TheSubaruJunkie

Well drove to Kragen to get a new PCV valve.... got the car under boost a few times and no signs of oil burning (well, not as severe as this morning). When i returned to work i replaced the valve. The old valve still moved when shook, and sounded ok... but its been replaced as a precaution. The area directly under the PCV valve was covered in oil, and there was oil everywhere around the area. I noticed the hose comming from the valve was ovalled and wasnt fitting too snug.... so i replaced the lame stock hose clamp with a real screw type clamp. *KNOCK ON WOOD* lets hope that does some good. -Brian

Ive got a GPS device too i could bring along. BigBlue... the only guys with lifts are gonna be me and Jibs The rest of y'all need to bring a tow rope just kidding... ... I have one :-p -Brian

Jeremy... bring a subie that already has bad fenders... and then no loss will be gained -Brian

I have a portable compressor. I will also be driving straight to Jibs house, the shell station is a good meeting place, i need gas in the wagon anyhow. Today on the way to work my RX was burning oil REALLY bad I dont think its severe like a piston or rings... but i hope I can figure it out before 7am tomorrow. -Brian

No more intercooler. Everything is bone stock. Stock intake plentum, no bypass valve, no boost controller. Stock VF5 is peaking at 7psi, at least i hope it is. Last time this happend I turned around from the road trip I was on... came home, and put a new turbo in. Im thinking, hoping, its my PCV valve.... im gonna replace it on my lunch break and hope to god it fixes it. -Brian

So on my way to work this morning... I was thinking to myself "wow, the RX sure is running great this morning. Hope it acts this way all weekend so I can drive to Reno tomorrow". And sure enough, as soon as I said that the car started to sputter. I was cruising in 5th gear, so it wasnt really that noticable, so to verify I floored it. I have no boost gauge, so I dont know how much boost my turbo was making, but everytime the boost light was on my car would sputter and in the rear view all i could see was a plume of blue smoke. About a block from work it quit doing it. WTF!?!?

Im going to try to be on the road out of town by 7:30-8a at the latest. If all goes well with the RX that will put me at Jibs place around 10-10:30. Depending on traffic, construction, a sudden weekend snow storm... etc.. We should be able to get a fair amount of wheelin in before it gets too cold out. I know JB will be hating the drive home if we had to do it in the dark Dave, if we have enough time we might be able to start pulling stuff. I wanna try to get on the road to be home by 7pm, which means leaving Reno around 4:30-5. -Brian

Ok then it shouldnt be effecting this problem then, i hope. I removed the bolt and replaced it with a new one. I didnt have any teflon tape so i used electrical tape, which didnt work out well at all. Anyhow, problem didnt change at all. What are some components that are only effected when engine temps warm up? -Brian

YEah thanks Capt. Obvious :-p I was looking at the FSM .pdf i got, and it shows to idle adjustments. one for cold idle and one for hot idle. The screw for hot idle is gone, and plugged with a bolt. I was thinking that might have something to do with it.... but its been setup like that since i owned the car. -Brian

I replaced the rubber piece between the MAF and Turbo because my old one was split. The new one doesnt look to be split, and it doesnt show any signs of leaking. The ECU isnt throwing any codes now. 2 blinks of the LED with the black connectors connected. No Volt Meter, so I cant test anything. This morning the car stalled and wouldnt idle again. It only happens when the engine is warmed up, with it cold out the car idles at 1500rpm. Warmed up it wants to idle at 1000rpm but just cant. -Brian

Better sell off some of those subies and pay your rent jeremy!!!! -Brian

I should be able to make it. My friend might be comming along, and if so I will be leaving sunday morning. If all goes well I should be at the wagon by 10am *knock on wood* Where's Dave at? -Brian

Take a look at my signature. THere are thousands of pix in the link provided. -Brian

Will ive been doing that. Ive used that method to look for leaks probably 4 or five times. With Carb cleaner, then today at work with some throttlebody cleaner (dunno if theres a difference) but both were unsuccessful. I just got done wrenchin on the damn thing for about 2 hours. Removed the temp sensor and cleaned its connections. They were pretty corroded, and I used a tiny flathead screwdriver to scrape everything away, i also bent the contacts a tad to make sure they had a nice snug fit. After putting everything back together, it was still not idling right. So I started moving hoses around to see if maybe i could locate the leak that way. While messing with the plumbing for my boost gauge and my BPV (which is now plugged) i thought I heard the idle change so I removed the vacuum line to my boost gauge and plugged that. Then I took the car for a drive around the block. Its like nothing changed. Car still has a hard time holding an idle and it stalled once. So then i started to try to clear my ECU codes. Did a code check and found out that code 23 was added to the other 4 codes I had stored, so now i have 5. So then i was like "WTF lets try to clear them" Since i had replaced half the things that were throwing codes. After dicking around with the ECU, now when i try to pull codes my LED just blinks twice.... over and over and over again, would be Code 20 if it existed, but i dunno if i broke it or fixed everything. Whatever I did, it sure didnt help my idle at all. Eli... $1800 for the RX with the intercooler setup and stereo. -Brian

