MARK MORRIS

i cant lean into my sti 7 ppp and start it, have to press throttle once, wait for pump to prime, then be ready to give it some throttle when it starts to catch, even when its been left in the garage for a few days
mark

steve rally

I have had this problem with a customers car that was fitted with a GEMS ECU.Using a proven cold start map that had worked fine on other STi7/8 this car was a complete b****ard.After a lot of data logging of crank and cam sensor outputs we found that the cam sensor signal was erratic and was causing the timing and fuel sync to be corrupted.We have solved the problem by re writing the software to use a wasted spark system on crank and reverting to sequential on run mode.This was a temp related problem and i believe this is the problem. The timing pattern on the 7/8's is different to earlier cars and the cam sensor sensitivity is compromised. Not sure what the solution is on OEM ECU - but maybe Subaru have done a software mod to solve......

steve

SCOOBAY

spoke to dealer today,car booked in beginning of january,someone from "subaru" coming to check cold start fault.will keep you posted.

Del

DrEvil

Bob - thanks for that, very interesting, and makes me less worried about my STi8 from the cold start point of view.

Cheers, Alex

Phil Harrison

Ditto for mine.

FWIW, my ECU is an original PPP "piggyback" rather than the later single board. Could this have anything to do with it - indeed, be a reason why there seem to be fewer 7s than 8s with the problem?????

Phil

WAHWAH

Hi
I have exactly the same symptoms with my forrester XT. see todays post. I have tried waiting for fuel pump to stop and all warning lights to go out but seems to make little difference. will try accelerator tomorrow.
wa Wa

StuB

I've been try this push the pedal first method for ten seconds then turning the key. Starts first time even yesterday when covered in snow. Forgot on saturday to push pedal and it didnt. I also noticed quite a big puff of oil smoke when it did go???? I will be chasing my dealer after xmas as well to see if the can get a man from Subaru to have a look.
Wonder whats happening to owners in scandinavia or is it just the typeUK???

Sti_Lad

BTTT

Ive heard the cam sensor problem a few times now! and its only done it a few times in the last month... Will have to see how it goes, Read another thread that in the colder weather it has to run so rich you do get awful fumes and stuff from the car, this is to maintain a stable idle and is usual!

markbluemica

i have exactly the same problem on my sti8 all my other scoobs have never had a problembut this one i do have to give it some gas to get it to fire

ARM-Scooby

Picking mine up in a matter of hours so I will let you all know how I get on!!

Ian236

I have found a permanent fix for the problem of cold starting - albeit an expensive one, I stuffed my STI7 into the armco barrier and killed it, I am back to driving my other car for work, a VW Vento which has done 125k miles and is very old however it starts first time every time and does not give me any worries regarding the first few miles of running, you know the feeling I,m sure. I do miss the kangarooing around when the car is cold though and simulate the suspension hardness by jumping up and down in my seat when I hit anything in the road like a crisp packet or a peanut just to remind me what the scooby was like. At £25k it is unacceptable for the cars to behave like this when a car that costs 3 quid starts and runs better.

Pip pip

Ian

SCOOBAY

got car back from dealer tonight,chap from "subaru" agreed with cold start fault & is supposedly looking into a fix.subaru have now known about this fault for almost two years & appear to be doing diddly squat[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]its an emission fault,it would be ilegal to adjust/tamper with ecu under european emission laws.surely this problem can be fixed,all other manufacturers don't seem to be having this fault.also if swiss & french subarus have been rectified,why can't british ones?
they also finaly agreed on front brake squeal & will contact me,make a change if they do!!,about a solution

seriously disgruntled sti8 owner

Del

ps. has anyone actualy had these faults repaired/looked into

Bob Rawle

Its tricky, there are several settings that affect this, once I get my STi9 back then I am going to experiment a bit more, one thing that will help, even though not consistently, is the fuel pump prime.

I have had a look at the crank and cam sensor outputs with a scope and, on the cars I've checked, they are no different to a GC8, in fact the earlier sensors will fit. From Aug 1996 on they are the same part up to and including MY03.

Bob

Chungster

Have had car for 5 months.

Only on 1 occasion has it taken longer than 5 secs to start up.

And on that occasion, the engine turned over enough times to make me think "Noooooooooo, don't you dare do this to me!"

It was also very cold that day.

chunky_lad

Asked my dealer about this at last service - said it was fule pressure and to allow the pump to prime 2 or 3 times by turning ignition off and on and allowing the buzzing to stop each time ( if you know what I mean ).

kev m

Always floor the accelerator when starting from cold now with no problems,not heard from my dealer for a while about this but they say as soon as Subaru gives them an answer they will call me

MARK MORRIS

my sti 7 was left at the dealer monday nite, started first time tuesday, they are going to try it again today
mark