First Impreza, 1 week in, and PROBLEMS!
Discussion
Right guys, car has been running fine for weeks now, without my having done anything (just haven't had any time to get to it with work and stuff), no cutting out, no fuel cut etc. Still slight occasional hesitation, but nowhere near as frequent or as bad as before.
Until last night that is, when the car cut out a minute after starting and won't start again!!
No idea if its related or if its a seperate issue now.
Pulled fuel pipe coming from the filter in the bay and appears to be getting fuel (not sure, but don't think I can hear the pump prime when I try to start?)
Also pulled the ht leads off the coil one by one and saw/heard the spark when I tried to start, so seems to be getting spark from the coil at least. Tried starting with the maf disconnected, and still wouldn't.
The car's in town and I don't have any tools etc with me. What else can I try?
Any help really appreciated guys!
Until last night that is, when the car cut out a minute after starting and won't start again!!
No idea if its related or if its a seperate issue now.
Pulled fuel pipe coming from the filter in the bay and appears to be getting fuel (not sure, but don't think I can hear the pump prime when I try to start?)
Also pulled the ht leads off the coil one by one and saw/heard the spark when I tried to start, so seems to be getting spark from the coil at least. Tried starting with the maf disconnected, and still wouldn't.
The car's in town and I don't have any tools etc with me. What else can I try?
Any help really appreciated guys!
If you can't hear the pump prime then it could be either the pump has an intermittent fault or the immobiliser has a fault if you have a factory alarm/immob fitted. I can hear my walbro priming quite loudly in my wagon so i know when it comes on.
Try and get the car home if it starts and hopefully you have a mate with a towbar on their vehicle so you can get the car down to AWD in Perth either on an A-Frame or trailer. AWD can at least have a look and diagnose the issue. They'll tell you what's wrong PDQ!!
Other than that i've no idea what else to suggest. I'm 400 miles away so long distance diagnosis is more of a stab in the dark.
Try and get the car home if it starts and hopefully you have a mate with a towbar on their vehicle so you can get the car down to AWD in Perth either on an A-Frame or trailer. AWD can at least have a look and diagnose the issue. They'll tell you what's wrong PDQ!!
Other than that i've no idea what else to suggest. I'm 400 miles away so long distance diagnosis is more of a stab in the dark.
Good News!
Problem now solved. Had the car in with RA Motorsports in Lochty, and they found and fixed the problem/problems.
Firstly, the pump had had it. Not only that, but it was a non-Subaru one which was pretty shoddily wired in…
This wasn’t the only issue though. The pump wasn’t getting a full 12v supply, so after some digging and a visit from an Auto Electrician it was traced back to an immobilizer fault. So now we’ve got a new uprated 255 lph pump fitted, dodgy wiring replaced, and the immobilzer fault sorted.
Also need a new battery as it appears one of the cells may be dead. That’s added to the list with a new top rad hose.
Now the interesting bit- When Andy at RA was looking at the car, he noticed the restrictor pill was missing, so this has been remedied, so the car is boosting far better and feels noticeably quicker! No hesitiation at all for the 50-odd miles I;ve driven since picking the car up either. Happy Days!
Can’t recommend the guys at RA Motorsports enough, really know their stuff and very reasonably priced.
Problem now solved. Had the car in with RA Motorsports in Lochty, and they found and fixed the problem/problems.
Firstly, the pump had had it. Not only that, but it was a non-Subaru one which was pretty shoddily wired in…
This wasn’t the only issue though. The pump wasn’t getting a full 12v supply, so after some digging and a visit from an Auto Electrician it was traced back to an immobilizer fault. So now we’ve got a new uprated 255 lph pump fitted, dodgy wiring replaced, and the immobilzer fault sorted.
Also need a new battery as it appears one of the cells may be dead. That’s added to the list with a new top rad hose.
Now the interesting bit- When Andy at RA was looking at the car, he noticed the restrictor pill was missing, so this has been remedied, so the car is boosting far better and feels noticeably quicker! No hesitiation at all for the 50-odd miles I;ve driven since picking the car up either. Happy Days!
