trxeslr66

Yeah, I agree, I think the first thick line on the tach is 500. The reason i say i knew i have been below that is because i plugged a code reader in. I can confirm that when it is on the line it reads around 500. Mine has gone down to 300. It is healthy that the engine can idle that low, but something is wrong. The next time it stalls I am going to the dealer.

I know it has been a while since any posts were made here but... I will give an update and once again ask for HELP!! I have gone 1 year without stalling or a CEL. Problem is that the low idle is getting worse and i feel a CEL is soon to come. Jan 06 i installed a new ground wire and battery. This combo seemed to bandaid the problem. I think whatever the problem is, is killing the battery. My last battery (dihard gold) only lasted 1 year. After the current battery was installed for 3 months the idle began dropping again. I have noticed when checking the voltage it gets low when idle. The extra ground wire from engine to alternator seemed to initially help this. The alternator is original but was rebuilt 3.5 years ago. Any ideas? Is it worth trying a new alternator? Physically this car looks brand new, with the exception of the idle it runs like a new car. It is worth nothing on a trade so I really need to find a solution.

I have been having a low idle and CEL for the IACV for 6 moonths. I replaced the IACV and had everything the air intake including the TB and TPS voltage checked. I cant find a cause with a mechanical defect in the engine for the low idle and CEL. When I say low idle I mean 250-450 RPMS when it should be 600-700 RPMS. I have verified with a code reader the idle gets as low as 250rpms. So due to recent battery problems I suspect the low idle may be a electrical issue of some sort. Over the winter I thought the low idle was worse under a load(heater + stereo, subs, amp). Now that summer is here I feel the same way with the A/C load. But during the past 2 months, it has gotten significantly worse. It got so low that it stalled 2 times in 1 week. And for these stalls it was because the battery was dead. So I deal with it after the first stall by jumping it, but after the 2nd I jump it then go to sears and they test charging system and battery and say the battery is bad. So I get a new battery under warranty and the idle is better – closer to 600 now which is the lower end of a normal idle. So I think back... The problem started last October, I had to get a new battery in January AND yesterday. There is the same amount of months in between. One more fact: the CEL for the IACV come on at idle AND when the automatic transmission is downshifting on the interstate. When the car downshifts, the load coming from the charging system would change for a second. I think think there is a defect in the charging system causing the batterys to go bad and cause the CEL due to a low and or fluxuating load. The alternator was rebuilt 1.5 years ago. So when the battery progressivly goes bad and hold less and less of a charge, my idle gets crappier and crappier. Any ideas what is causing the problem??

I'm not sure what air intake under the hood you are talking about spraying the lysol, and also, where is the a/c drain to verify it is not clogged. Thank you

I have a 99 Legacy L Sedan 2.2L with 73,000 miles. When do I change the timing belt. The mechanic I have been using said Subaru says 60k but he says wait till 80k. What do you think? While this is being done, I was going to replace the following parts. Is there anything I am missing, I want to avoid future problems and be able to depend on the car so I dont mind spending money on parts while this much is being done. 13073 AA142 Idler rollers (2) 13069 AA 037 Timing Belt Tensioner 13085 AA080 Roller Idler 13028 AA102 Timing Belt 21111 AA007 Water Pump Oil pump seal (dont have part # yet)

Is there anyway to clean something to make the smell that comes out of the heater a/c smell better. Mine, since new smells a bit musty. It has gotten worse and is only when using the a/c, not the heater. I noticed new cars have interior air filtration systems, but I doubt anything this old would have a filter I could change. Has anyone experienced this or found a solution?

Even though this is an older Legacy, the ECM should still control the idle and if it is high or low it should throw a code. Is your CHECK ENGINE LIGHT lit? To be sure the light functions check if it flashes when you turn the car on. Sometime the bulb burns out or someone takes it out. Use a code reader and see if there are any codes. There are 234573 things that can cause a problematic idle and vaccum leaks are just one of them.

The mechanic I have been using for 4 years told me I dont have a vaccum leak, but he cant fix my low idle problem and I have been through USMB threads for months looking for an answer to the erratic low idle. Is it possible he missed something and there is a leak. I do alot of my own maintenance myself but I dont know exactly where to spray water or starting fluid to check for a leak? Any help would be great.

