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The exhaust smells almost like straight gasonline, which is making me think more and more that it could be a poor O2 sensor. Is there a way to test the O2 sensor? Is it safe to unlplug it and see how the car runs without it?

Thanks for the link, never saw this post. Seems like alot of people on these posts just put some injector cleaner in there gas tank and it cleared the prob right up... Im going to start there and work my way around and see if I get a similar result. Thanks again

I forgot to mention, I just swapped the engine and thats when the problem started. So Im thinking its something on the new engine thats bad. before it ran ok just the previous engine had 300k on it and it leaked oil like crazy. And instead of buying all new seals I figured Id just drop a different engine in. It could be the cats... I found the entire exhaust in a bush out at my dads junkyard 2 years ago(I know that sounds bad, but it looked good- had no rust etc). It worked great up until the engine got swapped out, so Im thinking its gotta do with something new that I put in. I replaced on the new engine: power steering alternator spark plugs spark plug wires wireing harness water pump timing belt fuel injectors (these parts wernt new except timing and spark plugs, they came off the old engine, but I atleast knew they worked.) Which leads me to believe its gotta be one of the sensors on the engine that is failing... Or fuel pump or something. Feels like the engine isnt getting enough consistant gas going up hills.

Ok so I have a subaru legacy, 1990, "L", with 2.2L multipoint fuel injection and manual transmission. Runs fine all around town, starts right up, there is no wiggle or strange sounds coming from the engine, just when I go up hills it start to loose power and jerk on me a little. But as long as I dont go up hill it does fine. Excellerates up on the freeway fine, etc. Sometimes when Im going 70 in 5th I get the slightest shutter. But very faint. When I turned around on the hill my idle went down a bit but came back fairly fast. Im currently getting these codes off the ECU. 32- oxygen sensor or circuit 35- purge control selenoid or circuit 41- air/fuel adaptive control 22- knock sensor 24- air control valve or circuit They wont clear no matter what I do so Im guessing they're phantom codes. Also Ive had this car for 3 years and the check engine light has been on ever since I got it. From what Ive researched it sounds like a bad knock sensor? Is there a way to test a knock sensor with a meter?

Things is that there are tons of em up here. Which means most the junk yards and "pick a part shops" are fairly well sifted through. There freaking too popular up here. Only car Ive ever owned that Ive parked in a grocerie store parking lot and there would be 3 or 4 white subarus just like mine all in a row.

yea just money is tight right now so if I can get by with a 3 dollar fix Id be down. I think Im going to try it, really what do I got to lose. I dont think its corrosion on the plug... The plug looks all tore up like someone tried to unplug it but didnt know what they were doing. Im thinking the plug got the wrong end of a screw driver and now its all gapped out... just my theory.

Right next to the battery there are 3 main plugs that come off the wireing harness. They then direct themselves into the fuse box. 2 of the are almost square (2" x 2"1/4 or so) and the other is smaller (2" x 1"). I was going to splice through that plug. It wont make things easy when I want to disconnect it because id have to remove the heat shrink and 8 little plugs... apposed to 1 large plug. But... I was going to use something like this, and then cover each wire in heat shrink. Maybe add a dab of solder to it for extra hold and conductuity.

Cool. So do you think its safe to just solder or use quick connects on the wires? I dont have another wireing harness with the same plug setup.

Just out of curiousity why the manifold?

Im fairly possitive now that it is the engines wireing harness. I took the car around the block a few times and when I got back I jiggled the wires and it killed the engine. When the engine was off I kept jiggling and it was turning my radiator fans on and off. Also while it was doing that it was making a loud clicking noise, which is the same I heard while it was going all hay wire. If I cant find a cheap wireing harness, do you think I could get by with just splicing the wires together? Solder or butt splice?

starting to think I miss read 41 and its actually 31 (Throttle Position Sensor or Circuit) that sounds like it would be more in the same category as the other error codes.

Ok so I disconnected the alternator, and there was no change in the engine. I plugged the two black wires together and I got these codes. 32 Oxygen Sensor or Circuit 35 Purge Control Solenoid or Circuit 41 Air/Fuel Adaptive Control 22 Knock Sensor or Circuit 24 Air Control Valve or Circuit What do you guys think? Considering I allready had a little issue with the wireing harness could all of his these things be running on one plug or something? Also the engine sat for about a year before the swap... could all of these sensors be bad?

You know too much of these things... why? But seriously you seem to really know alot about subarus... do you work for a dealership or something? thank you.

Cool thanks alot you guys. Im going to go out tomorrow and totaly check on that. I really hope its the alternator cause I got like a dozen of them out in the yard... just a matter of finding a good one. lol. :banana:

my dad owns a junk yard and he had a legacy that was a 91 that was hit in the back. It had only 100k on it and a perfect interior... all around the engine there were markings where the owner noted oil changes and it seemed loved. I never really started it until the swap. It drove great around town until I noticed it wasnt going up hills well. Which led to figuring it had clogged fuel injectors In short I had no idea that the engine is good. I drove it for a week before I noticed it wasnt going up this crazy steep hill. After I swapped the injectors off the old engine (Old engine leaked tons of oil and its seals sucked so this engine was easier than changing the headgaskets) so I knew they worked. I drove hard for about 5 miles, I was really testing it taking up to 60 and driving 20 in third to hear if it would stall. Sounded great until about 5 miles in it was like I hit the Bermuda triangle and everything went to hell. I think it has to do with the wiring harness. The new engine has a slightly different wiring harness. On the drivers side of my car behind the battery there are 3 fat (2"x1" or so) plugs. The new engines harness only had 2 there. I swapped the harness off my old engine and it had everything I needed to complete all the connections. When I first put it in I would take out the key and all the dash lights would stay on, but dimmer. And when I turned the key it wouldnt start. I pushed on the plugs and it fixed the problems.

kewl thanks.

