mentis

Hey there 85Sub, nice to meet someone a bit closer to me . I appreciate the info on the parts and the contact info for Hal's. So what kind of crazy stuff have you been doing with your Sub...? Any fun mods? It's allright. Thank a lot for your offer anyway. I appreciate your helpfulness . Hey Calebz, I don't mean to rush you or anything, I was just curious as to when you think you might find if you have one of those ECUs. I'm not in a big hurry right now or anything. And thanks again for looking, I truly appreciate it .

The description says the ECM only works with 90-92 models. Plus, isn't the turbo ECM/ECU different anyhow...? Calebz, thank you for looking. If you find one that would be excellent .

Okay so I just went out there to see if I could find out what's going on. I took off the spare tire and whotnot, and voila. There was that dang O2 sensor. Well, it was obviously the new part, being all shiny-like . I ran the car for about 45 minutes, and reved it up a few times, and I was not able to reproduce the smoke. My guess is that what happened was the fluid which they used on the old sensor to loosen it had run over the manifold etc. So when the engine got hot, it burned off that fluid. And now that's done. Nevertheless, my car does run noticeably worse than it used to. So maybe the ECU (or, as I found out, the ECM as my manual calls it) is indeed shot. I also realized that the O2 sensor was located towards the top of the manifold, unlike other Subarus where it's on the bottom. Unless they stuck it in the wrong spot . I now know that I could have easily done this job myself. Sigh...live and learn I guess. So now I'll probably need to replace the ECU myself, and I just need to figure out if the 86 unit above is the same as mine. I can probably find a part number on mine and see if we can match it up.

Yeah, realize now that maybe I should not have had them do that job, but I did agreed to it back then, and so that's my mistake. Now, however, it would seem that this has gone beyond just my mistake though. I did check the BBB online and though the business was listed there was no consumer information from them. Also, I do believe that I am familiar with the odors which you have mentioned, and as I have said before, it is none of those. I think I will go and check it out here in a sec to see if I can find anthing. Chances are though that the car needs to be warmed up before it'll start smoking though. Does anyone else know if the ECU from the 86 sube would would in mine...? That would be great if it did. Thank you so much for the offer Boosted, if it works I may very well be getting that from you. Thanks to everyone who is helping me on this. I appreciate it .

The plugs have no more than 5K on them, so I really doubt that's got anything to do with it. Considering my recent encounters with the mechanic and my O2 sensor issue, I think that's more likely to be related to the smoke than the plugs.

Indeed . Since the O2 Sensor and ECU control the air/fule mixture, non operational or malfunctioning parts could cause unusual amounts of these to be released, and maybe there's a leak somewhere now. I'll double check to see if the O2 sensor is loose.

That's just it, I don't recognize the smell. It doesn't smell like coolant or oil. I'm not even sure if it's a fluid leak which is causing the burn. Since they mentioned the possibility of a short, maybe it's wires burning, but that would have a distinct smell too. Could it be anything that's not a fluid...? The problem is that this has almost no odor, but there is definately visible smoke.

Well, I finally got my car back. Since I okayed the O2 sensor replacement I had to pay them for that. This ended up costing me $340 all together, $140 of which was for the sensor, the rest was labor plus taxes. They called me early on in this and told me they couldn't find where to hook up to the ECU to get the codes. I thought that was rather silly, but I told them there was a Subaru repair manual in the back of my car. Apparently they got it figured out after that . I was told that when they put in the new sensor, it didn't give back a signal. So they put back in the old sensor and that didn't give them a signal either. They suspected the possiblity of a short, or the ECU being bad. After testing for shorts they couldn't find any but they could not determine the ECU to be bad either. Seems to me like they didn't really know what they were doing. So I finally got my car back and when I picked it up the guy told me that even though they couldn't determine exactly that anything was faulty, it still wasn't working right. He said to watch for a couple of days to see if the CEL would come on again, and then he can find me a used ECU (which he said would be in the $200 range). I was also told that some of what I had already spent with them would go towards the ECU installation if that indeed turned out to be necessary. I'm thinking I probably don't want these guys working on my beloved Sube anymore. So I went to work, and then drove the car to the store after work and then home. On my way home I noticed something I thought was smoke coming from the front, but I couldn't tell for sure. But when I parked the car at home and popped the hood, lots and lots of smoke was coming from under the front of the spare tire. The thing is that it hardly smelled like anything, where most smoke coming from the car has a very strong odor. The color was white, I think, but it was only faintly visible. So now I'm wondering, what the hell is going on!?! What did they do to my car?!? Now I could use some words of wisdom from you folks...

