SubaruLemon

Wish I seen this sooner, I ordered a used one offline on Wednesday Moning. If for some reason I don't recieve it, I will reach out. Thanks for the offer. Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't heard heard any arc sounds and the wires look in good shape, but one could use a new plug. Unfortunately, I don't think that's my problem. Will double check the plugs if the computer doesn't work.

So I found the alternator fuse, which was good, replaced it anyway and no improvement. Compared voltage going to the alternator car off and running, which was similar to what I had on my WRX. Next I moved to the ECU, which appears to have been replaced once before (Marker Writing on Side). I opened it up and looked at board and noticed the hot spot shown below.

Thanks, I plan to do some more trouleshooting today on the harness. If I have no luck, maybe I'll send him a PM. Yes, we corrected the timing belt alignment and it seems to run fine with the alternator belt off. I'm not sure if the timing belt adjustment made any improvements or not as we just stumbled upon this alternator issue causing the car to run bad. I believe the engine to be original. I tried replacing the alternator with no luck. Found some guy on another forum with a similar issue in his outback. He found a bad 7.5 amp fuse blown in the fuse box for the signal wire.

So we checked the timing belt, which was off one tooth. When we started the car, it ran perfect BUT the alternator belt was still off. The car was put back together completely (alternator belt on) and the car runs terrible again. If I disconnect the harness from the alternator, the car run great. However, as soon as I plug the harness back into the alternator, the car barely continues to run. I also used jumper cables to ground the battery to the frame and to the engine, no improvement. Has anyone ever seen this? Any ideas?

Thanks for this, will be very helpful.

I think I can perform one, just have to figure out TDC on each cylinder. I did not switch the injectors around yet, will probably try that soon. I did listen to injector 2 with a stethoscope and could here injector 2 clicking, doesn't mean it's not clogged.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Also, the car is an automatic unfortunately. Cylinder #2 seems to be intermittent when warmed up. Yesterday, you could hear a difference in RPM when the existing coil was disconnected. I swapped the coil anyway and no real improvement. I took the new coil out and put the existing one back in last night and now today there is no change when the coil is disconnected. Anyway, I've been focusing mainly on how bad the car runs when the engine is cold and not warmed up. Again, you can't drive the car when it's cold, there is no change in RPM when you give it gas. I happened to notice with my scanner that the MAF is measuring ~16 g/s at idle and the fuel injector pulse was also high, 6 ms. Once the car warms up and starts running better, the MAF measurement drops to ~3-4 g/s at idle and the fuel injector pulse drops down to 2 ms. If I increase the RPM to 3K (when warm) I see roughtly the same MAF measurements of 16 g/s and also a higher injector pulse, similar to when the car is cold and running terribly. I was hoping maybe a faulty MAF but this didn't really add up since the engine does run better, still misses but is better, when it's warmed up. i has a spare so I swapped MAF's with my WRX, no change in the legacy and the WRX ran fine with the Legacy MAF. Regarding the intake manifold gaskets, I'm not sure what color the manifold gaskets are. However, i sprayed the area with carb cleaner and no change in RPM. I then did a smoke test, which only showed me that my intercooler is leaking where the aluminum heat exchanger meets the plastic end. The next thing I tried was a vacuum test. When the car is cold and running bad, there is less than 5 psi of vacuum. However, once the car warms up the vacuum increases to ~16-18 psi of vacuum and the engine runs better. Was thinking maybe the valves aren't seating until it warms up, or maybe the timing belt did jump a tooth. But if the timing did jump, I'm not sure why it would get better to the point that you could drive the car ,with a misfire, when it's warmed up. Maybe the valves aren't seating when cold but once it's warmed up, they seat somewhat better. Grasping at straws at this point. Bobby

After 233K miles, my current Subaru WRX is at the end of it's useful life so I decided to try my luck with a Legacy GT. I found an 05 GT with ~80K miles and a decent body. However, the previous owner told me that it needed head gaskets. I felt the price was fair given the assumed condition of the car so I took the bait. Problem is, I'm not convinced the car needs headgaskets. We have performed a head gasket test with the kit that looks for combustion gas in the coolant, tested negative several times. No bubbles in the coolant. Looked inside the cylinders with a scope, no signs of water, the cylinders actually have a ton of carbon build up in them. Compression is around 115-120 for all cylinders, a little low, but I think it should still run fine. So what are the symptoms? When you first start the car cold, it runs absolutely terrible. It barely runs, very rich exhaust, smell of unburned fuel, engine shakes terribly. No change in the engine RPM or performance if you hit the accelerator. If you try to drive it, it does not move. It does this for about 10-15 minutes until it warms up. Once it's warmed up, it runs a lot better, but still has a misfire in I believe cylinder 2 (front left) but you can drive it. There is no change in RPM if you disconnect the coil pack or injector from this cylinder, car is essentially running on 3 cylinders when it's warmed up. The timing belt was changed 8K miles ago, so I don't think it's that, as I'm not sure the symptoms would improve when it's warmed up. In addition, the previous owner said it ran fine for a year after the timing belt job. It appears the previous owner also installed four new coils and installed a new used fuel injector in cylinder 2. I did a compression test, about 115-120 psi in all four cylinder. Scoped the cylinders, has a ton of carbon in them, two are very bad (#2 & #3), but no evidence of moisture/water in them. Changed the plugs - no improvement. Checked the fuel pressure when the car is cold, ~45 psi. I also checked for power, ground, and or signal on the coil wiring and injector wiring using a test-light, seemed okay. The only codes I'm getting now are cylinder 2 & 3 misfire once it's warmed up and running. I was getting a code for the intake runner/flapper as that wasn't installed correctly but we corrected that and the code is gone. This evening I pumped the coolant system up to 15 psi and left a gauge on it to see if it drops. I also took the O2 sensor out of the exhaust before the turbo to see if it ran better incase one of the cats were clogged - no luck. Not sure if it matters, but the oil also kinda smells like gas. I'll probably try to swap the coil and or injector in cylinder #2 tomorrow to see if that helps the car run better once it's warmed up. If anyone has experienced any similar symptoms or have any ideas, your help is appreciated. Thanks, Bobby