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Thanks for giving me a moment of clarity. I just opened my gas cap and used placed my hand along the side to tell if the tank was sucking in or blowing. I had assume there was suction for some reason, but just now I observed, as you said, that it was blowing. So you think I should just order the part and not worry about diagnosing the wiring? Just as a point of interest, do you know an easy way I could test if the valve is working? I assume there's a way I could see if it opens or closes when power is supplied. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I have a 1992 Legacy. Recently the CEL came on. The code I get when I connect the green diagnostic cables under the steering wheel is 35, indicating a problem with the purge control solenoid valve. Otherwise, and I'm a novice so I won't try pretending like I know what I'm doing, but I have also noticed that when I unscrew the gas cap, there is quite a bit of suction coming from the tank side. Furthermore I recently noticed my exhaust has a rich smell. I got the car only several months ago, and I can't say when the suction/rich smell started. They may have started the same time as the CEL, but I'm not sure. Does anyone know if these are problems diagnostic of anything related to the purge control solenoid? Is the gas tank supposed to be at lower pressure than the atmosphere? More generally, I would like to learn to start systematically troubleshooting problems like this. I could probably figure out how to replace the valve, but I would like to know other things I should check first in case that isn't the problem. What manual(s) would you recommend I acquire in order to see other things I should do? It would be nice if I didn't have to research every possible problem every time something like this comes up, but had a guide that helped me eliminate problems efficiently. Anyway, thanks for any help or advice!

great, thanks.

Sorry this is so hand-holdy, but I'm just getting started! But is this the part you would recommend buying Recian: http://tinyurl.com/bmybyzm

Ok, a little more research on google told me this. So the code is indicating that the sensor itself is bad, not that it's sensing something bad?

Yeah, I applied a little too much solder so there is kind of a "bump", but it overall looked like the joints I observed on youtube.

Hi everyone, recently the check engine light has been illuminated ~90% of the time when I start my 1994 Legacy Wagon. The only time it won't come on is *occasionally* the first time I start it in the morning (seemingly when it's been a cool night, although sometimes on cool mornings it will still come on, so it's not perfectly consistent). I took it to a shop when it started happening and they said it was a bad knock sensor. I'm wondering how they knew the error code was caused by a bad knock sensor, and not actual knocking in the engine? Basically, how can you tell if your car is knocking? The car makes a repetitive sound that could be considered "knocking" I guess, but also somewhat just sounds like something that could be normal. Anyway, I want to be sure we know the sensor is bad before I pay to have it replaced, or if there could be a different underlying problem.

Sorry it's been awhile. I wanted to thank everyone for the help. I decided to learn to solder and to splice the old auxiliary leads to the new aftermarket cables. My joints didn't look absolutely beautiful, but I'm pretty confident they are sound. I've been driving for a month or so and no problems.

Yeah, I'm a convert to this practice based on how bad the terminals and cable looked before. I lubed up the posts real good after I gave the battery its baking soda sponge bath.

And I would too. But I'm also incredibly broke. So it's hard for me to decide what to do here. But while I think, let me ask a general question I had- the auxiliary lead on the original cable is much thicker than the one on the aftermarket cable. Is there a reason why such thick gauge wire was selected by the engineers of the car? Are there problems you would expect having the thinner gauge wire as a replacement? That itself made me a little uneasy. It just seemed odd.

Yeah, Cougar, that is what I would like to now do. From what I'm reading there are special tools for crimping battery cables. I'm not sure if it's economical for me to buy one at this point. Are there other ways to go about effectively accomplishing this goal?

Well, since the corrosion was worst on the cable itself and looked like it had extended inside the insulation, I thought it would be best just to replace the whole thing. I still have the old one in case for whatever reason the new ones don't work out. Thanks for your help everyone.

And yes, I still have the original cables. MilesFox, I thought since the replacement cables were inexpensive I would just replace them in their entirety. I don't think it's starter related, as when the car doesn't start, it entirely loses power- windows, lights, everything, which can be restored by jiggling the positive battery cable.

Sorry for the tone of my last post. I was having one of those novice auto mechanic moments of despair- getting home from the auto parts store and realizing what you thought you had isn't what you actually have. The original problem was that the car wouldn't start unless I jiggled the extremely corroded positive cable. Here's a link to the photos: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=132142 Overall the terminals were in horrible condition and the corrosion seemed to have seeped down the positive cable. It seemed like replacing was the best option. So is crimping battery cables in this manner generally okay to do? Reading things like the a forum made me unsure: "A crimp may not work unless you can ensure that this crimp can carry the full current needed to the fuse box. Splicing a single wire is easy when one wire carries a maximum of say 10 amps but when wiring a replacement battery cable with a run to the fuse box, considerations must be made involving the large currents carried from the battery to the fuse box. Much more than 10 amps. Do everything to make this replacement as good as the factory connection otherwise you'll find out down the road at the worst possible moment when you least expect it. Freezing cold/rainy/wet snow/winds above 30mph......................with nothing working. " http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-174005.html Has anyone every had electrical failures or other problems associated manipulating a battery cable in this way? Oh- and it's fine that the kid at the store gave me what the computer spat out. That's his job. But I asked if the cables had to be modified or something, because in the plastic case the short cable looked a little too short, and he said something like "oh no, they just go right in!" It was dumb of me not to look at them closely until I got home. It just got my expectations all out of whack.

