My EJ22 hell

[silverbullet]

I thought it was high time the silver Microbru (tm) got some attention (the one in my avatar), it's sat around variously on the drive and at a mate's bodyshop for...oh a year at least and I thought I was in the mood for some wiring loom investigation in the sunshine.
It all started back here http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=55123" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and I'd repeatedly thought it was fixed only to find out it wasn't...
The pirennial p###ing problem is one of an excessive idle speed of 900-1000 rpm and it smells too rich (stinky).
Having unwrapped some of the loom, I discovered the black pair of 2-pin connectors (diagnostic?) were plugged together so I unplugged those and then found the Neutral switch wire on the ecu connected to fresh air (I have an ecu pin diagram for the first-generation early Legacy). Since it has been suggested that it can yeild results, I connected this to a good earth and the idle dropped a tad to 950 when hot. Then the fan cut in and it struggled to idle as the fan isn't controlled by the ecu like it should be
I hate this thing. It's a great engine, goes really well and sounds fantastic with RJES exhaust but these problems caused by the original conversion (not by me or RJES btw) are making me want to rip the whole thing out and start again...
No-one wants to touch it as the conversion is a very early one, the wiring is of questionable quality and the donor vehicle unknown.
I've even thought of ditching the Subaru engine management completely and retro-fitting a hybrid WBX/16v VW loom and ecu with a re-map to get it running properly with parts I can recognise and service. It might be the only way out.
Anyone got any thoughts as I am really running out of enthusiasm for what is otherwise a beautiful bus...

[Eta-Beta]

Can you not remove the wiring harness and start a fresh with a rjes loom? Where abouts are you in the UK?

[silverbullet]

I didn't think he could supply looms outright? I spoke to Richard at length - on and off - about a year ago, but it all got a bit garbled with all the to and fro and him being mega-busy.
The big problem I have is that I do not know the spec of the donor vehicle, whether it was manual or auto, JDM or UK, nothing.
RJES would charge by the hour for as long as it takes to put it all right IF he can get the wiring diagram info to sort the loom and I still have 20-year old japanese engine electronic components that may be suspect...
I'm pretty despondant tbh.
I could fix it by throwing money at the problem (yeah, right) and buying a "fresh" donor car, then getting it done properly but it's all getting a bit out of hand by then.

[RJES]

I can't supply wiring harnesses or other engine management poarts outright (unless I happen to have the right parts lying around - I do have a few complete management systems available, but nothing early), but I rework harnesses done by others which are not working properly roughly every couple of months. To be honest they are a pain to do. I'd rather start with an unmodified Subaru harness, as I know what I'm getting, and don't have to check out every single bit which isn't as Subaru intended it to be.
The last one I did started out as 'just add the diagnostic system', but ended up as converting everything to the same spec as if I had done it in the first place. Checking out how things had been wired previously showed some interesting bodges, such as the entire management system being powered via the ignition switch, with no fuses, and no backup power so the ECU never remembers any of it's learned settings. Reworking one wired to this kind of quality, and adding all the features removed by whoever did it originally always takes longer than doing a harness from scratch, plus I have to find suitable parts to replace the missing bits.
I am particularly not keen on taking on partial work on harnesses done by someone else, such as just adding this or that. The reason is that if there are obvious bodges in the harness I end up tidying them up anyway, even if the owner doesn't want me to, as I want their harness to be reliable. I therefore usually lose out on that kind of job.

[Allanw]

You can pull the loom from a junkyard car in about an hour.

If you find an intact car (with the same engine), take the complete loom, including the engine loom, and the intake manifold or make sure the manifold is identical to yours, check the crank cam sensors are the same also, and take the Air flow meter - they need to match the ECU, which you also take). People have even been known to run EJ22 SOHC short block on an EJ18 SOHC loom/ecu.

If it were me, I'd go get the wiring and manifold (just to be safe) and restart the wiring. The ECU fan control is easy to hook up, but most don't.

I had a 1997 JDM spec 2.5 dohc from a Lancaster (Outback) but it has the trans cumputer built into the ECU. I went to nick-a-part and got the entire loom from a 1996 JDM legacy with the separate trans computer. I swapped the entire loom over, and all is well.

With basic electrical skills, you can do the loom yourself if need be. Took me about 1.5 hours to strip it down, but i taped it all back up in the van (I have an unshortened loom, with the ECU mounted in the rear 1/4 panel, above the rear wheel) running all wires where I wanted them to go.

You could also get a whole loom and send for modification at RJES.

*edited to mention taking ECU from junk car too - wasn't clear!)