Scrubbing will make the area look like crap because it will pull the fibers of the cloth apart. If the grease is what I think it is, you need some a brown paper bag and a clothes iron. put the bag on the grease and iron it a bit with heat, no steam. The grease will transfer to the bag. Do it a few times using new paper till the grease is off the seat and dosnt show up on the bag. Brown paper works best but you can substitute what you can find. Use good judgment not to get the fabric too hot because it will melt. This will work with anything from grease to wax and on any kind of surface such as carpet or upolstery.

I replaced coolent temp sensor and fuel filter exactly 3 months ago. Since then, the low idle went from being fixed to gradually getting worse and is pissing me off, however, in 3 months, no stalling and no CEL. The low idle has started shaking as it did before. I notice when stopped, if I put it in neutral the shaking stops, the idle dosnt change but it gets smooth. Also, it only happens when the car is warmed up. It seems to be more problematic morning and night when it is colder. I HAVE replaced the plugs with OEM, I have been considering replacing 2 things, the plug wires with OEM and the Injectors with OEM which have never been touched (seafoam has been used recently) and currently at 73k. Another thing I will try since it is free is when it acts up, I will take the hoses off of the fuel filter and connect them directly, bypassing the fuel filter. Since the new fuel filter fixed (or maybe just masked) the problem, this might reveal some crap in the gas tank clogging up the filter. It could have taken me a few times running near empty to get it clogged back up again. It does take a few seconds when stopping for it to get low. I just got new imprezza wheels and new toyo proxis tires as well as a brake/rotor job and otherwise, the car runs and looks great and I want it to last a bit longer and keep it for a second car for snow driving and such but this problem is burning my small brain up. I need help please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am posting to update, I have driven nearly 2 months without a problem after replacing the coolant temp sensor and fuel filter. I have no idea which it was that fixed the problem. The new fuel filter is OEM subaru. The old fuel filter was a fram or whatever autozone had, and was only 7 months old. It caused a slight hesitation when I installed it which is wy i decided to go back to OEM 7 months later. My idle still gets low (400-600) but dosnt shudder, shake, stall, or CEL. Since these parts, the car has been running great. I feel your frusteration. If you did the coolant sensor, maybe try the fuel filter? My problem started after a TB cleaning, possibly some gunk got dislodged and ended up clogging the fuel filter?

Thanks for the info. I installed Brembo rotors for the 14 inch wheel. braking is much smoother. One things i'm dissapointed about is the rust specs forming on the rotor after just 2 days. This tells me the entire rotor will rust as the OEM one did. I thought newer rotors had a rust protectant coating. Anyway, the 16 inch wheels will be installed in 2 days with toyo proxis tires. Thanks for the info.

Ok, If the 99 GT had 16 inch wheels + tires the same as the WRX's I'll be using, can I get the rotors for the 99 GT(16 in rims) instead of the 99 L (14 in rims) and still have my calipers fit? I'm looking to get maximum braking without upgrading to slotted/drilled rotors that eat pads. Thank you ???????????????????????????????????????

Hi, I have a 2.2l 99 Legacy with 14 inch alloy wheels. I bought 16 inch rims from an 03 Imprezza WRX. I have seem pics on the board here where people have put these exact rims on my generation of Legacy. I'm pretty sure the rim will physically fit, but my questions is about rotors. I need new rotors and an not sure which application to get. Looks like OEM and Brembo has a different part # for 14 inch wheels or 15 inch wheels. Would I get the rotors for the 15 inch? Lastly, if the total size of the tire is larger, will my speedometer be effected? Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

I still have factory wires on my Legacy but I was recently considering replacing them so I did some investigation on the USMB and found this....Some people like aftermaket plugs, but many many many more feel strongly to only replace with OEM. If you search the threads on here you will get some good info and in the end see that most people sugguest OEM plugs.

