snowscooby

According to the information I have found 16'' steel wheels should fit because the base model comes with 16'' steelies with a full wheel cover. I am not sure on the 15''s but I would think that they would fit. If you buy them used, just throw one on before you finalize the deal to make sure they fit.

I had similar idle problems in my car (97 impreza) and got an idle air control code. What you should do is get a can of ether (shouldn't be very expensive) and with the car running spray the ether on areas with gaskets or hose clamps that could be causing a vaccum leak. If there is a leak then the ether will be pulled into the engine causing the idle to spike (because your making the air fuel mixture ritcher). I ended up replacing two gaskets and it seemed to fix my problem. When you do the ether test make sure and check each gasket several times from several different angles.

I found the information on 2-8 [w3a0] pg. 16 under the service procedure for fuel filler pipe. Also in 2-8, [W7A0], there is the service procedure for the fuel delivery, return, and evap systems. On my 1997 impreza sedan there is a mysterious black canister behind the passenger side headlight that has a couple hoses going to it. I think I can smell gas vapors when I undo those hoses so that might be what you are looking for. If you can't find the pages I listed, I would be happy to email them to you as they are all in easily accessible pdfs on my computer.

I am pretty sure I found the area in FSM that has what you need. It says to remove rear right wheel, Remove bolts (3 bolts) which install protector cover on body, while releasing the underside of the protector unhook it. It shows the evap hoses underneath that protector plate. Also I have a diagram for the fuel delivery system, return, and EVAP.

I don't know if you have already seen this or not, but it gives some basic steps to follow for your problem. I hope it helps! http://www.obd-codes.com/p0440 To my knowledge I have the full FSM for a 97 Impreza L in PDF form. I found several pages on the EVAP system including a full assembly page on the fuel tank/ system. I am going to see if I can locate the reference page the diagnostics section is referring to and see what that says about p0440.

So I put in a new gauge cluster, it seemed to clear up the vss problem with the lowered rev limiter, but then the CEL came back on with the P0500 (vss code) again. Any suggestions?

New front brakes and fixed an elusive vacum leak with some homeade gaskets!

Still getting the vss code, have a new used gauge cluster headed my way, hopefully that will correct the problem. Found out that part of my problem was due to two gasket leaks on my intake system. Looks like I had a multi-part problem

I bought whiteline front endlinks for my impreza and had a lot of problems with the bushings on the passenger side one. The kept popping out under any sort of cornering, and I eventually lost one of the bushings. I have rallitek rear endlinks and they are great.

If you suspect a vacuum leak, as I did, you can get a can of ether and spray it around all your hose connections and gaskets. I had a rough idle and my engine would shake back and forth. Did the ether spray test and found that I had to gaskets leaking. When you spray the ether, if there is a leak, the engine idle should spike a little because the mixture becomes ritcher.

If the belt looks good, use it. After you drive a couple thousand miles check the belt and see if its deteriorated at all with the new exposures.

Welcome to the USMB! Lots of great advice here, if you let it, it will consume you !

nevermind I found your post with the dates!

Do you have the dates for those by chance?

I do not have ABS so I don't have wheel sensors. When I ohmed the speedo I got a little bit of an erratic reading/ since its intermitten it was hard to tell what i was exactly seeing. It did give me a reading every fourth turn though. I think I may pull off my gauge cluster again tomorrow and retest it for some better/exact numbers. Does the VSS read the cable speed and send that to the ECU if there are no wheel sensors? Thanks Ps I believe we participated in Paul Eklunds rally school this spring together. I was in the '08 Silver OBS.

I have a very similar problem as 987687 in this thread http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=113447. I have a 1997 Impreza L, 5spd MT. The speedo is cable driven and to the best of my knowledge I only have on VSS; located in the speedometer. I am getting codes P0500 and P1540, both related to the VSS. Sometimes while driving my CEL will turn off, and then in two or three miles turn back on again. I removed my gauge cluster and tried to bench test the vss and it seemed to Ohm out ok. I'm not sure if that is relavent or not. I have been to the dealer and they told me that my tires were different sizes (apparently the fronts wore about 1/4 of an inch more than the rears between rotations). They told me that this was my problem on the reasoning that wheel sensors send a wheel speed to my ecu which in turn sends a reading to the VSS. I now have all the same size tire on my car, but I am still getting VSS codes and my car is stalling more frequently. I am curious as to what I should look into next?

Have you made any more progress in your VSS saga? I am having pretty much the same problem as you, P0500 codes, stalls, and my car is in limp mode. The only difference is my speedo is cable driven and I just have the one vss in the dash.

I have a 97 Impreza with a N/A ej22 engine. The easiest things to do to it, to increase power, are an intake system, exhaust (cat back for me), and a lightened crank pulley. All of these are fairly straight forward. If I recall correctly, I have seen imprezas converted to RWD only. If you want an EJ22 with AWD though, I would suggest finding a different car as you are looking at a lot of work.

Yeah, its had a pretty long life with me, I still love it. It got a new aluminum hood, and quite a few upgrades since I've had it (I got into auto-x and rally-x). Unfortunately it is sick right now, I have been having problems with the vss, and I think I need a new instrument cluster.

I just joined USMB even though I have been a Suby owner for about 5 years, and the information has already helped me fix some problems with my 97 Impreza! Thanks USMB

New wheels and tires (15s) and a white line ALK for my 97 Impreza!

South Bend/Bellingham Washington