Am I Kidding Myself??

[RSR 555]

Hey Dave, have you had a chance to drive another Auto GT Forrie? Without driving your GT, I'm thinking the auto might need a good sevice and have the bands tightened, especially if it's got a few kms on the clock. I'd also look at upgrading your exhaust system even if you weren't doing much towing.

[SuBaRiNo]

It's just had a major service not long ago so the Auto trans fluid should be good. Im thinking the Dyno option to test it might be the best idea but i have no money till after April so this will have to wait.

Without some absolute proof this car can infact pull my camper properly i wont be spending any real money on it.. The amount of performance increase i would need to make me happy would need to be extream to say the least.

The engine knock changing the timing might make sence but there is has to be something wrong causing it. No fault codes and fuel pump was replaced a few days ago.

I will attempt a ECU reset and see what happens.
The fuel im using is usually Ultimate 98 and rarely a 95 Ron when we have no choice.

I don't know anyone else with another GT so i can't compare there either.

Dave

[Outback bloke]

It is not the type of car that is the issue, it is your car. I don't know what model you have but I would be pretty sure it has, well should have more power than my NA2.5 auto outback. I know for a fact that it would tow a tonne camper trailer with out being dangerously slow and it would not overheat doing it. I also have a larger than standard tranny cooler that I fitted to my Outback. It creates no overheating issues.

Another question, have you actually weighed your camper? Maybe it is heavier than you thought.

Other than the lack of power and overheating, is it running well? I mean does it idle smoothly, not miss and fart when you drive off, that sort of thing.

I would see if you can borrow another dump pipe from some one and see if it makes a difference. A blocked or failing cat will reduce your power by half or more.

Also, while you have the dump off have a look for cracks around the waste gate on the turbo. Your turbo might be stuffed too. It will still make boost but not efficient boost. If it is cracked it will be working overtime to give you the 10psi that you have and be getting hotter and hotter all the time. This heats up your cooling system and induction temperatures quite significantly. The colder your induction is the better your performance and the better your car will run.

[steptoe]

Can we see a connection between TWO problems of not as powerful as you expect and overheating? Not coping with the load causing overheating or overheating and lack of power without a common cause.

On overheating need to test pump flow ability FREE no parts involved. Also FREE hose test the in out flow of your radiator or get it checked by rad people.

I wonder if you have cat converter problem? You may have an idea how to remove your exhaust to see if you can look down cats throat or bum. It may be breaking up causing partial blockage, if so FREE is break up rest and remove to refit gutted cat to test if that is problem - if so new one is the way to go

[steptoe]

OH! Just reread to find someone else thinks cat at #9 and #10. I read that at 1.00AM, I am now awake at 10.00am

[AndrewT]

Vidler's Forester is almost the same thing as yours isn't it Dave? Albeit alot newer but it should have relatively similar power. Might also be a good test to get him to drag the camper around the streets abit and see how it goes.
What time are you normally home from work? I'll pop over end of the day sometime this week and we'll see how the Legacy goes if your up for it.

[RSR 555]

Another question, have you actually weighed your camper? Maybe it is heavier than you thought.

I think Brett makes a good point here Dave and maybe I'd also double check the maximum towing capability (braked and unbraked) for the Auto GT?

Plus I'd also check with the guys just did your major service and just get the details of what work was done on the auto? Sometimes a flud change might not be enough?

The other thing to check is the coolant. I found that running Subaru coolant made a HUGE difference to the temp in my turbo Subies

[thatsgoodsquishy]

Vidler's Forester is almost the same thing as yours isn't it Dave? Albeit alot newer but it should have relatively similar power. Might also be a good test to get him to drag the camper around the streets abit and see how it goes.

Dont forget the GT Forester got a detuned rex drive line whereas the later XT got the full berries, so there will be a noticeable difference between them.

[Gannon]

After thinking about it today, a blocked cat converter seems quite likely.

It would explain the power loss and overheating under boost.

Undo the centre pipe and start the engine, if it quiet, its blocked, if its noisy, its probably fine

[SuBaRiNo]

Thanks for the advice and stuff guys... have been trying to nut this out... to answer a few questions..
I don't think the camper is very heavy... Jockey wheel weight is a liftable 80ish KG fully loaded... I can also push the camper around on my own and through sandy camp sites. But in saying that it has not been properly weighed. The hatch can tow this thing better than the Foz so im thinking it's not the camper.

Idles fine... revs fine. Never over heats in normal conditions. But never feels very fast even without the camper on it. Gear changing now that i think about it also does not seam spot on.

