I know there have been several posts on this subject but has anyone actually had the problem fixed. The problem is that after holding a constant frottle anywhere between 2.7 to 3.5k rpm and then flooring it, there is very little boost/power delivery. This only appears to happen in 2nd gear. I know that I never used to have this problem on my MY99 and that it has only recently started happening. I also know that not all cars do it, but a high percentage do.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated because my dealer says they have not heard of this problem.

 

Orville,

I would suggest you fit a boost gauge, if you haven't done so already. It will allow you to give a more concise description of the problem e.g. occasionally the car only delivers 0.5bar of boost - why is this?, rather than 'it feels slower than normal'.

Cheers,

Alex

 

At my last service 15.000, I printed off the last thread on this subject and explained to the dealer it was such a problem that I was thinking of selling the car. They appear to have fixed it, plus the car pulls like a train Try doing the same. Dont put up with this F*$king problem.

 

What did they do to fix it ?

Jonathan

 

What dealer fixed it?

 

I have a 97MY and noticed this trait, subjectively, whilst out driving....hold 2nd gear as per a passing manover, floor it feels slower than it should.....

Have since fitted a boost gauge and it has confirmed the feeling!

Full boost is 12-13PSI 2nd gear transient
Hold 2nd and floor it boost is 8PSI!

My only thought is that this is in the ECU strategy as a transmission / differential protection messure.

When opening the throttle in this manner you are putting a huge tq spike into the transmission, the reduced boost charateristic may be Subaru`s answer........

 

JamesS,

Maybe, but what would be the point in configuring the ECU to limit torque unless this is also the case in 1st gear? The driveline will **always** be transmitting maximum torque in 1st thanks to lower gearing...

More likely to be a bug/design problem.

Cheers,

Alex

 

I have heard the theory about the ECU being programmed to prevent too much torque going through the transmission. I cannot believe it for the following reasons.
1). How does the ECU know which gear you are using as the gearbox is mechanical.
2). If you hold the car at 4000rpm then floor it, full boost is obtained immediately. This dumps more power through the transmission than at 3000rpm.
3). There are no reports of STI's doing this anywhere in their rev range and they dump much more power through a slightly toughrnrd transmission.
4). Not all cars do it. My car never did it once during the fisrt 6000 miles.
5). Why is it intermittant? sometimes my car picks up properly when doing this.

I have heard other theories,- faulty MAF and Knock sensore etc. What we need to know is how many people have actually had it fixed and exactly what was done to fix it. I believe there is a common component or design fault with our cars. It is also probable that Subaru/IM know of it, and have a fix for it but keep it quiet so to avoid a queue of turbos waiting to be fixed. I bet this problem doesn't exist on any test cars sent to car mags for review.

 

Orville,

I agree its unlikey its for tq control. As for ECU recognising gear - this is done by vehicle speed / engine speed calculation in the ECU.

Also power at 4000rpm will be higher than 3000 but tq will be less. Tq is the killer......

However as you correctly say it looks like an intermittant fault and any clues on a fix would be nice!

 

Has anyone actually contacted IM directly about this, I ahve hesitancy between 2500 and 3000rpm in second and will be contacting them if it is not fixed soon. Looks like we should start a petition ti Im to sort this out.

 

The car was serviced by Heritage of Leicester, very well I might add. The car has now done 16.500 miles and it is still pulling so much better. Give them a call/take it for a service and I'm sure they will try to fix it. After a poor buying experience with the Garage, credit is due they did an excellent job on my car. Fingers crossed you all get the problem fixed, my cars a joy to drive again

 

Orville, the symtoms you are descibing are spot on the same as what my car was doing. See similar titled post.