So i removed the AIC Valve and checked it out. I cleaned the mating surface, the gasket looked good. So i put it all back together at lunch and the car seems to hold a better idle when cold. But when it warms up, it still has a problem idling. If i let the throttle drop, it will hold steady at 1000rpm for a few seconds, then slowly drop, until its barely idling at 200rpm then dies. It stalled once on the way home again today, and at every stop i had to brake while applying pressure to the gas peddle just to keep the car running. The car is no fun anymore. Anyone wanna buy a RX? -Brian

I feel ya LosDios... I dont have anyone to wheel with either. Im thinking this would be a good way to organize all of us lifted subaru guys, and help us locate other wheelers and for you guys to get together and do some wheelin. There are some lifted guys, believe it or not, who dont even come to the USMB. Maybe this will help them get together with others. I myself have no ORSA'ers near me either.... if I wanna go do some wheelin I gotta drive 2 hours north to Reno. -Brian

America would be all of Northern America... so Canada and even Mexico are included. It really wouldnt be much more than what we already have here... except it would be all off-road subaru oriented. Would be nice to have a ORSA event instead of just a standard meet-n-greet, that way people who show up know what they're going to get involved in. I dunno tho, just thinking.. Oh... AND WHO MOVED THE POST!?!?!? Is this post not "Off Road" related enough? I see no need for it to be in the meet and greet forum, I would apreciate it if it were moved back. -Brian p.s. Adam, i KNEW you'd remember Other than you, i dont think there are any original ORSA Members around. BillyC was one of them, and I cant remember who else was around back then. Its been 5 years since I lived in alaska... and ORSA was formed when i was 17... im 25 now

Brad hooked it up with a .pdf of the FSM and after reading it I now know where these things are that you speak of. Today on lunch I will check out the Idle Air Control Valve, i wont be able to check the temp sensor until I get home tho. We'll see what happens, thanks guys. -Brian

All my old ORSA pages are long gone. I might have some archived images on a ZIP Disk hidden somewhere, but that would mean I'd have to find my ZIP Drive and install it. I could work up some new logos or something. -Brian

Was thinking of ressurecting it Ken. Seems like the off-road subaru craze has never been bigger than it is now. You were close Irishman. It actually stands for Off Road Subarus of America. Used to be Off Road Subarus of Alaska, its a small club I came up with back when I was in highschool. Dreamin of wheelin lifted subarus, never to know what would have become. So here we are now, with more lifted subies than you can shake a stick at... and i was thinking ORSA would be a good way to give us Off Road Subaru drivers a type of club of our own. -Brian

I dunno..... ...maybe -Brian

LOL shuttup noah.... you cheat. -Brian

Might be before most of your guy's time, but lets see how many we have from way back. -Brian

The RX is having problems idling. The engine stumbles like its about to die and has trouble idling above 1000rpm. Driving home from work tonight it stalled once and at every light I had to keep my foot on the peddle just to keep my car above 1000rpm. When I got home and pulled into the driveway, the car's idle dropped to about 200rpm then died. When I re-started it it rose to about 600rpm then stumbled down to about 400rpm but I kept it running long enough to get under the hood. Once under the hood I attempted to increase the idle by adjusting a screw at the top of the intake manifold, right behind my throttlebody. Turning it clockwise killed my car, so I i gave a few turns counter clockwise and started the car. It seemed like the idle had picked up to about 900rpm, so with it running I adjusted the screw until it got up to around 1100. The test drive around the block went well. At the first few stops, as soon as I let off the throttle, the engine would drop to 1100 and hold idle until I accelerated again. Until my last 2 stop signs to get home. By the time I pulled into the driveway the car was again idling at around 600rpm and wanting to die. Durring all this Im monitoring my boost gauge, and i notice on decel my gauge is at -20in but at idle its falling to -15in or so. IIRC that would indicate a vacuum leak somewhere, but so far I am unable to find any. Oh, and this is with the RX back to stock. No intercooler, bypass valve or boost controller. Im probably going to pull it into the garage tonight and take a close look at everything to make sure somethings not undone... i also got another knock sensor I wanna try out (Thanks SuberDave!!). We'll see what happens... -Brian

Wow that looks awesome! How far out from your dads place is that? Woudnt mind getting the wagon up on there. -Brian