brycarp Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I know - cruise control is for wimps. But unfortunately I have severely sprained my right ankle several times over the years and now sometimes I need to give my throttle foot a rest on longer trips. Anyway, on my recently acquired 95 Impreza EJ18 with 5-speed, the CC was inoperative. I knew the ECM was somewhat "alive" because the indicator light in the CC enable switch on the dash would go on and off when the button was pressed. I was thinking I probably needed to try to get another ECM to swap in and see whether that changed anything though. Several times along the way, I had the thought: "You know, before you do any of that stuff, you need to check the vacuum hose to the actuator." but would then kinda think "Oh, that's too easy - surely someone would have checked that already to try to fix the CC." Guess what? The vacuum hose was just laying there in the vicinity of the CC actuator, but not connected. When I went to press it on, it was difficult to get it started, so I think it's been disconnected (and causing a vacuum leak, by the way) for years and years, and the rubber had hardened up some in its "relaxed" state. So I just wanted to tell my little tale in case it is helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsoobdude Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 (edited) My friend had wired a stereo into his old truck a couple years ago and it wasn't working after the install. Started tearing everything apart and checking all the wires at the radio and everything with no luck. Drove him absolutely nuts as he couldn't figure out why no power. I asked if he ever checked the connectors he put on at the battery after a day of him trouble shooting. Of course he hadn't and it was the connectors that were too loose not anything else that he had ripped apart . Granted I don't do electrical as I release the smoke from the wires, but I generally start at the beginning and work from there, not the end back. On my Outback I put in a Group A Throttle Body spacer and the bracket for the throttle cable didn't work so I had to make my own after jimmy rigging one for the time being. Took my friend to school after installing and my idle was stuck at 1500rpms even though before I adjusted everything it was fine . Turns out my cable bracket was too long. Took me a while to figure out as it was only an 1/8 inch off. Thankfully my friend noticed that the butterfly flap wasn't going back to the stopper. It had taken me an hour of head scratching and everything and he noticed it in 30 seconds . Oh well. My dad had borrowed my Outback after I had put my new e-bay intake on it and he was saying it wouldn't idle or anything after having it for a day and no CELs. It was working the day before for him but then had the problem on the way home. Asked him to look under the hood for loose hoses or anything but he couldn't see anything. Turns out it was the big hose off the head for the intake and it took me 10 seconds to figure that one out. Edited February 26, 2011 by newsoobdude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 It's always the simple stuff that gets you. Sometimes it's too obvious to be a probably cause .... Gotta love easy fixes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I know a guy who took a 1973 mercedes to a shop because it quit running. shop figured out it was out of fuel. The owner read the fuel gauge backwards, with the F meaining 'fill' instead of 'full' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 My dad had his pickup truck towed to a shop because it just quit running on him. It was a Friday afternoon, so it was just going to sit there all weekend till it got worked on Monday. He said he had no idea what it was... Full of fuel and everything. I said I'd driven it the day before and it was pretty low, he said "but the fuel gauge was all the way up, I figured you put gas in it!" (I was in HS at the time, why would I put gas in it haha) Apparently when his gas gauge gets really low it goes back up to full, then runs out We put a few gallons of gas in it and drove it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I know a guy who took a 1973 mercedes to a shop because it quit running. shop figured out it was out of fuel. The owner read the fuel gauge backwards, with the F meaining 'fill' instead of 'full' ok, but what did the "E" stand for then??? "Enjoy"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsoobdude Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 ok, but what did the "E" stand for then??? "Enjoy"? "Enough" is what I always thought!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaddCelt Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 I did that with my Brat. It's a push button ignition with a toggle switch to light everything up. After tinkering with the switch I put it back in and the car would not start, no juice, nothing. So I pop the hood and thought I did the fusible link set-up a number, so I went through redoing the connections and all. Then, out of the blue, I remembered that I had another fusible link connected to that switch and low and behold, I blew the fuse in it. Could have saved time and hassle had I remembered that first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.