2005 Outback 3.0R

The_Jed wrote: Wife washing Outback:

Morbid car wash!

In reply to singleslammer:

I lawl'd

I wish I could say it was a rare sight, but with a black car and a few factories nearby, this is probably the 4th time it's been washed since we've had it, not counting the pre-wash before it got clay-ed. Whoever owned this car before did not know how to care for the paint, which is an annoying problem to fix.

So the front o2 sensor has been replaced? I could be wrong but I thought the ez30 had two front o2 sensors.

How about the back one? If the wiring is bad it will throw a p0420. It might be worth it to try a spark plug spacer to test if that's the problem. Seeing the quality of that booger "repair" I wouldn't be surprised if the dealer pooched the wiring to the o2 sensors.

The upstream bank 1 O2 sensor has been replaced twice, leaving 3 others to be the potential culprit.

Jed pulled and cleaned the PCV valve yesterday after seeing several mentions around the interwebs of that being the cause of persistent CELs with the same code. It was dirty, so we're hoping that fixed it. This ECU seems to be overly sensitive and, when it throws a code, it also cuts out the cruise, which is super annoying.

Going off of what the stealership said yesterday, all 4 O2 sensors are fine and both cats are fine, so we're compiling a list of possible culprits and ticking them off cheapest to most expensive.

The ez30 cars do seem to be fairly sensitive. My theory has been that it is the use of timing chains in conjunction with twin knock sensors, but keeping the old archaic subaru engine controls.

The place we bought it from was a small, used car lot. I went there yesterday and had some words with them and they said they had outsourced the booger weld job. I was given the name and number of the booger welder (spoke with him already) and I was also given the name and number of a place that may be able to perform a reflash.

The small, private dealership did make an effort to make things right.

The place we took it to get scanned the other day is a big commercial new car stealership.

Just trying to further muddy the waters.

I am planning to open up the exhaust a bit so it may go from throwing a rich code to a lean code... we'll see.

The_Jed wrote: I am planning to open up the exhaust a bit so it may go from throwing a rich code to a lean code... we'll see.

Yay for it no longer sounding like a toy, though

(Seriously, an RC car sounds faster and meaner than my Outback. It's kind of hilarious.)

PS, I think it needs a couple more inches of ground clearance and a bushbar, but Jed disagrees. He's mean.

In reply to Morbid:

This body style looks best sitting slightly lower than stock GT height. The previous body (I have had 2 2000 model years) look best jacked up on super swampers, and yes this has actually happened.

So far no CEL.

Morbid wrote:

The_Jed wrote: I am planning to open up the exhaust a bit so it may go from throwing a rich code to a lean code... we'll see.

Yay for it no longer sounding like a toy, though (Seriously, an RC car sounds faster and meaner than my Outback. It's kind of hilarious.)

That motor sounds really nice once you can hear it.

CEL is back, and the Outback is painfully in need of a bath. I'm going to blame the CEL on the week of neglect while I've been recovering from hip surgery. Because Subarus have feelings and stuff....

In reply to MrJoshua:

I've spent some time on YouTube and have to agree with you

I'll be following this thread even closer now...

In reply to Woody:

Nice!

Still has cel...

Man, that sucks. I really wanted you guys to have good luck with this. I want one once there are little slammers running around.

Also, I am only like 4 hours from you guys. We should have a Hannibal Meet n Greet one of these days. APPARENTLY, there is a killer stretch of road just north of there.

It runs fine it but the cel deactivates the cruise and it rudely flashes at you.

Great family vehicles and with the rear lsd it will doifto!

That would be cool. We've been kicking around the idea of a family road trip that would take us across Missouri.

Small update- Still has a CEL, assuming it's the same code, I have very little desire to take it back to the stealership and get it reset, especially with the way the 'manager' spoke to me. Telling me H6 Outbacks are rare and there's no way I have one, then telling me that the cats are testing fine, but need changed anyway (what?) in order to clear the code and, once Jed walked up on the conversation, treating me like I wasn't even there. No thanks, I'll drive to Bloomington next time I need dealer-specific things handled.

Now that it's cold, the school-year is in full swing and it's idling a tiny bit longer in the mornings, the mileage is taking a hit, down to about 15mpg, which is still better than the 11mpg the 'Burban got during the school year. It also doesn't seem to be a fan of the cold, it's slow to start and shifts pretty hard the first time it runs through the gears, but after the first start of the day, it smooths out and behaves itself.

The Outback has finally been named, which means it'll be around for a while as I tend to get pretty attached to cars I name (add the name and Subaru thing together, and it'll probably be around forever). It is now known as the Bad Wolf, or Wolfy, if you're into the whole brevity thing.