beezer

there are 2 black connectors (single wires)under the drivers side dash. Check out Legacy 777 website.

Always seems to slip my mind to ask if any one has installed gauges in their car ie. vacuum, oil pressure, water temp. etc. I have a '92 legacy manual trans., it is not my intend to make my car look cool, I just want to try and keep track of what the engine is doing. Any advice or direction would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

No checkengine light? Did you check the plugs, filters, wires etc. Could be coolant temp.ensor, mass air flow sensor. Might need more info.

Could somebody explain why a faulty viscous coupling would exihibit these characteristics. Just curious.

Take the alternator and battery into a parts store and have them test both to see if your baterry is toast or if the alternator is faulty, then go from there.

The reason I asked about the check engine light is because from what I have seen is the coolant temp. sensor is a common problem. With my car the fuel purge solenoid and the air control valve were acting up and I would have to do exactly as you have said. My check engine light would come on so I don't really know if this is the same problem not.

Is the check engine light on?

Forgot to add, when screwing the top connector thingy back down I did heed the advice of Legacy777 to mark it so it is oriented the same way.

there is a small metal gasket, I cleaned and re-used it. I did make sure to put it back on the same as it came off. I think as long as it isn't damaged it is fine.

I have had a bit of time lately so I have been playing with my 1992 legacy 2.2L, manual trans. Just taking some time to try and help someone, oh yeah there is a question at the end. I have had intermittent problems with the air control valve and the fuel purge solenoid. I read all the threads I could about these and couldn't quite figure out which was causing the problems, both codes would flash as soon as the car started to misbehave. High erractic idle, poor performance mostly in lower rpms, higher fuel consumption, stalling. The fuel purge solenoid was easy enough to get out, I think it was a 12 mm bolt. As stated in past threads, I gave it a good soaking with wd40 and let it sit for awhile. I can't say if it helped, but, it shouldn't hurt either. One little trick I did figure out is when you are trying to put it back on use a pair of needle nose pliers to hold it (helps save your fingers from being caught in between the intake runners) the exact orientation isn't critical, then I put a small piece of plastic bag in the socket with a 3 inch exstention (without the rachet on), this was so the bolt wouldn't fall out when you are trying to get it into position. Once you get the bolt started then you can position the valve in the correct place and tighten it with the rachet. I also removed the air control valve so I could clean it as well. This was also fairly simple once all the needed hoses were taken out of the way. I have tried spraying throttle body cleaner into the tube and brake cleaner into it, but, I'm not sure how effective it was. Once I had it removed from the car I sat down with a can of brake cleaner, a wack of Q-tips and some patience. From what I understand the manual cars have a shutter type valve and the automatics have an oscillating valve (please correct me if I am wrong), anyways this was a shutter type valve, I think. I would spray the cleaner then gently clean the inside of the valve with a Q-tip, the shutters seem somewhat fragile so being gentle is a necessity. I unscrewed the top connecter portion of the valve, I didn't take it right off, I really didn't know if parts would fly out at me. I was able to turn the valve back and forth with it attached , and cleaned where I could. There was definately a lot of black gunk in it. I also cleaned the 2 tubes that have the coolant run through them. I reattached everything, pretty sure the top 2 bolts are longer than the bottom 2, I just put them back where I found them. After everything was reattached I started the car, it fired up very quickly with no hesitation. The idle is much more stable and the engine seems to run more smoothly. I don't think this is a routine maintenance thing, but it does seem to help. Hope this can help someone. I do have one question however. Where the headers go into the catalytic converter there is a hairline split around where the weld was made. I tried just patching it but that hasn't worked. Is it possible to re-weld it without having to take the headers off? I will have to take it somewhere to get fixed because I am not a welder, I don't want someone to jerk me around into getting new headers etc. Thanks in advance

I will be replacing the ball joints and the sway bar end links on my 1992 Legacy in the next couple days. I'm not looking for specific details, just any tips that might make it a less profain repair. thanks in advance.

OK I will believe you, it just seeems a little strange. This should have something to do with the engine running ever so slightly rich(if it was stuck open), which would in turn set off the air control valve, maybe? right? Maybe I am too stupid to understand computers? Anyways hope you are right with your 80$ fix instead of my 400$ fix. Actually I hope I am right. Just kidding you have been the best. I respect your opinion over most, thanks again for all your time. You are the kind of people that make this forum great! Thanks again Brent

Just a little tid bit of information. I am pretty sure the air control valve and the purge solenoid are somewhat connected. Here is my reasoning: When the car starts to act up the codes 24 and 35 appear. When I hooked the fuel canister directly to the throttle body there was no change in how the car behaved. The 2 codes still appeared obviously, since the purge solenoid was not connected. I cleared the codes, hooked everything back up and started the car, everything was normal. I was getting the all clear signal from the car. I drove the car, shut it off then restarted it, started to act up again. Retrieved the codes, it came up 24 and 35 again. It is hard to believe that both sensors would work and fail at the same time if they were not cannected somehow. Probably not that useful, but, maybe it will help somebody somehow,

Does the noise disappear when you apply the brakes? I'm guessing it is the bearing. Shaking the wheel probably won't tell you anything unless your ball joint is going.

