i have an 04 WRX w/ 15,705 miles on it and today my CEL light came on as i was cruising down hwy 85 in san jose down about 80. its a solid light, not blinking. yesterday i went to Thunderhill and did a track day and the car seemed fine after i left and got home; no funny noises or smells. drove smoothly and everything, still does even after the light came on. i have a up-pipe and down-pipe, i had them installed at MPJ last June and got the CEL fix from them. the first thing i did was grab the owners manual and took off my gas cap and put it back on, but the light is still there. also, i had gone about 200 miles from the last fill up before the light came on. somehow i dont think it has to do with my gas cap and it may be a result of the track day. the only engine mods i have are up-pipe, down-pipe and cat back; my airbox is completely stock and intact. anyone have any ideas?

 

I have same mods pretty much, catless up/down, catless catback. my cel came on yesterday also at 62,115 miles. had my up/dp installed last week, not sure if it is from that or just service due. Im going to take my car to subaru anyway next week for a 60k service. hopefully it is nothing big.

 

see, i'm hesitant to take it to a dealer since my car is catless

 

when you got your up/downpipes installed at GB Motorsport, did they do the electrical CEL fix?

the reason why i ask is b/c the mechanical fix seems to be a lot better in avoiding CEL's. when i had my downpipe installed, soren and i went to the auto store and picked up some anti-foul plugs to do the mechanical fix; they don't get too many requests for doing mechanical fixes.

 

i'm gonna assume that it was electrical since i did not request a mechanical fix. would the CEL fix "fail" after such a large period of time?

 

i'm not sure...there are reports of CEL's popping up after 500 miles, 2k, and even a few with more mileage, but i have not heard of one 15k miles after the install.

you should get a shop to pull the CEL code to see what it is before we assume anything.

 

yeah, i think i'm gonna go to MPJ wednesday. its been more like 6-7K since the CEL fix was done.

come to think of it, when i was on the track i over-revved my engine once and hit the rev-limiter twice, could that cause a problem? i just didnt really consder that because in the owner's manual its says that a solid CEL is a problem with the emissions control system.

 

anybody else?

 

i have a cel fix for my uppipe and it comes and goes every so often, it'll be on for like a few days and be off for like a month, then come back on again for a short while, no big deal to me

 

Seems to be the same with mine, it isn't on today... but was yesterday.

 

how do you know its for the celfix being flaky? Are you sure its not some other issue.

Kragen sells simple but complete and useful OBDII readers for ~110. If you're in SF,CA maybe you can come buy and use mine.

jason

 

i have the same problem with my cel. it comes on because of the o2 sensor that is connected to it. i dont know the code, but it doesnt do any harm to your engine because the emissons read at a very small decimal. ex: .0001 and if its off biy a little bit the cel comes on. go to a shop and get the code from them and then turn it off.

 

i suppose i should go down to a kragen or autozone and get it checked, but it hardly ever comes on and when i have time to go down to one of those places, it'll turn off. as soon as the holiday season is over and i have money again, i'll by some form of EM and be able to see what it is on my own time, but chirstmas and a trip to japan two days after are makeing me broke hopefully the value of the yen will go down and i'll be able to buy some badass stuff while i'm in tokyo

 

so i went to Santa Cruz subaru today and it turned out its an EGT issue. the first thing the Service manager asked after pulling the code was if i had an Up-pipe. he then cleared the code and told if it comes back on to call and make an appointment to have it fixed

 

I get the misfire codes all the time...However, from what I've been told, my car really isn't misfiring. I'll be doing about 65 - 80 and the CEL will come on. There is absolutely no indication in engine performance or noise that I had a misfire and the car runs just fine the whole time.