WAWalker

I have a hard time cutting up good stock interior peices, unless I know I have a replacement in case I want to go back to the stock look. It has taken a long time to get to this point and I'm not done. There are no door panels and no interior behined the front seats. Check out what I started with in the Off Road section, " '85 Hatch in the making" thread.

Mine? I is an '85 Hatchback.

FWIW, there is no "overheating light", just glance at the temp gage from time to time.

KOEO=Key On Engine Off. That would be the read memory mode (Read memory connector connected) & U-check mode (Test mode connector connected, read memory connector disconnected). KOER=Key On Engine Running. That woud be D-check mode (Test mode connector connected, read memory commector disconnected, drive car). And Clear Memory mode (Read memory and test mode connector connected, start car, jump through hoops, drive car.

Nice and stock minus the (IMO) ugly stock steering wheel and plain jain shift knob.

What engine are you swaping into this car? Subaru engines of the same year are all the same. The emission junk on them may be different. Chances are that your '99 SOHC engine is not a 2.5L but a 2.2L. What engine do you have? What car are you putting it in. Has the timeing belt been replaced on the engine?

Found one in a two door coupe. It is now in my Hatch for all the ladys I'll be picking up with this machine.

What kind of engine swap are you doing?

Lookin' good.

Interesting.........these '95 MT Legacy's. That is exactly what I found. Once engine temp was above 40 the problem went away. So I figured that these cars never have a problem in the summer time. Funny I have never got any other complaints about this, and every other auto tech I've talked to said they've never ran across this problem. I'm starting to feel better about not being able to fix the problem, sounding more and more like a poorly programed computer. Still don't feel good about the time and money lost though.

Subaru Select Monitor. I won't trouble shoot a cruise any other way. Not that it can't be done. You will need FSM information.

Would have cause a check engine light. Was your CEL on all the time. Yes, it would affect gas milage, but not a lot.

I'm with ya. That is why that car didn't get a new ECM to see if that would change anything. List price, $620. But the burning question is, did they change the cold start fuel map in the newest computers?

8 is for a carbed engine.

Keep the ideas coming. I'd like to be able to rectify this issue. I've wondered if being a Mass Air Flow system, when they start getting up there in milage and the volumetric efficiency starts dropping if the fuel map is just to agressive in open loop. Once they are warmed up the grams/second are right in line with what Subaru says is good for a normal engine so..........................I donno. Some of these "Tuner" guys should be able figure out how to reprogram the computer to tone down the cold start enrichment.

So your saying the 200k+ cars are for the young and retired? LOL

20 @ idle w/ green test mode connectors connected.

No baro sensor.

Well you can keep them going as long as parts can be had, unless you are in the rust belt. But then your looking at engine replacments, transmissions, big dollar items. Most people would rather buy somthing new. This is why I haven't really jumped on the bandwagon for replacing the 2.5L with a 2.2L because (1) I did two and was not completly happy with the performance, customers seem to be happy, but if I'm not happy I don't try and sell it. (2) For the price of doing head gaskets another 100,000 is good service, when compaired to a new car payment, and by that time they probably won't have the car anyway. I think the biggest problem with this head gasket issue is that the people who know are dumping the cars on those who don't. Nothing worse than to buy a new to you car to find out it need head gaskets.

Is this before or after your changed distributors? Or have you done that yet?

Cylinder leak down test with engine hot is about the only way to really nail the leak down. But I don't usually bother unless someone really wants to spend the extra money for me to pull the spark plugs on a smoking hot DOHC and perform a leak down so I can tell them again, yes your head gasket are leaking. All of these engines will need the original head gaskets replaced. Weather the new gaskets fix the problem, we won't know till we see enough of them @ 200,000+ with the new gasket.

Fuel injected cars have a "clear flood" mode programed in. Hold gas peddal to the floor, crank engine. Computer sees WOT and low RPM (cranking) and decreses amount of fuel injected. These problem cars will start fine like that. Funny thing. Would think that Subaru would know whats going on with these things. They don't even tell you what the normal fuel enrichment should be on a cold start. I just came to the conclusion that 6 seconds is way to long since nothing eles seems to be causeing the problem and 95 auto's don't have that kind of cold start enrichment. I'm no electronic engineer so...........................

That's what I'm thinking. Haven't paid the $500+ for a brand new ECM, PN superceded 2 or 3 times, don't know what changes were made. But the ones I have tried and tested, this is what I have found. The fuel enrichment duration on a cold start seems quite long. Up to 6 seconds. And the fuel injector PW quite high on really cold starts, have seen it spike to 84 ms. These cars are overfueling. That is why they run a little "lumpy" at first. You can watch the fuel inj. pw and as soon as it starts leveling out in a more normal range the engine smooths out an comes up on high idle the way it should. If car is not drive enough to fully warm up for any period of time, plugs get carbon build up, oil gets diluted, converters start stinking................ Only 95's with manunal transmission. Ones with auto's don't seem to have this problem. ECM PN are different too.

As I said coolant WILL NOT leak into the oil passages or into the cylinders. Combustion gas is being pushed into the cooling system when engine is hot and under load. There for your oil will look good and the engine will not be burning coolant. The Combustion gas being forced into the cooling system will either cause an air lock or push coolant out of the system, which every you are going to loose heat. A thermostat with a 3/8" hole in it works because it allows coolant to circulate all the time preventing an air lock. When the head gaskets start leaking bad enough pressure will build and push coolant out regarless. Assuming that you have a thermostat that lets the engine get to full operating temp. Believe it or not when these head gaskets start leaking they only leak at full operating temp. and seal back up at lower temps. Part of the reason they are so hard to diagnoise. To bleed the air out of the cooling system when filling all you need to do is take the bleeder screw out of the radiator and fill. Test dirve to get car to operating temp, let cool, and top off radiator. And yes be sure to put coolant in recovery bottle.

IF you find the problem be sure to post an update. I lost big $ trying to solve this issue for a customer this winter. And every 95 manual trans Legacy I have had in the shop since is the same way. The Subaru tech at the dealer didn't have a clue, the other independent Subaru shop in town didn't have a clue, and IATN (Internatianl Automotive Technicans Network) has been no help. After testing and retesting everything, I then swap tested everything that could cause it. Nothing changed. I don't think this will be a problem if you drive the car enough to get it good and warm after start up. This customer hardly ever drives her car and when she does it very seldom leaves town, and this is a small town so the trips are short.