Sorry I don't mean to beat this to death, but, the car started to behave normally today. I cleaned the throttle body with a throtle body cleaner I had laying around last night. I didn't think this would help, but, what the hay, I'm poor anything is worth a shot. I think it helped. I'm pretty sure it is the air control valve that is causing the majority of the problems and not the fuel purge solenoid. I hooked the fuel canister directly to the throttle body, this made no difference in how the car behaved. I've read about people spraying brake cleaner into the air control valve, there are a lot of mixed reviews here. I think I might spray a little cleaner into the valve. Good idea? Wow you know a lot about the legacy Josh. Thanks for all your time

I don't have a lot of experience with subaru engines, however, I did have a similliar problem with my old car. It ended up being the distributor. The car would just cut out completely, after a month or so it got so bad that it just wouldn't work, and left me stranded.(Don't need this with your wife and kids) Other guys here can certainly help you out mor than I can with the electrical system in subarus. Just trying to help.

Yeah that is it. So would any 1990-1994 legacy do for parts? Does this include the turbo? Re:the air control valve and purge solenoid.

Keeps saying cannot find server. Seems like we are talking about the same thing I think though.Thanks again!

It is in the picture head/pass clean the 2nd one. It is the top left hand corner

Cleared the codes and 24 and 35 came back. Few questions 1. The person I bought the car off of has a loyale....I think(could be a legacy, didn't take a close look, he said most of the parts would fit.). Would the parts off of this car fit if it is a 2.2L? 2. While I was checking all the hoses I noticed a black rubber square like piece that seems to be on the transmission. It is almost directly below the throttle body. Anyways it wasn't sitting in place correctly. what is it? Could this cause damage to the car?

I have a 92 2.2L legacy. A couple of weeks ago now the CEL came on. The codes 24 and 35 appeared. From what I understood it was probably the fuel purge solenoid. I didn't replace it since it would only come on once and a while. Two days ago the CEL came on again, and it won't go away. I still wasn't too concerned, I was going to replace the solenoid this week or next and see if that solved the problem. If it didn't then I would look into replacing the air control valve. When I start the car when the engine is cold the rpm only rise to about 800-1000. There is a fairly strong smell of gas from the exhaust when the car is first started. Once the engine warms up it idles at 1200-1300 rpm, it will occassionally blip up and down betwenn 1200-1250 rpm. Then sometimes it idles around 2000 rpm then will quickly fall back down to 1200 rpm. The exhaust seems to be louder as well, not like a hole in the exhaust, but just louder. The car seems to drive OK when the rpms are kept higher than 2500 rpm. The mileage doen't seem to be affected too much. Like I said this didn't concern me too much until I decided to pull the codes up tonight for some reason. The codes 11, 12, 24, 32, 35 appeared. These would be Crank Angle Sensor, Starter Switch, Air control valve, Oxygen sensor, Canister purge solenoid. I truly hope all this doesn't need replacing. Any light on this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I think I will change the small hose, then wait to see what happens. What does the canister purge solenoid cost? The Air control valve? (I live in Canada if this makes a difference.) Should I replace these with new, or go to a junkyard? Thanks for your help guys!

This morning I went out to start the car and it started to idle funny again, the check engine light was on. I turned the car off and opened up the hood and jiggled the hoses and wires on what I think is the canister purge valve. Started the car again, it fired up just fine. Not sure if this was just a coincedence or not. No problems at all today. I'll reset the ECU again and wait for it to happen again. One quick question, does the canister purge valve have a small hose that goes up to somewhere close to the throttle body? I noticed this hose is not very securely attached, it will just fall off if it is nudged a little bit. Could this be part of the problem? Thanks for your help!

Thanks for your advice. I probably should have added this, a couple of weeks ago similiar problem occured. I pulled the codes, there was a couple of old ones on there I think(12, 15, 35, 24). I reset the ecu and tonight the two codes came up 24 and 35.

A week or 2 ago when I started the car (92 Legacy 2.2L) in the morning, it idled rough around 1000 rpm instead of around 1500. The engine light came on, but, I didn't check to see what the codes were. I turned the car off and started it again and everything was fine. For a week or so the car ran beautifully. I drove the car all day today with no problems. Tonight after the car was sitting for 3-4 hours the same problem occured. The car seemed to run okay, there was a little hestitation when driving at a steady speed. I let the car sit for a couple of hours, then went out and started it again. The check engine light was on again and the car was idling rough. I pulled the codes, 35 (canister purge solenoid) and 24 (Air control valve). I have a couple of questions about this. First, what do these things actually do? Does this mean there is a problem with both or can one affect the other (To clarify, for instance if there is a problem with the ACV can this in turn trip the censor for the canister purge solenoid) Lastly, how can I fix my poor car? Any advice or direction to similiar threads would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!