Fairtax4me

Bosch plugs are great plugs, nothing wrong with them. But some people don't have the same experience with them that you may have. The reason everyone here recommends OE plugs (which are just NGK in a Subaru box) is that they have an almost 100% success rate for curing spark plug related misfires. It's not that there aren't other plugs out there that will work, it's that the OE plug is almost guaranteed to work without problems, whereas other brands of plugs can be hit or miss. There are so many factors that determine whether a certain plug works; air density, temperature, fuel quality, and combine those with any number of mechanical reasons such as cylinder wear, high / low compression, oil consumption, ignition system voltage, and most of all the type of ignition system. The wasted spark system on Subarus fires two plugs at the same time. But the polarity of the spark is reversed on one plug. Rather than jumping from the center pin to the ground electrode, the spark goes the other way, which will build excess heat on the ground electrode and wear it away instead of wearing the center pin. With this style ignition system one worn out spark plug and one brand new one connected to the same coil can make a big difference in the way the spark jumps the gap of the plugs. MAF or MAP, which could be something as simple as a vacuum leak, but it helps to know the CODE so we know what the ECU is looking for but isn't finding. P0420 could be related to the MAP/MAF code. Or could just need an antifouler on the rear sensor.

The crankshaft sprocket usually gets people with the triangle or dot mark on the face. You have to use the dash mark on the back of the sprocket on the reluctor tooth. The cam sprocket dashes can be hard to see but are on the forward face of the sprocket on the outer ring. All three marks should point straight up.

I would think it should spin backwards, but it may have a diode in it to prevent it from spinning if the polarity is wrong.

Take the seat out, crawl in and stick your finger into this hole: Push that lever towards the passenger side. Should pop open then. You might be able to flip the valet lever from the inside, but I couldn't really tell.

If you're talking about the "9510- 9709" numbers on the diagram, those are production dates. Year then month. 9510= 1995 October Rear mains didn't change shape any but they may have changed material or structure. OR they just felt like changing the part numbers. :-p If you look at the "alternate" part number under the one listed for the first year range, you'll see it matches the one for the next year range, and the next one has an alternate as well.

Bosch Platinums work great in some cars, and in some other cars they don't work at all. The fact that you have had them in your car for some amount of miles (you didn't say how old the plugs were), says that they must be at least OK, even if not ideal. I prefer to stick with what the manufacturer recommends, since they generally do alot of research to find the best spark plug for their application. But here the fact is, you only changed 3. That one old spark plug could be the one causing the trouble. You definitely want to get that one changed ASAP before chasing other issues. CEL codes may point to something. If you can post the exact codes, we might be able to narrow it down, or at least help you get rid of the codes.

OWCH! A completely bone dry start? Would it even turn over? At all? :-p

I don't think you can get to the lever it with the trunk closed. But maybe you can I don't know. I'm not sure how you could kajiggle the latch to get it popped. I know there is a little square hole right in the center that I THINK you can jam a screwdriver into and twist and it will pop but I'm not sure. I can check in the morning. Your back seats don't fold down? Seems like it might be better/safer to just take the back seat out. It isn't that hard to remove the cushions. Two bolts for the bottom cushion and three for the back cushion.

Hi level inputs are bad for clean high power sound. Even with a mono amp and low-pass x-over, you really need that pre-amp RCA output for good sound from a sub. The higher the output voltage the better. Also helps to have a good quality head unit. A bottom end JVC or Dual is just going to sound like crap.

What brand of bearings did you use? Did you prime the oil system before the first start? Whats the temperature been like there since you got it running? Straight 30wt oil doesn't flow well when it's cold. That can cause it to take longer to get full flow to the bearings on cold starts.

Yeah the lever is the Valet switch. Flip that and only one key (the master key) can open the trunk. if you don't have that key you leave it alone.

It's pretty simple. Divide the big teeth by the little teeth. Post a picture of it, someone here might be able to tell a year range by looking at the case.

It's leaking outside? New o rings should fix that. Make sure the bore is not damaged. Might be good to replace them on all of the injectors.

Two different relay blocks there. How many do they need? Lol Thee is more to that, remove the lower cover on the dash and I'm thinking a bunch more wires will drop out. There's still a control module for it somewhere.

Haha! Nope. It was stored (capped) in the corner of the shop when it wasn't in use. Most of the time it was empty, and the only thing it ever really got used for was pumping out fuel tanks. Usually gas or gas and diesel mixed. And most of the time one of the techs would empty it the next day to use in a tractor or farm truck. That time they had to hunt down an empty plastic barrel to store it in while we waited for a special hazardous waste truck to come pump it out. Then they found a new oil barrel and tossed the messed up one. Doesnt chemistry kick butt!

I cant view the diagram right now (on the mobile) but what I remember from it I THINK The Dudes suggestion should work. You could run a jumper wire straight to ground from the pump (modulator unhooked) and turn the key on to see if the pump runs. There's still no guarantee that the new pump isn't just DOA.

Don't give advise like that. That's just like telling someone to fill the transmission with saw dust to cover up the bearing noise so they can sell it. That's just flat out malicious. The next car you buy might be some scumbags trade-in because they got the same kind of advise. Maybe he shouldn't have the car because he's gonna beat the hell out of it, but that's just like every other bandwagon WRX owner out there. Let him destroy it. Sounds like one of those people that won't learn a damn thing either way, except that when a car starts to go south he should just trade it in and make it someone else's problem. That's understandable, but ya gotta pay to play. Worst case, another WRX needs a new engine.