[Allanw]

Oh, and I read your other thread about the idling issues etc - The idle can stay high, or Hunt a LOT without a neutral switch connected. The VSS helps a lot too.

I converted a couple of early legacy's to manual trans a few years back and needed to hook up the auto neutral switch to the manaul gearbox neutral switch)

Also, with the very early ecu's, you can use one wire to earth or +ve, to tell the ecu if it should behave as manual or auto, so if you get a junkyard one, it doesn't really matter.

[RJES]

Hello Allanw, the combined auto trans / engine ECU's (part numbers beginning 22644) are very common in EDM 1997 - 1999 EJ20 and EJ25 Legacies, and can be made to run just the engine with no error codes relatively easily. I wire roughly one them every month or two for VW conversions. The wiring diagrams and other technical info for them is much harder to get them most though. Even my local dealer thought no Subaru's have a combined ECU - until I showed him one!

[Allanw]

Hello Allanw, the combined auto trans / engine ECU's (part numbers beginning 22644) are very common in EDM 1997 - 1999 EJ20 and EJ25 Legacies, and can be made to run just the engine with no error codes relatively easily. I wire roughly one them every month or two for VW conversions. The wiring diagrams and other technical info for them is much harder to get them most though. Even my local dealer thought no Subaru's have a combined ECU - until I showed him one!

Hi Richard,

Yeah - I thought it might be possible, but there are no wiring diagrams for them that we could find (I know the Suabru dealer in town quite well!). I decided it was easier to not use it!

(PS - I'm the Allan in NZ that got your throttle cable - still DAMN pleased with it! The throttle is now so sensitive, that it can be used to control a slide!)

[Aidan]

what about the loom sat over at TMTs still in the car 97 2.2

[silverbullet]

Aidan, considering that I did sell the whole car to him in the end (it was an "unauthorized purchase" and I needed to lose it) it might not be terribly polite to start asking for bits of it back I do still own the gearbox and diff for experimental purposes, though The loom might be a bit too late for this particular engine, unless I find some cash and buy the whole thing back again for a full transplant.


Richard, that was the impression you gave me from previous conversations and I really didn't want to bother you with it. I know now that it's a bit of a pig in a poke.
I will check that it has a backup supply (thanks for the early ecu pin diagram way back) but I doubt it somehow...

Allan, thanks for your input. I think I'll try a VSS as a last ditch and see if it responds. Earthing the NPS wire did improve things a little. The Manual/Auto wire from the ecu is also earthed withing the loom so I guess that means it is configured for a manual transmission. Can you think of any other obvious ones to check?

PS the ecu and loom plugs (4 plug type) both are marked R97. It's an integral warning light one so I think very early, maybe 89/90? It's always given a code 49 "wrong maf fitted" as I think it should have the very rare brown label "B" type rather than the green label "A" maf that it's tolerating. Is this cureable with a pin/polarity swap as suggested on other forums?

[big red bus]

You got any part numbers off the brown label air flow meter. One van I brought had a brown label one on but kept putting error code, had a green label one from a 93 one spare, swapped and no error code since. Give me the part number off the brown one and will see if it matches the one I have. May beable to help if your after a one. Thanks,
Dan.

[silverbullet]

I guess that these two shouldn't be connected for day-to-day running, right?

[Allanw]

Hmmm... those aren't the smae as the later diagnostic terminals... I can't tell you for sure.

The normal diagnostic terminals are a single wire each side with a blade type connector.

I've not had any diret experience with the very early ones (only from 1991 on).

[jamesc76]

on mine they only get put together to give flash codes on the mil lamp

[silverbullet]

You got any part numbers off the brown label air flow meter. One van I brought had a brown label one on but kept putting error code, had a green label one from a 93 one spare, swapped and no error code since. Give me the part number off the brown one and will see if it matches the one I have. May beable to help if your after a one. Thanks,
Dan.

From my old post about the idle problems:

There were two different MAF fitted to early, first generation Legacys and you need the correct one or the ecu throws up a code 49 (wrong maf fitted). Trouble is you can get a code 49 with an air leak too!
It had the 22680 AA160 / A36-000 R60 MAF and I swapped it for another - no change and ran just the same; "hanging" on a closed throttle (just like running on carbs too rich), rising idle when hot and full-throttle misfire. So it wasn't that.
Looks like it should have the AA190 MAF which is identical apart from the polarity (the ecu identifies it by which one of two pins is shorted to earth and which shows 5v)

So the AA160 is the green label and I need the AA190 Brown label by the looks of it. Happly to pay what it owes you or swap for my good spare AA160 that I don't need.