gavwright

Hi all - a very glum Gav here at the minute. My MY00 is very poorly. Symptoms;
I've been running him on SUL. Fine. Last tank but one I used one bottle of Millers and rest SUL. Today I filled up with SUL, and I also changed my air filter for a Pipercross panel filter. Still running very nicely.
Coming home from work I gave him some gun all the way to the rev limiter in second, then changed into third to carry on the fun. Scooby wasn't playing. Half a second after changing up, he got very upset and stopped the game. Now he'll only hit half boost, and the idle is very erratic - anything between 0 (he conked out once, when driving slowly) and 800. Not a steady 800 rpm, as he has been doing.
I reset the ECU by connecting green to green and black to black - still running like a dog, but there didn't seem anything untoward with the 'check engine' flashing steadily, as I believe it should.
I looked under the bonnet to see if I'd disturbed any pipes - I don't think so, everything seems fine. I've changed the air filter back to the std Subaru one - and reset the ECU gain. Still the same.
No matter what I do, the boost won't go above 0.5 bar, and if I try to put my foot on the gas too much, he just kangaroos.
Prognosis, please! Please, please!!!!
Could the wastegate solenoid be knackered? I don't know.

Thanks,

Gav

Sith

I don't know the answer. But I know what I would do. Go straight to the dealer.

P.

gavwright

I'd be there already if it wasn't past his bedtime.....
Off to KT Green's tomorrow. Hope they can fit me in!
Gav.
Still Glum.
BTW - great idea, all this charity stuff. If I wasn't so glum I'd be joining in. Maybe tomorrow.

R19KET

Gavin,

You've almost certainly over oiled the filter, and contaminated the AFR. Ask your dealer what they would suggest you use to clean it. Be very careful as it's quite fragile on the later cars.

Mark. Ps. You'll need to replace the filter for the original, whilst it's cleaned, and re oiled.......lightly.

gavwright

Thanks Mark - that's what a couple of people have suggested on IWOC. It does fit all the facts, so that's probably the ailment. Just need to cure it now. I've already put the paper filter back.
How do you suggest I proceed with the Pipercross? Do I actually need to clean it (bearing in mind it's not actually dirty), or could I just use some kitchen roll to soak up the excess fluid?
Cheers,
Gav

sunilp

Does the pipercross need cleaning and reoiling generally?. I.e., is it like a K&N - i thought it was a foam filter and thus you just discarded it once it got too dirty?

If it can be cleaned and re-oiled, would it be best to clean (to remove all oil) and reoil VERY lightly?

Perhaps someone much more technical can come back to this?

Sunil

gavwright

Hi Sunil,
You *can* clean and re-oil, however to be honest if it got that dirty I'd throw it away and start again.
It's a brand new filter which comes unoiled, along with a wee spray can of 'dust retention fluid' - oily stuff to you and I - with which the instructions say to 'fully cover all surface area' or words to that effect. So that is what I did. Oil was certainly not dripping off it - but then again I made sure it was well covered. For the simple reason I didn't want any dirt somehow finding its way through the filter and into the engine!
KT Green have been helpful over the 'phone (although not giving a diagnosis - they want to plug it in before they do that), but they can't fit me in till a week on Tuesday. Glum, glum, glum.

Mike Wood of Prodrive answered a thread on iwoc(same subject) - he says this is precisely why Prodrive don't fit a replacement panel filter for MY99/00 - because the MAF sensor is now hot film (it used to be hot wire) and is VERY sensitive to contamination.

My point is....why on earth does it have to be ***SO*** darn sensitive, to a bit of oil?! After all, I'm sure the engine wouldn't complain too much about a little bit of oil.....

Gav

WALKER

Gav.........

You say that it was a panel filter you fitted, have you snapped the airbox back together properly. The bottom joint is quite fiddly. I had the same problem when the wife took over my car. I took off the hks induction kit and put the original box back on, i didn`t locate the bottom lugs of the air box correctly and it drew air in behind the filter.
It ran like a absolute dog, the same symptons as you describe. When i put it back together properly it resolved the problem imediately.
Hope this helps.

Paul

sunilp

Gav, if the MAF has got some oil on it then that can be carefully cleaned off. Maybe u can blag a new one under warranty ;-)

I suggest you do clean and LIGHTLY reoil the filter.