Ugh... As far as I can tell Autozone doesn't even carry the right one for your car without ordering a whole key cylinder, which is expensive and just not worth it. Go get that one from Advance. You need a 4 wire switch. You really should try to get the correct switch rather than cutting/ modifying trying to make the wrong one work. Sure it might be fine, but that's going down a road just asking for trouble. There are differences in the switches between certain models. I suspect (and I could be wrong) that the reason you can't get the correct one to pull up is you may be selecting the wrong car. You have to make SURE that you select IMPREZA OUTBACK when selecting your vehicle. LEGACY Outback is an entirely different car. That distinction between the two models has to be made. Lots of people unknowingly get the two confused, or don't pay attention, and while there are plenty of parts that can be interchanged between the two, they are two different cars. Transmission selection can make a difference as well, so make sure you select the correct transmission type if it is an option. Remote start. If it doesn't work. you want to get rid of it asap. Reason why, that may be the cause of the problem. Those aftermarket add on kits aren't exactly reliable. After market alarm systems quite often cause trouble in many cars. If it's dead, get it out of the car. Follow those wires from the ignition harness back to whatever made in china/tiawan/korea/insert-name-of-cheap-labor-industry-country-here module, find all the other wires spliced connected into the factory harness that go to it, relieve them of their duties, and get rid of it. If you need help, post some pictures of the wiring and where it goes and we can tell you if it's factory wiring or aftermarket stuff.

There is an access plate in the trunk floor directly behind the passenger rear seat. Pull up the carpet in the trunk and you will see it.

Yep those tie into remote start/ alarm system. Like nipper said, Make a note of which wire is hooked to which color on the ignition harness, then reinstall them with new taps. Is the remote start system still functional?

Not in my case. The ones that I've seen the whistle clearly comes from the muffler. EPA mandated new diesel emissions regulations in 2007 for all highway operated vehicles. The catalytic converter regulations do not apply to vehicles made before 2007, but any diesel highway use vehicle made for the US market for model year 2007 and later has to have catalytic converters. Because of that diesel fuel has new refinement requirements. The biggest change is the amount of sulfur allowed has been decreased from >500 ppb to >15 ppb. Makes a big difference in how much smoke comes out of the pipes.

Some type of chemical/solvent contamination of the fluid. I have seen this on other things with similar coatings, but never on a transmission pan. We used to use old 30 gallon oil drums at the dealership to store various fluids, usually gas pumped out to drop tanks for fuel pump replacement. We had a car come in not running and found the pump, filter, injectors, basically the entire fuel system corroded because of (what we later found out through fluid analysis) chlorine contamination. Bleach basically. Anyway, it Fd the entire fuel system in the car, and the gas we pumped out into the storage drum peeled the coating off of the inside in only about a day.

I ran a few wires through the unused port of the rubber/silicone plug for the fuel lines in the upper corner of the firewall behind the strut tower. Very tight to get to. I managed to fit an x-acto knife in there and cut an X through the open one, and then wiggled my 4awg wire through from the inside after spraying it all with silicone. Also have an 8awg wire running through the same hole right alongside the 4awg now. There are many hundreds of innuendos that could be used to describe trying to get that second wire through there. :-p

That's great you know where it is! You can check some wires there as well then. The modulator is what grounds the pump, check the black wire at the pump for continuity to chassis ground with the key ON. As I said before, there should be low or no resistance there with key ON. High or infinite resistance could indicate an open circuit which would mean the ground wire is damaged or the mod. is bad. Should be 4 wires on the modulator, Yellow, Black, Blue, and Red/yellow. Yellow is the pump ground. Continuity from the black at the pump to the yellow at the modulator. Should be low or 0 ohm resistance. Should also show continuity to chassis ground with key ON. This may only show during prime test. High or infinite resistance would likely mean the modulator is bad. Black wire on the modulator is the ground. This should show continuity to chassis ground at all times. Should also show some resistance between there and the black wire at the pump. They are connected but there is a resistor in the way. Blue wire to the Modulator. Same blue wire that feeds 12V to the pump. That should also be 12V w/key ON during the prime test. If you get 0V, check for continuity from the blue wire at the relay to the blue at the modulator. Should show very low or 0 ohm. Red/yellow goes to the ECU. I said this may be 5V reference before, but it could be ground to turn the modulator on/off. Hard to say, but it can be tested. Connector unplugged, Check for DCV at the red/yellow w/ key ON. If no voltage present check for cont. to ground. This may only show during the prime test, since the ECU controls this circuit.

OBD2 is more sensitive because of emissions regulations. With OBD1 the engine could be on fire and the ECU wouldn't set any codes. You can have sensors fail almost completely and the ECU wouldn't know, or wouldn't set a code for it. OBD2 came about because of pollution laws. OBD1 was more of an "in between" while manufacturers were working out the OBD2 bugs and getting them system implemented. But the whole idea is to prevent excessive pollution in the form of high carbon and NOx emissions. To do that, it needs to be sensitive enough to alert the driver immediately when there is a problem, by illuminating the CEL. Generally when the CEL blinks on and off several times, it's due to a misfire (not a glitch), which is a major source of emissions and can damage the cats, which then compounds the emissions problem. If the misfire clears up the CEL turns off, the ECU should set a "pending" code, which may clear or may not when the key is cycled. But if it continues for a certain time the CEL will stop blinking and stay on, and the ECU will set a current code.