i've got a classic year 2000 uk turbo,when i drive at full acceleration the car starts spluttering and my mate said there was puffs of black smoke coming out of the exhaust,when driving normally its fine,since the problem has occured the engine check light has started coming on for the first mile of driving then goes off,any ideas of what this might be related to,thanks

 

If you've got a check engine light, first thing to do is use the black plugs to find out what's causing/caused it. Search the board for info on how to do this if you're not sure. Tell us what the trouble codes are and it'll be easier for us to advise you.

Also worth telling us about your car's mods, state of tune etc. In addition, the more you tell us about the nature of the "spluttering", the better. Is it worse in a higher or lower gear, is it worse at specific engine speed ranges, etc etc.

 

I'm looking forward to an answer in relation to this one, I have a 1999 UK Turbo and the engine management light has come on twice very briefly.

This only occurs when the car has been sitting for a while, like 24 - 36 hours, and after the engine is let to warm up and then turned off and restarted the is no warning light.

There are no codes stored, and I too experience a bit of spluttering and by this I mean the acceleration is not smooth when the foot is flat to the board.

There is no black smoke.

The car itself is chipped, with an exhaust and uprated fuel pump, everything else is standard.

Cheers

 

If the CEL came on when the engine running, and yet you say there are no codes stored, there are only two possible explanations for this state of affairs:

1) Somewhere in your instrument panel there's an electrical short which temporarily causes the CEL to light up

2) There's something not quite right with the way you're checking the memory.

Bottom line is that if the ECU triggers the CEL, it will, must, store the code. It's not possible for it to not do so. Given the relatively small likelihood of (1), is it worth you double-checking the procedure you're using to put it in read memory mode?

Oh, edit, there's one more possibility

3) You have an aftermarket, non-Subaru ECU.

What sort of chip is this?

 

As in point 3 my GEMS ECU uses the CEL as a change light.

 

No idea what the chip is, bought it done, how can I find out?

 

knock detection (flick of cel 99-00 cars) or dreaded failing maf (not logging cel)????

 

Not unless it's an aftermarket ECU. Standard ones don't light the CEL when knock is detected, what makes you think otherwise?

No. As above if the CEL comes on with the engine running, there will be a trouble code logged. It doesn't work any other way.

Tom - if you're not sure what spec your car is you need to take it to someone who can tell you.

 

Just an update this happened again today and the car was only sitting for 10 hours while I was in work, the engine light stayed on this time so I let the car warm up, knocked it off then started it again for the engine light still to be on, and stay on.

The second I moved though and it went off, no performance issues and no codes stored.

Anyone any ideas?

 

There's nothing we can tell you without you first establishing what ECU (or chip, etc). you have. As said above, if you have a standard Subaru ECU, if the CEL comes on while you were driving, it will always store a fault code.

Therefore, if you say it doesn't, either you have a non-standard ECU, you're not checking the memory correctly (you're connecting the black plugs only, yes?) or there's some interaction with the "chip" causing the car to behave unusually.

We can't help you if we don't know what we're dealing with, and, as of now, you haven't given us the information necessary.