Steering Pull

[The Monzta]

Thanks for that Joe, I particularly like the silica gel bit. That stuff is handy for so many other jobs, I'd use it in my SVX as well as the Monza which has the annoying habit of misting up a lot during the winter.

Glenn

sorry Montza, Inlet manifold's gotta come off 2 do the knock sensors!
Give me a shout if u need a hand! lol

[The Monzta]

Thanks for that Phil. I may well call on your expertise to fit the new knock sensors when I get the free time to get them done.

Glenn

No probs mate, when u get the knock sensors, get a length of vacuum hose (Small) cos if it's like mine, some of them had gone brittle & snapped!
So handy 2 replace them if u got it! lol (rather than running round robbing bits off other cars, like i did! lol)

Phil.

[The Monzta]

Will do mate, thanks for the advice.

How are you and your brother on diagnosing handling faults? I started this thread originally because of a nasty pull in my steering. I've taken my car to a couple of places and had the geometry, tracking, camber etc checked. One of the places adjusted everything so it was spot on on their computer but when the guy road tested it he came back saying that it still pulled pretty badly. He was convinced that when I got ran off the road and hit the kerb I did more damage than just knock the wheel out of shape. He advised I get the steering, brakes, suspension, even the chassis looked at more closely to see if something is bent or broken.

I'm not too sure where I should go with this now, kind of scratching my head a bit.

[svxistentialist]

Glen

I am presuming you got it tracked full monty? Nothing short of four-wheel laser tracking will do. And it needs a guy doing it that understands the geometry as well, not a joe soap job.

Presuming you have it tracked right, camber, castor, etc, then the advice he gave you could be correct. You may have bent something.

What I would suggest is go to a panel-beater or body shop, where you know there is one person excellent at jigging up crashed bodies. These guys can see something obvious straight off. I'm guessing yours is not obvious. They have a few tricks for seeing what is "out of true", like using pieces of string to triangulate across the bottom of the car to fixed points to see if the lengths are equal.

Someone who is adept at this arcane science can probably spot if your car is a little off. If it's off only a little, they can probably pull it straight. If it's off a lot, you might not want to hear the diagnosis.

Joe

[The Monzta]

Joe,

Yeah I took it to a tyre centre with all the gucci four wheel laser kit. They set up their equipment and measured the tracking, camber, castor etc and the computer chucked out a print out of where the misalignments (in red) were. The back end had been out quite a bit and the car was crabbing a to one side. They then did all the necessary adjustments and printed out the final setup with no red bits, everything was green. But still she pulled though nowhere near as she had been before.

When the guy there road tested it he said that that level of pull to the left could no way be caused by the the geometry being out slightly still. No amount of tweaking the alignment could rectify it, it had to be something more fundamental causing the pull.


Another quick question if I may? Could a faulty knock sensor cause the engine to be hesitant at slow speeds? When I accellerate from stop or low speeds such as reapplying the throttle after making a turn or pulling away after traffic lights I get very little accelleration, the revs are low and sluggish even though the pressure I have on the accellerator should have me accelerating far more briskly. Over the course of a few seconds the revs rise slowly then suddenly "Bang" normal accelleration and I'm off. Makes for joining fast moving traffic an interesting affair. The only way I can over come this hesitancy is to punch the accellerator hard and I tend to drive in 3rd gear to keep the revs up a bit more.

Glenn

[b3lha]

Originally posted by The Monzta

Another quick question if I may? Could a faulty knock sensor cause the engine to be hesitant at slow speeds? When I accellerate from stop or low speeds such as reapplying the throttle after making a turn or pulling away after traffic lights I get very little accelleration, the revs are low and sluggish even though the pressure I have on the accellerator should have me accelerating far more briskly. Over the course of a few seconds the revs rise slowly then suddenly "Bang" normal accelleration and I'm off. Makes for joining fast moving traffic an interesting affair. The only way I can over come this hesitancy is to punch the accellerator hard and I tend to drive in 3rd gear to keep the revs up a bit more.

Glenn

Dunno about knock sensor, but I had that problem on the Legacy until last week. A new air filter fixed it.

