Constantly clicking solenoid on drivers side engine bay area and engine, argh!
 

Hi all, would someone please be able to point me in the right direction with my car? it's a 1997 UK Turbo 2000.

Just recently, the solenoid which sits near to the upper bulkhead area on the drivers side has taken to randomly rapidly clicking when the car is running and very loudly at that, it only ever seemed to click before when you depressed the accelerator pedal slightly when the car was running and it was very muted compared to how it is now. Also, this problem is randomly making the car idle slightly too high, say around the 1000rpm mark even when fully warm. The engine has run a little lumpily sometimes (not consistently) and the 'check engine' light has illuminated at least three times in the last week or two, and once required the engine to be turned off to allow it to extinguish, and the other two times it came on and then went back out again as I was driving (slow uphill take offs from junctions when fully warm).

And lastly, coming back to the overly loud clicking from the solenoid, almost without fail now, everytime I shut the engine down the solenoid can be heard to click rapidly and very loudly for around 2 to 3 seconds. All the above behaviour has newly exhibited its self in the last week or so and has never reared its head prior to this time in the near 9 months which I've owned the car through.

It's a totally standard UK Turbo 2000 bar the KnN panel filter and Prodrive rear 'box.

Many thanks for looking!

P.S. I didn't mean the engine was clicking in the title, I meant to write 'engine light'! as in the engine light was coming on, doh!

Hi,
My type R does the same sometimes and i have been told its a normal occurrence. It would not hurt to clean out the boost solenoid - a guide to which can be found in the archive section.
Cheers,
Imran

Hi Imran, so it's cleanable?! In that case I will have to give that a try, it's doing my head in if I'm honest!

Thanks again for the fast reply, much appreciated :)

yeah give it a clean see what happens

the apexi 3 ports constantly click - which means theyre working fine i think? but the complete opposite for your by the sounds of it.

I'd agree with that, the bugger's never done it before! :lol1:

I'll likely get some carb cleaner tomorrow and report back on any findings/cures found if successful, or even if I'm not!

Cheers chaps :)

that clicking sounds just like the clicking the Solenoid makes when the ecu is in diagnostic mode...

Funnily enough the 1000 rpm would also be a bi product of the diagnostic mode....

It is NOT normal for them to do this.... I would try cleaning the solenoid out... disconnect the pipes and spray carb cleaner through it, while it is still clicking (Ignition on) if it continues then get it checked asap

I would also try to disconnect the battery for an hour to reset the ecu.. (Unless u have the reset / code reader)

If the ecu light comes back on get the code checked.

Hi M@trix,

Thanks for the reply aswell fella, I've taken on all suggestions from you wonderful chaps and this was the outcome:

I found a thread on here in the technical archive (I'd commented on it in the past, I can't believe I forgot about it! :freak3:) with regards cleaning the boost solenoid (thanks slipstream_uk) and followed the advice carefully as regards connecting the green diagnostic plugs and cleaning the solenoid. I bought a can of Wynn's carb cleaner from Halfords (I actually went into Halfords!) and used that to clean the solenoid whilst it was merrily clicking away, I also scooshed a goodly amount into the two pressure sensor(?) blocks, and just about all the narrow vacuum pipes I could access, and also the thick rubber pipe which runs across the front of the intercooler. Switch it all off, disconnect the green wires.

After all that, I then took some time to record any fault codes after connecting the black test wires, and I got these back:

24 - Idle air control solenoid/ Idle Control System Malfunction/ISC Valve (Stick)/Open/Short in ISC Valve Circuit

44 - Wastegate control solenoid valve/Turbocharging Pressure Control Signal

45 - Pressure sensor

No real surprises there given the nature of the fault I was experiencing! However, I also got an unexpected extra, no 31, Throttle position sensor. That wasn't something I'd thought I'd have an issue with! I'm wondering if heel/toe downshifting could trigger such a fault in a 'phantom' manner perhaps?

I then left the car with the battery off as suggested (cheers M@trix).

On reconnectiing the battery later on, I followed the ECU reset procedure for good measure on the Polar Performance website (cheers guys). I started the car, eventually (it didn't seem to like the lung full of carb cleaner it had initially, but it soon cleared) and thankfully I got the all clear signal from the 'check engine' light. I took the car out for a gentle drive and allowed it to warm up sufficiently. I then drove it with a mixed variety of throttle openings and gave it a few short bursts up to around 4000rpm. On returning home I reconnected the black test wires and got... no test faults returned, the all clear signal was still being displayed, thank christ! Also, the car settled down the idle at every point with no issues, and furthermore no annoying clicking from the solenoid after shutdown! :luxhello:

That said, this is very early days so far, so I'll keep an eye on things over the next few days and do another diagnostic session in about a week if I don't get any further obvious issues.

Here are a few useful links which I can take absolutely bugger all credit for, but thanks to those within them who supplied the info:

Scoobypedia | Trusted knowledge for everything Subaru | Knowledge / Subaru Specific Trouble Code Definitions

Frequently Asked Questions

https://www.scoobynet.com/technical-...-solenoid.html

Cheers again all :)