legacycentral bbs

With information from this site, I was able to make quick work of the CEL I had when I picked up my Legacy L ('92 N/A - that's a plain old EJ22, right?). Here's where it gets strange... when I had the CEL, it was hard to start and ran a little rough, but I was getting about 25mpg. After replacing the coolant temperature sensor the car immediately ran and started perfectly and I've driven 1000 miles with no CEL. The only issue: Now I'm getting around 22mpg, and this is driving like an old lady. I've changed oil and air filter, PCV. Plugs look good (pulled them to do compression check). So, the question is: What could cause poor MPG and not throw a CEL? My first instinct is to look at the O2 sensor... anything else come to mind with these symptoms?

Unrelated quick (and probably stupid) question. What is the 4WD/AWD nomenclature Subaru used on these cars? To me 4WD suggests a part-time system and AWD suggests a full-time system. My car is badged "4WD", but has no switches/buttons for changing the drive. Did Subaru just call an AWD system 4WD on these cars or am I missing something?
-BAKA

cant help with the CEL but i know thw A looks like a 4 in the badge. Look close and its an A.

Welcome,
How many miles does the car have? Usually a bad coolant temp sensor makes the car run real rich, which would make for poor milage. Replacing the o2 sensor isn't a bad idea. You can have a poorly performing O2 sensor without getting a code or CEL.

are you sure that it doesn't have to do with the weather turning colder?

magicmike wrote:cant help with the CEL but i know thw A looks like a 4 in the badge. Look close and its an A.

It's an optical illusion. It looks like whatever you want it to look like...

I wonder if winter gas is causing the MPG troubles. Maybe I won't worry about it until summer.

re: AWD vs. 4WD: Looks like a "4" to me. Is this normal or do I have some kind of freak car?

Car has 185K miles, btw.

reset the ECU.