1990 subaru legacy "L" - 2.2 Ltr. multipoint fuel injection- manual transmission. Ok so im having a few issues with my subaru currently so I thought I would plug the two green wires under the dash in hopes I would get some sort of code from my Check engine light. Instead my check engine light dimmed, and my radiator fans would turn on and off every second. I counted 30 times that it turned on and off. During this time there were no changes in Dynamics or Temp. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I plugged the two green wires together under the dash. There was no LED to be seen, and the check engine light dimmed but wasnt blinking at all. Oddly enough the fans on the radiator were turning on and off every second. I let it do it for about 30 seconds, with no change in tempo or dynamics. If its the Alternator couldnt I just unplug it, and it shouldnt have any problems until the battery loses a charge?

For the sake of curring my basic and incorrect understanding, why would it effect it? Ive made wind generators out of subaru alternators, and its not much different. Alternator goes to a charge regulator which then goes to a battery which goes to a converter which hooks into a fuse box. Enlightenment would be greatly appreciated

I dont get it though... my battery is still getting a good charge. The alternator runs to the battery and the actually power comes off the battery... so it shouldnt make effects on anything other than the charge on the battery, right? Im going to do the self diagnostic in an hour. Hopefully I get a helpful reading from that.

There was a bit of smoke coming off the engine, so I suppose it was overheating. Once when the wiring harness wasnt plugged in all the way the temp gauge went to the max and stayed there... but there wasnt any smoke or anything that time. So I guess its possible it wasnt really overheating, but it seemed like it.

How does it sound like a bad alternator? Ive driven without an alternator before, I could only imagine it wouldnt matter until the battery ran out... Remember overheating and mis calculating RPMs. Thanks for the codes though...

Ok so currently I had to swap the engine in my subaru legacy "L". It has a 2.2 multi fuel injection engine manual transmission. Thats what it had before and thats what I replaced it with. At the start the engine swap went ok for a few minor problems. Wiring harness was different etc. So i took the old parts off my other engine and it worked fine, EXCEPT!!! Did fine on the streets, mostly flats, but it would lose tons of power going up hills. It felt like it wasnt getting enough fuel. So I took the injectors off the last engine, ones I knew worked and swapped them out. also swapped out the spark plug wires. The engine doesnt shake, and sounds good at idle, so Im not thinking its a spark plug problem. Car ran fine for a few miles when my temp gauge shot up and my RPM gauge was all over the board. RPMs would drop to zero and then up to 4000 and just constantly up and down. When i went to pull over it stopped idleing and just died there. It felt like the power was turning on and off and it felt like I was in the Burmuda triangle. The guages where going hay wire, and not making any sense while the car was doing a bit of jerking. And I could hear a bit of clicking in the dash, like the same sound when you twist the knob on a lamp. But just the RPMs and the Temp were malfunctioning, speed o meter and other guages not effected. when i pulled over there was a little bit of smoke coming out of my engine so I think it was actually overheating not just giving a false reading. Once when a plug went bad it said I was hot all the time, and the lights would stay on in the dash even while my key was out. Its similar to that issue but not quite. When I take my key out now, all lights turn off, and my car seems to be actually overheating. Also my engine light is on constantly... no blinking. My dad rebuilds cars for a living, and has a computer diagnostic machine, just the plugs dont work for my older model of car... Im thinking knocker sensor? bad fuel injectors? Do you think Im going to need to get the plug that works for my car and his diagnostic tool? But it feels like an electrical issue. If anyone has a clue Id really appreciate hearing what you all think. This car is my baby I want her to live.

Yea mudding isn't really my main priority. I want something that looks hot and is dune ready. I'm definitely going to have to get some better struts. I'm going to have to change there top angle and mounting. I was going to tie the strut mount to a roll cage and reinforce it like that. I want the baja bug version of a subaru. Thanks for the responses guys, doesn't seem like a lot of people have done this mod, I guess Ill have to document it well and get people into it. Thanks again.

General Question: I would like to know a few options for widening my subaru after lift. Summary: My father has a junk yard, all of his friends have junk yards. I plan on going out and getting some 97 outback suspension parts fairly easy to do the lifting of my subaru. A quick run through the tire section I should find some fairly decent matches just it seems too top heavy and damaging on the cv's to lift it up. My grandfather was a CNC prophessor for 30 years and my father is master welder, so I can do this the hard way. Which would be getting new axels, or custom make axels and then lengthen the a-arm accordingly. Along with some restructering. And lengthening and restructering of other components. But I want to know if there is any easier way of doing it. Can I take the whole suspension axels and all off another year of subaru and just bolt them down? I dont want mass widening just about 4" or so on both sides front and back. Has any body taken this task on yet?