MY05 Legacy 3-litre auto: Dash lights came on this morning

[Watchman]

Had a bit of a shock driving to work this morning. The engine management and the traction control lights both came on, along with the cruise light which is blinking on and off.

Any ideas? The car seems to drive normally although I did wonder whether the transfer box has given up, or something. Haven't tried testing whether I have drive to the rear yet - and did actually wonder whether it was a "normally RWD" car where the transfer box provided front drive anyway.

I've tried starting the car since arriving at work, and it fires-up normally. Haven't taken it for a drive yet though.

[ScoobieWRX]

It may be just one of those issues causing all the lights to come on. Sounds unlikely it's all gone wrong at the same time.

You need to get a main stealer or scooby specialist to have a look with the aid of a laptop and diagnostic cable to find out what's going on.

[Watchman]

I called Crossroads Subaru - they advised it was likely something trivial like a lambda sensor. Car drives OK and starts up with no extra cranking so I think you're right.

I have a VAG-COM cable and that SSM software. I'll give that a look later - I am not sure where to look to be honest but it can't be that hard, can it?

[ScoobieWRX]

You can look at many different parameters at the same time. To check if the Lambda sensor is working check Air/Fuel Sensor#1. If you are getting a reading at idle then it is working. More importantly if the reading hops around 14.7afr then you know it's working perfect.

You can check the Mass Airflow box to see firstly that your MAF is actually reading air and that being the case what sort of airflow you're seeing.

There should be other check boxes for different ancillaries and there is a test mode on FreeSSM that allows you to put some of the actuators/gearbox module etc..., on test by connecting the two green connectors together under your dash. This puts the ECU into test mode so when you put just the ignition on you can hear the cooling fan cycling and you'll be able to see what all the other bits are doing via FreeSSM.

Ultimately you'll be checking whatever error codes come up and hopefully it will be something simple to rectify if there is a problem.

I've no idea whereabouts in the UK you are but if you're not far from Northampton and you get stuck give me a shout and i'll be happy to take a look at your car and show you how to use FreeSSM to it's fullest. I think every scooby owner should have a diag cable and FreeSSM on their laptop.

Would save your average owner a fortune in garage diagnostic and ECU reset fees.

Have fun!!

[cheesesliceking]

Hi,

Whats free SSM?
ta

[ScoobieWRX]

Explanation: http://sourceforge.net/projects/freessm.berlios/


Download from: http://developer.berlios.de/projects/freessm/

[Watchman]

Thanks very much for the explanation - I'm not too far from Northampton (Redditch, Worcestershire) but I'll probably not be able to get there this side of Christmas.

I have some experience with other user-connectible ECUs like the Emerald so the concepts are understood but I'm careful because I'm not familiar with the layout of freeSSM and I know only too well how easily you can make a change permanent.

I'll have a look over the weekend. Thanks again.

[ScoobieWRX]

The only changes you can make are to timing and idle (carry overs from ECU Explorer), and they are just temporary changes while the software is live on your laptop. As soon as you disconnect from the ECU those settings revert to what's normally on the ECU.

There are no permanent changes you can make to the ECU using FreeSSM or that VAGCOM cable so nothing to worry about, they are not tuner tools like EcuTek or OS Type. It's very intuitive and easy to use, you'll be fine

[Watchman]

ScoobieWRX said:

The only changes you can make are to timing and idle (carry overs from ECU Explorer), and they are just temporary changes while the software is live on your laptop. As soon as you disconnect from the ECU those settings revert to what's normally on the ECU.

There are no permanent changes you can make to the ECU using FreeSSM or that VAGCOM cable so nothing to worry about, they are not tuner tools like EcuTek or OS Type. It's very intuitive and easy to use, you'll be fine

Well that's great to hear. I will now act like a kid in a sweet shop.

Great advice - I thank you for that..!!

[RB Will]

Had this with my Spec B. This is what I posted back then

"Hi all. I have a 2005 Subaru Legacy Spec B that has been behaving strangely lately.

I got an engine light and cruise control light flashing the other day. Cruise stopped working but nothing else was wrong. Exactly 48hours later the lights went out cruise is now working but the car kept stalling when coming to a stop.

