legacycentral bbs

So I decided to degrease and powerwash my engine Sunday. I expected a few issues that would soon go away, but now i have some real issues. I apologize for things not being in perfect chronological order.

First - I washed it because I have a couple things to change coming up. I have swap my IAC valve, Purge control solenoid, and knock sensor. I was getting codes 22, 24, and 35. I wanted to clean things up a bit mainly because I'm not a fan of working on greasy cars.

Second - I pulled the alternator b4 washing like someone suggested. Thus, I had to disconnect the battery. It was disconnected for 3-4 hours.

Third - I have been getting a CEL when driving for the past few months, but it never lost full boost/went into retard mode. Just a CEL to annoy me.

Fourth - After washing, I let things dry in the sun for a couple hours.

Fifth - On the way home, I could tell after a while I was in limp mode. IE 5lbs of boost and the timing seemed retarded.

This is where things get screwy.

Sixth - Today, on the way to work, CEL right away and not much power. I could sometimes get full boost, but mor the most part it seemed in fail-safe. Had a rough idle too. Usually the CEL takes a while to come on.

Seventh - Same shit on lunch, and the way home. Removed spark plug boots and dried out the little bit of water that was in there still. Brake cleaner FTW!!

Eight - on the way home, I got it into full boost and things seemed to be ok, until I pushed the clutch in. 3k to 3.5k RPM idle. Turned off engine while in gear, then turned it back on. Still high idle. I then got things to settle down after turning it off and toggling the throttle open and closed a couple times.

Nine - Right when I got home I checked the ECU codes with the black connectors. Still had 22, 24, and 35.

Ten - Swapped knock sensor with one from parts car this evening and noticed the white wire to the ecu is cracked about 1 to 1.5 " from connector. The insulation cracked and I can see what I think is the shield wire. Real small crack, but 4/5 the diameter of wire's insulation. Put the new sensor in and still have the CEL when the car is cold/just started. Like I said, I usually had to drive for 5 minutes to get that to come on.

Eleven - cleaned IAC valve from parts car. I'm waiting for a new gasket till Wednesday. I'm picking up a new throttle body gasket so I can clean that as well. I also wiped clean the purge valve from the old car.

Also - besides putting in the 3 things I scammed from the old car, I plan on doing the ground mod to some degree.

Tomorrow I will check between the two wires for the knock sensor for any short. I will also check the alternator and battery output and the resistance across the currently installed IAC valve if I can.

WTF could be going on and how should I approach it? Am I missing something? Please let mr know what could be the issue and how I can fix it. This thing is acting like one sick motor right now.

Could I just splice together the inner wire for the knock sensor run since it is so close to the connector? Or is there something else you recommend? Is just a crack a problem?



Thanks for your help!!!

You probably still have water in some of the connectors. Blow all the connectors & plug wires/boots out with compressed air and put dielectric grease on them.

Is the knock sensor shield bare on the ECU side? If it's just the shield, you should be able to just tape it up....but if you're getting a code chances are the internal wire may be bad.

I'm with Josh on the water in some connectors. I just ran through a puddle and had major problems that turned out to be plug wires. If it has been a while since you bought new wires you might consider a new set.

Wd-40 really works well for removing moisture from things too.

Jeff

The car ran a little better today, but still had the automatic CEL upon firing it up. Still has the half-boost issue too. I don't think its a boost leak, just the ECU telling me NO. The idle isn't nearly as shitty and no high RPM idle, so I hope this is an upward trend. I plan on going over every connector I can get to and greasing them up.

My plug wires might be to blame. They're about 2 years old and got water in the coil pack end. The plug sides had some drops on the outside of the boot and I sprayed the plug wells with brake cleaner to dry them out. The coil pack itself shouldn't have any water in it, as long as the case isn't cracked, right?

I don't have access to compressed air ATM, but I could shoehorn the 25 gal Craftsman I have at my mom's into the back seat if it fits. Probably not. That thing's a beast.

The ECU side of the wire is cracked on the knock line. Just the insulation seems to be cracked. It is just a little line crack most of the circumference, just enough to see the shield I think. I have to bring home my badass Fluke tomorrow and test it at the ECU plug for resistance. Should it show none if it's ok? Or is there supposed to be some resistance between the wire and shield, and if so, what is normal?

WD-40 does remove moisture well. It's also a decent in-a-pinch hand cleaner, especially with a spoonful of sugar as grit. Doubles as mace too. The downside is it attracts dirt and that would defeat the purpose of washing my engine, Then again, so does dielectric grease, but that stuff typically doesn't run or have overspray.

I also checked the ECU codes with the black plugs tonight and the same codes are there - nothing new. Maybe I'll do the D-check tomorrow.


Thanks for the help. Please keep it coming.

Um, I may have a dumb/obvious question.....you dont have the green connectors hooked up do you? When I bought my car, I had all the same problems you did, even the same codes and just like you my symptoms gradually worsened to the point that I often could not even give it any gas at all. Pulled the green ones apart and problem fixed.

Nope. I know all about the green connectors. In fact, just before I came in for dinner, I had to move them out of the way so I could drop my remote start module to get at my ECU plugs. Thanks for the lookout though.

I'm off now to check the resistance/continuity of that knock sensor wire. Be back soon with my findings.

Also - you did read it correctly. I have installed a remote start system on my manual transmission car. No, it is not equipped with a safety switch to sense if it's in gear. And yes, I have forgot to leave it out once or twice. I came out of work to see my car horribly beached on a snowbank with the wheels still spinning. Had to get pulled out by the hippie shipping guy. The front wheels dragged the car even though the p-brake was on. Co-workers still give me shit for that one, though getting my thumb sucked into a band saw has taken the limelight since March.

