Hi All, new here, and new to subaru, always been a vauxhall man (my dad worked for them so had it drummed in from an early age) not my fault. any way have managed to get myself stitched into the above, goes like stink, needs bodywork attention, but i will get there.
I have an annoying problem that is winding me up.
starts from cold great, drops off choke and idles fine, but when drive away it hesitates and misfires, but then dissapears as quickly as it appeared!
but can then start doing it again at ramdom?, very occasionally she will throw the engine check light on, but not often.
need some pointers if anybody has the time please, this is how the car was listed when i got it,

1999 uk model so is cheaper to insure than a jap import and with over 350bhp is also a lot faster than a WRX the mods that I know of are td05 turbo, sti intercooler, 440cc injectors, racing fuel pump, apexi ecu with antilag, hks induction kit, Bailey dump valve, Quick shift gear linkage, full stainless exhaust decat, lowered suspension. The previous owner tells me it had a full engine rebuild in march I have no proof but it is in very good condition. Inside it is fitted with sti bucket style interior, momo steering wheel and rear ****, boost gauge, hks turbo timer. It has standard Subaru alarm and imobilizer but it's thatcham approved standard with certificate. Also there is a tracker fitted just needs activating. Plenty of recipes and service history mot till sept and tax till end of feb. It has a prodrive high level spoiler and angel eys head lights. Privat reg worth over £600, Uprated infinity speakers front and rear, Vibe 1300w amped sub, I also have the standard air filter box with K&N panel filter which will be included.
any help would be fantastic, as previously stated all my knowledge is from years of vauxhall ownership, so pretty stuffed with these.
thanks in anticipation.

 

Hi steve welcome to scoobynet,what fuel is it mapped for ?and are you using the same fuel?and does the cel come on at top revs,if so it could be that your cel might now be changed to indicate knock,by the mapper, like mine has.
You might need to do some homework,ask the seller what ecu it has and who mapped it etc,Get as much info as you can.
You need to know exactly whats been done when you buy modded cars,theres so many different variables here,so for you to get sound advice,you need to know your car,and the guys on here will put you straight.
It could cost you dearly if you dont know!
Good luck mate

 

Hi Stu, thanks for the reply, not sure about the racing fuel, he says race fuel pump, he also said that the ecu is an "apexi with anti lag", that loses me straight away, where are the ecu's located on these please stu, i presume that if i find it then if it is infact an apexi, there will be some form of identifying marks or part numbers on it.
Basically what i put on the first message in this thread was cut and pasted from the advert, so i suppose first thing to do would be to see if the mods that he listed are actually on the car.
Also fuel pumps, where are they? my knowledge if mainly from in tank mounted vauxhall pumps.
without rambling on and wasting peoples time, if i can check out what he has listed then i have an idea what the previous owner has messed about with and start from there.
Is 10mpg normal?
thanks again
steve....

 

sorry forgot to add that the cel is only very intermittant, and does not come on at all at full chat, only around 2000rpm before the turbo comes in, and then may not come on again for ages, but will misfire without the cel?

 

If its an apexi ,it wil say on it,you will find it under the foot plate,in the passenger foot well,
Sorry i completely miss read your post regards race fuel,and also anti lag.
As for anti lag,that will make popping and banging sounds,could that be mistaken for misfire?
Fuel pumps are found in the tank,

 

As i said it could be alot of different things ,the best advice i can give is get a mapper to look it over,but if the turbo is kicking in at 2000 rpm,id say it definatley has anti lag
10mpg can be normal if you drive it like you stole it,but yes they love a drink dude!but that is high.It is hard not to enjoy them ,if you kow what i mean!

 

Somethings a miss as i dont believe the apexi supports anti lag. Although pops and bangs can be mapped in. Is the a hand comander unit on the dash or maybe in the glove box

 

Thanks again Stu, that's great info and a definate place to start, yeah it pops and farts more so on the overrun, but it's definately not that, it is a very prominent misfire, going to get out there tomorrow and see what i can find, already bought new plugs and leads as the leads are miss matched set, hed the plugs out this afternoon and the gaps were all over the place, also found a valve on the very top of the engine that was choked to hell, cleaned that and it did make a difference for about half an hour, but back to the misfire after that.
thanks again, will update tomorrow with what i find, and maybe some photos,

 

Hi sorry but not the faintest idea what a hand commander is, there is a small keypad in the glove box, but no idea whatsoever what it is for, my initial thought was that it was some form of by pass keypad entry to get round the immobiliser?
Will get pics of that on tomorrow too, i'm not thick, just got myself into a car i know nothing about, plus didnt help that the guy i got it off didnt seem fully clued up, but have come across many many so called "experts" over the years who swap and change bits without the knowledge to do it correctly.
My plans are to get it in total tip top condition as i have a company car coming shortly so can afford to take it off the road, but until that gets here it is in every day use, so a pain in the **** to say the least.
thanks
steve

 

A good plug gap to use is .65. gap even new plugs to this. Its whats recognised widely as the best gap to use on a modded car

 

I have an apexi,and that cant have anti lag,but spooling up at 2000 rpm is 1600 less than mine,but im no expert
pops on over run is where you would expect them for sure though.
Steve its sounds like your having a nightmare

 

The hand commander is a T shaped,device with an lcd screen on it,you would see it if you had one bud,the keypad in glove box is the alarm controls panel.

