legacycentral bbs

I have a 91 Legacy that has the check engine light on...it stays on while the car is cold, then once i drive it a while, the light goes out and usually doesnt come back on. I put a new o2 sensor in it to see if that was the prob, but no change. I also put in a new fuel filter, air filter, plugs, wires, exhaust from the cat converter back to the muffler, and a fresh oil change with new filter using castrol synthetic blend oil...I disconnected the battery for about an hour and left the ignition on to help clear the computer...how do i pull the codes out of the ecu?? One thing this car does when it is warm is if u shut it off and then restart it, the engine and tach go up and down, sometimes to almost stalling a few times until it seems to "level" out and run at around 500 rpm idling. Sorry for such the long post, but i would love to know what to do to get this corrected. Many thanks to those who have some suggestions!!

Brian

My 91 idles very high when cold...probably trying to keep the oil going. As for your situation, maybe you've got IAC valve problems. If it was broken, that is what would throw the code and horrible idle.

thanks everyone!! I will check into all of those suggestions. Sone other probs i noticed is when the car is cold, the tranny wont shift into O/D until i have ran it for like a mile..seems like it stays in 3rd gear...also when i first back up, i feel something grab and the car becomes harder to move...then i go forward and everything seems fine except for this vibration...kinda like u are going over rumble strips at a moderate speed...but not as loud of course. Every now and then when i start the car, the power light blinks several times..dont know why until i get out there to check those engine codes. Do you guys think I should just take it to the subaru dealer and have them go all through the car and tell me what is going on?? Like before, I appreciate all you guys' help and advise!! Thank you soo much!!

Brian

i forgot to mention that the vibration stops whenever i put the car into neutral...and sometimes whenever i shut the car off, it feels like something is releasing and the car drifts until the tranny catches and holds the car...this is very weird and never have experienced this with another car before. I still love this car though and hope i can get everything working right.

Ok, I'll address these one at a time.

1. Your tranny won't shift into 4th until it reaches a temperature of 50F. It won't lock (Torque Converter Lock) until it reaches an operating temperature of 150F.

2. The blinking of the power light when you turn your car on isn't a good sign. Something is wrong with your transmission if it does that. Possibly a Solenoid A problem.

3. The grinding you're experiencing may be that of Center or Rear Differential problems. To test, put a 15A fuse in to the FWD slot in your engine bay. If it keeps grinding, I'd say you have center differential problems.

Thanks I took the car in to Sears today and had new tires and an alignment done. They found a couple things that needed attention. They said the front passenger inner tie rod had a lil play and that the rear brake shims or sliders were sticking. I called my Dad and asked him about that vibration i explained on here and he told me to put the fuse in the FWD connecter under the hood..said if it no longer vibrates that it is the rear end going out, and if it still does it then it is the center diff like u guys said...does that sound fairly accurate?? As to the power light and the solenoid "A", would that be detected by the check engine light? How would I go about diagnosing to see what really is causing that power light to blink?? It does it every other time or so whenever I start the car, and whenever i floor the engine for passing or whatnot, my power light wont come on like the manual says it should. Thanks for your insight so far...it has helped a lot!!

Brian

the check engine light advises when there is a fault that the engine computer has detected.
the power light comes on solid to tell you that the power mode is activated, but will blink if a fault has been detected by the auto trans computer. (TWO DFFERENT COMPUTERS)
if you check out the previous link, it will tell you how to check any fault codes that the engine computer has, the link may also have the instructions on the trans comPuter fault codes - which are obtained in a completly different manner. if the link doesn't have the trans instructions then put a post here and i'll put them up for you.

Thanks for the info guys!! I printed out the procedure for the tranny codes and went out there and managed to pull 3 codes out of it...they are as follows:

24 - Duty Solenoid "C"
32 - Vehicle Speed Sensor #1
33 - Vehicle Speed Sensor #2

I also re-pulled the codes out of the cel light and the only code I got was #22 for the knock sensor. I wanted to be sure that was the only thing wrong on that part since the light now stays on pretty much at a constant rate.

I was wondering if someone could explain to me what these mean, and what they look like so I can go about replacing these. My Dad and I do not know where these parts are located, as well as the knock sensor. Noone we know knows where any of these parts are located either...the haynes repair book from advance auto parts does not help much either. I appreciate all u guys' help so far and hope some can be given in light of these new developments.

Brian

Here's what I'd recommend you do now.

Reset the ECU & TCU. You can do this by pulling fuse 14 (EGI/TCU) for 30 minutes or so. Go drive the car around again, check both the ECU & TCU again, and see what codes if any come back.

thanks...I will do that and let you know once I find out some more info. From what I understand, when I took the car into the Subaru dealer, they reset everything, but I will go ahead and try this to see what happens.

Brian

Ok..after driving a 3-hour trip, I pulled that fuse #14 to reset everything...left it out the whole night then put it back in before I started the car in the morning. Right away the Check Engine light was back on, which showed up as the Knock Sensor again. Drove around all day and then I pulled the codes out of the TCU and this time the vss codes didnt come back but the code #24 for the Duty "C" Cylinder did. What does this code mean and how do I go about getting this fixed? Can I get a pic of the knock sensor or someone tell me where it is? I appreciate it!! Subaru told me that I needed a clutch valve for the 4wd when I took it to them...could this be part of the problem?

Brian

The knock sensor is located just below where the throttle body is.

Here's a pic (the round black thing with a bolt in the middle)
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... P_2481.JPG

More generic pics
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... /injectors

The duty c solenoid is located in the rear extension housing of the transmission. I don't recall if you mentioned you have tried inserting a fuse in the FWD fuse holder to try and get the vibration to go away. If the vibration goes away with the fuse in, the duty c solenoid may be ok. However if the vibration doesn't go away, you'll need a new duty c solenoid.

The rear extension needs to be removed in order to get to the solenoid. It can be done with the transmission still in the car.

Yes I have put that FWD fuse in the connector and the vibration still happened. I have noticed that at times when i make a turn, the vibration gets worse..and it seems like the front wheels are being pushed by the rear when this happens....and it seems like something in the rear tightens up and the car is harder to move. Usually when this happens, when I go to park the car, I turn off the ignition and it seems like something releases as soon as the engine is off and the car sometimes jerks violently...like someone is really pushing on it. Especially when it is freezing outside. Is it this solenoid that could be making this car do all this? Thanks!!

Brian

bensminger2003 wrote:Yes I have put that FWD fuse in the connector and the vibration still happened. I have noticed that at times when i make a turn, the vibration gets worse..and it seems like the front wheels are being pushed by the rear when this happens....and it seems like something in the rear tightens up and the car is harder to move. Usually when this happens, when I go to park the car, I turn off the ignition and it seems like something releases as soon as the engine is off and the car sometimes jerks violently...like someone is really pushing on it. Especially when it is freezing outside. Is it this solenoid that could be making this car do all this? Thanks!!

Brian

I think you just described torque bind.

Yup, your duty c solenoid is bad.

I'd recommend getting fixed as soon as possible, or you may damage the clutch packs. It may be advisable to replace the clutch packs as well when you're in there, if they're not too much money.

sure thing...I will just drive my other car and let this one sit until I can get that solenoid. What exactly does this solenoid do? Is it expensive??

Thanks!

The solenoid controls line pressure to the rear clutch packs.....which controls the amount of power to the rear wheels.

not sure on the cost. The part # may be in the part # thread in the stuff you need to know forum.

Then check out https://www.subarugenuineparts.com/oe_parts_cat.html for price