Hello, I'm a subaru newbie, and have started the quest to buy a nice example, today I have viewed a UK spec 02 wrx, the chap who is selling it seems genuine, the car has FSH up until 70 k miles, its now at 85k so will need a service soon, he wants £4000.00 firm so I have a few questions that I hope you can help with so please bear with me .

1) the car is allegedly restricted, so will max out at 120 mph but also is restricted on rpm,( about 5500 rpm?) if you over shoot this the engine management light comes on, it clears after a stand down time, is this normal and can the restrictions be removes via software or similar?

2) I can spin a spanner as I have been customising/modding cars and bikes for years now, so how much and what would be involved in servicing the car at 85 K, new clutch at 50k , timing belt done at the same time and last stamp in book at a touch under 70k and shed loads of receipts for servicing.

3) the cooling fan seemed to kick in quite quickly while I was looking around, the bonnet was open, did it a couple of times then settled down, is this normal?.

the only mods to the car are a de cat stainless zorst , HKS induction kit and a forge DV, overall its very tidy inside and out so any advice greatly appreciated, thanks in advance
cheers
Baggy

 

that is not normal,the check engine light should not come on after any amount of revs.car has a fault,along with the fan on quickly etc it would be enough to put me off,but having said that its just my opinion and have not seen the car.

 

UK cars are not restricted...Jap imports are. I wonder if this example is actually a JDM? Not sure if the check engine light comes on if you exceed the max MPH, but no Impreza's have such low RPM restrictions.

There are so many cars out there, I would avoid this one if I were you.

 

agree with above,if there are any questionable issues then walk and have another look in the trader

 

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Thanks for the replies, what is a JDM model? and how can I find out?I have cleared up the up the fan coming on, so thats OK.The car has been de catted, from memory when I have done this before to other vehicles the engine management light would come on unless the wiring to the lamda sensor was sorted correctly, could this be the case with this car? the chap selling it is taking it to a subaru specialist to get it checked out anyway as I said before he seems very genuine and the car is very very clean and is showing no signs of abuse in any area, once again many thanks in advance,
cheers
Baggy

 

JDM = Japanese Domestic Market; shorthand for "it's an import"

JDMs are restricted to 120mph, UK cars are not - so if the car's restricted to 120 mph I strongly suspect it's an import. The V5 may make this clear or there may be tell-tale signs given the spec of the car - not familiar enough with JDM WRX's I'm afraid to be able to comment.

Yes, you would get a Check Engine Light (CEL) with a decat fitted, although this can be fixed in the ECU, or by a simple resistor mod to the exhaust temperature sensor wiring (I think it's that sensor!)

If the CEL is indeed due to this, then it suggests that the car has not been remapped after the decat which is also an alarm bell. There is a risk of boost spikes with a decat exhaust which will eventually kill the engine, so a remap is very advisable. The fact that the current owner has lived with a CEL suggests he is not 100% across what he is doing, in my book. What else might he have done?

Again, sorry to say it, I would walk away and find another example. It may be a very clean car, but it could be a very clean and very expensive car if the engine goes bang.