98 2.2L Sedan P0102 Questions and More!

[leadfarmer]

One of my Gambler 500 associates gave me a 98 Sedan, 2.2L with 230k miles. Unknown maintenance history.

 

Exhaust has been cut off just below the heads, so basically zero exhaust. None. Zip. Zilch.

 

The intake has butchered. A short rubber tube goes from the throttle body to the MAF sensor, which is all the intake it has right now. Basically the MAF sensor screen is the intake filter for the moment. It was hooked to a long hose which ran up to the roof to a cone filter to make a snorkel.

 

I was told that with the exhaust cut off like this and the intake snorkel hooked up it drove from Pittsburgh, PA to Detroit, MI and back for a Gambler 500 event.

 

At the moment the car starts easily, high idles for about 30 seconds, and then rough idles down to a stall. Working the throttle can keep it alive but barely.

 

Code P0102 along with small evap leak are presented by the ECM.

 

Unplugging the MAF sensor allows the car to keep running, but with a poor idle.

 

The wires to the MAF sensor appear to be a 12V power, 6V power, and a ground, with engine off and key on. The connector looks good, with no corrosion, etc.

 

I have a 97 2.2L Legacy and I swapped the MAF sensor. Same results. So it appears the issue is not the MAF sensor itself.

 

All intake vacuum lines appear to be sealed and in good condition.

 

The IAC has good resistance and 12V power per my Haynes manual.

 

The $500,000 question is, will this car run at all with the intake and exhaust in the condition they are in? Should I hit up the junk yard for a factory air box and exhaust before I go any further with the P0102 code?

 

Follow up question. I have a 95 2.2L Legacy sitting around. I was thinking about parting it out, and I'm not sure if it's worth holding on to as a parts car for the 98 and 97. Each of the three seem a little different under the hood. It appears the front exhaust pipe/manifold I need for the 98 doesn't match the 95. Is anything on the 95 going to be useful for repairing the 98 and 97? Motor? Transmission? Rear differential?

 

Also, can someone confirm the 95 2.2L is a non-interference motor, and the 97 and 98 2.2L are interference motors?

[Brighton96]

Hopefully this helps haha

 

 

 

If the 95 is the same body as the 97/98s then most of the chassis parts are the same but the earlier 2.2 (up to 96) was the first gen/phase 1 which is single outlet exhaust on the heads and non interference. The later 2.2 is second gen/phase 2 which is dual outlet and interference.

 

 

 

In regards to running like crap, check and clean grounds (The stock grounds aren't really adequate.) You most likely need a cat or at least O2 sensors with antifoulers. I don't think the car will ever run well without that info. So maybe put stock headers on and add O2 bungs or get the cat since the O2s both plug into it directly.

 

 

With the Evap leak, most likely it's one of the rubber hoses back by the gas tank, if the Evap canister got smacked into a rock or something it could leak too since i's not protected by anything. It's in the passenger reward pocket thing behind the rear bumper.

[leadfarmer]

Thanks for the response.

 

It did occur to me today that there is no O2 sensor in place at the moment, so that's definitely an issue.

 

I'm not even worried about the evap leak. The 98 will never go on the road, just be a farm car and probably a part's doner for the 97.

[Brighton96]

As an additional thought, when you are dealing with old subarus, they tend to get cobbled together from other cars so you can't trust that an engine or trans are original to the chassis. So if you aren't sure and need to know for the sake of interference for example, the engine build date is under the oil filler cap and the chassis build date is on the data plate in the drivers door frame.