Can’t recommend the guys at RA Motorsports enough, really know their stuff and very reasonably priced.
Depends on where the limiter is set. High revs aren't generally good for ordinary standard built scoobs. JDM newage STi will rev to 8250-8500rpm, UK newage STi rev to 7600rpm but that doesn't mean to say it will be safe every time. A built bottom end for a competition car with lightweight crank, rod and pistons could rev to 10,000rpm but you wouldn't necessarily do it.
Personally speaking i turn down the limiters on newage STi and WRX because there is no point revving to to the redline. By the time you are there you are losing power, your turbo will have long run out of puff, and your injectors might well be running out of fuel and running the engine lean, specially if the car is modified and mapped for more power, so what's the point.
Changing gear around 6000rpm for the WRX and between 6000-6500rpm for the STi is perfect. Aim for about 1000rpm below the redline.
Personally speaking i turn down the limiters on newage STi and WRX because there is no point revving to to the redline. By the time you are there you are losing power, your turbo will have long run out of puff, and your injectors might well be running out of fuel and running the engine lean, specially if the car is modified and mapped for more power, so what's the point.
Changing gear around 6000rpm for the WRX and between 6000-6500rpm for the STi is perfect. Aim for about 1000rpm below the redline.
ScoobieWRX said:
Depends on where the limiter is set. High revs aren't generally good for ordinary standard built scoobs. JDM newage STi will rev to 8250-8500rpm, UK newage STi rev to 7600rpm but that doesn't mean to say it will be safe every time. A built bottom end for a competition car with lightweight crank, rod and pistons could rev to 10,000rpm but you wouldn't necessarily do it.
Personally speaking i turn down the limiters on newage STi and WRX because there is no point revving to to the redline. By the time you are there you are losing power, your turbo will have long run out of puff, and your injectors might well be running out of fuel and running the engine lean, specially if the car is modified and mapped for more power, so what's the point.
Changing gear around 6000rpm for the WRX and between 6000-6500rpm for the STi is perfect. Aim for about 1000rpm below the redline.
I am familiar with turbo cars running out of puff towards the redline, but I would not have expected any damage to be caused by hitting the limiter once or twice. I remember reading a thread in the Porsche forum about someone wanting to buy a 996 TT, and they had the ECU read for the cars driving history. Turned out it had spent a few seconds here and there in the redline zone and on one occasion even had 6 cylinder ignitions while hitting the limiter, and they were discussing it as though it had been utterly abused and was a ticking timebomb!Personally speaking i turn down the limiters on newage STi and WRX because there is no point revving to to the redline. By the time you are there you are losing power, your turbo will have long run out of puff, and your injectors might well be running out of fuel and running the engine lean, specially if the car is modified and mapped for more power, so what's the point.
Changing gear around 6000rpm for the WRX and between 6000-6500rpm for the STi is perfect. Aim for about 1000rpm below the redline.
Mastodon2 said:
ScoobieWRX said:
Depends on where the limiter is set. High revs aren't generally good for ordinary standard built scoobs. JDM newage STi will rev to 8250-8500rpm, UK newage STi rev to 7600rpm but that doesn't mean to say it will be safe every time. A built bottom end for a competition car with lightweight crank, rod and pistons could rev to 10,000rpm but you wouldn't necessarily do it.
Personally speaking i turn down the limiters on newage STi and WRX because there is no point revving to to the redline. By the time you are there you are losing power, your turbo will have long run out of puff, and your injectors might well be running out of fuel and running the engine lean, specially if the car is modified and mapped for more power, so what's the point.
Changing gear around 6000rpm for the WRX and between 6000-6500rpm for the STi is perfect. Aim for about 1000rpm below the redline.
I am familiar with turbo cars running out of puff towards the redline, but I would not have expected any damage to be caused by hitting the limiter once or twice. I remember reading a thread in the Porsche forum about someone wanting to buy a 996 TT, and they had the ECU read for the cars driving history. Turned out it had spent a few seconds here and there in the redline zone and on one occasion even had 6 cylinder ignitions while hitting the limiter, and they were discussing it as though it had been utterly abused and was a ticking timebomb!Personally speaking i turn down the limiters on newage STi and WRX because there is no point revving to to the redline. By the time you are there you are losing power, your turbo will have long run out of puff, and your injectors might well be running out of fuel and running the engine lean, specially if the car is modified and mapped for more power, so what's the point.
