Markus

This issue is related to a short previous thread regarding the 10A "Meter" fuse that cripples the car. When it blows the instrument cluster stops working along with the power windows and sunroof AND the automatic quits shifting. This bears out looking at the schematics, Fuse 15 (Meter) is used to supply power to all those items in some way. Well finally I hit the point where I popped about 8 fuses (in a row) and concluded that I had a problem.....before I would replace the fuse and run with out a problem for days. Using a meter I have a dead short to the point that my positive battery terminal has continuity with the ground lug on the engine. Out of desparation, while I was stranded, I tried progressively higher fuse values (dumb I know but I was stuck). Each one would pop a little later (milliseconds) and at 25 A I started to smell (a little) smoke - then the fuse went (I stopped the experiment). The smoke seemed to be coming from the roof (sunroof?). It seems every time that I had the problem the sunroof was open, to the best of my memory. 1) Has anyone troubleshot this type of problem and have hints of the best ways to go about it? I'm an electrical engineer but its much easier to look at the back of an industrial control enclosure. 2) How do I remove the head liner to get to the sunroof, where are the screws? 3) Anyone disconnect the sunroof relay? I can see the sucker (pink, Haynes calls it red) with the knee panel removed and can get my hand on it when laying on my back and twisting my arm like a pretzel but can't seem to disconnect it. If I can get this off then I may be able to avoid remoing the headliner if not needed. As always, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Fix it myself. The dealership seems way high. I agree with rweddy, 125k is pretty fresh for a 2.2. I haven't done this before but the ignitor seems easy to get to and its around $300 at 1stSubaru, I think. The ECU I would think you could salvage used at a bone yard.

Well I didn't blow any fuses over the weekend (cause I didn't drive) but this evening I blew the fuse twice within 10 minutes. The only funny thing other than the fuse blow was the Power light on the dash blinked about 6 times, then I rev'ed the engine and it stopped blinking. Anyone see this type of thing related to the gage cluster?

Where is the combination meter? I think there might more behind this than just one blown fuse. It blew again tonight almost exactly 24 hours later. Need to buy a supply of 10A fuses and wait/watch. No codes are being thrown. Anyone have the Meter fuse blow like this?

OK..Who decided to call a little 10 amp fuse "Meter" and have it control power windows, dash indicators and transmission shifting!?! At least it was easy but boy did this fuse leave the car crippled.

OK all.....here is a real screwy one: Pulled out of a store today, after driving around plenty with no issues, to notice that my tranny did not shift out of first (was in drive). I then noticed that the tach was at zero (engine running fine) and temp gage was at cold (engine hot) and light around auto tranny indicator out. I could not drive above 20 mph and limped home. The car would take off from a stop great and with great power BUT it was tough keeping it at 20 and would work best stopping and re-starting to get momentum to coast a ways. The following does NOT work: Trunk light, power windows, sunroof, A/C,heat, fan, tach, temp gage, radiator fan, passive seat belts (retracted after noticing problem but will not return again). Just about everything else works. The shop manual schematics seem to indicate that the AT control - where ever that is - may be at the center of the problem due to the items not working. I'm going to look at fuses around that but a quick look at the see through ones had no blown ones. Any help would be great!!! What a hobby my car is becoming....

Ordered a ignition coil & fuel injector from 1stSubaruparts at different times and worked out great. Seem to have the absolute best prices.

The exact same thing happened to my '90. The die cast metal part broke at the hole around the acorn nut. I haven't fixed mine yet but was able to take the deflector side and wedge it under the acorn nut so it looks "fixed" and it works fine opening and closing until someone grabs the deflector and pulls it down (like my kids) then it pops back out. I need to do this myself but I thought a very thin washer under the acorn nut would widen the surface well enough to be a permanent repair without raising the acorn nut into the actual sunroof.

Ali, My 90 2.2L has the fuel line entering on the drivers side. It comes off the fuel filter in the engine bay (95 has a filter under the hood?). During my ordeal I thought the same thing and was ready to replace the fuel pressure regulator or pump also...but opted for the $30 VDO gage and found they were ok. With that gage I saved myself easily $100 and now am ready to check the fuel system first at any sign of trouble. It only took me 30 minutes. I pulled the line from the filter to rail input and cut out about an inch of line in the middle and installed the gage there.

My 1990 Legacy does not have one. I don't think they added them until '92.

