WJM

this car has no cats as stated in the original post.

Ok..87 RX...completely stock internals. TWE pipes, Elec. Boost controller, intake...straight pipe, 2.5 inches, no cats, WRX TMIC, recirc valve plumbed up properly. Engine was freashly redone less than 10k miles ago with all OE SUBARU gaskets, heads profressionally cleaned and machined true. Upon start up in cold/warm/hot weather...there will be some vapor out of the exhaust. I cant smell the smell of burning coolant..so i thought it was normal. Once the engine got warm in warm/hot weather, it went away...was only present during cold engine conditions. Now, up here in the constantly below freezing temps...at idle, the car always has this vapor/steam from the exhaust. It goes away during accell, cruise, and decell....comes back during idle. Now, ive well tuned the timing, and it doesnt miss a beat. Oddcomp said something about a perfectly tuned engine will have water vapor as a combustion by-product...and I know the cats make more of that during the gas conversions.... So....what ta do? Is this normal? Is this where my coolant leak is? There is nothing else abnormal about the operation of the engine. Its strong, fires right up when cold on the first rototation, and other than the fuel cut gremlin...runs fine, and gets pretty good MPGs. Opinions?

Bump!

is the fuel pump running and getting power?

detail A is closest to detail D by the pic. N and P are close too...and I have yet to find those..hmmm...maybe the dash bezle and cluster needs to come out. So, yes, I am looking for D-D...and found D-A...from there, i attempted to locate D-D by proximity to D-A...as in the illustration they are somewhat near each other. Get it? EIther way...I have yet to find it. Its REALLY cold out, and dark...im really not feeling like looking more tonight...but its like 80% apart..so i might as we go the last 20%...and find it or not find it and put it all back together. :-\ Hmmmmmm.......it looks like it SHOULD be screwed into the same spot the hood release cable holder is screwed in by looking at the bracket...but i dont see it there, or any wiring for it...although there is a portion of the sound deading material/insulation that is cut away that looks like that relay on that bracket could reside....hmmmmm......... Hmmmmmm.....*ponders* The EPC is canadian and US models only...i know that there is nothing there on 85-86's...and I dont rmemember anything there on the 88 and 89...so...it must be somewhere higher up...aka out of veiw from under neith the dash...so it looked like I need to take the upper part apart. damnit...its late and im tired and its cold!

Its the MAP sensor. Ive seen that alot on the newer subies...the MAP says "boost sensor"....

Ford?

Ok, i cant find it. subytex...any luck?

Still, go look. Ive got that down, and ive not found it yet. I found 'A'..and according to the diagram...its 'infront of' really, farther back, than where A is at. Once I get warmed on up here I will go back out into the cold and look.

strange.

Cliff notes: you broke a cam follower....?

but you've got the 85-86 wiring on that one...so thats easy to do. JWX: tear into the 89's dash and figure it out!

not that I know of. Well, ive been crawling under the masses of wiring out in the cold...and im hungry. I did fix the rear defrost tho! I found "A"...so, "D" shoudl be somewhere near it.

So...im pondering thru the SUBARU Electronic parts catalog, looking for the relay for the fuel pump. I find it...its a ratehr universal relay...and Prestige atctually shows one in stock...but since I dont ahve $30 to spare...i dont get it...YET...cuz...i found this...(pic to come as soon as PSP 6 downloads and installs)...PN is 82551GA000...description is "FUEL CUT UNIT"...and there are two left in the country suprisingly, AND...they are rather expensive...over $100 each. So...im thinking...find it, and unplug it. Ah, the software is done DL-installing...and now the image in in inkfrog...here it is! Its listed as 1988-1990 only....BUT...the 87 cars are essentially the same...so I should have one on the 87 RX. Whats ya'lls take on this?

there should be some pics around here somewhere of an ea82 with no timing belt covers....do a search.

the straws idea sounds interesting...I'll try that just for the fun of it. That should add some TQ.

Yep, im running that filter. As i just posted at the same time you posted that...it did this when I had the car at absolute 100% stock form...and it still does it. Ive got something to try that I found in the parts catalog today...I will post up pics and results....

with mine hooked up it did odd things...like peak boost to 30 psi and back it down to 7...and the other way (hooking it up backwards) would yeild 20+ psi all day long. either way with that thing there or not, it still did odd crap. thats a feature for 87+ turbo cars. the 85-86 only has the hose going from the housing to the actuator. as for the cut...under STOCK conditions...aka, when the cars in 100% stock form...it would do this...apply WOT, full boost comes on...count to 5...WHAM! 1/4 of a second ignition or fuel cuts off. does it stock and modded. does it with 11 psi as well. I can run 11~12 psi all day long. Over that, it DOES NOT do the 5 second thing, and count to 10...THEN the real overboost fuel cut happens...turns fuel off until boost decreeps to ~6...then everything turns back on. Sometimes it cuts after 5...most of the time, 10 seconds after 13+ psi. as for coolant leak...hmmmmmmm........

u gots a long way to go...

i found something interesting. I cant wait to post it and take it off the car.

fuel pump relay is next. no boost sensor on 87+ MAF cars...its the MAF its self. replced with several form cars that DONT do this...and it still does it. vac line are good. no codes set.

Yeah.

1. Fuel cut fremlin(5 secs after WOT, fuel or spark turns off for about 1/4 of a second...then back on...does it systematically every 5 seconds when under WOT/full boost*stock boost*). Swapped out fuel pump and filter with known good ones...still does it. Previously swapped out MAFs, TPS, etc etc...any ideas? 2. Coolant dissapearing. No noticable external leaks or signs of leakage...and no smell of coolant. Where else could it be? That is all for now...I hope. :-\

Looks normal to me. Unless they are leaking coolant, those are 'normal' looking heads.