Loss of power and garage stumped by wiring

[mariner]

Happy new year all! Hoping someone might have a little nugget of wisdom they can throw my way!

Before Christmas the slave cylinder on my van leaked and then gave out. Once transported to the garage by the RAC, they were able to fit new. All good so far.

On picking up the van (it'd been sat a couple of weeks), the engine sounded rough as and the whole van was shaking. I took it for a drive thinking it just needed to be run back in after being idle for a while. Unfortunately not and i barely got above 30mph on a 5 mile trip that included a ring road! The garage took it back thinking it may have been air hose come lose during the work on the slave cylinder.

Turns out it was one of the coils and I was having a misfire. They changed the coils and gave me the van back. It drove great for 20-30 miles before suddenly having another loss of power. This time (although very intermittently) the power would suddenly return, jerking the van forward, before disappearing again.

The garage have taken it back and say that 2 of the 4 cylinders are firing properly and its a wiring issue to the coils (possible drop in voltage). However, they have no idea what, or where, this issue might be as they don't generally deal with 1982 VW campers that have had a 94-96 Legacy put in!

I have given them some info around the wiring that was typed up by the guy who fitted the engine (before I bought the van) and am keeping my fingers crossed. If anyone has anything I could pass on to them would be much appreciated. Cheers, John

[ZsZ]

How the van was stored at the shop in that couple of weeks?
Cleaning earth points around the engine bay might help if it was in damp environment.

[davidoft1]

Sounds like a coil pack issue , which 2 cylinders are down

[mariner]

Cheers. The coil pack was changed when it first went back. Don’t know which cylinders I afraid.

[Aidan]

Subaru factory EJ22 repair manual should be possible to find online with the engine wiring diagram, it isn't particularly complicated engine, google is your/their friend, worth downloading everything you can find for the future

[mariner]

Thanks for all the replies. Garage feel they have narrowed it down to an igniter pack that is part failing and only sparking two of the cylinders. The part itself has 'power tr unit' written on it.



Currently, they say they can only find an aftermarket one in America. Anyone know of any potential supplies in the UK? Thanks.

[slowcoach]

You could ring HDC Subaru in hebden bridge, he has quite a stock of old used parts

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[mariner]

Update for those interested and anyone who might encounter a similar problem.

New (aftermarket) part arrived from China for £20. Cheaper than any second hand I could find and even these were in Lithuania!

Fitted and now have power to all four cylinders. Van is still occasionally stalling when coming down the gears so will need to get to the bottom of this.

On another note, acceleration can be juddery, particular after starting but also on inclines. This predates the issue with the ignition control. I know a juddering on acceleration can be for numerous reasons but just wanted to ask thoughts on the following:

a. Is it just an old (1996) engine warming up and getting going - bit like me getting off the sofa!
b. Linked to distributar cap which I suspect is original - is this reasonably inexpensive and easy to change?
c. Something completely different!

Cheers, John

[Aidan]

if it has a distributor and you haven't replaced it or the rotor arm then maybe a good place to start, on a T3/T25 rotor arm and cap are 2 yearly service items originally as are spark plugs and air filter

but I though EJ22 was a ecu/coil pack type ignition system - has it been modified from original to use a 1.8 disi ? wierd if it has

[mariner]

You’re right Aiden. Apologies, I think this highlights my limited engine knowledge!

It is a coil pack and this was changed by the garage as a starting point before then changing the ignition module. So new coil pack and new ignition module.

Will have to look elsewhere for the rough juddering. Probably just a combination of lots of old parts. Thanks for the reply

[Aidan]

Have you checked for any fault codes, if SSM1 type diagnostics then it's flashing lamp code activated by connecting the read memory connectors together with ignition off and then switching ignition on and counting the flashes of the check engine lamp (or lamp in the wiring as some converters might not repurpose or fit a led on the dash), long = 10s, short =digits, eg 2 long, three short = fault code 23 = knock sensor, if there are multiple stored faults then the sequence just cycles through so you might get 23, 28, 41, 23, 28, 41 repeating....

[multisi]

Maybe IAVC  idle air control valve needs cleaning,  both of my ej22 engines are stuttering and juddering badly, need to sort them out .

[mariner]

Maybe IAVC  idle air control valve needs cleaning,  both of my ej22 engines are stuttering and juddering badly, need to sort them out .

Yeah, also thought about the idle air control valve. It’s only around 4 years old as had to fit a new one to solve a previous stalling problem when coming down the gears at junctions etc. Wonder whether with a new coil pack and ignition module it might need a slight adjustment.

[mariner]

Have you checked for any fault codes, if SSM1 type diagnostics then it's flashing lamp code activated by connecting the read memory connectors together with ignition off and then switching ignition on and counting the flashes of the check engine lamp (or lamp in the wiring as some converters might not repurpose or fit a led on the dash), long = 10s, short =digits, eg 2 long, three short = fault code 23 = knock sensor, if there are multiple stored faults then the sequence just cycles through so you might get 23, 28, 41, 23, 28, 41 repeating....

Hi Aiden. The garages I use don’t have an ecu scanner that is compatible with the old ej22. Do you know if it’s possible to still purchase these and where they are available from. Might be useful to have my own I can plug in to my ‘96 legacy engine! Cheers

[Aidan]

Talk to RJES re SSM he might be able to help.
But that's the point of the simple flashing indicator system, no need for scanner, just connect the two plugs together and count the flashes and look the fault code up. Early, it's not very comprehensive, but as I am sure you know all the modern OBD stuff is only useful up to a point, it is not a substitute for knowledgeable mechanics, experience and shared knowledge.
You'll be lucky now to find a Subaru dealer who still has the diagnostics for 90s era, old laptops and modules did (may still do, I don't look for them) occasionally come up for sale, but every engine/year needs a specific cartridge, it's clunky old technology. I built my own SSM lead and downloaded software years ago, but it didn't work fully, bought a lead and that didn't work any better so save your money.
Dai had a similar fault to you recently, went through a bunch of things, in the end fitted new leads and all is good again, the leads don't last for ever, and if the coil pack was faulty then you have to wonder chicken or egg ?
Longlife spark plugs were fitted because of the physical difficulty in removing them with engine in the car, but in a van it's easy to pull the plugs and you can run cheaper plugs and change them more regularly, and removing them can be helpful diagnostically, but every time you pull the leads off it potentially stresses what are generally already stressed things clipped to engine in fixed positions and getting hot. Finding good leads at decent price isn't easy.
YMMV