air flow meters
 

Aloha!

I'm an original owner of a 92 LS-L. She has never had a non Sube tech lay a wrench on her. Now that we have relocated to Hawaii, the old girl is stalling for no apparant reason. (And no competant dealer in sight) Idle is roughish -- which means I can feel the vibration, something that SVX owners should not have to feel. Black soot indicates she is running rich, secondary catalyst was just replaced, new timing belts, idler belts, plugs, crank pulley, the works. Dealer tells me the error codes are 23 and 33. I ran the codes and I got only a 33. Vehicle speed sensor 2 would not make her stall? Or am I not reading the code right. Three slow blinks and three fast. Dealer says the 23 would be the air flow meter, so in a not so scientific test I opened the air box while the car was running and she stalled. Is this a simple matter of calling SVXparts and bolting on a new meter or am I missing something. Car never stalls when cold.

Any way I am glad I found this site

Aloha Hui Hou

If VSS 2 is bad your speedometer wouldn't work, or at least not reliably.

For my money I'd clear all codes and disconnect battery overnight. See if problem recurs.

Beav

thanks Beav -- I'll give it a try

Aloha, Nick

Re: air flow meters
 

Aloha, Nick

I'm not certain how long you've been 'out on the aina' so to speak, but when I lived there I ended up having to go to the Schuman Carriage right there in Honolulu. They charge an arm, leg, and other vital organs I'd rather hang on to, $85/hour when I was there in 2000 :eek: , but they do have some people who know how to work on the SVX. Also, there's a guy who lives in Manoa who has a black over silver '92. I'm not sure where he goes for service aside from the dealer, but he has had his car for a long time and probably knows some other places on the island that can work on the car.

The other Schuman dealership off of H2 had never seen an SVX before I took mine to them. They're willing to work on it, but don't know the car that much. I hope this is helpful, 'n mahalo nui loa for checking in, brah!

I've got nothing to add but my welcome. Glad you stopped in to hang loose with us.

And again, WELCOME!

Hey guys,

thanks for the replies. I disconnected the battery last night to see if she just needed to be reset. No such luck. As an added bit of irony she stalls in front of Schuman Carriage. (Subaru dealer from hell) Schuman now charges $95/hr if anyone is interested and while they will fix a Subaru, they will do it when they are good and ready to do it. Even though I got a check engine light -- no code registered. I normally enjoy a good mystery, but this is getting silly.

Generally if nothing has been done recently to disrupt the sensor or wiring between the MAF and the ECM the MAF has usually gone bad. I'm certain it's not inexpensive so you'll probably want to do the following first:

You can try cleaning it with a little carb cleaner, sometimes they get covered with yuk. They are kinda fragile so don't get carried away, don't touch or use tools, rags, etc. on the sensor. Just rinse with the aerosol cleaner. Make sure it's plugged in securely.

To diagnose the MAF go to the appropriate folder in my locker.

Good Luck,

Beav

p.s. there's also a diag for the VSS#2 in my locker.

I feel your pain... seriously :mad: Schuman is the only place on the aina to go for Subaru repair and they know it, so they get on like the customer comes last. Ninety-five an hour?!?! My God! :eek: The only thing I can suggest with the dealers is once you can find out here what's wrong, take it to the Schuman place off of H1. They will actually turn it around faster than the one in Honolulu which should save time and money. There is another Schuman place near Kaimuki, but they only sell cars, no repair work. Oh, 'n one other thing: you're better off ordering your parts from Subaruparts.com than from them. The last time I had to get a part from Honolulu they ordered the wrong one.

I tried the clean routine to no avail :( The disturbing part now is that I don't even get a code. I haven't tried the volt meter yet, funny thing I left mine on the mainland...checked all the connections and the wires look good. Got a price of $247.50 on the MAF from Subaruparts.com, but just like the local dealer it isn't in stock -- at least they will order the right part. Local price 350.00.

I have already found the wonderously quick on their feet (only by comparison to the town side branch) Schuman Cairrage of Waipahu. Not too good on the diagnostics, but they turn a good wrench.

I guess it would go without saying that there isn't an SVX in a boneyard there. If so you might be able to persuade the proprietor into letting you 'test' his in your car (for a few bucks, or just buy it from him.)

Beav

Well here is a happy ending, an occasional spritz of WD40 on the female end of the MAF was enough to keep the moisture out for a few days unitl the MAF from SVXparts.com arrived. And not a moment too soon, she stalled for the last time on my way to my friends garage to change it out. Now back to a more reliable state, I have just had the front struts changed along with helpers and spring seats. The dealership told me they finally think they have the rattle noise figured out. There is nothing wrong with the heat sheild bushings -- it is the aft exhaust pipe. Or more correctly the pipe within the pipe has corroded, does that make sense -- Please advise.
One last question: re the O ring in the power steering res. Would that be visibly leaking, and if so where?

Big Mahalos to everyone who threw in their two cents!:)

Nick,
The o-ring thing manifests itself more in the shuddering at low speed turns and noise, lock to lock. The only "physical evidence" would be a pooling of power steering fluid (ATF) on top of the engine, behind the reservoir. Unfortunately, this can also be caused by the normal "blowing the fluid out of the cap under heavy acceleration, or overfill" phenomenon. :D