1996 subaru legacy n/a ej25d 2.5l

[utikusubarunz]

i have just reset my ecu and relearned the idle sequence as it was running rough so i took it for a drive today and took ages to get to 100kph with the foot flat to the floor and felt like it was trying to stall and had to peg off until i hit about 60kph and then off it went. drove for 10km and then had to climb a hill and felt like it was about to stall and was going uphill at about 25kph and was gutless. never had this probem before what coud be causing this so i can start troubleshooting what should i be checking first any thoughts

Edited December 20, 2022 by utikusubarunz

[silverton]

Why did you reset your ecu?

[doublechaz]

When I've reset by having the car taken apart for an extended period it has taken up to a couple hours of driving in all load conditions for it to relearn.  It also seems to not do any learning until after it has reached full operating temp so several minutes in.  If I make a lot of 10 minute drives around town it can take a few days of this to finish learning.  But I do have the bastard year with the OBDI ECU hardware with the OBDII software loaded to it.  Go first year production!

[silverton]

engines need air, fuel, spark, and exhaust flow.  if you have no check engine light i'd be verifying the engine air filter isn't packed with debris, replace the fuel filter, replace the spark plugs and if those things dont do it, start taking sections of the exhaust off til it's better.

[utikusubarunz]

to silverton i reset as uncle google said it would help with loss of power might go back to bing lol. just went for a short drive to the garage to get munchies and turned it off and when i went to leave i started my car and noticed the check engine light was on never has happened before so bit stumped. we do have a gas station here that sells gas cheaper but it dodgy octane quaity as i had just put $40 petrol in it but today i did lightly wash the muffler tip and slowly poured water over to wash off could this have caused the check engine light and if not what should i be checking first as will work tommorow diagnosing it as i have a warrant of fitness check next week cheers for both replying im new to subaru's but love them aready

[doublechaz]

Silverton really put his finger on the list of things to try.

Your running sounds like it is worse rather than better with time.  When you erase it should start worse and get better if there are very slight problems that have to be learned out, and it shouldn't make any discernible difference at all if everything is spot on.

I should have added before that I have some mild port and polish and related work and a stock ECU so it has to learn how to deal with the better air flow.

Back to Silverton's ideas, after finding out what code set the CEL and following that line, I think I would start by disconnecting the exhaust after the last oxygen sensor and see what it does since to me this would be the easiest test, but if rust is a thing where you are, that may not be easiest.