Mark T2000

Hi guys,

Bought another classic impreza 99 UK Turbo 2000 2 weeks ago. Had a bug eye wrx and 98 turbo 2000 in the past too. Anyway, having a few issues with my new one and looking for some advice.

The car has the following -

99 UK Turbo 2000
Blitz gauze cone filter
2" toyosports up pipe
Full HKS decat pipe
Adjustable boost control
Silicone hoses
E3 AE800 ECU
Yellow injectors (seller told me this)

Basically i am having the following problems -

CEL light is on, occasionally goes out briefly on the motorway but mostly on all the time. When i bought the car it had an exhaust blow from the standard up pipe. The CEL would come on and go off randomly. Since fitting the larger diameter up pipe a couple days ago the CEL is on more permanently.

The car surges and hesitates whilst building revs from low down. Its like the power is coming in in steps, more, less, bit more etc. When boost comes in and revs build faster it then pulls smooth and hard. Boosts to 1.1 bar and holds ok during short bursts, bust drops down on motorway to 0.6 bar. Car seems to run rougher on motorway than shorter roads with higher revs.

Engine has the odd pop from exhaust between gear changes, and has a noticable smell of petrol when stopping with windows open.

If anyone has any advice or any ideas what may be causing any of the issues id be very grateful! Im thinking of a few possiblities, dirty maf from cone filter, fueling out due to decat pipe etc, or maybe something electrical? Would a remap cure all my problems, or just help? I had a Ecutek remap done on my wrx in 07 by JGM, which was great, but havent got that sort of money available at the moment.

Cheers guys!

Mark

Mark T2000

kevo10

Hi. Seeing as how your cel is on , have you done a diagnostic using the green connectors under the dash? It could very well be your maf but check and clean the boost solenoid valve

kevo10

Sos . missed the adj boost valve lol

Mark T2000

Hi, havent read the codes yet. Just been looking online and can see there is a way of doing it with the connectors and reading the flashes from the cel? I kind of assumed the cel would come and go because of the decat pipe but not so sure now

kevo10

Good place to start is by connecting and counting the flashes . It will give some idea whats up or could be more than one issue

Mark T2000

Cheers for your help. I'll try do the check tomorrow morning. Just anoying that the car starts fine, idles fine, runs fine on boost from about 4k, but hesitates on and off until boost kicks in

Mark T2000

Update:

Cleaned my air filter and maf sensor last night, both were filthy and covered in crap. Left the battery disconnected overnight to reset ecu. Fitted all back and drove car this morning, ran a little better but still some slight hesitation and cel light is on.

Just read the codes and its showing codes 22 and 23

22 Knock Sensor*
23 Mass Air Flow Sensor Circuit*

Does anyone have any advice on where to go from here?

Thanks in advance

Mark T2000

Anyone?

Do i need to replace maf and knock sensors? Or maybe just maf?

Gambit

iTrader: (6)

Replace maf and get a standard airbox on instead of cone otherwise you'll be replacing maf again very soon

Clear codes and if knock sensor comes back then replace that also

Mark T2000

Cheers for the reply.

Where is the best place to buy a genuine maf? Found one on ebay for 115 quid, but is there any other places that supply genuine mafs at good prices?

Also is it worth going genuine for the knock sensor or will a pattern part be ok?

Thanks

Doobie

Here for the MAF, double check part number though

http://www.importcarparts.co.uk/parts-info.asp?id=1141

Tidgy

before going on, DO NOT TRY AND DRIVE THROUGH THE PROBLEMS, may well cause the engien to fail.

Has the car been mapped for the mods? manual boost valves are a bad idea, so sounds like someone has bodge moded it and then sold it on.

Best bet get it to a specialist to look at it and sort it properly

Mark T2000

Ive ordered a new genuine maf so will fit that before driving it again. Its not my daily drive (got a van for that ) so dont need to risk keep driving it. The only real mods are the decat pipe, larger up pipe and blitz cone filter. Would it need a map for that? I thought the E3 ecu could handle that?

Mark T2000

After reading a few induction vs air box threads online, ive just ordered a standard air box setup too

What is the most reccomended panel filter that doesnt cause maf issues but good flow?

Doobie

Just the standard one really, some people put in a green cotton or cosworth one.

Mark T2000

Are the standard paper ones any good? For the price you could change it every 1000 miles. Or is it worth going for a performance one? Dont wanna loose to much power changing from the blitz IK to the air box/panel setup

Cheers

FMJ

iTrader: (2)

If it's not running properly you are not going to be getting any benefit from that IK anyway! Get it all back to standard (Air box, Dump valve, boost control etc) Then get it to a specialist to get the map checked. The problems you have could be so many different things you could spend thousands on parts and never solve it.

A new MAF won't do any harm as they all need changing at some point anyway. As for a pattern knock sensor.... think of it's job. It detects knock and then alerts the ECU. Knock kills engines. Want to trust a cheapo one? Probably not worth it. The genuine ones are not that dear.

This is the problem with people buying these old badly modded Impreza's. Who knows what some muppet did before and how long they drove it with issues causing damage.

Mark T2000

Cheers for the info.

My immediate corse of action is going to be a new maf sensor, standard airbox setup, and ecu reset. I have the boost turned down at the moment to around .8 bar whilst investigating the issues. If the knock sensor still throws a code after this i will replace that with a genuine part immediately. If after these steps im still getting codes and hesitation i'll have to let the car sit for a while to save the money for a remap.

Cheers again guys. Im hoping that after a bit of time and effort the car will be solid and reliable. The rest of the car is lovely and in a dark mica red metalic colour so looks the part, just need to get it running right

Mark T2000

Update

Just fitted a new maf sensor, cleared the codes and took it for a light run round the block. Cel came on after about 5 mins and stayed on. Car still hesitates whilst building revs. Checked codes and only have code 22 now for knock sensor. Looks like i need a new sensor, but a couple of quick questions. Is there anything that can cause the knock sensor code apart from a faulty sensor? Can the cone filter cause knock issues? Standard air box should be here Friday so will fit that asap.

Cheers guys

Doobie

Nope 22 only means faulty sensor. Make sure you have a 12" extender bar for your socket set as the sensor is awkward to get to.

Nick_Cat

iTrader: (5)

Knock sensor is a relatively common problem. Mine went a while ago and the CEL was flashing intermittently, but there wasn't any obvious problem with the way the car drove. Got a genuine one from Import Car parts (01388 834204), total was £73.50.

Nick

Mark T2000

Cheers. I ordered a new genuine one on ebay for 65 quid

I took the old sensor out last night and gave it a good clean. It was all crusted up and def couldn't have been making a decent connection. I did notice a small crack on the side of the black plastic. After a good clean of the sensor and block i refitted but still no difference at all. I was getting hopeful that it was just dirty but no luck

Paben

iTrader: (5)

There are so many sensors and possibilities for problems on these cars it is easy to forget to check out the 'traditional' problems first. I had very similar trouble with my Bug: severe hesitation when accelerating, pops and bangs in the exhaust, very poor idling and all without the CEL coming on. Wanting to eliminate the easy stuff first I fitted new plugs. The old ones looked ok but with slightly wide gaps (35 thou or so) but the new ones cured the problem and the car now runs fine again. Just a thought.

kevo10

I know you havent had a code come up for them, but you could try cleaning the crank and cam sensor .