My line of thinking is this... If the belts or whatever they are in the gear box are slipping... this would make it take off slow like a slipping clutch in a manual and also make this ten times worse pulling something. The more the box slips the harder the engine is running so creating excess engine heat... also could the slipping in the box create fluid heat in the radiator giving a false engine temp reading.

It's odd how quickly the temp was raising and cooling... My experience has been it usually takes a long time for engine temp to cool. I could be wrong. Although trans fluid temp may cool much faster. *shrugs*

Anyone know of any tests to test the box??. Getting it on a Dyno or some sort of hill start?

Also i got bogged in some pretty mild sand.. and come to think of it the wheels didn't look like they had spun out holes like i would have thought... could the box had been slipping then too.

The Cat idea that has been thrown about also makes sence but i thought that would Lag the boost being generated (hence show up on my gauge) rather than make the car drive like a swiss tank.

Dave

[RSR 555]

Dave.. just a thought for ya. I have an old dump pipe from a WRX in the shop which you can have to try (would recommend knocking the guts out of it first) on your Foz? You can keep it for the work on the wiring for me I'm thinking this will cost you zip to try (except some of your time to fit) and it would eliminate one thing for you??

[SuBaRiNo]

Thanks for the offer Paul... i might just have to do that. Although i was so sure yesterday that it was the box, im not so sure today.

I thought it might be the bands in the box but i don't think they cause driveline slip like i thought. Could be something worse like the actuall torque converter... i will need to do some tests when i have the car here.

Dave

[RSR 555]

No probs Dave. Do you still have the wiring loom or did my friend pick it up?

[Alex]

theres no replacement for displacement when towing. After towing with my patrol ill never go back to the smaller engines.

ALTHOUGH, i do think theres something wrong with your car, i towed a cruiser which had big tyres, big lift and packed up for wedge, proabably just under 3t worth with my wagon when it was EJ20turbo. Had no problems what so ever, sitting on 100km/hr. The person in the cruiser could actually feel it when the wagon hit boost.

Heres another fairly far fetched idea, perhaps you have a boost leak? But you should pick that up pretty easily if there was one.

goodluck

alex

[SuBaRiNo]

Would a boost leak not show up on the boost gauge?? Or am i thinking about how boost works in the wrong way.

Paul... i heard from your mate a few weeks back and i messaged back with the times im home... never heard back after that.

Maybe im thinking of this all wrong but if there was some sort of boost/turbo problem or even a motor/cat problem shouldn't these all effect the boost and make it boost up slowly... it seams to boost straight away and hit full boost very easily... just doesn't move a lot when it does.

Auto torque converter... what does that do?

Dave

[SuBaRiNo]

Also how to i check the Cat... do i remove it and stick something down it... I have read there are 2 Cats in the foz... obviously i should check both.

Or is it time to bite the bullet and take it to a mechanic.

Dave

[El_Freddo]

Or is it time to bite the bullet and take it to a mechanic.

Dave, hopefully it won't come to this!

Someone has already mentioned what to look or listen for in your cat by disconnecting the exhaust at the flexi joint after the cat (think it was steptoe or RSR?)

How soon are you leaving for your trip - I realise you'll want to have this sorted well before you leave but I guess it would be good to know what sort of time frame we're working with to help you sort it out.

I have no idea with boost/turbos so I'll steer clear of any ideas there I'm sorry.

I'll be reading along and putting in when I think it might be of value

Cheers

Bennie

[SuBaRiNo]

Trip wont be for atleast a year. So no huge rush... but selling this and getting a new car will take time... hence me researching now.

Sorry i will go back a read the old posts again about the Cat thing.

Dave

[RSR 555]

Dave, there is really no easy way to see the CAT in the Turbo models. When they fail they usually crumble/melt together inside themselves. The easiest way is to remove yours and fit another one on that you know is good or has the guts missing.

Boost leak can happen in 2 parts of your system. Intake system which you may hear leaking off air when under boost and the other is Exhaust system leak which you may hear like a hole in your exhaust.

I have had the boost leak in many of our rally cars mainly from the exhaust gaskets. There are 2 gaskets in the up pipe to the turbo that I've replaced a few times but you would hear them leaking even at idle or with short stabs on the throttle.


BTW.. I might give you a call in the next couple of days to grab that wiring

[SuBaRiNo]

yeah no worries Paul... thanks for the info.

Just as some follow up information i have just noticed... the car tends to take off faster at half throttle than at full throttle... any ideas? Does this support the Cat therory??

Dave