Changing gear around 6000rpm for the WRX and between 6000-6500rpm for the STi is perfect. Aim for about 1000rpm below the redline.
But on saying that, the limiters purpose is to prevent damage to the engine, so in theory hitting it shouldn't cause any damage (although naturally some cars will have "softer/safer" limiters than others).
Personally, I think I've bounced off the limiter maybe a handful of times in total across all the cars I've owned/driven in ten years! It just seems too "cruel", lol.
In summary I'd say hitting the limiter shouldn't cause much harm, but doing it frequently sure as s
t won't do it any good!I hit limiters regularly on customer cars but i've turned them right down in the first place before mapping to a point where it's safe to do so. I do the same in my own car regularly but again i've turned down the limiter.
Unfortunately you don't have the luxury of turning down your limiter and although it's nothing bad to hit it once in a while, as has been said it's there for engine safety.
However, if you drive your car very hard on a regular basis you'll come to a point one day where you hit the factory redline even though you haven't been there for a while and the engine goes pop for whatever reason. If you set the limiter between 500-1000rpm early for a bit more safety margin you can bounce of it all day long.
Unfortunately you don't have the luxury of turning down your limiter and although it's nothing bad to hit it once in a while, as has been said it's there for engine safety.
However, if you drive your car very hard on a regular basis you'll come to a point one day where you hit the factory redline even though you haven't been there for a while and the engine goes pop for whatever reason. If you set the limiter between 500-1000rpm early for a bit more safety margin you can bounce of it all day long.
Mastodon2 said:
Sorry, does hitting the limiter damage a Scooby?
It's generaly not Ideal, Subaru uses fuel cut system, most tuners I've spoken to say its not the best limiter solution. Overfuelling is less of an issue than underfueling(lean in out)IMHO
themike888 said:
That's why it gets 99RON and driven with mechanical sympathy 
Tony
Mastodon2 said:
Sorry, does hitting the limiter damage a Scooby?
Does hitting the limiter in general damage engines? I've done it a handful of times on my Ibiza (just a 1.4) and it just cuts out just before it reached the reddened section of the rev dial. Is this likely to cause damage or do modern engines and their limiters account for this now?Rev limiter ss not just a fuel cut, it also pulls timing by 4.92Deg so even though it goes lean there's no chance of knock because it's pulled so much timing.
I really wouldn't sweat too much about it unless you do it all the time. Like i said, lower the limiter by 500-1000rpm and you significantly reduce the danger.
I really wouldn't sweat too much about it unless you do it all the time. Like i said, lower the limiter by 500-1000rpm and you significantly reduce the danger.
themike888 said:
Hi All,
So, had the Impreza all of one week and having some issues….
Firstly, had several occasions of possible fuel surge/fuel cut. Only seems to really happen after right hand corners, so as advised in a comment on my Readers Cars thread assumed this to be fuel surge. However, still happens even when the tank is ¾ full. Also get pretty violent fuel cut if coming on boost directly after a corner/junction.
It also occasionally seems hesitant at times around 2-2.5k revs when in fourth or fifth gear, and changing down seems to help.
My 07 Hawkeye did the exact same thing. Took it to the dealers a couple of times but nothing was logged. Even through 40,000 miles and 4 services it stuck. Always on a hard right turn and the jerking was violent to say the least. Very odd but never changed the fuel pump. Glad you sorted it.So, had the Impreza all of one week and having some issues….
Firstly, had several occasions of possible fuel surge/fuel cut. Only seems to really happen after right hand corners, so as advised in a comment on my Readers Cars thread assumed this to be fuel surge. However, still happens even when the tank is ¾ full. Also get pretty violent fuel cut if coming on boost directly after a corner/junction.
It also occasionally seems hesitant at times around 2-2.5k revs when in fourth or fifth gear, and changing down seems to help.
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