subaru newb here! need answers, been searching for days!
Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:26 am
So I just picked up a 90' legacy L 5 speed for $450...and its got some probs.
I'll start off with the rather odd cold starting procedure. This involves feathering the throttle anywhere from a quarter to half of pedal travel to get it to fire, then once its going I have to keep it above like 1300 for 20-25 seconds until its willing to idle at about 1000. Once its up to operating temp it idles at like 1500 which has to be way too high right? I've learned there's not much I can really do about the idle speed and not to touch the throttle stop screw on the TB. The CEL has been on and off intermittenly. Since I've had this car its gotten horrid mileage and I can definitely tell its running rich due to the dark exhaust color and smell of unburnt fuel. Now when I first got the car it wouldn't idle any lower than 1800, and the IAC was completely disconnected from the harness...when I first started tinkering I immediately noticed that and plugged it back in, thinking ha that was easy! I started the car expecting everything to be well but instead it fired and shot straight up to 2100 and would hang really bad after a rev. I pulled the solenoid off the top of the IAC and dumped a little seafoam in there and worked the little pushrod to free it up and that helped a little but not much. So I proceeded to try adjusting the TPS and that brought the idle down but did nothing to help the cold starts...i heard there's a way to read codes from the car somehow without a code reader but I have no idea how to do this. also on an unrelated note the blower motor seems totally unresponsive is this a common problem as well? Any help is greatly appreciated!
I'll start off with the rather odd cold starting procedure. This involves feathering the throttle anywhere from a quarter to half of pedal travel to get it to fire, then once its going I have to keep it above like 1300 for 20-25 seconds until its willing to idle at about 1000. Once its up to operating temp it idles at like 1500 which has to be way too high right? I've learned there's not much I can really do about the idle speed and not to touch the throttle stop screw on the TB. The CEL has been on and off intermittenly. Since I've had this car its gotten horrid mileage and I can definitely tell its running rich due to the dark exhaust color and smell of unburnt fuel. Now when I first got the car it wouldn't idle any lower than 1800, and the IAC was completely disconnected from the harness...when I first started tinkering I immediately noticed that and plugged it back in, thinking ha that was easy! I started the car expecting everything to be well but instead it fired and shot straight up to 2100 and would hang really bad after a rev. I pulled the solenoid off the top of the IAC and dumped a little seafoam in there and worked the little pushrod to free it up and that helped a little but not much. So I proceeded to try adjusting the TPS and that brought the idle down but did nothing to help the cold starts...i heard there's a way to read codes from the car somehow without a code reader but I have no idea how to do this. also on an unrelated note the blower motor seems totally unresponsive is this a common problem as well? Any help is greatly appreciated!
