Hi - new to the forums, located in Australia, own a 99MY outback, 2.5l, auto transmission, 178,000 kms (~110,000 miles), dealer serviced since new - original owners traded it back to the dealer at 70,000 kms, and we bought it from the dealer, all the servicing until recently has been at subaru dealers.

 

It's recently been showing the engine check light every couple of days for a few seconds - maybe 10 or 20 seconds at a time.

 

My wife said it lost power 2 days ago and the light came on. Hot, humid weather, the car was driven about 15 km (9-10 miles), parked for about 10 minutes, started again, pulled out of a driveway onto the road (level), tried to accelerate, and it acted like it had fuel starvation. Didn't stall, just didn't respond to the throttle. It took about 2-3 seconds to respond to the throttle and accelerate away. She took it to the local garage straight away, but they don't have a code reader, so they couldn't help.

 

Today I took it to another garage that has a BIG diagnostic computer, and the memory was showing the knock sensor code (no other codes). They didn't replace the knock sensor, as (in their words) "it checked out alright and the symptoms didn't really match". They said it was unlikely to result in breakdown or catastrophic failure, and to drive the car until the the problem worsened. I appreciate that they didn't just replace the sensor and tell me "it's fixed", but I'm keen to find out what's actually wrong. It was a 50km trip back, so I gave the car a good workout - took it up to redline a couple times, etc.

 

When I got to my home town, I parked the car and went to the bank. I started the car and turned the corner into a small hill, and guess what? Engine check light came on, the car acted like it had fuel starvation (or had a large heavy object tied to it), then the transmission kicked down and the car accelerated up the hill. The light stayed on, so I pulled over to the side of the road, and rang the garage. The car was idling and the light stayed on for about 2 minutes. The mechanic at the garage agreed it sounded like fuel starvation from vapour lock, but such a condition is rare in modern fuel injected cars. This is another hot, humid day, and a fully warmed car had been parked for about 10 minutes before being asked to accelerate up a hill.

 

I've been googling to find out how to read the codes without a scanning tool (look for the timed pulses of the LED on the oxygen sensor near the driver's foot), and got as far as pulling off the driver's side kick panel, but I can't seem to get it to work. I'm not sure about how to make the oxygen sensor LED display historical information.

 

Has anyone got some photos/instructions on which connectors to use? Thanks

 

Bernie Dwyer

I also own a 1976 Moto Guzzi LeMans, and the only piece of electronics on that is a diode rectifier - tuning that bike means adjusting points and carbs!

I think the car is too new to do that Bernie. The OBD2 system started in '96 and you need a scanner to read the codes as far as I know.

Thanks - any idea where I can get a scanner in Australia? Google and ebay haven't turned anything up - maybe I'm not searching the right words....Bernie Dwyer

obdII diagonistic tool. try Autotap, although I am not sure if they do imports. If the knock sensor is bad or loose it result in a power loss. The timing will be pulled due to the computer seeing knock, and will feel just like fuel starvation. I bet it is the knock sensor since thats what the diagnostic computer said.

I would change the knock sensor. That can act like a fuel problem.

Yes, that sensor failure can make the car seem as if fuel supply is being cut off.

Replace the knock sensor, Subarus eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then if your problem happens again immediately pull the code, you may have an air mass meter failing. Good luck.

There are many OBD2 code readers on Ebay. I purchased mine off Ebay. Check out the Innova 3100 and 3110. There are many others also. I purchased the 3110 since it also handles the up coming Canbus protocol.