I think we've already established that, hehe .

I think the paint looks pretty good actually . Oh and thank you, those are indeed the pictures I was looking for. Now I just have to figure out how to do my setup. Since I no longer have a garage and no access to power tools (except for my dremel and drill) I'll have to be more creative. Might have to take something to a machine shop for welding...

So how did you get all your part that color...? Did you spray paint everything...?

But I am looking specifically for the picture which you posted above. Any idea where that came from??? Cause there are a lot of pictures in the gallery...and I'm not going to go through all of them.

When I first got the car it needed a lot of work. So that's why the hoses needed to be replaced. At this point it's been doing okay, it's just that one hose, though it does run close to the alternator.

When they told me they'll need to replace the sensor, I asked how much I would have to pay if I didn't have them do any additional work, and I was told that the computer work plus minimum checkup charge would come to $150. I was also told today that the old sensor is not giving them a signal now either, which is why they think it's probably the ECU. So putting the old one back in wouldn't really change anything at this point. ...I'm afraid I'm not really all that great at haggling either...so I'm wating for them to call me and let me know what it is exactly that's going on in there.

When I first got this sube a couple of years ago, I had to replace pretty much all the coolant hoses. Everytime I would replace one, another one would go a few days later. Eventually I got them all switched out .

Well, I actually okay the sensor replacement before posting this thread, though I probably shouldn't have. Now I guess I'm in for it. I just wanted them to do that and now it seems to be going downhill. If I tell them to put the old part back in they'll tell me they have to charge me for labor on all of that anyway. Argh. I don't think I'll be going back to those guys. But right now I'm waiting for them to call me back so I can find out what to do next. I'm kind of in limbo right now.

So now the mechanic is telling me that they are not getting a signal from the oxygen sensor that they just installed and that it's probably a faulty ECU. They also told me that a new ECU would be expensive, without an exact quote yet, probably in the range of several hundred dollars. This is getting ridiculous. I know that an ECU would not cost me that much. Maybe I can even get one from somebody here... ARRRRG...this is p1$$1ng me off!

Okay, I realize I haven't checked this thread in eons. But I think this might be the picture I saw. I wish there was a bigger picture to this, because I can't tell anthing from this thumbnail... I'll probably have to PM you though after all this time .

For one thing, I have learned that auto repair thus far has been a lot more expensive here in NC than it was in MT. I had a great mechanic there, and maybe someday I'll find a good one here too.

Yeah, I was a bit surprised myself. I parked the car in front of my house and there was a huge coolant leak. The lower radiator hose had a 1.5 inch long break in it!!

Indeed, I'm not relly trying to get more "performance" with better hoses, but I've replaced the lower radiator hose twice in one year. So I figured I'd get something longer lasting is all .

I see, but those are not preformed though, are they? So do you just get different parts, like elbows and other shaped joints and then put some sort of metal spacers in between...?

Well, I figured since I'm posting today, I might as well adress my other issue. What do you folks recommend for higher performance radiator hoses on my TurboWagon. Do they even make these for an '87 car...?

Hey guys, I know it's been a while since I've been on the boards. But here is my current concern... I took my car to the shop after the Check Engine Light came on while driving on the highway. The code reported was 32, which is the oxygen sensor. The mechanic said that the sensor itself would be $150, which I knew was high, but he informed me that the reason for the price was that it is the OEM Subaru sensor for my car. So, after the computer work, the sensor cost, plus the labor for installation, which I was told was a bit problematic on this sensor, I'm looking at paying about $300-$350. What do you guys think? Am I being ripped off...? And should I be looking for a different mechanic...? I nuderstand that the OEM part is higher quality, and that it would last longer. But that still seems a hefty total price for this job.

I would be also curious to know . A while back I got new tires and thought I was getting a good deal. About 4k later I find that the tires are now scalloped and causing vibration. So this time around I plan on spending a little more .