Whats done is done, dont worry - everyone is a smart *** with hindsight.

Sunil

gavwright

Paul - interesting you should say that. I had a helluva job getting the box back together - so much so that, unfortunately, I am sure the lugs at the back are located correctly. Having said that.....I *will* check this, to make absolutely certain!
Thanks.
Sunil - Green's have been even more helpful - car is now booked in this coming Tuesday (a week early), and they are going to have at least a look at it while I wait. We shall wait and see what happens......but if it *is* the MAF, then I'm not going to risk screwing it up again - I'll just keep the original paper one on. After all - I don't actually expect more horsepower from the change.....and if it runs better with a paper filter than an oily foam one - who am I to argue?
I'll take the whole thing apart tomorrow - have a look at the airbox, make sure it's all fitting together properly, and peer closely at the hot film sensor, see if there's anything obvious I can clean off. Very carefully! On IWOC there were a couple of people who say they've tried cleaning the MAF - and failed....
Ho Hum.
Thanks for all the suggestions, anyway.

Gav. Still pretty glum. But, Hey - at least my fuel consumption's good! about 90 miles from a 1/4 tank at the minute...

gavwright

Hi Guys,

I've now taken the airbox off, along with the airflow meter, taken the sensor
out and looked closely. The sensor itself doesn't look as though it's the
slightest bit contaminated - i.e. the whole surface looks the same, apart from a
couple of obvious manufacturing imperfections. There *was* some oil hanging
around the box, but very little. I've cleaned it all up, anyway. Hope this makes
some difference. Anyway, off to the garage on Tuesday if not totally better by
then. I'll probably try an ECU reset first, but I'm a bit tied up today as my
son's a bit poorly and I've been left babysitting. At least it means I get to
watch the kids' progs without anyone thinking I'm wierd ;-)
Of course - I may just be able to change over my rear speakers later on, without
the wife wingeing!

Gav

sunilp

I ran a ITG induction kit from scoobysport for many miles on my MY99 and it never caused any problems.....

gavwright

Hi All,

Scooby has now been seen by the doctor (KT Green of Otley) and has been cured. The problem did, indeed, lie with the MAF sensor, but only in the fact that a pipe had come off and water was being sucked up onto the sensor. Quick blow dry and it's now as right as rain (ho ho).

Now I *thought* all pipes were connected, but as I've professed before I'm actually a bit of a mechanical duffer. Green's did say it *looked* connected.....

Anyway - they fitted me in as soon as they could, despite being short on mechanics (how often do we hear that?!), no problems at all with it being a Dutch import, they looked at it while I waited (and I could tell they were looking at it, as I could hear my funky Devil exhaust through the wall!), they took about an hour and a half but only charged me for one hour. Still £58, but it could have been worse.

Thanks for all replies, they helped keep me going through a really Glum patch!

Cheers,

Gav

Pete Croney

Gav, are you sure they said MAF and not MAP?

If it had been the MAF that had failed, you would have got an error code when you connected the plugs under the dash. If the MAP gets contaminated, it throws up all sorts of weird readings, but rarely gives an error code. The most common cause of faulty MAP readings is overfilling the oil at service, as this then finds its way into the MAP and gives spurious readings.

gavwright

Hi Pete - what they actually said was 'air flow sensor' - I believe this is the MAF? If not - I stand corrected. Still very much learning about Scoobs! I come from a Pug background - 205 GTi, 309 GTi, 106 Rallye, 306 Rallye.
Anyway - whatever. There were no error codes - either when I did an ECU reset or when they did whatever they do to diagnose problems. There was also no chance of oil contamination by overfilling, as the oil level was almost off the dipstick (oops). Hey - I've only had the car seven weeks, I didn't realise you needed to check the oil that frequently!
Whatever the bit that got confused was called - it was more than likely my fault when I was installing the Pipercross filter, as I did have rather a battle getting the top of the airbox back on - I probably loosened the pipe then, and it came right off when I was giving the car some welly later on.
So - I've now driven back to work from the garage (10 miles) and back home (25 miles) and taken a detour (another five miles or so). Lots of country lanes round here, along with a road along a dam. Hee, hee, hee! My Devil exhaust sounded amazing bouncing off the wall!
I'm just a big kid.


Gav