Been working on a project for awhile now and it's just been a nightmare. Constantly chasing electrical gremlins and it doesn't help my dad and I have no clue about Subaru's. We're used to...simpler systems (small block Chevy's). Just wondering if there are any people knowledgeable in the MN twin cities area (we live just 30 mins north of Hudson, WI) that would be willing to lend a hand (for a case of beer, women, drugs, I don't care at this point ha) or give some insight on our problem. Did an engine swap from a motor with a bad rod knock to one that didn't. Same year out of the same model car. '03 Subaru WRX 2.0. The car ran (although with rod knock) before the swap but now after the swap we can't get it to start. If we suck fuel in through one of the intake vacuum lines it will idle (boost gauge showed negative boost, I'm thinking it's hooked up wrong?) but as soon as we take fuel away it dies. Checked power to the fuel pump and it has power, checked power to the injectors and they are getting power. The only codes we are getting (which weren't there on the previous engine) are P0122, P0118, P0108, P1086, and P1088. Basically getting ready to set the car on fire and chalk it up as a loss. Only thing stopping me is it's my sister's car, not mine. Was told about this site from someone over at NASIOC, here's a link to my original thread over there.
All those codes are for components on the engine telling me its something with the engine harness to chassis. I assume you verified all of the connectors are plugged in? IIRC two square connectors on the drivers side by the battery.
Also make sure you have the fuel lines connected correctly. I put them on backwards a while back and it will not ever fire.
Alright a quick glance at the wiring diagrams I see all 5 of the sensors throwing those codes share a common ground and a 5v reference from the ECU. Line "Q" goes off to a common ground joint in the passenger footwell I believe. Should read chassis ground at all times. The other common wire there F61-20 should read ~5v with the ignition on.
Yeah if it runs when you put fuel in through a vacuum hose I would say Threshld1 is the first with the answer. The top hose on the manifold should go to the fuel filter on your car.
You guys rock with the quick replies..unfortunately I won't be able to take a look at it until Sunday evening but I'll definitely verify all of that! Thanks guys. And yes I did verify all the connectors were connected and I've tried verifying all the grounds are good too but I will have to double check on the passenger footwell one!
Fuel lines were switched! Got it to run but now it's running a bit rough. Noticed the temp gauge isn't working but I have the battery disconnected right now to clear the codes from earlier and hopefully when the ECU does a relearn it'll run better. Is there a procedure to follow when starting the vehicle for the first time after having the battery disconnected?
No procedure regardless of how long its been unplugged. Do you have a code reader? Are any codes still present? If you still have those same 5 codes I would bet its something with the harness connection between the engine and the body or at the front fuse/relay block. You mentioned in the NASIOC thread you found a lot of corroded wires at the fuse/relay block. What did you end up doing with it?
I didn't have my code reader with me but I'm going to bring it out tomorrow as the CEL is on. I cleaned up the corrosion and had to replace some of the wire going into the fuse block. Is it possible to take the fuse block completely apart as I'm worried there is more internal corrosion that I can't get to. I'm also going to try cleaning the MAF sensor. How much boost does a WRX produce when stock? It only got up to around 5-8 PSI when I took it for a short little drive.
I hooked up the scanner before I have to run off to HayDays and now I'm getting the following codes: P1096, P1086, P1088, P0122, P0118, and P0108. I don't have time to mess around with it anymore but possibly tonight if I get back early enough from working at HayDays I'll be able to investigate some more. Where is the ground located in the passenger footwell?
PSI sounds about right depending on throttle etc. I don't think it goes much over 12 stock. Looks like you added a TGV error to your previous collection of codes. Still a common connection if I'm reading the above drawing correctly.
Yea, I've just got to figure out why. I also noticed the coolant temp is not registering so it seems obvious it must not be receiving power.
Easiest thing to do is pull the connector at the TPS or pressure sensor and turn the ignition to on position. Measure voltage between the red wire and battery ground. If you do have voltage there check the continuity to ground of Black/Green and report back.
I've got the donor car's ECU in it right now since I figured that one was probably tuned for that engine seeing as how it had aftermarket fuel rails, pink injectors, bigger intercooler, downpipe, etc. I'll give that a shot Threshld1.
Sorry it's been so long, life has been busy. Getting no voltage to the red wire and no continuity to the black/green.
