legend01

HI all well ive done a few mile & ive put the oem dv back on & at first didnt make a huge difference but now im hearing the turbo spool up & it going alot better so im thinking cat is blocked & putting the recirculating dv back on is helping turbo spool,so do i now get the up-pipe out & have a look to see if it is blocked or what do you reckon any other ideas im still not losing any oil at all it not smoking,let me no your thoughts please.cheers

Hi all,well so far so good,still seems to be ok ish alot better than was,going to look at t/belt tomorrow,only thing i have noticed is i changed the rad cap today & after a drive checked it was ok only to find that there were a few bubbles in the overflow tank & top hose wasnt pressurized like it normally is but then went out again & it was ok so dont no if that is start of HG going i just hope not...but we'l see...

Hi all,yes intercooler looks all ok i do clean any crap out of it regularly,all seems to be going well at the moment so its looking like it was d.v. still havent been on a long drive yet but seems so much better.thanks for all the help hope i can give the same in return.cheers

well its a forge d.v. havent heard of many probs with these,i might try the factory one on & see how that goes,but at the moment its running alot better thank god its was realy getting me down & killing my wallet as i was down to 15 ish mpg & when you are use to 30mpg thats a big loss. well if all goes ok il be doing my cambelt next,ive had it for ages so must get it on. then i might have a go at a record set by another wrx same spec as mine tuned by the same tuner Racedynamix who mapped mine,when he done mine i didnt want every last drop of power out of it was looking for more yes but within reason & better mpg which i got both,when he did the last tweak he said it was an easy 290bhp with alot left or big safety margin,anyway this other wrx set this record at 298bhp & i think i could get to that if not beat it,i dropped dynamix a message yesterday & the reply was no probs so seams confident.well we'l see. what sort of bhp are you seeing from 2L over there which are pretty standard?

Hi everyone,well its been snowing & freezing today so havent done any more work on car,i did take it for a little drive & it does still feel better,ive also noticed that the dump valve is going off more so maybe it was stuck shut/open hopefully its just going to get better,havent been able to put that many miles on it yet so dont no what mpg is like but i have got a good 6hour drive coming up next weekend & thats going to give me alot more info on how its going.in the meen time il keep you updated on how it goes.cheers

it did start all of a sudden but it was one day it was running great then out of the blue it ran crap then it would be ok for a week or so but it gradualy got worse were it ran worse nearly all the time,i do see your point if had jump a tooth but it would run good now & again,i do have my new kevlar belt & tensioners ready to put on it was just that it got the point were i couldnt see me getting the car to run right again without spending a fortune which i dont have at the moment,so il see how it goes over the next couple of days. im not that new old timers lol ive had my beast for couple of years now just havent put many post up,as up until few months ago had only done things to car if i wanted ie:put coilovers/ new alloy rad/ fuel pump/3port solenoid/rebuilt front calipers/sti blue seats/have kept the oil changers regular also got new antifree to go in when i do belt,i always wanted one but i thought when i got it it would be not as good as it is its been fantastic car i love it apart from second gear went just before christmas had gearbox rebuilt new clutch then this mystery prob ive done 30 odd thousand miles in it already its just great to drive.anyway things are looking up a bit,would like to find out why vacum is so low,il keep you informed.many thanks

i beleive if you go to scoobypedia there is a write up on this & it shows you exactly how to reprogram them,i did do one for mine but it was couple of years ago & cant remember what the prosses is.good luck

Good day to all,well had another look today,took d.v. off & apart gave it a good clean then the pressure sensor on top of throttle body,then used a can spraying the inlet & other hoses to see if i could find any air leaks,couldnt find any,but i took car down the road & it goes alot better dont no if it was something i down today or i did unplug the front o2 yesterday then did a ecu reset,but hey im getting somewhere car still hesitates havent been far in it so its probably still going through re-learning stages,still have low vacum,so i think its on the way to getting it back to how it should be,going to give it a few runs & see what happens,strange hey, will report back soon.Thanks to all.

Hi guys thanks for your replies,the car has a turbo back decat exhaust,the front manifold & uppipe are factory which it had when i got the car,when i was checking the pcv i checked the hoses including the intercooler hoses i havent checked the inlet yet.it hs a forge d.v. on it again was on car from when i got it i have got a standard one i think il try swapping that. it idles fine the only thing i'l ad is when i got the car when i started it cold or hot it would idle around 750rpm even on really cold days now on cold start the idle starts at 1500rpm+ then slowly drops as the car warms up.the plugs have been changed the last time couple of months back while it had this prob they looked normal.oh & the vacum was steady. i must say this forum is the best one ive been on ive nown about it since i got my car as ive used the diagrams in opposed forces,but im also a member of a couple of others & you beat them hands down.thanks again for all the replies.

