I have a 97 Legacy Outback. Before coming into my possession, it had 2.5 to 2.2 engine swap. It ran fine at first, but after a while, it began having a few problems.
It’s main problem is that it revs up to nearly 4000 rpm occasionally, on its own. It does this when in gear, or in neutral. It’s worst when I’m at a stop, clutch in, revving all out. It’s not such a problem at speed, though the engine still wants to get into that 3000+ rpm range. This becomes problematic on long down hills in residential areas. To not speed, I have to put the clutch in, and then off it revs again.
Another symptom (of the same problem?) is weak starts. Right after ignition, the engine can’t quite figure out where to idle, sometimes nearly puttering out. I gas it lightly, just tapping the pedal, and it revs, but delayed. Too much gas at this juncture will kill it. This starting issue goes away after about a minute, sometimes idling nicely, other times roaring off to above 3000 rpm.
At highway speed, it occasionally acts as though my foot slipped off the gas pedal, shuddering to a slightly slower speed, then picking up again. It does this repeatedly.
Sometimes, there’s no problem. Seems that after sitting all night, on the first start of the day, it will run fine. After that first drive, starting it up again after a short park, it’ll start acting up.
Took it in to a dealer to get a diagnosis. He said the engine has been swapped, the 2.5 computer doesn’t know what the 2.2 engine needs. He said my options are to replace the computer & wiring suite or the engine.
Dealer said it gave these codes:
PO117 Engine Coolant Temp Sensor Circuit Low Input
PO122 Throttle Position Sensor Circuit Range Problem
P0125 Insufficient Coolant Temperature for Closed Loop
We had replaced the throttle position sensor before taking it to the dealer. Right after the new TPS was was in, it seemed to have fixed the problem. But then it returned.
From what I gather from looking at this board, this swap has been done many times without this problem, and this Outback ran fine initially after the swap, then this problem came up. Anyone seen this before? Any ideas? Thanks.