check engine light on..... help

C

cwiggin

New member
my 05 legacys check engine came on! When I go to put it into drive or reverse it wants to stall out. Its idleing between 0 and 1k real rough. Went to VIP and got a battery test done, said battery was fine, then did a load test and that was low!! Anyone know what the issue could be????

 
They didn't just scan it for you? I don't have any confidence in 90% of VIP garage guys, this just enforces it.

Find someone to scan it an get us the code.

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apkarian100 said:
Could it be something related to the hella horns you installed today? Have you ever had this issue before?
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no, was running fine this morning!! that's what I was thinking, cuz started acting weird after I got them on! but I unhooked them from the battery thinking maybe its the horns, but hoojed terminals back up n it kept doing it!

CoupedUpSubie said:
Scan the computer for codes like P0406 or something, OBD2 codes.

(null)
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gonna bring it to a shop in the am to get thecheck light scanned

 
Check for vacuum leaks. That's an idle air control code which is why it won't idle. I bet you unhooked something or something came off and you didn't notice it.

 
Matt00RS25 said:
Check for vacuum leaks. That's an idle air control code which is why it won't idle. I bet you unhooked something or something came off and you didn't notice it.
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theres no leaks anywheres on the intake or throttle body, air filter looks kinda dirty, and ckeaned maf sensor, how do I check for vacuum leaks??

 
Grab a can of 'starter fluid' and spray it on vacuum hose/intake connections while the car is running. it will raise the idle if you hit one. Then check for cracked hoses or a loose connection.

 
What did you clean the MAF with? they're delicate, if you use something besides MAF cleaner you can screw it up.

Sometimes a MAF can go bad, but not throw a code. Just send erroneous data. I had one doing that to me, it wasn't failed enough to set a maf code, but it was dicking the idle around and setting other codes for other things. Quite obnoxious to diagnose.

 
I would not recommend anyone spraying an engine with a starter fluid especially if they are unfamiliar with what to look for, also if there was any spark leakage (even slight) from a coil or wire you could have a potential explosion. I generally use a (certain type) of brake clean which wont take paint off surfaces or melt certain types of rubber such as most carb clean, but like I said if not known what doing then test is pointless.

Was the battery unhooked when you installed the horns? possibly something reset after hookup?, lots of maybes and I am not super familiar with your situation or going to pretend to be. Is one of the boards technically gifted members close to you, such as Meyagi? Having them look at it would probably save time and aggrevation.

 
jaKe said:
I would not recommend anyone spraying an engine with a starter fluid especially if they are unfamiliar with what to look for, also if there was any spark leakage (even slight) from a coil or wire you could have a potential explosion. I generally use a (certain type) of brake clean which wont take paint off surfaces or melt certain types of rubber such as most carb clean, but like I said if not known what doing then test is pointless.

Was the battery unhooked when you installed the horns? possibly something reset after hookup?, lots of maybes and I am not super familiar with your situation or going to pretend to be. Is one of the boards technically gifted members close to you, such as Meyagi? Having them look at it would probably save time and aggrevation.
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Yea I unhooked the battery when installing the horns, and after it was all done and car back together left to pick up kids at school, car kept stalling, runs on idle then wants to stall as soon as put in drive or reverse. Im not real experianced and knowledgable on everything with the engine. But VIP automatically said alternator, figured peeps on here would give bettet advice than them.

 
With the idle air code I highly doubt it's electrical. With a vacuum leak you may or may not hear it. Go through the whole engine bay and look for unhooked or cracked hoses.

Also pickup a can of throttle body cleaner. That could cause the problem as well. I cleaned mine and it idles better now.

 
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The alternator doesn't sound likely. Take a volt meter and check how much power your battery has while off. Start the car. check how much power is on the battery terminals. It should be up around 13.5ish. Definitely NOT below 12. If you can reach over and just rev the engine a little and check to see what it is while running. that will give you a good idea. post results on here.

 
my point before about unhooking the battery is sometimes it resets things and things like idle air control motor (if equipped) or throttle body, may do a re learn sweep and or stupid ecm quirk can cause a fault to crop up such as in your case. Like on a old vw for example, sometimes loss of battery power can cause need to reset throttle body adaptation. that's why I recommend talking to regular subie guys who may have experienced this. also google is wonderful. try google "I unhooked my battery in my __ subaru and got fault ____." you may run across a forum where identical issue happened and some kind of fix was found. just advise that's not guessing.

 
just clean the throttle body and itll be fine.......computer reset itself as if it were brand new and its prob dirty as all hell so it isn't reading properly. I just did thisd on an oldder fozzy I did the valve covers on,had to remove the battery and she ran like poo until I cleaned the throttle body.....I guarantee this is fix

 
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