[svxistentialist]

Glenn,

Things like a dirty air filter and bad MAF sensor do cause jerky progress at low revs.

However, Arthur and I have been moaning about the learning mode of the gearbox for years.

When you have been driving smoothly for a while, like on a carriageway, long journey etc, the TCU for the tranny "learns" your driving behaviour, and thinks you want going ultra-smoothly all the time.

So it will stay in a high gear and try to accelerate using the torque, which is too slow for the situations you mentioned.

I now keep mine in POWER mode all the time, mine having JDM electronics. You are dead right to keep in three around town, and for filtering into fast lanes and such.

Another trick I learned which will work for you; POWER mode comes on when you demand fast acceleration. The box switches it on based on how fast you depress the throttle and what speed you are doing at the time. In anticipation of an overtake, have it in third or second, give the throttle a rapid blip with your foot, and come back to the throttle position you were on. It lights up the power light for a while, and then when you ask the question with the green light lit, it GOES.

Practise it on a quiet carriageway as you trickle along, when you have learned the exact speed and distance to blip the pedal, you can engage POWER every time.

Joe

Glenn, does ur mate at MG Cannon have a Jig? Ask him 2 put it on & make sure u've not bent the chassis 1st!

Phil.

[The Monzta]

Originally posted by b3lha


Dunno about knock sensor, but I had that problem on the Legacy until last week. A new air filter fixed it.

It was serviced in January and should have got a new air filter but it's worth a try to see if that's part of the problem. Are our air filters available fro Halfords or any other High Street motor factor? Does the SVX share filters with any other Subaru?

[The Monzta]

Originally posted by svxistentialist
Glenn,

Things like a dirty air filter and bad MAF sensor do cause jerky progress at low revs.

However, Arthur and I have been moaning about the learning mode of the gearbox for years.

When you have been driving smoothly for a while, like on a carriageway, long journey etc, the TCU for the tranny "learns" your driving behaviour, and thinks you want going ultra-smoothly all the time.

So it will stay in a high gear and try to accelerate using the torque, which is too slow for the situations you mentioned.

I now keep mine in POWER mode all the time, mine having JDM electronics. You are dead right to keep in three around town, and for filtering into fast lanes and such.

Another trick I learned which will work for you; POWER mode comes on when you demand fast acceleration. The box switches it on based on how fast you depress the throttle and what speed you are doing at the time. In anticipation of an overtake, have it in third or second, give the throttle a rapid blip with your foot, and come back to the throttle position you were on. It lights up the power light for a while, and then when you ask the question with the green light lit, it GOES.

Practise it on a quiet carriageway as you trickle along, when you have learned the exact speed and distance to blip the pedal, you can engage POWER every time.

Joe

Joe,

Very interesting. How can I ascertain whether my MAF sensor is faulty? I'm getting no error codes for it.

I tried the POWER trick this morning on the way to work. You're right, a quick blip of throttle put her in POWER mode and the light stayed on and when I pressed the throttle again it surged forward.

I do think my car has a physical problem though rather than the gearbox's 'learning' capability being the reason its running hesitantly. I say this only because the first six or seven months I had the car it ran sweet as a nut but this annoying problem suddenly came out of nowhere about Christmastime last year.

Would a Krypton tune be a worthwhile exercise?

Glenn.

[The Monzta]

Originally posted by Notall There
Glenn, does ur mate at MG Cannon have a Jig? Ask him 2 put it on & make sure u've not bent the chassis 1st!

Phil.

I was thinking that. They've got all the kit at MG Cannon. Mercedes-Benz insist they have all the best equipment and training as part of their franchise. When my Monza was in there they had to put it on their jig before starting the repairs on the inner wings.

I'll take a drive down to Dave's over the weekend, he lives in the same village as me. Need to see him anyway, haven't had one of our marathon car chats for ages.

Glenn

[svxistentialist]

Originally posted by The Monzta


Joe,

Very interesting. How can I ascertain whether my MAF sensor is faulty? I'm getting no error codes for it.

