finally does clears up you feel like kissing the radiator! Well, almost.

You can always drop the exhaust y-pipe to look for signs of coolant leaking in the exhaust ports in the head, but I would run it awhile longer first, keeping an eye on the temp gauge and radiator for bubbles.

Just a heads up. Your symptoms sound very similar to what this member was going through with his Brat. If I were you I would disconnect your battery when not using the car until the problem is solved. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=90390

How long have you run it since putting it back together? Sometimes it takes quite awhile to burn off all the old coolant from the exhaust. Are you seeing any bubbles in the radiator?

It may happen sooner than you think. Ford has already announced it will be bringing six small car models in from Europe. The other manufacturers will likely follow suit to stay competitive, not to mention an easy way to help meet the new, higher CAFE requirements. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/BUSINESS01/80724021/1014/BUSINESS01

Ha, I was editing my post the same time you replied. I thought we were talking about spfi. Nevermind!

Hey Gary, I just took a spare iac apart and noticed under the elec part that looks like a motor is a spring loaded plunger that controls the amount of airflow. I don't see why you can't start it up like that and push the plunger in to see if the engine will speed up. Edit: I just realized you are working on mpfi. I had it in my head it was spfi. I have no idea if the iac are similar.