I recently bought a 99 turbo 2000 (20/12/03) and 9 days later it packed up.The dealer is fixing the car at his expense but says it is due to the ECU and it is a common problem with 99 cars.It is my first scooby and I want to know if this is true and am I letting myself into trouble keeping this car?

Hope this is the right place to post as its my first time on scoobynet CHEERS!!!

 

Having reprogrammed many of these ECU I can confirm that this is exceedingly rare.

Does the dealer have technical service bulletins to back up what they are saying?

It is a common ploy by garages to replace ECUs when they don't know what the cause of the problem is, a lot lack the diagnostic skills and/or equipment to get to the bottom of a problem so blame the bit they least understand.

Call me cynical if you like, but I know the 99/00 ECUs inside out and have reprogrammed loads of them.

 

the dealer states I have melted a piston but the car has full service history and had covered only 500 miles from I picked it up. He is replacing the engine/rebuilding it and says he has put in a new 2000 spec ECU along with a new timing belt . The car gas 57000 miles and has been serviced every 8000 miles with the timing belt being done at 45000 miles.

As a newbie to all this I am remaining optimistic

 

It's highly unlikely the ECU is the reason the engine failed. It's most likely to be either the MAF sensor or the fuel pump have deteriorated. They should replace the MAF sensor before the ECU, its the most common fault that causes this type of failure on the MY99/00. If they dont replace this sensor and it is faulty expect another melted engine soon. It's only £75 too.

 

Ah,now melting pistons is almost a subaru impreza pastime,

 

The wek before I picked up the car it was running very badly on the test drive and the said they had replaced an air flow meter/sensor. Is this the same as the MAF? Thanks for the replies and sorry for being such a know nothing dipstick!!!!

 

Yes, the MAF is the Mass Air Flow sensor used to measure the amount of air going into the engine. They replaced this sensor after you tested it but before you bought it?

 

Sorry about that checking all the other threads!!
Yes I test drove the car and it was misfiring and down on power, they then serviced it and said they tried new plugs/leads etc but it turned out to be the MAF. I then tested it again and it was like a new car smooth power delivery etc. I then bought but noticed the car coming on/off boost but before I could take it back due to xmas it sorted itself out. Then it just stopped? The dealer is not a scooby specialist but does deal in performance cars and gave me 12 month warranty. Thank God!!

 

Just wondering if they cleaned the MAF and didnt replace it? Thats not unheard of but a no no on the MY99/00. Make sure they replaced the MAF and get them to do some basic tests such as fuel flow as fuel pump degredation is a posible cause too. They should have carried out an ECU reset after changing the MAF too, they might not have if they arent Subaru aware.

 

THANKYOU for all the info and assistance it is much appreciated!!!

At least when I go to pick it up I will at least have a few knowledgable sounding questions to ask!!!

CHEERS ALL

 

Pleasure. Good luck with the car.

 

Not. Bust MAF sensors are common problems with '99 cars. Bust ECU's are exceptionally rare. Failing fuel pumps and/or pressure regulators can also cause the scenario your car has experienced.

No, in a word. Sounds a bit like they're making it up as they go along.

Sounds like it's been running lean. That's a classic symptom of a failing MAF sensor.

If it had been driven for a period of time on a deteriorating MAF sensor, the damage would have been gradual, and most would have been done before you actually test-drove the car.

Replacing the timing belt is a good move. Fitting an MY2000 (AE802) ECU is a bad one however. IIWY if they're so keen to change it I'd insist they fit another MY99 (AE800 or AE801) part. The AE802 is known to cause hesitancy and sluggish running, as well as even poorer fuel economy.

As John says, you should make absolutely certain that they have fitted a *brand new* MAF sensor rather than clean the existing one or fit a secondhand unit from another car. The correct functioning of this device is crucial to the health of the engine, and it's worth making sure that the garage haven't cut any corners in this area.

 

Subaru did I believe associate the 99 ECU with some engine failures (although I can't see anything in the maps which are dodgy apart from the way it deals with low octane fuel compared with the 00). But the ECU itself failing is unlikely.

The real failure cause as discussed above is likely to be something else, and just replacing the ECU is likely to lead to another failure IMHO.