I have a 99 Legacy with 70k miles on it. At 35k I had Midas replace the front brakes and machiene the rotors. Since then I put premium aftermarket pads on the back. I'm planning on leaving the back alone. I dont have any braking problems but there is some vibration, my guess is its the rotors. Also I notice when driving other cars, my car lacks breaking power. If I get new rotors, what are the advantage of using Brembo vs. stock for normal driving? I am most concerned with having smooth braking in the long run. Also, I bought a set of new OEM pads, but my current Midas pads are more than 50% left. Should I replace the Midas pads that are lasting alot longer than my first set of stock when I install new rotors? Thanks

Good advice. Heres exactly what happened. The car stalled. This was the first time I noticed the low idle. This is why I took it to the mechanic in the first place. So after it stalled on me he cleaned the throttle body. It wasnt till the way home from his shop that the CEL came on for the first time. So although it stalled before he cleaned, the CEL didnthappen till after the cleaning. Just an update, I replaced the coolant temp sonsor and fuel filter with OEM this week. Not much change. I went aorund looking for a same year Legacy at a car lot to test drive to see what the idle was. Go figure the only one in town didnt have a tach. i drove it anyway. It did the same thing much much worse. When at a stop the idle seemed to drop and this car shook much much much much worse than mine. In fact, this car drove so ************ty it made me feel better about mine. This same dealer has a 99 legacy gt that just rolled over 300k!! Still lookin for a solutions for the low idle. Thanks for the feedback.

I replaced the coolant temp sensor and fuel filter (both OEM) this week. The idle might be a tad better. Almost 2 weeks without a CEL. Someone on here asked how low my idle was. On the tach, is is around 500 rpms, sometimes it dips to 400 and sometimes it is higher around 700. 700 is where I think it should be. I'm at 70k now. My mechanic said on Subarus, despite the dealer reccomending 60k, he says wait will 80k to do the timing belt. Possibly the low idle could be coming from the engine being out of timing? My gas mileage varies. While having this problem I got just over 30mpg highway on a trip. As good as 23 city, but my last 2 tanks have been closer to 19. My work is less than a mile away so the car dosnt warm up and would get bad gas mileage because of this. Speaking of gas. My gas gauge is terribly off. It goes almost 1/8 inch above the full line and stays there for at least 50-70 miles. The gas light comes on at 1/4 tank. I filled up yesterday when the needle was at 1/8 of a tank and it took 14.6 gal. When the car was new it filled up directly on the full line and the gas light came on when the needle struck E and a fill up at this point would only take 13 gal. I judge my gas more from how many miles I drive than what the needle says. Anyway this is off topic and less important than the idle problem.

When I start the car it idles high as it is supposed to while warming up. Then after it gets warmed up it drops to anywhere around 3-500 after a few seconds at a stop as you have said. When it gots really below the normal I put the code reader on and it said 250 rpms which means my tach is fairly accurate. I am running out of ideas. Please continue to update here. I will keep my results posted. Any help would be great. Thanks

NO just USA made OEM lights from a 99 GT.

The code is p1507 idle control valve (already replaced this). This is the same and only code I have been getting through this whole miserable experience. The fuel filter was changed over the summer to whatever autozone has. I have been considering a new OEM subaru fuel filter but there are 10 other parts I could try replacing to correct this and am not sure if I should spend the money on the parts or take it to the dealer. I have a dealer appt tomorrow so I'm sure I'll be paying them for nothing. Any help would be greatly appriciated. Happy Holidays.

Just under 70k on the car. I havnt updated in a while - problem is still there. It seems the low idle comes after the coolant is up to temp. Still getting the IACV CEL p1507. Need help!!

Other than the wacky idle it performs great and gets good gas mileage. The PVC valve is new OEM, plugs are new OEM, and the filter is Fram AirHog 6 months old. Still wacky idle. I hate to go to the dealer and pay them to look at it and not fix it but my mechanic has no more ideas and its pissing me off. Any ideas?

OK I got the wiring corrected. The lights work perfectly, the high beam indicator works perfectly and the fog lights work perfectly also. I'm not sure of the JDM parts only USA but you can change the lights. Mine were hazed slightly and the new ones are MUCH better. The newer lights are 2 pieces and the older lights are a single piece. The 2 piece newer lights had an extra mount which my car was equipped with. If anyone does this and needs any help or the wiring let me know. I am very happy with the new lights.

My old headlights were hazed over and I wanted the newer multireflector look of the 98 and 99 Legacy. The connector is different. The old seems to be 9003 (H4) to and the new connector is 9007. The new connectors I got at autozone have 3 wires blue, black, and yellow. I thought the blue was high, yellow was low and black was common. I dont know if im wrong because the wiring in the car is weird. I have tried different combinations none of which seem to work. The problem I get is that the high beam indicator is on for hi and low. Depending one how it is wired, the fog lights sometimes come on with the hi when they should only work with low. Has anyone else done this? Got any advice? Please help!! Thanks.