I have had a friend plug a diagnostic unit into it and it came up with

PO420 - Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 1."

It did cure itself after 48 hours. Did it twice more while I owned the car.
Apparently it is the lambda playing up. It can just be caused by bad fuel not being burnt properly or things along those lines.

So it is possible your car is fine and it's just a bad tank of fuel or I would go with Crossroads and replace the lambda.

[Watchman]

RB Will said:

Had this with my Spec B. This is what I posted back then

"Hi all. I have a 2005 Subaru Legacy Spec B that has been behaving strangely lately.

I got an engine light and cruise control light flashing the other day. Cruise stopped working but nothing else was wrong. Exactly 48hours later the lights went out cruise is now working but the car kept stalling when coming to a stop.

I have had a friend plug a diagnostic unit into it and it came up with

PO420 - Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 1."

It did cure itself after 48 hours. Did it twice more while I owned the car.
Apparently it is the lambda playing up. It can just be caused by bad fuel not being burnt properly or things along those lines.

So it is possible your car is fine and it's just a bad tank of fuel or I would go with Crossroads and replace the lambda.

Wow, what's the likelihood of someone else getting this error..?? Fantastic.

You know, I might try a tank of super next, just to see. If not, I was thinking maybe driving through the floods recently might have damaged the wiring. Just a thought.

I'll see what Crossroads can do - they're normally straight-up - if they can fix it instead of replacing something, they will.

[ScoobieWRX]

If you have some diagnostic kit you could reset your ECU with, i would fill up on a tank of 99RON and then do a reset.

Drive that around for a bit and see if it clears your issue before you go splashing out on repairs or bits you might actually not need.

My recommend with any Subaru regardless of what the 95RON users tell you about how great their cars run is always use 99RON whatever Subaru you drive.

[RB Will]

You could well be right with that. Of the 5 Subarus me and my dad have had the only one that has had this problem is my Legacy which was the only one run on 95ron. My dad had a normal 3.0 one of same age but used super and it never had a problem. My Imprezas and now his Forester turb are always run on vpower

[Watchman]

I've done 105,000 miles in this Legacy, all on 95RON. It's not a high comp engine and is a non-turbo. I really can't see the need for 98 normally but I need to fill up now so I'll give it a shot.

[ScoobieWRX]

A member of PH came to me saying much the same as you.

He has a normally aspirated Legacy. Told me in warm to hot weather his car gets terrible det/knock. I asked him what he ran the car on, he told me 95RON.

I advised that before he spent money on my fee for remapping his car that he should run it on 99RON for a bit and see what happens. He filled up with 99RON, i reset his ECU.

Spoke to him a little while later and asked him how the car was running in hot weather. This was earlier on this year btw. Excellent he said.

Didn't notice any knock.

[Watchman]

Actually that's a really good point - mine knocks quite poorly on initial pick-up... you know when you first press the accelerator.

I will try 98 tomorrow. I'll report back.

[ScoobieWRX]

If you can help it use 99RON not 98RON. You need either Tesco Momentum or Shell V-Power.

[blueg33]

I had this with the Outback (3.0rn auto) after a windscreen change. Making sure the battery was fully charged, then disconnecting it for 3 mins and re-connecting sorted the problem. It may not work for you but its worth a try.

[Watchman]

Sorry for the late update...

I was running low on fuel - I tend to let the fuel light come on, then do another journey to work and back (60 miles) so it's properly empty. Thing is, the petrol station was out of SUL so I filled up again with normal UL. I get through it in a few days so didn't worry.

Went to work (30 miles), then when I started-up to go home the lights had all gone out. It's still OK (nearing the end of that tank and another 6 or 7 start-ups since).

Crossroads are having it tomorrow anyway (service) but I suspect "glitch" possibly related to poor fuel this time.

Thanks for the advice. I know a) not to panic next time, and b) how to resolve it.

[RB Will]

same as mine then. Mine cured itself after exactly 48 hours. Same when it did it again months later, no matter how many starts I did. Glad it's OK.