legacycentral bbs

Hi im very new to this forum and even newer to subarus. I recently bought a 93 legacy touring wagon that has a jdm version 2 ej20g sti engine swapped in. it only has 45k on it. one day i started it up and it sounded a bit funny and when the idle came down it started shaking. when i bought it the guy who sold it to me said its running really rich and that the ecu needs to be replaced because he took to the shop and they said the rich condition flooded one of the cylinders full of fuel. So thinking of that i opened the oil cap and i smelled it because i knew that if the cylinder got flooded the fuel would get mixed with the oil and sure enough the oil wreaked of fuel. So far ive changed the spark plugs to make sure its firing all the cylinders and then i gave it an oil change to get the fuel out. it didnt help at all. i hope there is nothing wrong with the cylinders or pistons. please help i just got this car for quite a bit of money and it would suck for it to go to waste.

You pulled one plug at a time to make sure you're not running on 3 cylinders? After that I would check compression and also check that your crank pulley is torqued down real tight. 120-130 ft lbs on that crank bopt. It can come loose if its torqued any less and then you'll strip out the pulley. The woodruff key in the end of the crank will shear a hole sideways around the inside of the pulley and when I comes loose the pulley wobbles and shakes the engine bad at lower rpms and eventually it will come all the way off and that's no good at all.

If that's good check your compression and also pull the timing covers and see that all 4 pulleys timing marks line up with the crankt pulley lined up on its notch at top dead center cylinder 1 which is the front passenger side. There's a set number of teeth on the belt if you want to be sure its lined up perfectly but yous have to google that as I don't remember what the numbers are.

Do all that stuff and then report back. One more thing, figure out which ecu you are using. If its the jdm ej20g ecu you're gonna run like shit. Its made for higher octane than we have here. You will need to get a chip for it from a guy on the forum named rob. Its called rob tune. Search for that and read up on it. Its $250 I think.

As Kimo stated about checking timing, Here's the "counting teeth" picture for reference.

DOHC Timing Belt with counting teeth

i'll try that but something is telling me its something else. its not only in the low rpms. it has way less power and throttle response. when revved it doesnt sound smooth at all it sounds kida shutter like.

i planned on getting a whole new ecu and tune from rob but i thought i would be ok til then.....but i guess not

I highly doubt you'll be ok and you'll most likely blow your engine eventually running that ecu. The octane is too low for that tune.

HI,
Check the injectors - what color are they?
EDIT (reread OP): Gray are the 440's. Yellow could be 480cc; Pink are the stock EJ22T. Lot of people run the 440's w/the stock EJ22T ECU - yes it runs rich, but it's usable.

Check the ECU. If it has any of the following numbers it should be a UK version and have the corresponding injectors:
2C ECU code = 440cc injectors, 240ps TD05H turbo

W6 ECU code = 440cc injectors, 240ps TD05H turbo

U8 ECU code = 440cc injectors, 240ps TD05H turbo

SA ECU code = 440cc injectors 250ps TD05H turbo

SB ECU code = 440cc injectors 250ps TD05H turbo

Classic import- (saloon) 95-96

Z4 ECU code = 440cc injectors, 260ps TD05H turbo

Z5 ECU code = 440cc injectors, 260ps TD05H turbo

6K ECU code = 440cc injectors. 275ps TD05H turbo

7k ECU code = 440cc injectors, 275ps TD05H turbo

Classic import- (saloon) 97-98

IS ECU code = 480cc injectors, 280ps VF22 turbo

6S ECU code = 480cc injectors, 300ps VF23 turbo

75 ECU code = 480cc injectors, 280ps VF24 turbo

As long as you use 92 octane, it should be OK....if it's one of the above. As Kimo state, if it's a true JDM ECU from a Japanese car, you'll want to source a UK version, or spend a lot on octane boosters.

TD

Alright thanks for all the info guys. hopefully this helps me figure this whole situation out. i think the injectors are stock but i dont really know how to figure that out but i think they are 440cc. but as for the compression test ill try to get back to you guys with that asap. Again thanks for all your guys help with this. It gives me some hope in getting my car in a healthy running condition.

^The COLOR of the injectors should tell you what they are. You can see them on the intake manifold.
TD

It looks like they are gray colored and that means they are 440cc right?

Yep...Now I'd check the ECU- up under the driver's side of the dash - and get the info from it. Like this:

Instead of "7D" it says 6K. the top serial number says 22611 AC700. bottom serial number says A18-000 D21.

So, from my list above:
6K ECU code = 440cc injectors. 275ps TD05H turbo

If you have the 440/gray side-feed injectors that you stated above, you're good to go, even w/92 octane.

You could have a bad ECU, but I'd suggest you have another issue....which hopefully someone else will help with.

GL,
TD




Side note/probably not relevant info:
Some of the EJ20G STi's came w/a "5th injector" from what I've read - I know almost nothing about them - not even sure where the '5th' one is installed, but if that were injecting fuel, too, it would run rich. Found THIS

"the WRX-RA and Sti-RA have a 5th injector plumbed in the centre of the intake manifold"

Ok ive been looking around and it seems like it might be a faulty injector. Can anyone tell me how to check injectors?

It could be a bad coolant temp sensor as well. This sensor has a dramatic affect on the fuel mixture and if it's not functioning properly can really make the car run like crap. It's cheap and easy to replace. There's two coolant temp sensors and I'm not sure which is the one that is responsible for the fuel mixture tweaking but I know one just operates the temp gauge.

You could pull the connectors one at a time and see how much of a difference each one makes and you can also test the resistance of the injectors to see if they're within spec but to really know if your injectors are working properly they need to be removed and sent in to an injector cleaning place that will measure before and after cleaning and provide you with the test results on paper.

Witchhunter Performance is the place I send mine in to. $19/injector and I think $10 flat rate return shipping.

http://witchhunter.com/

not to thread jack but i just changed my coolant temp sensor today and my car 's idle dropped and from what i could see it didnt blow out the dark exhaust from running rich

I'm pretty sure that's the problem that happens with that coolant temp sensor. It gets stuck thinking the engine is cold all the time and dumps too much fuel in for cold start.

To add to what kimo said, yes there are two coolant temp sensors. A 2 wire sensor and a 1 wire sensor. The 2 wire is the main sensor that tells the ecu how to run the car. The 1 wire sensor is for the gauge on the instrumemt cluster.

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Ok. the problem somehow just went away.....and im not stupid enough to assume that the car repaired itself. If it acting normal now what are possible problems?

If you feel like it just fixed itself, maybe the wiring to the temp sensor is loose somewhere. a poor connection. Bumps in the road can cause wiring to move and such. That's one possibility.

wow it just started again today...i think it does it when i throttle it a bit too much but im not sure. The timing sensor is only 4k old according to the seller i bought it from so i really dont know what is could be or how to find out....

Where is the timing sensor located?

timing sensor? Do you mean Cam or Crank sensor?

the cam sensor is behind the driver's side cam pulley. (Top cam pulley if you're DOHC) And the crank sensor is on top behind the harmonic balancer. Both are fastened with a Single 10MM bolt.

oh i think i meant the temp sensor...

Temp sensor is on the coolant crossover pipe under the throttle body. It has brown plug and is 2 wire.

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