engine check light question

Dougie · Post by **Dougie** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:11 pm

G,day all , can anyone advise me on the problem my 97 outback has ??, when i driving up a hill after the car has warmed up the engine check light comes on and then goes out shortly after providing im not going up hill, i cant think what it can be. i have just changed the plugs and leads due to a wee miss fire and the new bits cured that, but this has me stumped:???:
any help much appercatied cheers Dougie

niterida · Post by **niterida** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:42 pm

find the ECU error codes and that will tell you what is wrong.
To do that there are 4 plugs under the dash on the left hand side of the steering wheel - 2 green and 2 black. Plug the 2 black ones together, turn the ignition on and count the short and long dashes of the check engine light. This will give you the error codes eg; 2 long, 3 short, 3 long, short gives you code 23 and 33. Then do a search on here for the list of codes and find out what is wrong.
You can also plug the 2 green ones together at the same time and then follow the procedure to reset the ECU error codes - do a search for this too.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:36 am

97 Outbacks have the DOHC EJ25 engine that are proned to head gasket failure. I would has a compression test done and also look at the colour of the old plugs. Is the car losing water at all? Also I believe the check engine light is coming on and off due to steam on the O2 sensor. Now niterida is kinda correct in saying use the test plugs to check the codes but you'll need to use the green plugs (read current codes) as the black plugs are for errors in memory. Only if the 'check engine' light is on will you get codes from the green plug so it will be hard for you in your situation to check. I would clear the codes but read the codes in memory first, this is done through a sequence which is..

1. Connect black leads ignition on, but do not start the engine! this will allow the engine management light to blink out the error codes in memory (long blink = 10 and short blink =1)
2. Connect green leads, drive car for 1 min at over 10 mph, stop and hold car revs at 2000rpm you will then get four long blinks from engine light, disconnect leads and problem is cleared from memory!

Then drive the car over the next day or 2 and watch out for the 'check engine' light to come on, when it does, try and correct green plugs but if the light goes out you'll need to connect the black ones. This will ensure you are only ready the lastest faults.

Hope this helps

Paul

Dougie · Post by **Dougie** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:30 pm

Cheers for the advise lads, I tried it out and it came back with the code 32, which is a faulty oxy sensor, i recently replaced the rocker cover gaskets and when I did I removed the oxy sensor for access to work on the rocker covers, I dont think I damaged it in the process but by removing the sensor, would this be the cause of the engine light to come on. I tried to reset the light with the plugs as you advised but i never got the four blinks , it just repeated the code 32 blinks, is there any other way to reset it. my car seems to be running fine, if it does have a fauly oxy sensor what would this affect mpg ??? power ???

niterida · Post by **niterida** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:55 pm

Is it manual or auto ? There are slightly different ways of resetting the codes in an auto.
Do a search for it on here - its quite involved and I can't recall 100% how to do it.

Dougie · Post by **Dougie** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:59 pm

Its a auto, i will do a search for another reset i did read it before cheers for the help

niterida · Post by **niterida** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 9:43 pm

Here ya go :

1. With engine at operating temperature, turn engine off. Place gear shift lever into park (auto transmission cars only).
· Locate the two ECU check connectors, for most cars they are located under the steering column and consist of a black plastic male and female connector, and a green male female connector. The exact location of the connectors varies with the different year models, but generally they are located under the steering column on the drivers side.
NOTE: sometimes they are still taped over with some small amount of plastic tape, so look hard, they will be there!
With the ignition OFF connect black to black and green to green.
· Turn on ignition, do not start the engine, (and for auto transmission, cycle the gearshift lever from park to neutral and back to park ), depress the accelerator pedal to full throttle and hold for a few seconds, and then release. Start engine and then drive for at least one minute, keeping road speed above 10 mph.
· ECU is now re-set.
· At this point the check engine light should start to flash the all clear signal (steady 1/2 second interval flashes). If the check engine light does not flash, or indicates some other sequence, there is a fault present in the system, and should be checked for necessary repairs.
· Once done, stop the car and turn off the engine.
· Disconnect the plugs.