I do think my car has a physical problem though rather than the gearbox's 'learning' capability being the reason its running hesitantly. I say this only because the first six or seven months I had the car it ran sweet as a nut but this annoying problem suddenly came out of nowhere about Christmastime last year.

Would a Krypton tune be a worthwhile exercise?

Glenn.

Glad the POWER trick worked for you Glenn. In NORMAL mode the shifts are way smoother and it shifts up a gear sooner. I used the blip trick a lot on the motorway before I decided to keep the POWER switch on.

If you noticed a difference, there may be something wrong. If you run a search on this rough running, a fair few have had it, found it difficult to diagnose, and come up with many different solutions.

Phil's advice is a good start. Open the box, look at the air filter element. If it looks dirty, it is, change it for a new one. I don't have the part number to hand, it's not expensive, and I think the Impreza WRX uses the same filter. Only ONLY buy the correct Subaru one.

If your MAF sensor is not setting a code, it's probably OK, best left alone. It would be worthwhile for you to consider going to a Subaru main dealer, get them to check codes on their dedicated computers. Could spot something the standard diagnostics would miss.

As you are not showing codes, I would next suspect you have a gummed up intake, or possibly need to clean the injectors. Attend to the intake first, also known as the throttle body. If this is dirty, it makes a wonderful difference when you clean it. Get a can of throttle body cleaner spray from Halfords or a motor factor. Instructions for use will be on it.

While you are in Halfords, get a small bottle or two of injector cleaner. It goes into the fuel tank mixed at the ratio advised on the bottle. Would suggest two tankfulls of fuel back to back, and give the car a good blast while the cleaner is in the fuel.

These are cheap and easy remedies, and unless you have some strange sensor problem[or a duff plug or coil pack], you car should be running real sweet once you get this lot done.

Joe

PS Nothing against Krypton, but I think going to a Subaru main dealer, and connecting up to their dedicated diagnostics system would be more beneficial.

[The Monzta]

Originally posted by svxistentialist


Glad the POWER trick worked for you Glenn. In NORMAL mode the shifts are way smoother and it shifts up a gear sooner. I used the blip trick a lot on the motorway before I decided to keep the POWER switch on.

If you noticed a difference, there may be something wrong. If you run a search on this rough running, a fair few have had it, found it difficult to diagnose, and come up with many different solutions.

Phil's advice is a good start. Open the box, look at the air filter element. If it looks dirty, it is, change it for a new one. I don't have the part number to hand, it's not expensive, and I think the Impreza WRX uses the same filter. Only ONLY buy the correct Subaru one.

If your MAF sensor is not setting a code, it's probably OK, best left alone. It would be worthwhile for you to consider going to a Subaru main dealer, get them to check codes on their dedicated computers. Could spot something the standard diagnostics would miss.

As you are not showing codes, I would next suspect you have a gummed up intake, or possibly need to clean the injectors. Attend to the intake first, also known as the throttle body. If this is dirty, it makes a wonderful difference when you clean it. Get a can of throttle body cleaner spray from Halfords or a motor factor. Instructions for use will be on it.

While you are in Halfords, get a small bottle or two of injector cleaner. It goes into the fuel tank mixed at the ratio advised on the bottle. Would suggest two tankfulls of fuel back to back, and give the car a good blast while the cleaner is in the fuel.

These are cheap and easy remedies, and unless you have some strange sensor problem[or a duff plug or coil pack], you car should be running real sweet once you get this lot done.

Joe

PS Nothing against Krypton, but I think going to a Subaru main dealer, and connecting up to their dedicated diagnostics system would be more beneficial.

Thanks for that Joe, some excellent pointers for me to pursue.

I'll get me a new air filter (always worth having one ready for the next service anyway), a couple of bottles of injector cleaner and a bottle of throttle body cleaner.

But I think you're right, a trip to the Subaru dealer may be needed. Thing is, just how good are they when it comes to SVXs? I don't want to pay a packet and get the 18-year-old YTS chimp working on my car. I say this only because I have been very underwhelmed generally with my dealings with main dealers, whatever the manufacturer.

Glenn