Next thing I would do is pull F61/E2 engine harness connector and check for the same voltage/ground on the body side of that connector with ignition on. Pin 20 to ground should be ~5v and pin 18 should have continuity to ground. If this works you have an issue with the engine harness/F61 connector, if not its further in the body harness, but since that wasn't swapped I doubt it. You can also check continuity of those wires on the engine harness from the sensor connectors to pins 18 and 20 on E2.
Thanks again for such quick help guys. After I posted that I checked connector F61. Somehow it wasn't plugged in all the way as it came apart without even tugging on it. Put some dielectric on it and plugged it back in. Car started right up! All those previous check engine lights are gone but now I'm getting a Cylinder 4 misfire. It has all new plugs so I swapped out the coil pack with one from the other engine (that had no misfire) and it made no difference.
It was such a good feeling when I found that plug loose and it started right up afterwards. I'll pull the plug tonight and throw one of the old good ones in to see if that makes any difference. The power steering isn't working and the alternator pulley looks to be misaligned which is causing the belt to squeal but I'll deal with that once I get this misfire out of the way.
Pulled the plug and it didn't look to be "fouled", although I'm only used to fouled plugs on 2-strokes so I'm used to them being wet with oil and gas. I cleaned it up and used some emery cloth to take off the little deposits and put it back in but am still getting the misfire in cylinder 4. I'm going to take the plugs and coils off the other engine and see if any of those will work but is there anything else to look at that would cause a misfire? Would a clogged injector cause a misfire?
Swapped out the plug and coil with another pair that worked before but still no luck. Decided to use a screwdriver as a stethoscope to listen to the injectors and found that injector 4 is much quieter than the other three. Could I be having an issue with the injector that would be causing a misfire code?
I haven't pulled any other plugs from this engine but the spark plug did seem relatively dry and I couldn't really smell fuel on it. I'll pull it again tomorrow night and double check just in case my memory is deceiving me.
Only had enough time to run some Sea Foam through the vacuum line on the intake manifold but it had no effect other than the usual smoke show. I did notice while it was sucking the Sea Foam in the misfire seemed to lessen but as soon as I let up it would come back.
Yep it's getting full voltage. My dad pulled the injectors 3 and 4 this morning and blew some air through them. Injector 3 blew out some residual fuel while 4 there was barely any air coming through. So I'm guessing it's obvious the issue is injector 4 is clogged. Can anyone recommend someplace on the east side of the cities for cleaning and testing injectors?
One of the local places that I went is Full Blown Motorsports in Apple Valley. They got mine cleaned and tested the same day.
Or if they are stock injectors since you have them out you could take the opertunity to get a set of modded stocks from nf performance.
Onto my next issue: power steering does not work. The reservoir is filled and none of the lines were touched when swapping engines. Any suggestions?
Haven't tried bleeding the lines because they were never removed and also haven't noticed any abnormal noises coming from the pump so I'm assuming it's spinning freely. I'll look into it tonight though. Is there anything else to check on these? I've also got the pump from the other car so I might try swapping them out and see if that solves the issue.
Pump spun freely. Jacked up the front end and moved the wheel from one stop to the other for a good 15 minutes. Had the cap off and my dad said there was no bubbling but he could hear the pump faintly. If I revved it up to around 2k RPM the steering would get easier. Set it down and took it for a drive; no difference, still not working. We're going to swap pumps tonight.
Swapped pumps and the power steering works! Just want to say thanks to everyone that helped, probably would've still been stuck banging my head over this mess if you weren't for you guys! Now to get it tuned...
Glad to hear it's up and running - I bet it's a relief and celebration. Hopefully we can see this beast in person sometime.
Definitely a huge relief but the project is far from over. Not that these projects ever "end" right? The body and suspension is in need of some TLC so slowly but surely there will be more work done to it. I ordered a Tactrix cable the other night so I can learn how to tune this thing and make it drivable. Are there many group rides or get-togethers? When I lived in Mesa, AZ every Saturday night everyone would drive their cars, trucks, and bikes to a mall parking lot and hang out and check out each others rides.
Might be easier to have NF do that part for you. They don't charge much and it will get done correctly and quickly. Wouldn't want to burn up that motor you just put in because you wanted to try to learn how to tune it.. That is what I would suggest.
Got a link for NF? And how much do they charge? I've got a guy on NASIOC that said he'd send me a tune to get me going.
Just search for nf in the search bar on the top right of the page. They do the majority of peoples cars on here and its a very good price.
