Please help as i am a newbie. 93 wrx , love the car , had it a couple of months.Lateley whilst accelerating sometimes it goes like hell, sometimes it won,t. The problem seems to be turbo related, i have noticed if i accelerate graduley there is more chance of it working fine . can anyone advise me? thanks.

hey fizzled
Top choice of car :D and welcome to owning a scooby!!!!
As for ure 'rough' start with owning a scoob the prob im afraid it could me numerous things. You got anymore details?
Have you checked the plugs/coil packs/leaking turbo pipes etc / you put cleaner through intake the system? octane booster is a must and shell optimax.

Thanks for replying. when i got the car it wes running a1 (a bit obvious)i changed timing belt plugs etc, still no problems then the fault appeared intermitantley and has now developed into being not much fun to drive.even the missis complains about it. cool car though.

You may have a fault being registered by the ECU Click Here and this will give you instructions to check if any have been registered.

Do you mean, it feels like it cut's out. Or it feels like the turbo is not really doing anything?

it feels like the turbo is not working one moment then is the next , when it isn,t it makes loads of noise but no go. when it is it is awsome,it seems that at non turbo speeds it drives well,no miss or flat spotbut when the turbo is due it is intermitent.thanks again for all reply,s.

to add. no ecu codes have appeared.

Has the car been fitted with any aftermarket goodies? ie dump valve, boost controller etc?

The only bits it has is a magnex centre and back box, it still has its down pipe cat.I want to do some mod,s to the car but pointless until i sort the current problem out .

possible knock sensor, i had mine into subaru and no fault codes. but a couple of trips to well lane and she was sorted. if it still sometimes works fine as mine did it shouldn't be anythink major mechanical. if not already, run it on optimax and give it time adjust, or disconnect the battery for a couple of minutes to reset the ecu, incase it is detonating on low octane fuel. if its detonating or the knock sensor is faultly it will drop the boost to around 6 psi instead of 13psi and retard the ignition. the engine note will change and loss of power, about 50 bhp. knock sensor £40 plus an hours labour.

Does the problem occur as the RPM approaches the 4-5K mark? As this is where peak boost will produced also suggesting you may, as previously said have a coil pack problem which is normally highlighted under boost conditions ;)

yes the problem appears 4-5k rpm, I think i am going to start with the knock sensor .Thanks for all you,r comments,MUCH APPRECIATED .

could it not be the MAF sensor????

It could be the MAF... does it idle ok? or does the rev needle go boing boing a few times before settling?

It idles good very smooth , no complaints in the lower end , only when the turbo is due 3k and up

I too questioned this with a couple of well known subaru specialists,And apparently,Its quite a common thing.Thay said,The early ecu`s were a little crude ....In that part of the rev range,And the sti`s are even more so,Due to the VF22 turbo having more lag...So it sounds like,We either have to put up with it OR get another ECU....The later wrx`s dont have this problem(post 97),As the ECU was revised then....Just a thought ...Kev.

So would i need another ecu or a remap of the old one ?