Hello,
I have an oranetg warning light appearing on my MY03 WRX.

The car hadn;t been driven in a couple of weeks due to me being away.

Anyway, I went to start it yesterday and the battery was flat, so i jump started it. let it idle for a while and planned to go for a drive. Unfortunately, i got a call from work and had to leave the car.
Later than day i went to take it for a drive and the battery was too low to start the engine, so again i jump started it, again i let it idle for a wee while when i was tidying up the jump cables and parking my wifes car again.

I got back into the car and noticed the orange light. I checked teh handbook and it was listed as the OBD sensor.
I drove to the bottom of the street and back again, and teh car felt like it wasn;t revving properly between 1k and 2k revs.
I decided against driving it until i could find out what the problem may be.

Any ideas or suggestions will be gratefully received.


Chris

 

Sounds like the check engine light or MIL, the car has detected a fault and gone into some form of loimp home (or the reason it has no power has set the fault, chicken and egg), reset the ECU first and see if that improves it, if so its likely it was just in limp home.

Simon

 

I had this a few weeks ago after the car had been stood a week. It started but turned over slowly and the engine management light came on and stayed on which the manual said was "fault with emissions system"

idle was irratice for about a week but after a few drives the battery re-charged and the car managed to run all its checks again and the light went out. Been fine since. Was a bit funny at idel as i say, swapping between 500rpm and 2000rpm so was a bit lumpy but ok on the move.

5t.

 

Cheers for teh swift responses.

How do i reset the ECU?

Chris

 

pull the battery cables for half an hour.

 

excellent. I'll do that when i get home tonight.

After reset, i take it i just fill it with 98 RON fuel and take it on a long drive?

Chris

 

Scoobypedia | Trusted knowledge for everything Subaru | Scoobypedia browse worth having a look at.

Doesn't have to be a long drive as the new age ecu learns quickly.

 

Might take a few runs though. Mine took a week and apparently it has to do the test and get good results three times. If it is still trying to discover its idle point again it might be a while before it gets consistant results and is happy enough to turn the light out. Luck of the draw really.

5t.

 

Your battery is probably coming to the end of its life about now, I've just had to change mine (MY03).

 

That Scoobypedia site says that leaving the battery detached will not reset the ECU on my year of car. Is that correct?

Chris

 

This is a new battery that went in it earlier this year. I'm a bit annoyed at halfords right now regarding that.

Chris

 

I got an Evo battery which is much smaller than the original and seems (so far) to be just fine.

 

Anyone got any comments on this question above?

Sorry to be a pain in the ****, but i've been driving my wifes Aygo 'sport' for the last two weeks and i'm getting sick of it. I really want to get mine fixed without having to give any money to a dealer.


Chris

 

As far as i know the 'disconnect the battery' trick doesn't work on new age.
tbh it shouldn't cost much to get the code even from a dealer or go to your nearest scooby specialist.

 

Where are you? I have a cheap OBD port reader which will tell you what. The other thing is that a "soft" error will self-delete after 4-5 normal starts so if you haven't already done so give it a few more starts.

 

I'm in Glasgow, so probably not close enough to borrow a code reader.

I might whip the battery out, give it a charge (assuming i can blag a battery charger from somewhere) and try again.

Chris

 

Seriously if it is just the one light and idle is an issue you will want to charge the battery and keep an eye on it (don't boot it) but several starts (from cold) should hopefully fix it like mine did.

Remember it needs 3 consecutive 'clear' test results and like i say i believe that is from cold too so it probably won't go off with 4 or 5 starts, possibly more like 10 or 15

5t.

 

Thanks for the advice folks. The battery has been disconnected over night. I will jump start it tonight and take it for a gentle drive and see how it goes.

Cheers

Chris

 

Hello all,
after charging up the battery and taking the car for a few drives the orange light has happily decided to turn itself off after only 3 or 4 starts.
Cheers for the advice.

Chris