99 outback, Minor mods

[Thalass]

Hey all. I have a list of small things that bug me about my car, so I'm going to fiddle around and correct Subaru's mistakes.

Firstly, the intermittant wipers are set to a fixed timing. According to the wiring diagram there's a trimpot within the combination switch, so I pulled it out and took it apart... only to find I have to desolder a couple of spots on the circuit board to get the cover and switch assy off. Has anyone looked inside this? I've misplaced my soldering iron so I won't be able to go any further today.

Second is the power windows system. Looking at the drawings I've found the relay that allows the windows to operate only when the key is set to ON. However this relay controls other things so I'm a bit hesitant to wire it on permanently, I was thinking of separating the window wiring and having that on the hot bus, as long as the window system doesn't draw standby power.

Also with the windows I want to have a single switch that puts all windows up or down simultaneously, but to do that I need to know how the driver's window does it - is it set up with limit switches, or does it sense the load on the motor and shut off when it goes over a preset level? The wiring diagram only has a box thing between the auto up and auto down mode and the rest of the switch modes. I'm going to pull that area apart and see if I can duplicate the circuit for all four windows.

On my keyless entry system, the indicators don't flash when the doors are locked and unlocked - and it's supposed to happen. So I'm going to have a look at that, there's two pins of one of the immobiliser box connectors that go to the indicator box.

I also want to make the fog lights work with the main light switch set to off. I tend to use them as daytime driving lights, but to turn them on you have to have the main light switch on, which dims the aircon display and other things, which annoys me.


Once I find my long lost soldering iron, I can start getting into it further, but until then has anyone else fiddled with these things?

[Jack]

<snip> I also want to make the fog lights work with the main light switch set to off. I tend to use them as daytime driving lights, but to turn them on you have to have the main light switch on, which dims the aircon display and other things, which annoys me. <snip>

If you drive with headlights on in daytime the centre display does dim making it hard to read. However, it's easily fixed. Press and hold the climate control's OFF button for a few seconds - the centre console lights will return to full illumination.

Here's a link which talks some simple mods
http://mredge.com/content_99Outback.html

[Thalass]

Aha! I didn't know that, that puts the lights further down the list then.

Learn something every day! heh Thanks

*edit*
Looking at this list of mods, with the indicators (that's another thing I'd like to do - upgrade to LEDs) I know you can get flashing LEDs, though I don't think they come in higher-power versions. Even then it shouldn't be too hard to rig up a flasher unit for LEDs... I'll have to think on that. I might have done that in high school.

[FROG]

[quote="Thalass"]
On my keyless entry system, the indicators don't flash when the doors are locked and unlocked - and it's supposed to happen. So I'm going to have a look at that, there's two pins of one of the immobiliser box connectors that go to the indicator box.




QUOTE]

HIT OPEN BUTTON ON KEY 5 TIMES TO TURN ON OR CLOSE BUTTON 5 TIMES TO TURN IT OFF
WORKS ON MOST
CHEERS

[fredsub]

I also want to make the fog lights work with the main light switch set to off. I tend to use them as daytime driving lights, but to turn them on you have to have the main light switch on, which dims the aircon display and other things, which annoys me.

you do realize that fog lights are designed to spread the light, a PITA for on-coming traffic when not used in a fog situation. In NSW they're illegal to use in non fog conditions.

One thing I hate about the OBW is that when you unlock, ALL doors unlock, not desirable if its only the driver using the car. If your carrying something in the back, and you stop, someone could just barge in knock stuff off before you could do anything about it.

[Thalass]

I know they're designed to spread the light, but I've stood in front of my car at various angles and distances and they don't see overly bright to me, not compared to other cars I've seen with their lights on. Over here in Perth we used to have a "drive with your headlights on" friday as a test to see if that reduced accidents or not. I only tend to use them on overcast days or something like that - when I don't need the lights to see but it's still dim.