tpm55

With the idling? Not really sure. I didn't do anything in an attempt to directly fix it. I did replace the broken alternator connector and broken coolant sensor connector, but other than that I just fixed the oil leak as described above and replaced the trans mount and trans fluid and took a long drive. Idle remained stable. Ill keep updating as I go along and any issues I may have, but so far so good. My assumption is that over time ill have to replace coils and other sensors like the crank and O2, not sure how new/old any of them are other than obviously the crank. Looking at the datalog everything seems okay? I am far from an expert and will be doing a lot of reading on datalogs and proper values.

So I was able to go for a first drive this morning, did about 30 miles, lots of slow pulls from 2k-4k and then slowly let the engine slow itself down, also a lot of coasting down hills to really get those rings seated/grind into the crosshatching. I know a lot more is still to go but I would say it was a success, no issues of note, low idle seemed totally fine, clutch felt good, I seemed to have fixed my oil leak. I also reworked the IAG turbo/AVCS feed line kit that I bought. The way it was set up it was next to impossible to disassemble, I ended up buying a short 9" section with a 90 that I placed at the banjo running it to the T-fitting that came with the kit which splits to the turbo and AVCS respectively. The other issue with their kit I found, and maybe my head was just weird, but it never seemed to clear the head so I could properly torque the banjo down, which is why they give you a thicker crush washer to begin with. I ended up reversing my 90 so it runs down and then turns directly to the fender where it tees out. I don't see how this could be a problem and it is super easy to get to now, out of the way of the turbo coolant line too. The only thing I noticed is that my oil pressure is generally always around 80-90 while cruising even at low RPMs. Idle its around 35-40 which from reading seemed okay (this is fully warm obviously), but any RPMs at all and it runs higher than what I have read, most say 10 psi for every 1000 rpms. It is 10w40 Motul break in oil in the car now, so it is thicker than what it calls for but that is what is labeled for use for break in on most sites, I doubt the little extra AN line would cause the oil pressure to be that much higher, especially since the banjos control oil flow to begin with, at least the turbo one does. Should I be concerned and look into that more? Or it should improve over time with lower weight oil eventually? My only concern would be the oil bypass always being open. I attached a somewhat crappy photo of my current oiling setup. I have seen similar ones posted on here and people report no issues, but maybe I should replace the other longer lines with shorter ones to reduce resistance a bit? I am also going to examine the datalog I took from the drive and see if everything appears to be working okay.

I did check before putting everything fully back together, the machine shop I used even had their values written down that I could verify with. Sorry for the slow progress and no updates. Busy between school, work, and wedding planning. Should have some time this weekend to tackle the oil leak from the banjo, drain the trans fluid (well whats left, I had to reboot both front axles so some fluid came out and I figured I'd switch it out with motul while I am at it). Also replacing the trans mount with a group-n 5 speed one. Then an oil change to motul break in and see what happens on the first drive around town, get some data logging in and go from there. My assumption is that Ill end up replacing most of the electrical parts as I believe most are original and after 15+ years of heat and abuse they are on their way out, seeing as one cam sensor was already bad. Either that or I have a small vacuum leak somewhere, I believe the only 2 vacuum lines I haven't replaced are the BPV to manifold and the brake booster to manifold. Maybe the data logging will reveal something as well. But the idling problem when warm points more to something electrical to me, but we shall see in due time.

I had the car idling for about 10-15 minutes so it should have been basically up to temp, or as much as I could get it up to temp with it idling in 30 degree weather. Tomorrow I’ll have to go for a drive and data log, but it’s also possible the electrical connector for the coolant sensor is spoty as it is pretty badly broken. I have a new one to replace it so hopefully things will be okay. The temp gauge read about 1/3 of the way up, I didn’t have my accessport with me to actually see exact values. I believe he t’stat normally opens around 205? The fans were def on but the bottom coolant hose was cold still.

So I had an hour today so I ran over and switched out the cam sensor on the driver's side (Left Hand). For anyone's benefit if they ever need to remove it, I had to loosen the entire intake manifold with the TGVs as the sensor can't clear the back of the TGV where the injector protector mounts, I pulled the entire manifold assembly up maybe a half inch and was able to slide the sensor out and same thing to put the new one in. I did read somewhere people had used a dremel to take off the edge of the mounting tab, I could see this working. Car started right up and seemed to idle fine. I warmed it right up and the radiator fans kicked on. Being winter still in Maine, idling it doesn't seem to get it hot enough to open the thermostat so ill have to wait for a drive for that. The idle once warm still doesn't seem super stable, still seems a hair rough. Revving it and letting it get back to idle speed causes the idle to drop low to the point I think it might stall and then speeds up a bit, but still seems a bit rough. No check engine lights which is good tho, and no codes. Tomorrow I am going to drop the oil and filter and put in motul break in and a new filter and then hopefully take it on its maiden voyage on the new rebuild, see what happens then, lots of engine braking and stopping and going. I am hoping the idle will even out over time, but Ill at least data log and see whats going on and maybe fine tune from there checking for possible vacuum leaks or more bad sensors. I do need to replace the electrical connectors on the coolant temp sensor and the alternator as they are both broken, maybe that is causing a mildly rough idle? I am doubtful but you never know, from all the reading I have done on these different forums, these cars/engines can be a bit fickle at times. But its running and revs fine so maybe it just needs to be driven.