So I checked the wires out and everything seems intact and well. There's infinite resistance between the shield and the wire, and the continuity is good on both from one end to the other.

The crack is actually only on the insulator for the sensor wire. I pulled the piece of electrical tape an inch or so away from the crack and found the shield, and with no resistance between the inner and outer wire, I guess I can rule that out. I just covered both the newly exposed shield and the crack with electrical tape.

I pulled the negative on the battery and the codes were still there when I hooked everything back up. CEL was instant on startup too. I pushed the brake and left the dome light switch on while the battery was disconnected, so I'll have to look into the other method to clear them. Maybe I can snag the dealer's scantool tomorrow when I get my gasket and knock sensor. $71 bucks for the sensor, and that's after he knocked it down $10! It will be good to get an updated one in there anyway.

So I still have the same three codes (22, 24. 35), instant CEL on startup, and swapped out the knock sensor with the one off my parts car. Maybe the IAC valve finally went off the deep end. Or perhaps the purge solenoid finally froze.

What, if anything, could throw a CEL but not have a code stored? I have yet to do a D-check. Will a vacuum/intake leak cause this? Perhaps bad plug wires?

I checked the alternator output and that seems fine at 14.5 V while revving, 13.3 while idling. Battery seems good too. 12.666 (!!!) when I disconnected the ground, and it rose a little even after that. It's a year and a half old yellow top. I sanded the contacts on the starter side of the ground cable, as well as where the smaller firewall ground connects. I plan to re-do those anyway.

My battery is in the trunk and the ground connects to the seat belt bolt, which had the paint scraped away underneath for good contact. The old negative battery ring thing is pounded onto one of the 17mm bumper support bolts. I admit that probably isn't the best ground point, but I'm going to redo that as well. $1.68 2GA ring terminal FTW!

What do the ground wires connected to the strut towers go to? There appear to be 3 per side.

Can you guys think of anything else to check? I appreciate all your help.

So I didn't get a CEL right at startup this morning. Wooo hooo!

Then, as soon as I gave it some gas, it only went up to 4 lbs and threw the CEL. Nooooo!

And I was in traffic with an STI and a debadged WRX that shot flames. I need to do something here fo sho. My ego can't take this kind of abuse.

So tonight, on the way home, I finally got consistant full boost. Very nice, except I tore out the whole intake after dinner. I found that the turbo has a couple drips of oil sitting in it on the inlet side and I can wipe my finger on both the inlet and outlet side and feel oil.
In fact, almost all of the intake tubing/hoses I yanked out had oil in it.

The IAC was a biatch to pull. I had no 3/8" universal to get to the bottom right bolt.

Is the PCV valve supposed to rattle when you shake it? I thought there was supposed to be some kind of spring tension on the ball.

Also, is it imperative that I replace the up-pipe to turbo gasket? I have the other gasket handy and I'm really thinking about replacing the turbo if I can get away with the old gasket.

So I had a little fun this weekend. The dealer actually had the up-pipe gasket in stock, so I said fook it and swapped the turbo with my old one. I had some help from my friend Max for the turbo, but I can honestly say I'm quite proud of myself. I've never done this much to an engine without a bonafide mechanic to cosign everything. Niether Max nor I have been this far into an engine, but we had the will to succeed.

We had a little trouble getting the return oil hose to line up and getting the spring clamp on was quite a pain. I accidentally put everything back together with two gaskets on the downpipe side, but it's not a major concern right now. I'll deal with that at a later time. The small hose that goes to all the sensors off the turbo ripped on the nipple side. I scammed the old hose off the parts car and that ripped too, but not as bad. The rip stopped well short of where the barb sits. I threw on a piece of electrical tape on and slipped the spring clamp over it. But I totally forgot to hook up the other side and accidentally hit 12 to 14 lbs of boost in the parking lot. Not good, but I did like how it felt w/ that much boost.

When easily driving back to my garage I suddenly had a huge cloud of white smoke pour out of my scoop. I totally freaked, thinking I had cooked something. I stopped and found most of the steam coming from the turbo area. I freaked some more, then I remembered what happened with the last car. The coolant line that runs from the turbo to the block (head?) on the last car leaked after doing the valve covers, so I scammed the purdey red silicone hose I used on my last car and bought some real hose clamps. I'm pretty sure it was leaking from the engine side of the hose, or I popped the head gasket right there. None of the fluids looked mixed and tonight after getting the hose on, it just seemed like what was there was just burning off. I'm pretty sure I didn't fry anything and I'll take it for a shakedown cruise tomorrow with a buddy in a chase/tow car. I also over-oiled the K&N so I cleaned that out today as well.

In the end, no more cel's, the motor idles better, and the needle doesn't hang at 1.5 to 2k rpms on it's way down from a revving. Boost seems good too. If anything, I might have to chase down some more spots in need of a hose clamp. Old hoses/spring clamps suck.

Thanks again for all the help, including all of those in the forums who have shared their great knowledge and unknowingly contributed to me getting this all done. And St. Randy, the savior of the dealer parts counter. He likes getting part numbers instead of looking them up himself.

Hopefully all is well after tomorrow's shakedown. I'll be taking it pretty easy for the next week or two.

Glad to hear your running smooth man. I know how good it feels to finally get that beast back on the road. Have fun!