Help please guys CEL light & issues im having.

[steves89gtlegacy]

G'day guys this is my first time I've ever posted anything on a forum before but I came across this site and was wondering if you guys could throw some suggestions this way. I'm not sure if it's been answered before so here it goes.

I'm from Australia and I own a Subaru Legacy GT 1989 model. It was imported from Japan. It's done approx. 119,000km's. When I purchased it a while ago I noticed the check engine light would come on only when the car is in idol. Once you start driving it the light would go off and everything would seem to operate smoothly. Then I started to encounter a issue whilst under acceleration (heavy acceleration) the car would start to stutter for a second or two then continue to keep boosting (like it had to punch it's way through the stutter), once it got through it's stutter it was fine, so I kind put it down to my car just had a spaz moment. Then it was fine for a little after that. During this whole time the Check Engine Light would only continue to come on during idol. Well after a little while longer it started to happen more and more and then I noticed, ok I have a issue here for sure. Now this is what happens, i'll start the car up and it rocks about as if it had a thumping v8 in it with a huge cam! The Check Engine Light continues to come on during idol, I give it a feather rev to 1800rpm.... just a light touch and the light goes off.... then comes back on. So I nursed it to a mechanic and mentioned to them the problem... at first I thought the exhausted was all blocked up and the cat was gone. So they checked it out and told me the cat converter is fine so I told them to just replace the exhaust anyway so I can get that much loved boxer note. I explained the problem to them and they took it for a drive. They tried to connect it to their diagnostics machine but said they don't have BDO1 tool or connection to check out the issues but they thought it could be the knock sensor. So I nursed it on home and ordered a knock sensor and installed it. It's still doing the same thing even thought the old knock sensor did have cracks in the casing so I figured it was a good thing to replace anyway (have I installed it right or flush to the block... I can't tell as I have gorilla hands and had a difficult time installing it in the first place). So my next step was try and do some research on the issue and came across a youtube clip about self diagnostics. I looked for these plugs and I can't find the dam things.... would my 89 GT have the ability to self diagnose and have this check engine light flash so I can get the code? If I need to post a picture of the underneath of my steering coloum for people to see and point the clip out to me I can do that. But in saying all the above does anyone have a clue as to what might be going on with my car? It almost feels like it's running on 3 cylinders and the timing is out! Then again I don't know what that feels like..lol. Oh and I have disconnected the negative on the battery terminal to reset the computer and followed the instructions I read off here. Sorry for the essay but if someone could help me out that would be muchly appreciated or know of or had similar issues.

[wtdash]

Hi and Welcome to the BBS,

To help, we need to know the code.

I'd read this about checking codes for the CEL (check engine light): LINK

The black and green plugs - 2 of each - are usually tucked up under the driver's side w/the black tape near the ECU/computer attached to a harness wire. Since yours is a RHD model, I'm guessing this would be under the Right side of the dash vs. the left for us Yanks.

I'd also get on your local Oz sites and to make sure it's the same procedure, such as http://www.rslibertyclub.org/forums/.

It does sound like it's running on 3 cylinders, and your Liberty/Legacy should have the EJ20G engine w/the Coil on plug igniters. I've read that those can crack and go bad.

GL,
Td

[steves89gtlegacy]

Cheers TD, I'll give that a crack when I get home from work and sus out the igniters.... see if there are any cracks in them. I'll also check out our aussie site and see if the procedures are the same and locations etc for the computer memory plug diagnostics.

[Legacy777]

Yeah to echo what Todd mentioned, definitely try and see if you can find the diagnostic connectors. They should be there, but can be a little tricky to find. Once you find the connectors, you can pull the codes, which will be very helpful for diagnosing the problem.