 

Brilliant, as much info as possible is always great, especially as i set the plug gaps today at 1.0, as i was going by the handbook that came with it.
Will change them again in the morning, just had a mate round who reckons there's a new garage literally round the corner who is a subaru specialist, so will be gapping first thing then going to introduce the car to him, just praying he dont say i have a bag o ****e!
Not quite a nightmare yet Stu, but will be if i start spending shed loads of money, as her indoors has a temper, only bought it as she wanted one.
women eh

 

aint got one of them, so does that mean definatley not apexi then?

 

NO bud not all apexi s have hand commanders with them,its like an optional data monitor.It will take ten minutes to check your ecu,take off the passenger side plastic cover off of the sill,pull the carpet back from the foot well unscrew the metal plate and there it is

 

Spot on thanks again Stu, will be checking as soon as the light is here in morning.
If anyone in the chester/deeside area has a similar car it would be great if i could meet you, and get some info.
Everyone has to learn somewhere!

 

Right, been under it and everywhere today, cleaned and re-gap spark plugs to 0.65, cleaned every single sensor and connection that i could find and tested most of the wiring with a meter, checked ht leads, all seems correct.
Not fitted with Apexi as advertised, has standard Ecu, is the standard still mapable?
didnt make any difference to the way it drives, still missing and farting, took a mate with me for second opinion but still clueless, but then drove all the way home faultless as if it were a new car!
time for a specialist me thinks. not happy this close to xmas too

 

Might be a HT lead issue, symptoms sound like the early cars coilpacks failing.

 

thanks for that fella, is there a way of testing the coil pack that you know of?
Was thinking about leads myself, thats what is was going to change first, but dont fancy going down the constantly changing bits to find the problem route.
Money tight at the min too, hours been cut at work and overtime ban

 

Dump the Bailey dumpvalve, go back to a standard recirculating type

 

Lot of people say dump the Bailey, used them on some of my vauxhall without issue, do subaru's not like them?
anyone have a standard one for sale, or recommend another.
it;s booked into local specialist on Tuesday morning, see if can get to the bottom of this damn missing.
thanks

 

If its the standard ECU you can connect the black plugs under the dash and read the fault codes a la http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.p...eadingECUCodes

I would imagine it will be lambda or MAF sensor error code stored but at least its a pointer to where to look.

PS. Nobody concerned that it was advertised with an apexi, but has a standard ECU ? But on the list it says TD05 turbo not the TD04 that it would have from the factory? Wonder what turbo it does have? Or whether the ECU has been mapped for it? 440 injectors are standard on a UK MY99 model so it looks like a few fibs have been told.

 

can i just say good to see you come away for vauxhall

 

Nothing wrong with vauxhall have one myself (Astra H 1.9 cdti), no real issues to speak of, had an omega 2.5td before that which was a fun car for its size
New vauxhalls are not like the old ones

Tony

 

i live next door to a bunch of corsa not !!!! it breads hate for the badge

 

Ive seen plenty of muppets/chavs in scoobs, its not just the car, its the owner

Tony

 

got a point but they spend 1000's just to get 14sec 1/4's and i've seen a standard wrx do a 14 flat lol

 

This is true
10k gets you a good spec c, unmodded they do 13 sec 1/4's

 

or 10k get you well into where i am now i know you love your spec c but i dont like the look of the new age cars

 

cheers fellas, sussed out the ecu code reading , so thanks for that, got the following,
23 maf sensor?
22 knock sensor?
32 air flow sensor #1 system
44 turbocharger pressure control.

Reset the Ecu by the procedure i found, link the plugs ignition on, peddle down, half way and drive for a min, got the all clear code.
Driven round for half hour like a brand new car with the biggest fattest grin on my stupid face, phoned my mate and got him to meet me with his astra vxr, by the time he got to me it was back to normal missing and farting.

Checked codes again, but wasn't sure i was going to get anything as the cel hadn't been on, but all the same codes there again.

How the hell can it drive so sweet, then throw that lot on?
With regards to the turbo, is there td04/05 stamped on them? i cant see any form of plate/mark on it from the top.

I didn't get to the specialist today as my life revolves around the law of sod, and was called into work at 04.30, so couldn't get to him.

The wife is well pi$$ed, and i am in the dog house, not allowed to spend any money other than petrol on the car until next Wednesday when i am paid, plus with work the way it is at the moment it's pitch black when i leave and return and there's no garage at my house, no drive either.
I would give my right arm for a driveway!! lol

O did i happen to mention that the "vibe amped sub" was actually fitted with Nails!
i **** you not, Nails, i have never seen nails used on a car for anything, well i have bridged a broken fuse with one just to get home once, but thats a different and boring story.

So basically with that lot coming on i'm screwed without swapping and changing parts round, and that is where it starts getting expensive.
Nor really looking for a divorce either.

But i really did enjoy the half hour of running properly that i got, so ?????
Pack your bags love.........