Hey,

This site is a great resource. Thank you guys!

Like many on here I see – I am also an old school DSM’er who just sold my 91 Galant VR4 and purchased an 02 WRX Wagon. I absolutely love it. I have had every kind of DSM from a stock 1990 AWD to owning David Buschur’s old backhalved 1G RWD Talon. I currently own a 1992 Eagle Talon with 58K original miles on it which has gone a best of 10.5 @ 137. I also buy and restore DSMs.

I bought my 02 from a private seller down in CT – have been driving it two weeks with no engine codes. Car has Prodrive cat back – and Perrin short ram intake. Otherwise stock engine. The person I bought it from did say the previous owner before him may have had an ECU flash – but he was not sure.

Well I went today to change the boost gauge from the Suby steering column mounted one measuring in MPA ??? YUCK! To a “normal” PSI one  Seemed like a simple enough job!

To do so – I took off intercooler – took off BOV – took off throttlebody and did mild port job to eliminate step on intake side of TB. Wired light from boost gauge to purple cruise control wire going to cruise control switch in panel under steering column. (this wire received power when car on and lights turned on).

I disconnected the battery (not thinking and dis-connected the positive terminal instead of the negative). The battery was disconnected for about 2 hours.

I go to start the car up – and the check engine light comes on! It is flashing like mad!

My DRB2 reader says it has 6 codes! Here are the codes as they appear on the reader device:

P0500 Veh Speed Sensor A
P1518 Idle speed control
P1591 Idle speed control auto inputs
P0136 bank 1 sensor circuit malfunction
P0136 (bank 1 sensor 2)
P0131 02 sensor circuit low volts bank 1 sensor 1

I tried to clear them and it says they are cleared. Turned the car off came back later and the same codes are there again. I did not get a chance to drive the car. Also I am not sure if it is worth mentioning – when I turn the ignition switch to the on position my fans are cycling on and off like crazy and there is a clicking sound from engine bay.

I did not get to drive the car around – Will doing that re-set the ECU and then I can make the codes go away permanently? Will they go away if I drive the car a few times and put some miles and few trips on it?

Boy, I am a freakin Subie NEWB!

Anyone have any experience with this type of possession! Or any suggestions. Beyond that I should have stayed with simple 1G DSMs 

Thanks in advance.

--Bruce Kwartler
www.punisher-racer.com
92 Eagle Talon (10.5 @ 137)
02 Subie WRX (slower than that by much!)

 

Check the electrical connectors on the throttle body as that's what most of the codes are referring to. Maybe one got left off?

 

Checked all the connectors (3) -- they are all snapped on there good

--Bruce K.

 

Go under the driver side dash. Find the two green connectors that are plugged together and disconnect them. Problem solved.
Either you, or someone else who was under there, saw them hanging and plugged them in thinking they are supposed to be connected. They're not. They are for dealer PDI and diagnostic use only (also used when loading AP maps), and otherwise must be left alone.
If any codes remain after unplugging the green plugs, then there is in fact a problem and you'll need to troubleshoot those codes further.

 

Thank you so much! That was the problem. I had thought I had disconnected the green connector while I was working under the dash and re-connected it. A local dyno shop told me that same info as well. No check engine lights now. Thanks again.

--Bruce K.