Went on a 7hr drive today through South and Mid-Wales. On the way after about 2 1/2hrs the Check Engine light came on and stayed on for about 10mins. I stopped at a garage and everything appeared and sounded fine. When i started the engine the light never came on... Well not for another 3 hrs! On the way back on a motorway. So, on both occasions it only came on during long-constant 80-85mph speeds. It went off again once i left the motorway and hasnt appeared since - although I am a little nervous as to what may be wrong.
I've checked a couple of previous threads and found "The big list" of diagnostic codes.
Can anyone tell me exactly where the wires are which I need to connect together so I can have a look at this please. Under the steering column somewhere I believe? A step-by-step guide of what to do before I take to a garage would be good.
Its a 97 STi3 4-door classic BTW.

photos of the wires preferred.

I hope its not serious!

Thanks

Nick

 

Nick

haven't got any photo's but maybe these "instructions" will help...

(Mines a '94 UK Turbo - hopefully this will apply to yours aswell)

you are right in saying that the wires you need to connect together are under the dash. They are up under the drivers side dash, near enough directly up from the accelerator pedal. There should be a group of plugs/connectors together....none of them actually plugged into anything. This group will hopefully be easy to identify by the presence of two "lime green" plugs (these are used for a diagnostic mode check). To get at them you will need to lie right down in the footwell - it's not easy, and you'll need a torch.

The two connectors you need are black......however, there may very well be more than just two black connectors !!!

Take a look at the end of each of the black connectors (4 in total on mine) and study them carefully. You should find that only two of them will actually fit together....one consists of a single male spade connector and the other has a female spade connector.

With the ignition turned OFF, practice connecting the two black plugs together. You should find that they will go together easily, but getting them apart is a little harder. To get them apart you have to depress a small "lug" which has clipped the two together.

Once you're sure you've got the right two, make sure they are connected together and turn on the ignition - DON'T ACTUALLY START THE CAR. The check engine light should now flash the code (if it's stored one).

Long flashes - units of 10
Short flashes - single units.

e.g. Long, Long, Long, Short, Short = 32 (Lambda Sensor) etc....

Refer to that other post you found which lists the codes and their meanings.

Once you've got the code, turn the ignition off and disconnect the plugs.

I did mine just last weekend and found a code 45 - pressure sensor....new one's on it's way.

Hope this helps you a little....let us know how you get on and what code you find....

All the best,

Steve

P.S. - Usual "not my fault if anything goes wrong clause" inserts here.

 

I would guess O2 sensor

 

I have a STI 3 & the light has come on twice for no reason & both times in exactly the same place, entering Dover to catch the ferry to France just before the Shell Garage (is it a last Optimax before France warning)
Anyway massive panic the first time it happened as just off on a jolly through France, car ran perfectly for 2 weeks & when I got home no error could be found ???
About 6 months later off to the continent & same thing happened. car ran OK until I killed a head gasket at Imola (obviously not connected) but no errors found when the car came back.
Has anyone else had anything sililar, I guessed it was some sort of interference related thing.
I also had it once before after steady cruising as described in the thread, this was acompanied by slight hesitation when accelerating again after a long steady run, ie pulling away again after leaving the Motorway, the hesitation would clear at about 4000 rpm (turbo time) all was sorted by fittibg a new lambada sensor & fixing a wiring fault in the same area.

 

What a nightmare to get at those connectors - good job I'm quite slim!
The wires on my car are red/black and can be found in the area above the clutch pedal. Bloomin imports eh!

Found 3 error codes:

23 - Mass Air Flow Sensor
24 - Idle air Control Solenoid
32 - Oxygen sensor

Could the above errors be related to the Lambda thingy?

Is this serious and how much is it likely to cost?

Thanks

Nick

 

I could be wrong but -


23 - Mass Air Flow Sensor - this could be down to a contaminated/faulty MAF. Have you got a 3rd party air filter or induction kit?
24 - Idle air Control Solenoid - pass.... sorry
32 - Oxygen sensor - I had a faulty o2 sensor on my MY99 UK. Caused the car to stall on idle. Had it fixed under warrantee, but it is quite cheap


Sorry I can't be of more help, but best of luck getting it sorted.

Next time you're down in the Wales 'area', gimme a shout! I'm sure myself and the rest of the Hereford/Worcester crew would like a meet!!

All the best

Dan
edited coz I coont spol

[Edited by ScoobyDoo555 - 2/2/2003 10:18:50 AM]

 

re 'lamda thingy' the lamda sensor is the o2 sensor, code 32, isn't it?

I'm just going to do mine

James

 

How much James?
Is it easy enough job for one to tackle himself?

 

dunno, when i said i was going to do mine i meant check engine light.

I understand though that it's a bit of a pain to do on your year of car though as the o2 sensor is in the header as apposed to the later car which is in the neck of the d/p, by no means impossible to do yourself though! just check out it's location and get ya hands dirty!

James

 

My CHECK ENGINE light has been coming on for a few months first time I use the car in the morning. It comes on after a couple of miles and stays on for maybe a minute. When it is on it feels like the engine is a bit strangled, and then freed up when it goes off. I guess it is fuel or carb related???

Till I saw this thread I didn't know how to diagnose it - the dealer could not find any fault codes or recreate it.

Does the diagnostic process work for Legacy GTBs too does anyone know?

 

I had a very similar thing in my MY96 UK Turbo.
I only got 2 of the error codes, didn't get the MAF sensor error.
So I gave Subaru £170 to put a new Lambda sensor in and the light came on again. Turned out to be the wires to the lambda sensor being corroded, no more CEL now.
Cheers.
Ian.