Hi all,belt is next to do after i fix this problem,ok i took off the pcv & its as clean as a whistle,also put a vacum gauge on & it idles at 12' when i blip the gas to over 2000rpm the vacum gauge goes up then drops to about 5 then rises back to 12' also held rpm at 2000rpm vacum went up then dropped to about 5' then i let it idle it & went back to 12' .& fuel pump was replaced last year with uprated one,i do have a new fuel regulator was thinking of putting it on to see if it maid any difference,soz i forgot to take air inlet off to check turbo will do this later or in morning. .so guys what do you think?

yes i agree that the turbo with over hundred thousand miles on it will be worn,& if the problem started a bit different to how it did i would be more inclined to investigate mechanical parts.ok today a used one of them elm 327 devices after eventually getting the software for it i got a few logs il try & put them up on hear,there's one thing that is bothering me on the o2'sensors i dont get no info on o2 1-1 then i get voltage on o2 1-2 which for what i can gather the o2 1-1 would mean bank1 sensor 1 & o2 1-2 would be rear sensor could someone confirm this please?but o2 1-1 which is new if that is the first sensor & im getting no readings have i got a knackered new sensor or more likely is there a wiring fault to this sensor? any thoughts on this? still dont get any cel codes & did speak to the place wear i brought the o2 from & was told he had never nown of a new denso sensor being faulty,so tommorrow im gonna try 7 test the wiring to sensor anyone no of the best way to go about this?& do a vac test too. Thanks to all.

no k&n just dry panel filter,its really strange as the car does go really well once in a while,& the loss of power is all through the power range,its running rich i just dont no why thought id found the problem when i got the code for front o2sensor changed that with denso one but no different.thanks

Hi, no car doesnt use any oil at all,boost gauge reads in bar & boosts to 1.2bar thats what its mapped too,also my boost gauge does read vacum (in' mercury) it goes down from 0 -1-2-3 ect to -8 & the -8 is where the gauge sits when at idle.i have had two times where ive had a very slight bit of smoke come out of the exhaust this was last year when we had extremly hot weather & was sat in a traffic jam but none since then,i do have sort around the tip of exhaust which got worse when my problems started but ive put this down to running rich.Thanks for the replies.

thanks for reply,as it got a turbo back exhaust for some reason they turn off the sensond sensor over hear (im in england by the way) as the exhaust gives the cel 0420 .my boost gauge does shows in' mercury it starts at 0 then goes down to -8 which is bottom of scale it still seems to boost to 1.2bar no probs thats what it was mapped too, il double check its not ment to be -80 & let you no.the only thing with the 0420 code that was already on when i got car & someone had cut the cel light instead of getting it tunned properly.ive rebuilt both front calipers wjth new pistons & they are fine now as they were seized. i always use 99octane fuel which it is tunned for.also the car started to play up before i had it mapped at first it would lose power now & again but now its the opposite loss of power all the time then once in a while runs great ,its like it runs really rich.i was also advised to change the neutral switch which i did. is there a good way to do a vacum test if your cat is blocked? Advise is really appreciated many thanks.

oh & my timing belt is up for renewal,how would that efect things unless its jump a tooth?Thanks to all...

Thanks for replies,i also forgot to ad that on my boost gauge at idle the vacam pressure is -8 my gauge goes from 0 done to -8 which i thought was low,i have cleaned maf,i think il go with what you are saying & do pcv vavle,the strange thing is i get no cel codes apart from the two ive have ie:0420 the day before my last map but mapper told me no problem as he was turning that sensor off & as it hadnt been mapped before i thought it was because of turbo back exhaust,then the only over code was for the front o2 which ive changed.well soon as the snow clears up il take a look at the things you have advised me of &let you no.many thanks...

Hi all,few months back my impreza wrx 2001 started to loss power every now and again then its got worse so now its running bad all the time,it drives like its lost 50bhp idles fine mpg is also down to about 15mpg,then i get cel for front o2 sensor so thought that was the problem & purchased a denso o2 so no cheap sensor doesnt make any difference,even when i had the lasr map tweak for uprated fuel pump mapper asked had i done anything else as he got another 3degree's of timing which is alot but hadnt done anything that day car ran great the next it was terrible again,as this has gone on for a few months its started to drive me mad so has anyone got any ideas i can try?