Legacy turbo won't start!!!!!
 

After what appears to be the week from hell, I thought it was ending on a good note. One of my pulley's seized last sunday and left me stranded. THe next day my alternator belt on my svx broke.

Anyway, my problem is after having the damaged parts replaced including timing belt, my car won't start. They said that I'm not getting a spark. Where do I begin to figure this out? Pep Boys had done a no start diag on the car earlier in the week, so it's possible that they screwed up something(long story). I've checked all of the connections and everything seems fine. Would fouled spark plugs cause this problem? or possibly the coil pack?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!

If anyone is local and can help, I'd be eternally grateful. The car is in Brookhaven, PA right now.

Thanks!!

Well fouled plugs wouldn't be an issue. Have you pulled a plug and a wire and held it with insulated pliers about an 1/8 of an inch from the block or something metal to ground to. When you turn it over there should be a blue spark. If it isn't there you're probably not getting power to the plug (i.e. coil in non-newer subies). Check the fuses, check the fusable links (change one to the one for the coil even if it looks good). Pep Boys can easily foul up one of these. Now I'm not sure how the Ignition pack works on a new subaru but I would think yours should be the same as a standard legacy for the pack. Pull one from a junkyard assuming the fuses and links are fine and then go from there. I fell for ya man!!!

FYI: Ben his Legacy is a 92;)








If I was there I could probly figure it out in 5mins......OK maybe 10.


Help me out here.
You had the car at Pepboys before the T-belt incendent becouse it would not start?

If yes, what did they diagnos as the problem and did they fix it?

You had Pepboys do the timming belt job?

They gave you the car back not running:confused:



Hmmmm? More info.

long story.....basically what happened is one of my pulleys seized last sunday. I had it towed to pep boys who did a no start diagnosis on it only to find what I told them already(an issue with the timing belt). Somehow during the process, they pulled a bunch of crap off of my engine and didn't put it back on. They said that a timing issue with my car was beyond their repair capabilities(because of the turbo).....go figure....

SVXPERT was kind enough to do a house call and fix it for me on Saturday in the rain. He replaced the pulleys and the timing belt in addition to putting the items back on that the idiots left off. Then the stupid thing wouldn't start. There was no spark.

I then pull the coil off of my spare turbo engine and was going to switch them today. Before I began I said let me try it one more time.....it started right up!!! something must have gotten wet in all that rain......

It's running as we speak, although the valves are making some racket. I dumped in some valve medic in(thanks Ben) and that seemed to take care of most of it but I'm thinking that I need to drive it some more to work it all the way through. My guess is maybe there was carbon or something in there? Who knows....it's running....... I also had all sorts of codes when I pulled them.....fuel injectors, cam sensor, air sensor, etc....I'm clearing them overnight and will see how it runs in a day or so.......

So ends my story....

Sounds a little bezare, My Turbo had 175K on it (last time it ran) and didn't make that much noise.

The codes sound a bit normal for a cam belt breaking (and for what ever the hell Pepboys did to it:rolleyes: ) (The turbo makes no difference in the T-belt).

Oh I know. Got up at 3am and drove to Deliverance country to pick up the sucker with him:) . A 92 is new to me, at least for a daily driver;) .

Oh, OK:) So when you say new suby you meen "No distributer":D

Yip!;)

A bad Crank angle sensor, or cam angle sensor, is probably the culprit....they were prone to fail on the early Legacy/Imprezas....so much so that Subaru offers them for about $20 each....had a recall on some of them...

Here's some advice for EVERYONE.... Don't take your car to Pepboys, Advance Auto, Auto Zone, or any other cheap "fix it" places... They will only jack up your car more... if you go into one of those places and say that ya know alot about cars they will hire you. Doesn't matter if you are ASE certified or not. I am ASE certified to work on Cummins and Detroit Diesel Truck engines(from my time working with Volvo HE in NC). I swear most of the mechanics in places like that don't know jack about the cars that they see.

Work on your car by yourself... Either that or take it to a SUBARU DEALER. Atlease there they know the diffrence between a boxer motor and a V6 :rolleyes:

In Bobby's defense he didn't take it there on purpose. It died on the highway about an hour from home on a Sunday afternoon with 4 people in tow. Not much else you can do.

I do however, take my Brat and XT to Pep Boys for inspection. Not the greatest place but then again, I trust them more than I trust my local Subaru Stealer.

Not Rippin' on Bobby with my comment... Just warning people out there... Every Pepboys I've been to with my SVX (to get parts), the people were absolutly retarded and didn't know anything about the car, much less subaru's in general. I actually applied at a Pepboys in Greensboro, NC after I graduated from Highschool but decided not to work there when I met the people that I would be working with... Instead I went to Volvo Heavy Equiptment :):):)

What happened to the Subaru Dealer, or should I say "Stealer"??? did they take stuff from your car Ben??

Its Lancaster County Motors. They 1. Do crappy work (just ask Green1995SVXless about his bearings). 2. They charge like 20% over retail for parts. 3. A $600 ac o-ring fix for my SVX 3 years ago. $150 to fill with R-134 to find the leak, $150 more to refill it after the leak was fixed???? 4. Parts for older subies get them irritated and they end up screwing up the order anyway. Needless to say I drive an hour to get to a decent dealer.

It's ok I know you weren't ripping on me....I had already learned my lesson, but I didn't have many choices this time. This was the third bad experience that I or someone close to me has had with them and I will NEVER take any vehicle to them for service again.......I trust my dealer with all three of our cars, but they were an hour away and couldn't afford the towing bill.

I have my spare engine and I've been tinkering with taking it apart, so that I can see how it works and such. So maybe next time I can fix it myself........