I've got a 93 legacy with the 2.2 and 5-speed. The other day it started idling really high, like between 1500-2000 rpm and usually it's around 600-700 seems like. Well the next day it was doing the same thing but ran/drive fine other than that. Well my wife went to get a few things from the store in it and she said it was running really weird and had now power etc etc, then she calls and says it won't start so I figured either the fuel pump went out or the knock sensor code it had been showing finally shut the car down somehow. Well a few days later I go to in town to where it was and it started, so I limped it home. Shaking really bad, exhaust sounded weirder than usual, and to climb hills it was 1st gear. Driving I had to push it as hard as it would go in 2nd and 3rd gear all the way home. It's like it's just bogged completely out like a dirt bike with the rings burnt up. So anyway yesterday I swapped the fuel pump, knock sensor, cleaned the MAF, the throttle body, the PCV, the O2 sens and I even unhooked the exhaust and reamed out the CAT!!!! Fired it up with the exhaust still dropped to eliminate a clogged exhaust further down.....STILL RUNS LIKE CRAP!!!! So now I'm not sure what to do next. It's just an old ridge runner/work beater. Looks like absolute crap, but up to now it rand and drove great and gets me around in the snow. So I'm thinking either it's blown up or I'm having some kind of ignition or fuel problem elsewhere. Oh also it has a new fuel filter, new NGK plugs, air filter, crank sensor and oil change.....those were all done right before winter. I'm just torn, it was a free car but I don't want to keep sinking money in it because it's only worth about $5-600 RUNNING and I can just junk it and get half that cause I'm only in it for parts cost as it stands. Thanks!!!!

may have slipped cam/crank timing - inspect.

 

get the knock sensor changed - they are cheap from ebay, wire brush the block under the old one, route the cable the same direction as stock and don't overtorque the new one.

Yea I put a new knock sensor and fuel pump in yesterday.....the code cleared and didn't come back on even with the rough idle.

 

How do I check the timing belt to see if it jumped? I mean I have a good idea how to tell once I'm in there just don't know what to take off etc. I'm an American V8 guy....built several 350 chevy's etc.....Subie's are a whole different dimension to me haha. Are the Subie motors interference motors?

your 2.2 is NOT interference so, that's OK.

 

check here;

http://www.northursalia.com/techdocs/pdf/engine/timingbelt.pdf

+1 timing jumped or burnt valve or stuck injector use long screwdriver to listen to injectors for clicking and can pull one injector plug at a time to narrow down what cly is not working

Well I don't think it's One dead cylinder....it dies about 10-15 seconds after I take my foot off the gas. It idles extremely thought when I do. I was reading that it COULD be a bad coil pack, but I'm leaning more towards jumped time. I mean it barely has enough power to pull out of its tracks on flat ground. I had to gut it yesterday to move it around back, out of my way for the time being. It also won't start every time. If I let it die, it won't start again for an hour or so. Weird.

Does the radiator need pulled to pull the front cover?

Not necessarily, but it will give you extra room. Plus I think the old fans have metal shrouds which can be big time knuckle busters. Only like 4 bolts though.

Basically remove the alt and AC belts, swing the alt up out of the way, remove the 2 bolts from the AC tensioner bracket and get that out of the way.

 

The 2 end covers have 3 bolts each, which will probably break the plastic. Remove those and you can check the cams against each other.

Then romove the crank pulley. Put the trans in 5th gear and set the parking brake or chock the wheels to hold the crank still.

Center cover has 8-9 bolts.

Line up the notch on the tooth on the BACK of the crank timing sprocket with the notch in the oil pump housing.

The dash marks on the outer edge of the cam sprockets should point more or less at the notches in the timing covers. A half tooth off isn't a big deal, and usually the driver side cam looks like its about a half tooth off anyway.

Thanks! I'll check it out soon I hope. Weather here is crazy....60 then to 35 and tomorrow 65.

Yeah I hear that. Here it dropped from 75 at midday Tuesday, to 25 last night with 40mph wind gusts! Crazy!