Newb Intro: Belt lols, Codes, and Bad Idle

[Dave804]

Afternoon, guys! I'm glad I found this board. It didn't show up as frequently as some of the others in searching, but the amount of traffic and technical info are great. Hopefully I'll be able to add to it. Anyway, mom's DD Outback has recently become my charge. 2004 ej25 base, 153k miles, she's the original owner. 

 

Here's what's been replaced: 

Both front CV's

Plug Wires

A/C system

I replaced the plugs and timing belt this summer at 145k. I'll put up pics of that later. 

 

The car has a rumble at idle. There isn't a fluctuation in the needle, but it slowly builds like you're dragging a table across linoleum. It shakes the whole car, then goes immediately to a smooth idle. The whole process takes about 20 seconds. I've heard some theories about bad front shafts causing this. The car does have a clicking when turning low speed to either direction. 

 

I'm leaning towards this being a TPS issue. Here's where my question comes in- what % should the TP be at when idling. The weather is terrible and I'm getting over the flu, so I haven't pulled the ECU to check voltages- I'm just reading via the obd port. I'm getting 4.7-5.5% at idle, 89% at WOT. The furthest back I can adjust the TPS is to 1.6% at idle. When I did that I threw a P0122 and AT code 31. 

 

There were a few stores codes. P0032 P0113 P1512 P1514 P0464. The only one that comes back is the P0032. It happens as soon as you start the car, and the readings from it are pretty hilarious. I ordered a replacement Denso. Here's the rest of the OBD data I read: 

 

RPM: 687 to 700 flits back and forth
Spark adv: 13*
TP%: 4.7
MAF G/S: 2.69
IAT: 28C
ECT: 90C
Load %: 1.6
MAP: 25kpa
02B1S2: .06v
02B1S1: 2.156v
EQ_RATB1S1: .999

The long and short fuel trims are both at 0.0. 

 

 

Anyone have any insight, I'd greatly appreciate it. Mom had a heart attack and has cataract surgery coming up in a month. So I have some time to play with, but it'd be nice to hand it back over to her running, and running well. 

 

-Dave 

[Dave804]

For the laughs: Here is the factory timing belt that had 145k on it. Looked much better than I expected, especially considering all of the in town and stop/go mom does. 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks ago the women folk took the car xmas shopping. My sister reported that "The car is making hamster noises" I didn't know wether to laugh or cry when I opened the hood. The sliding bolt for the AC pulley broke, leaving the pulley and belt riding against the timing cover. 

 

[Fairtax4me]

Welcome to the board! Sorry to hear of your moms heart attack! Hope she recovers quickly and makes good changes to avoid another in the future.

 

P0032 HO2S Heater control circuit High input, B1 S1.

This is usually a short to voltage in the wiring to the heater in the sensor.

The sensor heater is grounded through the ECU, so the ECU can monitor current draw and voltage drop of the heater element. So if the power wire (12v from main FI relay) or any other 12v source makes contact with the ground wire the ECU sees a higher than expected voltage on the ground wire and sets this code.

Check the wiring for the front sensor where it meets the connector and where it feeds into the main harness.

 

The TPS reading is pretty normal. Older cars the TPS would read 0% at closed throttle, but a lot of newer cars read anywhere from 0 up to about 15%.

One thing to check is the throttle body bore around the throttle plate. Carbon buildup on the bore and on the edge of the plate can hold the plate open more than it should be. A good cleaning with Throttle body and Air intake cleaner could get the TPS reading back to 0%, but like I said some will read above 0 normally.

 

Vibration at idle has been known to be caused by poor quality aftermarket axles on these cars, but only with Automatic trans while in Drive.

If you have a MT, or the AT is in Park, and still have a vibration, that's going to be an engine problem.

 

Please tell us you replaced all of the idler pulleys when you did the timing belt job! These belts hardly fail on their own. It's almost always an idler pulley that fails (usually the cogged one) and takes the belt out with it.

 

AC belt tensioner idler bearing is a common failure. If the bearing locked up it would snap the bolt that holds the idler. Those bearings are cheap though and easy to replace if you have a press or a big C clamp.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Fairtax4me

[Dave804]

Hey man, right up the road from me! I was actually up at the Virginian when I got the call about mom. She's doing well. Was a weak heart from not dealing with high BP, not bad blockage. So she's gotten a lot stronger. 

 

 

I did replace the pulleys. Went with gates because their bearing races were noticeably thicker. I've bought a few bmw's with busted timing belts. Couldn't imagine doing an inframe on the subbie motor lol. 

 

Good to know on the tps. If this weather ever passes I'll check at the ecu. Will look at the oxy wiring. 

 

Pretty sure the wind up is just in D. It is an auto- I'll check on the idle in park tomorrow. 

 

The pulley had eaten most of the way through it's bracket and positioning bolt, so I just pulled a complete unit from a wreck with 80k on it. Wouldn't surprise me that it just burst like that- the car set for about 2 months while she was laid up.