softroader

Yes, I think it is the one that cars101 is talking about when they mention PZEV in 2004. Three cats and 5 O2 sensors for a 4-cyl! Insane. I will be avoiding it, probably a quick way to spot one would be the throttle body. I've seen pics of the different airboxes between the EJ251 and EJ259 but I'm still a bit unclear which is which. The throttle body would be a sure sign.

Related question: does anyone know if a non-California emissions 2000-2004 OB can be registered in California without difficulty or penalty, or be rejected for emissions testing because it's not a California emissions car? DMV is impossible to reach right now or I would ask them.

Question about Gen 2 emissions equipment. The attached dataplate image is from a 2001 H4 4EAT OBW I looked at last week. The other image is from the 2004 FSM. I have read that PZEV hurts engine performance and economy, and is more expensive to repair. According to cars101 PZEV appeared on the OBW in 2004. Should I try to avoid the 2004 California OB's? Presumably this would be "C" in Engine Type. I am in the People's Republic of Kalifornia if that makes a difference. I will need to register the car and pass emissions testing. Interested in how undesirable it is to have PZEV on the car, not interested in discussing climate change or any of that stuff.

You're looking for a very recent OB, right? I hope that works out well for you. Several late model OBs in my neighborhood that the owners seem happy with. I think I'll end up with a Gen 2 H4 4EAT after considering all the good advice I have received here, and I like the Gen 2 OBs more and more as I get more familiar with them.

Thanks for the replies everyone. 4EAT it is. Seems like Subaru engineering and reliability is progessing backwards after 2004.

Bulletproof is what I am looking for. It would be nice not to have to replace the clutch every 100-150,000 miles. Also curious if the 5EAT (and its TCU) is a direct swap into a Gen 2 OB H4 with 4EAT?

Yeah, "hybrid" was a joke Stole that from my dentist, who also runs an ancient 22RE in his pickup truck. And I agree brake pads are cheap, though I rarely use the brakes, I last replaced the pads in 2009, almost exactly 100,000 miles ago, and there's still quite a bit left. They do fade quite quickly though on the DD, so prolonged use isn't a good option.

Good point. I guess you would have to install EGT thermocouples in the header downpipes and do some software magic to get that. Not sure about individual cylinder AFR, that sounds tricky.

I just follow the FSM. If it says don't replace undamaged ones, they're not TTY. Baffling to me why some people still want to argue about it when this is so clear in the FSM, and the FSM is so readily available for download.

The irony is that parameters like this are readily available by sniffing CANbus frames. But CANbus cars no bueno.

Cool, another software hacker! Agree with all of this, with one exception... My DD has a 22RE which didn't leave the factory as a hybrid but is one now. It runs on gasoline and oil. Lots of oil. Like 1qt every 200 miles lots of oil. The valve stem seals are shot (37 years old, I got my money's worth out of them), and the oil rings have seen better days, so she burns oil. Can't fix that without removing the head bolts, and the head gasket is at 400,000+ miles, if I remove the head it will be a one way trip with the inevitable pitting. So I leave it alone and just wave a chicken foot over it from time to time, hoping for the best. I keep up with adding oil, but sometimes, especially when descending from the mountains when engine braking is high and there's low pressure below the stem seals, she uses a lot of oil. So much so that, in hard turns, especially to the right, the oil pickup will unport and there's a brief loss of oil pressure. This triggers the EICAS led driven by the arduino until the turn is over and the oil in the pan returns to level. Time to add oil! This has been very useful.

Cool, I just downloaded and installed Piston v2.1.3. Agree it does look better than Torque Lite, useful basic functions instead of silly eye candy. Also half the size. Should have my ELM327 OBD-2 Bluetooth dongle from Amazon tomorrow, then I'll be all set to find me a car.

Are you using Torque Lite on your phone for this? (Their web page says it might not work with some Subaru ECU's, but doesn't say which ones).

I agree, what presslabs did was kick a$$ impressive. A very elegant hack that used unused memory in the stock TCU. Good stuff.

Thanks. That makes sense. The 2005+ CANbus cars presumably report everything and frames containing interesting parameters are flowing on the bus continuously. But I don't want CANbus. I added an oil pressure sensor to my DD. I'll just do that to the OB too. It drives an arduino which converts it to a signal that drives my oil pressure gauge and gets upset if the pressure is too low for the engine rpm. And a few things like that. Simple, and way more useful and responsive than the stock snail-slow gauge. And way, way more useful than just an idiot light (it's really just a "too late" light).