today i did some work on an 04 outback for one of my fathers friends. it was here for some dash lights radio replacement and valve cover gaskets. i was also asked to look into the ticking sound when cold and low power issue. the ticking ive found the cause as a bad timing tensioner bouncing to the click sound. could an outback jump time a tooth and still run smoothly but just be down on power? or could it be something els. the car also has a p0420 code. no other codes stored in the ecu.

Yes, I've seen it.  Also knock sensor could cause the loss of power.

16 hours ago, lmdew said:

Yes, I've seen it.  Also knock sensor could cause the loss of power.

would a knock sensor not throw a code thogh if it had failed?

Usually dose have a code.  But if the belt checks out, a cheap check.

knock sensor does not always throw a code.

My wife was driving our 95 RHD EJ22 Legacy and the engine shut off. She coasted off the road and it started right up and worked fine. Then a couple days later it did the same thing. After checking everything I could think of, I found a post here that said to check the knock sensor. The housing was cracked. NO codes, but it shut the engine off. Replaced it and no more problems.

I would check the timing. I've read other posts here that with one tooth off it ran ok, but did not have the power it should.

8 hours ago, Rampage said:

he same thing. After checking everything I could think of, I found a post here that said to check the knock sensor. The housing was cracked. NO codes, but it shut the engine off. Replaced it and no more problems.

I don’t think a knock sensor can do that! Maybe there’s also an issue with the idle air control valve and in conjunction with a dodgy knock sensor the engine was able to stall out. 

Cheers 

Bennie

im going to pull it apart tomarrow on my day off. it was raining when i got home. i have the car till friday so plenty of time

5 hours ago, el_freddo said:

I don’t think a knock sensor can do that!

Accelerating to 55 mph the engine shut off like turning the key off. It happened three times. The only thing I changed was the knock sensor and the problem went away.

update. took it apart it looked fine so i marked the belt pulled it apart changed the tensioner and put it back on my marks and after doing this it was 1 tooth off on the passenger side cam. rechecked i put the belt on the same way it came off ... yes. the passenger side cam was 1 tooth off. pulled it back apart fixed the timing put it all back together and seems to be running fine now. drove ti for 10 miles and let it idle in the driveway for a bit drove it again seems the 420 code is not coming back now ither. from what ive been told it woulda threw the light on in 10 to 15 miles before

Edited April 22, 20205 yr by sirtokesalot

Nice!