im buying a 96 impreza 2.2 5-speed tomorrow with 193,000 miles on it....the guy says its always been serviced on time and properly but theres only one problem he says that sometimes it doesnt wanna start

 

he took it to a local subaru "specialist" and they say its the crankcase sensor...is it cheap? is it easy to fix? is it not the problem at all?

 

as soon as i get the car i wanna start troubleshooting for possibly weaknesses im getting the car for only 1000 dollars which i feel is a steal

 

 

any feedback of what you think would be appreciated

 

i've searched and seen that theres many of guys that have gone this far on ur ej22 also,any bizarre problems?

A bad crankshaft sensor caused a nostart condition after short trips on my '95 legacy with the same 2.2. They are very easy to replace and cost about 25$ new from 1stsubaruparts.com or very cheap to free from your local yard.

someone else on the board told me the same thing....i just wanted a second opinion...

 

great help

that someone else (me) agrees with what he said. sounds plausible. although i've found diagnosis and mechanical suggestions from "sellers" to be less than reliable. not always bad, they just don't know or transfer info well from the source (their mechanic).

 

autozone or advanced auto parts (and others) will read the codes for free. if there's one close to the place you're picking it up from you could probalby have the codes pulled. they can check the codes in memory to verify. and yes, crank sensors are a dime a dozen. i picked one up for a couple dollars just in case.

 

bought two subarus last year that both came 'pre-diagnosed'. both were wrong. one was a "small coolant leak, probably a hose". wrong - it was the head gasket which i fixed. the other was a major oil leak - a 4 dollar seal. i like those kinds better.

was there ever a thread on how to replace the sensor?...i've honestly never heard of it before but i figured there would be a sensor like that in there....is it located right above the crank pulley?

you're right. to be more accurate it's above the crank shaft more than above the pulley. it's "behind" the pulley. it's attached by one 10mm bolt and the electrical harness connector i believe. very easy. not sure if the crank pulley or power steering pump are in the way. at most - you'd have to remove the belt and crank pulley to replace it. make sure the connector and sensor are all clean before installing the new one. corrossion/dirt will render a new or used sensor useless in no time. sometimes cleaning up the old connector/sensor will fix it. for this one though, replacement is probably a better option.