Have a 99 Forester and I am getting no spark after replacing crank sensor and coil. I ave 4 wires going to the coil. How can I test the to make sure the coil is getting what it needs. And dose the 99 have a ignitor and if so where is it located? I have see pics of it on the upper part of the firewall on a 95 forester but I just cant find mine if I have one.

99 has an igniter built into the coil.

 

I don't have a service manual for a 99 forester, the closest I have is for Impreza. The wire colors may be different on yours. But the pinout should be the same.

Pins: from left to right with the lock tab on top

1: blue

2: yellow

3: green

4: red w/ green stripe

 

You should have 12v on the yellow wire.

Green wire is the ground.

The other two go to the ECU and you will see switching voltage on those wires when cranking.

The 99 Forester should be the same as the same as the 2000 Legacy.

Look under my name in the new gen faq sticky above. Has links for fsm.

 

O.

My yellow wire is the third from the right. I am getting 12 volts. I probed the other three and it looks like no ground. Is the ground from the pcm?

Ground runs back in the harness and splices into the main ground for the ECU, which is grounded to the intake manifold. There should be two groups of ground wires beside each other up top of the manifold.

Her is the latest looking at the plug that gose to the coil my wires are blue black yellow red. with tab on top. With a test light. the type with the old style glass fuse type bulb in it. With ignition on probe to yellow wire and - battery I have voltage. With ignition off probe to black wire and +battery the test light lights so ground is good. What I dont know how to do is test the other wires. I think the are supposed to pulse but how to you hook up the test light?  Also I hear that a cam sensor will keep a Forester from starting but if it went bad while driving it wont stop the engine. anyone know if this is true. My engine just stopped while driving.

 

Thanks

 

Chris

Cam sensor could cause that, but you'll get a code for it.

You might want to pull the timing covers and verify that the timing belt hasn't jumped.

Any way to test cam sensor?

You can check resistance of the sensor. I don't know the spec off-hand but it should be roughly the same as the crank sensor.

 

You can also check it for a low AC voltage signal while cranking.

Double post

Edited January 20, 201511 yr by Fairtax4me

Replaced cam sensor and no good. Just found my code reader but cant find the data link under the dash. Have a autoxray OBD2 reader. Will it work on a Subaru?

Sorry people but I did find the data link. It had a stored cam sensor code but I just replaced the cam sensor so I reset the ecm and now I have no codes and still no spark. Suggestions please. 

 

Thanks Chris

Update after turning over the engine the cam sensor code came back. Broken timing belt?

Broken or skipped timing belt possible. If the cam and crank sensor signals are out of sync you'll get a code for the cam sensor.

possible - what led you to do the work listed in the first post? how many miles/months since last TB change?

Edited January 21, 201511 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

just pulled back a section of timing belt cover and have confirmed that the timing belt is broke. Cant belive I missed that. The motor turns over so easy because vales open and maybe bent and maybe holes in the pistons because the belt broke. Do these engines crap out when the belt breaks? Interference engine?

 

Thanks

Chris

Interference. Valve damage is likely but not a guarantee, piston damage is practically unheard of. Fix whichever idler locked up and ate the belt, hang a new belt on it and see if it starts and runs OK. Worst case, you have to pull the heads and put some new valves in. Not terribly expensive if you can do the work yourself.

Just did the head gasket and put some stage 2 cams in my PT Cruiser so I am sure I can do this. Thanks I am glad to hear this. The Forester belongs to my nice. It was her brothers and he died not to long ago so the car means a lot to her. If I had to replace a piston do you know if I would I be able to get to the connecting rod bolts via the oil pan?

The case halves come apart for rods, for which you would remove the piston wrist pins from the access plugs in the case. There is more chance the valves are ok than not with sohc. Generally the DOHC engine would collide valves with eachother. It is not much labor to re hang the belt provided you have replacement parts. Good luck

Rods are assembled to the crank before its placed between the block halves.

Pull the pistons out by pulling the wrist pins through access holes in the block.

Very doubtful you'll have to pull the pistons. These valves are tiny and don't offer much resistance when impacted. IF they cause any damage to the piston, its very minor surface damage.

Any one know if the head bolts are 12 point metric or torx. If torx any one know the size?

14mm Metric 12 point.

 

Likely bent valves.

14mm Metric 12 point.

 

Likely bent valves.

 

Thanks. Got a lot done today. Wondering why the right side cam sprocket has about 45 degrees free play. Left side can move but 100% resistence as should be. Maybe bent rocker? Or cam lobe shaved down? 

It's not loaded in that position. None of of the valves on that head are open, so no valve spring force pushing back against the rockers. On the divers side there is a set of valves open and the roller on the rocker sitting dead center on cam lobe, so turning the cam slightly either direction causes the rocker to roll off of the lobe, it yanks the cam over and the valve closes.

If you were to spin the drivers cam 180° Off its timing mark, it will have the same loose feeling as the passenger side.

 

Subaru makes one of the few engines where you can completely close ALL of the valves at the same time.

Thanks bro. You really know you S$%t.