Engine management

[ogden618]

Engine management light on dash keeps coming on, garage has told me its the rear sensor to do with exhaust being below threshold, they also told me there may be a black box which can by pass this. Can any body help please

[Miggs]

what year subaru is it pal?

[ogden618]

Hi it's a 2001

[dogma1]

never heard of a black box.... I would think it could be maf on way out but would be best to know year so we can try and help you out. ;)

[dogma1]

look at those times LOL. does the car feel funny at all. does it rev funny or cut out.

any mod on it.

[Miggs]

Sorry, 2001 can be classic shape or bug eye, if it's classic there's a self diagnosis you can do, having said that, I might be wrong as if I remember correctly I just stripped a version 6 and that had an obd port under the dash, I don't have diagnosis software for subaru but I would recommend finding a forum member near you, not necessarily off here but an enthusiast to diagnose it rather than a garage, a garage will tell you somethings wrong to get money out of you whereas an enthusiast won't rip you off

[ogden618]

It's a 2001 bug eye, I had a performance exhaust put on 10years ago but not sure if it had a cat replacement on it, always went through mot no prob, I know the garage owner he said he had same problem with his Honda civic and he managed to by pass and tell computer that there was no problem to over come it, that's what he's thinking I might be able to do. Car runs fine apart from I think it's starting to back fire a little bit sounds great but don't think it's supposed to.

[dogma1]

could mean a lambda sensor that's not at the back but it is the last one in the system. no sensors for air/exhaust past gear box that I know of, but in my opinion sounds like the maf as I had a lambda and maf go on a 1994 turbo and the light did not come on for the lambda and both back fired. in my opinion I would try and fix and not by pass as could cause bigger problems later down road. try getting someone with a impreza to use their maf and c if it stops before buying anything because both problems are about same cost I would think.

[Miggs]

Mines had a De cat and pops and bangs all the time, they tend not to do it straight away as the exhaust needs to coke up a bit so could just be now it's coked up its popping, or could be the lambda is throwing too much fuel in as it's not reading the sensor correctly, don't get a cheap lambda as you will get what you pay for, I would firstly buy a lambda spacer and fit that, if that doesn't cure it then try the maf/lambda/both

Each time you try something make sure you disconnect the Battery for an hour for the ecu to clear the fault

[ogden618]

Dash light came on so had the lambda sensor changed a month ago, not done many miles with it. Since then light has come on again so garage turned it off again. Garage thinks light will probably keep coming on. Will see.

[Miggs]

Could be a cheap sensor, the universal ones are only a few quid off eBay, genuine ones are near a ton, cheap ones are known to not last long

[ogden618]

It was a denso, £116

[Miggs]

I'd probably ignore that then lol, could still benefit from spacing just incase it's a sports cat or no cat or broken cat

[Gambit]

Hi mate sorry to hear about the light :(

If you can get a Bluetooth OBDII reader of eBay less then a £10 make sure you can use your phone with it you can read and reset the ECU codes from it. And that way could post the code up we will be able to help with it but a code can cover up to about 8 thing's :(

[ogden618]

Cheers for all your help and advice will wait and see if light comes on again thanks

[Gambit]

No problem mate well fingers crossed for yo it's solved :) but let us know and feel free to join in on the many random things that happen on here from a daily basis :D

[Miggs]

I never thoughtabout the Bluetooth readers, good call, the software for said reader is called torque, I believe that's the best one to get

[dogma1]

is it not the egt sensor gone, I hav never had one go myself so don't now the fault that it would throw. but the lambda is the back one. this one is in the front of the up pipe. I am only going off what the garage said but with what you have changed I think it's the maf on the way out in my opinion. but if light stays off and no running problems it could just be a 5 min thing. I had it when a plug from maf came loose. just reset ecg and job done. :D

[Gambit]

Yep its Torque it's a cool bit of kit for less then a £10 can't go wrong :)

The MAFS would make it stall when you slow down for traffic lights and round about when you put the clutch in and revs drop from experience :(

[Miggs]

Yeh I got mine with a dodgy maf, sometimes it would run sweet others it would hunt and even stall

[dogma1]

my car started ok and run fine had the manage light come on ran for a few weeks after I turned it off. then started to play up then finally stopped all together. this was helped with wd40 at the end point :P. no stalling. just stopped with clutch at the end before this the revs ran high a point's but nothing major just thought it was cold damp mornings.

[Miggs]

You should change your user name to wdbloody40 lol

[Gambit]

The powers of WD-40  To be fair it still amazes me :) mind you I'm amazed I can even dress myself in the morning ;)