Cougar, CAS stands for Cam/Crank angle sensor? I had though of those when I had the timing covers off and could see how they sensed the teeth on the cam/crank sprockets. I never had a CEL code thrown for those though and did not pursue it.

Ali, Last weekend I got the injector (2 day UPS del.) and installed it....geez was it hard pulling out the old and PRESSING in the new but with a home made tool was able to get it in. And guess what........NO CHANGE!! I was ready to gouge my eye out....BUT cooler heads prevailed. I talked to some gearhead friends at work.....broken valve spring, carbon, burnt valves...all basically needing to pull the valve cover and possibly get in deep. One guy told me of a cleaning trick with water that would damage the spark plug but should clean the carbon deposits. I was going to try that first today so in preperation I ran the engine to check the vacuum readings and it ran as crappy as always. Then I changed out the new (2 months old) #3 plug, cylinder I was having trouble with, so as not to ruin the new plug and put in one of the originals that I retained. Then......... IT RAN PERFECT!!!!!!!!! WOHOOO! But....I threw an injector, coil, fuel filter, timing belt, plugs (I thought were good), wires and cleaned about every emission device possible, new knock sensor (only code I had) AND IT WAS THE PLUG!!!! Everything pointed to the ignition but I thought since I had new plugs I was OK....NOT! The "new" plugs were Bosch but NOT platinum and at least the one in #3 did not perform well. So, out to Autozone to get Platinum plugs and install and it runs smooth as silk. What an adventure....I did learn a lot. Re-check earlier work when you run out of fairly logical problems. Way back when the car started running bad I installed the "new" plugs and during that broke a wire and put on a new set of those so when it still ran bad, hey I had new plugs and wires so it couldn't be them.... From now on Bosch Platinums gapped .040 or slightly less. Am I glad I did NOT get into the valves....it would have been a much less enjoyable Saturday. Next on the list - Air conditioner re-charge/conversion and then struts.

Ali, I'll tell you my story in my next post... A fuel pump is pretty expensive. If you think that it is the fuel system at all get a fuel pressure gage to do the few tests that Haynes describes. I wasn't able to get a fuel pressure test kit so from a suggestion from someone else on the board I got a VDO mini pressure gage and installed it permanently in the fuel line between the rail and the fuel filter. Found out my fuel pump and fuel pressure regulator (fpr) were just fine and I was sure my fpr was the culprit. It cost about $30 and I was able to get it through a good parts store (not Autozone or other discount, not that Autozone is bad....) Next, my story......

Ali, Those values are dead on. Haynes says 11 to 12 ohms. I should probably try my DMM from work before writing off all my injectors just in case my old Radio Shack analog meter is inaccurate. So...all your injectors are ok? What next? I wouldn't run a separate ground as that could cause a ground loop, clean your mounting surfaces. Check your ground from the Neg terminal to the intake manifold/engine block with a DMM. You should be around an ohm or less. I checked mine a few weeks ago and was ok. I broke down and bought a new injector from 1st Subaru and will be putting it in tonight/tomorrow. I hope the gods from Mount Fuji will smile on my injector offering... ... Markus

Well Ali, The injector cap came off quite easy but I was not able to get the injector out of the bore. I didn't get to aggressive because if I broke it there would have been no driving for a while. I was able to get it to rotate about 90° but it would not back out and I was not ready to pull the fuel rail off. I think I'm going to call around to some bone yards to see if I can get some used injectors. I suppose I could test those for operation (debug the test procedure on the bench) and try them out. Then if I break the current injector at removal I would at least have something to plug the hole and maybe even work! If not.....I'll guess I'll need to buy one. Did you have any luck getting a select monitor? I read about it in the shop manual.

I used a vacuum gage to check out the system. Sweeps between 15 and 22 in correlation with the idle. When I run the engine around 1500 rpm a nice solid 21. So all seems ok with the vacuum system. It suggests ignition etc. problem as I was also going to check. Well checking the resistance on all the injectors none of them are in; I have 17 ohms, 16, 15, 13 ohms. Replace all of them? Well the budget can't take that now and it does run, not well but runs. While its idling I pull the connector off of each injector. Cylinders 1,2 and 4 all idle worse, #3 no real change (this was the 15 ohm injector). I pull the plug wire on 1,2 & 4 runs worse or dies and #3 no real change. A surrogate plug in #3 wire fires fine. So I go for a drive with #3 injector unplugged. Get CEL, of course, ECU can't see injector, and it runs like it has a couple times on wet days, obviously missing #3 ALL THE TIME. Stop to put #3 back on and it runs better, just missing a lot but sometimes with real power like it used to run. Also, a small test light in the injector connectors for #3 and #1 both blink about the same so the ECU signal is ok? So...can I remove the injector to clean/test it myself? I think I would be able to test it at work on the bench. Shouldn't I be able to (for electrical types out there) set a function generator to a 10V peak square wave at some low frequency and see the little guy operate? I would think I might be able to clean it some how. Would this do any damage to the injector on the bench without fuel running through it? Markus