On the timing, long story short is that after installing the 10mm oil pump and retiming I felt that the crank sprocket was always off a half a tooth, all other cam marks lined up when the crank sprocket was turned just a bit past its own mark. No matter how many times I redid it the same result happened. Once back in the car and attempted start, my first logical thought was that it was the timing being off causing the no run issue. I took everything off and retimed it and I know at that point the driver's AVCS cam was off one tooth, so I did it one more time counting the teeth and I know its in time now. I would always do 2 full rotations to confirm every time things lined up and that no valves hit each other. I even ran it with the two side covers off and confirmed things still lined up after running for a bit. I think I can confidently say that timing should not be an issue at this time. If a new LH cam sensor does not fix the erratic idle, misfire codes, cam sensor code and then the eventual no start/hard start once hot, I will probably look into other solutions including the possibly the gears may not have been put on correctly. As you said I feel pretty confident that this is not the issue as it started great cold and ran strong with a good steady idle until it started to warm and that is when trouble set in. Hopefully its a simple fix but if not I am open to any ideas. Thanks!

I am open to any and all suggestions, I appreciate it! I knew going into this I would be battling issues such as those I am having so far. Old car with old original equipment. Hindsight is always 20/20, I seriously considered replacing pretty much all the electrical(engine harness) in the engine bay along with the sensors, and last minute convinced myself it would be okay. Here I am now wishing I’d done it, but it is what it is. Learning a lot as I go regardless. When I completely rebuilt my old Honda xl600r dual sport years ago, I made a lot of mistakes but learned a ton, and I know that bike inside out including all of its unique characteristics because of it. This car is already turning into that, and I am fine with it haha, as long as I can eventually get things sorted that is.

The passenger sensor is a breeze, the driver's doesn't appear to be easy to get to from briefly looking at it, but maybe once I dig into it more it won't be as bad as it appears. I just couldn't really get my hand down in close to even unhook the wire connector, maybe it won't be that bad though once I figure out a plan of attack. The hair dryer/heat gun is a great idea though. I didn't get a chance to go back over to my garage after it had cooled down, but it definitely didn't want to fire back up easy once it was hot. Ill report back later in the week once parts come in and I have time to work on the car between work and school.

Well the fix was short lived. Was running the car trying to get it up to temp for the thermostat to open and burp the coolant, and the idle became a bit erratic, no abnormal noises or anything. Eventually it just shut off. I attempted to restart and eventually it did, rev'd fine (nothing crazy), but idle still remained rough. Once the coolant temp was at 185 it shut off again and wouldn't restart, just sputtered. Have general misfire codes along with pretty much every cylinder misfire code, and the LH Cam position sensor code. My assumption is that the sensor may actually be bad causing the other issues (misfires). Biggest issue is the LH (driver's side) sensor appears to be a bear to get at without tearing a bunch of stuff off, naturally the easy one to get at and change out in a few minutes appears fine for now. Anyone ever remove the driver's side one without removing a bunch of stuff? I read someone had gotten one out on a WRX but had to dremel the TGV or injector protector a bit to pull it out, ideally I'd like to avoid that. I had ordered a new one anyway because of the issues I had originally had so ill change it out and see if that fixes the issue. If that doesn't then Ill be most likely getting new coil packs as I don't know if these are the original ones or if some have been replaced. After it shut off the first time I started data logging on my accessport to see if there were any other issues that could potentially be causing the erratic idle and abrupt shut off, everything looked good as far as i can tell at a quick glance (I am new to more advanced car diagnostics/tuning), but A/F mixtures seemed fine, biggest thing I saw was a few seconds before the car shut off the Fuel correction went +25 from much smaller values, I would assume that could mean vacuum leak somewhere? But it came out of the blue so not sure. I guess I will first assess the cam sensor issue and see where that gets me, I knew I was going to regret not putting new sensors on right away when the engine was out, I replaced pretty much everything other than the engine harness itself and all of the sensors, live and learn I suppose. I know heat increases resistance, so I am going to assume cold start would be fine but once warm the sensor starts to malfunction, or the wiring has an issue at temp. Another side note, didn't notice any leaks other than a pretty bad one at the rear oil banjo bolt in front of the turbo. I switched to the IAG AVCS and turbo feed braided oil lines and I think I used the incorrect crush washer between the bolt and the cylinder head, so it isn't sealing properly. In their kit it comes with a thicker 1.5mm one instead of the 1mm standard. Easy fix other than trying to get at that banjo bolt. And I need a new catback exhaust at some point. Noticed at the y-section in the back there was exhaust and water dripping out, so there has to be a hole somewhere. It appears to be the original exhaust and it has spent all of it's years in the northeast, even if it was garage kept, so its no surprise. Hopefully I can pick up a cheap OEM 2015+ STI take off exhaust from someone. They appear from the outback forum to bolt up with fairly little modifications other than some hanger bending, and the sound gets a little deeper. Sounds like a win-win to me if I can get one cheap.

