P02096 Code questions.

[XJman]

Hi new here. Wondering if I could get some advice with this code. P02096

 

The car in question is a 2012 legacy 2.5i, completely stock never modded with 70k on the clock. The light came on recently and I can't find much info pertaining to stock vehicles. Most of the problems I see come from modified intake/exhaust/combo of both.

 

If I remember correctly its lean bank one. I've not driven the car much since the code, but the times I have were short trips and it seemed to have no issues. Once in a while the CEL wont come on at all.

 

I've read it could be anything from an o2 sensor, to low fuel pressure, to bad cat. Any way I can narrow this down, or any clue as to what the problem is. I'm not really down with paying Subaru 120 bucks to tell me its a 50 dollar sensor that they just charged me 200 more dollars to replace.

 

Thanks.

[GEE-OTTO]

When you had the 2096 read were there any other codes present?? If not I would buy a DENSO OEM AFR sensor and replace the stock one. If you were getting other upstream related errors like misfire or VVT etc it could mean something other than a bad upstream O2 sensor.

 

Replace sensor, clear code drive it and monitor for reoccurrence. You can get the sensor from Rock Auto for less than $90 shipped. I would stick with DENSO.

[XJman]

Thanks for the response. I didn't have any other codes at that moment. I'll jump on rock auto tomorrow and order one.

 

I'm fairly new to subaru. I see 2 o2 sensors in the front on the passenger side, I assume there is one behind the engine after the cat too. Is this a correct assumption?

[GEE-OTTO]

Yes both the Upstream (AFR) and downstream (Catalyst Efficiency) sensors are located on the front passenger side of the car (one on each side of the catalytic converter) unless you have a 05 then they will be located in the mid pipe.

 

You will want to replace the Orange sensor or the one on the driver side of the cat.