Looking through my Haynes manual troubleshooting section for the descriptions of my problem the most recurring item is fuel injection trouble, then vacuum leaks (hoses, intake manfold & head) and then more serious mechanical problems. I'll take another look at vacuum hoses and then check and clean the injectors.......and pray. My timing belt was off a tooth and this I'm sure happened after it started running bad. Could one tooth off cause damage in EJ22? Oh yeah.....used coil, make offer. Markus

That's a new term for me...what's a "select monitor"? After the injectors I may be out of ideas. The only thing left is mechanical problems with the head. Has anyone seen this as a cause of the bad idle? Markus

I got the coil, replaced it ANNNDDD.........NO CHANGE, ARGGG! My fuel delivery system checks out OK and it sounds like all the injectors fire but maybe I need to give them a cleaning. When I pull a plug wire on any cylinder the engine runs worse. Just in case I am going to do an ECU reset but I am not hopeful. The engine ran the same way before new plugs (with anti seize) and wires. I need to think........

I just replaced my timing belt and found that pulling the radiator gave me the most room. I had it pulled and replaced in about an hour. You have to drain the antifreeze, remove the top coolant hose, if auto trans pull the two auto tran fluid lines and then the bottom coolant line, disconnect the cooling fan(s) plugs and two bolts that hold it in and pull up and out. I thought it came out real easy. Have a nice long screwdriver to get the the drivers side hose clamps. Markus

The cycling you have could be due to the IAC being dirty. It controls the air flow at idle and I think is the thing that causes the cycling. Even when my car ran good it cycled in that manner. I have a similar issue now and do not have a CEL. I am hoping it is the ignition coil. I think your rich smelling exhaust may be because the cylinder is not firing and just dumping a cylinder of raw fuel into the exhaust. I think the surge (does it lurch forward when stopped because of a burst of power and you need to apply the brake more?) is from the car not firing on all cylinders all the time and then firing thus giving more power and lurching. Markus

Its true. you can't adjust the timing as it is controlled by the ECU. When I had cars with distributors you were able to rotate the dist. CW or CCW to advance or retard the timing if it was off. The Soob is all ECU adjusted. Mine is right in at 20 deg Before TDC which I think is in spec, when I can get a read while it idles somewhat stable. I hope to know my fate on Monday....when the new coil arrives. Markus

The coil is with the UPS man now. My injectors seem to be consistently firing use the screwdriver stethescope trick. I tried the timing light thing and while I saw the flash rate change at times when I flipped the pickup it wasn't very consistent.

I'm not sure how the timing light can be effected in its operation. How would I check this out? Flip the orientation of the inductive pickup that I clamp onto the wire? Ali, you're on your second coil? What did you do to determine to get the coil and was it a new one? With the construction of the coil I don't see how the cylinders can misfire in your or my case. 1 & 2 are on a coil and 3 & 4 are on a coil- right? I also have another thread(s) where all of this really started: 90 Legacy loping idle - HELP! '90 Legacy Poor Running Markus

Ali, No I haven't gotten it answered. It must be a tough one. Over the weekend I looked at the alignment of the timing belt on the cam sprockets. The head I was having the misfires on (drivers side) was one tooth off. I thought that was the problem, replaced the timing belt (not rocket science but not a oil change either) and it still has a problem. I thought that the ECU was messing with the spark some how based on a late signal from the cam sensor but that does NOT appear to be the problem as after I installed the belt (alignment alright now) I did the timing light check and the blink rate was still the same, twice as fast on the passenger side (good) versus the drivers side. There must be something odd with the coil so today I placed and order to get a new coil. The ignitor seems to be firing the coil properly but the indication is that both coils seem to not fire the drivers side as much. I know it is one coil per back/front cylinders but maybe it has some weird failure mode. Its getting real old.