So, if you've been closely following the forum the last few days you know I've been trying to replace the badly corroded battery cables on my 1994 Legacy wagon (I'm starting new threads for each problem I run into since someone with each respective problem might be helped by scanning over something with a specific, descriptive title in their search, FYI). Anyway, so I was able to remove the battery cables easily. Then, like an idiot, I went to autozone and said I needed battery cables for my car. The kid at the counter punches it in and goes to fetch some generic 4-gauge batter cables and rings me up for $15. I was so happy about how cheap the cables were I didn't think to check and make sure the cables looked the same as the ones I had taken off. As it turns out, they do not. The main issue is that in place of the second shorter wire that ran from the positive terminal to the fuse box, and from the negative terminal to a bolt on the body of the car, there are just these wires with some kind of electrical connector- like something that you would crimp to another wire. But it certainly isn't doesn't have the fitting that the original cables had that attach to the fuse box and ground. So, my main question is, what do I do with these cables? Am I supposed to attach some second wire to them? Should I just return them and face up to paying however much for "correct" cables?

Yeah, disconnected the battery and took it out. Thanks everyone, just wanted to make sure I wasn't about to rip something off the car.

Hello, I have a 1994 Legacy wagon. I posted a few days ago about whether I need to replace or simply clean my battery cables (my car won't start unless I jiggle the very corroded positive cable). It seems like a good idea to simply replace them. I looked under the hood and could easily discern the path of all the cables and the bolts and whatnot connecting and supporting them. However, the short cable going to beneath the fuse box confounded me. I couldn't immediately see how to access the bottom of the box. After a little messing around, I saw how I could unbolt the fuse box in the front and rear (a single bolt attaches the fuse box and the wiper fluid reservoir from what I could tell). I removed the bolts but didn't feel like prying up the fusebox until I got some confirmation of what I was ultimately trying to do. So, am I thinking along the right lines? How is this cable connected at the fuse box? Is it okay to move the fuse box around once I remove the bolts securing it? I searched both here and on google and came up with very little on how to specifically go about this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Yeah, that's what I thought- just replace. I'll price new cables etc. Looks like I'll be planning an impromptu Craigslist sale.

Hi there, New to Subarus and don't have a ton of experience working with cars. I've got a 94 Legacy wagon (although my problem isn't really model specific). I just got the car a few months ago. It had been running fine with no problems. A couple days ago my car simply had no power when I turned the key. No radio, lights, nothing. After simply fidgeting with the battery cable connected to the positive terminal, the power was restored and I was able to start the car, although the engine sounded sickly. I examined the battery more closely and I found corrosion as evidenced by the two photos below: Sorry for the gigantic images. How do you resize them? I'm copying the link from photobucket and can't find a way to reduce size (tried etc and it no longer recognized it as a photo). So, since jiggling the cable seemed to partially resolve the problem and there is corrosion as seen above, I'm pretty sure the problem is localized to the cable. My basic question is whether there is any point trying to clean this, or if the entire thing has to be replaced. I should say it will be replaced very soon anyway, but I'm a new grad student and for the next few weeks until I get another pay check I'm more broke than I will probably ever be again (literally, I have $3 to my name right now). Also the terminal isn't looking too great. I assume that needs to be swapped out as well? Basically, I'm wondering if it's worth trying to get a cable like this into working shaped. If not, I don't want to endanger myself driving something that will randomly lose power, and I'll just take the bus until I can properly fix this. I should also say the PO replaced the battery about a year ago, so it should be in fairly good shape. And since I'm thinking about battery maintenance, in the future, to prevent corrosion like this from happening, I've read that cleaning the battery well and often can prevent formation of these corrosive deposits. I've read baking soda dissolved in water will remove deposits- should I clean my battery regularly with this solution even in the absence of deposits? Or is there another cleaning agent I should use for regular maintenance? And I've read diametrically opposing views on whether vasoline is an acceptable coating for the the battery posts. I was wondering what your opinions of that is. I could buy a special product if it is better, but if something cheap and readily available is effective, then I'm in favor of it. Anyway, thanks for your opinions.

Yeah, thanks. I'm scrounging for people I know with experience working on cars.

Thanks everyone for the discussion. It seemed in more general discussion with the owner that he would let the car for roughly $1500, after I initially seemed concerned about the rust. I don't take that to mean anything bad, except that I know through our mutual friends that he's really, really busy and is probably motivated to sell. The main concern I'm reading is that underbody might be rusted. If I can find a car person to go look at it with me and we find that there is not significant rust, I'm thinking this price would be reasonable for me.

Good point. That's probably the major driving force in the breaking down of cars, eh?

What are you talking about?

Thanks FT4M. Appreciate it. I am seeing the trend in opinion.

Great, thanks for your help.