SOLVED So the other night I was over at my garage looking over some different things after having done a bunch of reading in forums about different codes I had. Some people had indicated that a faulty alternator could cause hard starting and cam sensor codes due to a weird output signal it was giving, so I unhooked it and tried starting again and same issues popped up. At that time a vaguely remember looking over at the bulkhead wire harness connector and thinking the latch wasn't fully down, but for whatever reason I didn't address it at that time and had to leave anyway. But it kept nagging me over the next day or so and at work yesterday so I decided quickly to run over late last night after work and check the connection. It was indeed not fully seated, I unhooked it, blew everything out, inspected everything, and fully connected it. Went to start, pretty much as soon as I turned the key the car fired, ran beautiful, no CELs. "Keep it simple stupid" I have heard it a million times when working on jet skis, motorcycles, or whatever else. I would say this is the largest rebuild I have undertaken, have learned a lot and has thoroughly enjoyed it. But it ended up still being something I completely overlooked and super simple, THANKFULLY. Thanks to everyone who replied, I am sure things will still pop up over time and Ill be on here frequently. Next up is break in time I suppose. Lots of theories out there on that ahah

Yup, black is back, I did double check that again. I never thought about the cam alignment on the dowel. The teeth counting worked out with all lines in alignment on the cams, so I believe timing is good to go. If the new cam sensors don’t fix it, I’ll check wiring and if that is all good, next step would be checking the cam sprocket alignment, from there who knows, maybe the magnetism problem as mentioned, and check some fueling and confirm the injectors are firing with proper fuel pressure as well. Might need help with checking all that if needed.

That was a very interesting read, I did read a lot of that thread when I first got the car and got a lot of misfire codes and didn’t know at first about the burnt valve. Didn’t see the most recent posts regarding the magnetism issue. I hope to god I am not having that issue, and simply hope that new sensors fix the issue, but with my luck I don’t know.

So I have reset the codes using the access port a number of times and they come right back. I have unhooked and checked both the tgv code as well and the secondary air injection and that comes back as well. None of that had an issue prior to rebuild which I found odd. Although I did disassemble everything. Including the intake manifold and cleaned everything thoroughly. I wonder if I messed up the motor/flap in the tgv. As for the timing issue. Yes it should be simple and is straightforward. The retiming all started after I realized I had bought an 11mm oil pump instead of 10mm on accident. It probably wouldn’t have made a difference for me, but reading the findings of killerB I figured since it was out I should just do it right so I installed that and retimed it. At that point I tried three times to retime it, lining the marks all up and then turning it over by hand a full 2 revolutions and the cam lines all lined up but the crank seemed off a half of tooth, no matter how many times I retimed it. But I eventually figured it should be fine after reading some similar issues people have run into. So when I tried starting and had both cam sensor codes that was my first logical solution, to check timing, and it did seem off at that time. So I took it apart again and retimed it and at that point I know the drivers side exhaust cam was off one tooth, though that was the best it ran, just had no throttle response at all. Finally I did it one last time, actually counting teeth, so I know it’s correct and I left both timing covers off for now to continue to confirm. So next in line is to check with 2 good know cam sensors.

And seems like a stupid thought, but I recently watched a youtube video from off the line performance about rebuilding an ej257, basically same car other than the exhaust AVCS as well. They mentioned that cam sensors are sided? Didn't make sense to me seeing as the parts numbers are identical on the diagrams. But if I switched them up could that cause an issue?

Sorry, I currently reside in Maine, just updated my profile. Ill see if I can find a set somewhere or at least one good one to see if it solves one of the codes. And magnetized cams? That sounds less than ideal, ill keep that in mind if nothing else comes up/works. I'd have to look up how to get them demagnetized, I am sure you have to take them out which would be mildly annoying. Thanks for the response!