Hi, a mate has a XT and he has just started her up to keep things ticking over nicely over the winter (not a daily driver) and the car is running ok but a light on the dash 'ECS' has shown up.

 

Cant find any info on this light or what it means.

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Mine has come on lately as well, and means, I think...correct me if I'm wrong ladies and gents...Emission Control System. This light could mean any number of things, but it looks more and more as though my issue is a bad catylitic converter. I've heard however that it could be a PCV valve or Oxygen sensor. Sorry I can't be more help...Again, mine is running poorly, hesitates, no power and a big dead-spot at half-throttle. Don't know what your situation is...

 

Can anyone help out?

Welcome to the USMB.

 

The ECS is related to the diagnostics system of your car, though ECS does also stand for emissions control system.

 

We do have a search function here on the board, I would suggest using it to find more info.

 

 

Click this link:

http://www.usmb.net/repair/?CurrentDirectory=FOLDER_3f29b58f4430b8.49200047/&FileType=Article&File=ARTICLE_3f2c055f4862e9.39782181.art

pop the trunk. turn the ignition on and there will be a green T connector and a white connector... plug one of them in, and the ECU has a lil red light in the middle of it. It will flash codes. Long and short. so if it was 2 longs and 3 short flashes and then a pause it would be code #23. find out what codes are coming on and I will tell you what the code means.

pop the trunk. turn the ignition on and there will be a green T connector and a white connector... plug one of them in, and the ECU has a lil red light in the middle of it. It will flash codes. Long and short. so if it was 2 longs and 3 short flashes and then a pause it would be code #23. find out what codes are coming on and I will tell you what the code means.

 

thanks, its a friends car so will tell him what to try.

 

so what is the difference between 'ECS' and 'Check Engine'?

nothing is different. they do the same thing, they just have different letters on the lil piece of plastic over the CEL

 

ECS is a XT thing. my 86 hads it. It may have been a thing too for the MPFI N/A EA82

ECS is a XT thing. my 86 hads it. It may have been a thing too for the MPFI N/A EA82

Not just an XT thing but an old subaru thing. I dont know when they stopped doing it but both my 86 EA81 hatch and my 83 EA81 sedan had that light. Both of them also had that light come on for the same reason...A bad thermo-sensor.

I think all 80's Soobs have the ECS light (also sometimes referred to as an O2-sensor light, dunno why), they're directly on the ECU.

 

All 80's Soobs have their ECU's underneath the dash somewhere, with the exception of the XT, which peculiarly has its ECU under the rear shelf in the trunk. I personally think this makes it much more accessible, but it also makes the wiring harnes quite fancy :-\

I think all 80's Soobs have the ECS light (also sometimes referred to as an O2-sensor light, dunno why), they're directly on the ECU.

 

All 80's Soobs have their ECU's underneath the dash somewhere, with the exception of the XT, which peculiarly has its ECU under the rear shelf in the trunk. I personally think this makes it much more accessible, but it also makes the wiring harnes quite fancy :-\

 

thanks everyone

also sometimes referred to as an O2-sensor light, dunno why

 

I think it's because there's an oxygen sensor somewhere in the exhaust system that monitors the oxygen level in the gases, and when it gets outta hand one way or the other it reckons the car's burning too much fuel, creating too much emissions?

 

I may be wrong, in fact I am probably