Help,engine Managment Nightmare

[mrstu82]

Hi,this is my 1st post,just bought myself a 52 plate wrx with prodrive kit,otherwise completely standard.Only had car a few weeks and engine managment lights been coming on 90% of the time.Took it into stealership today to be told the high flow cat has been removed causing lack of power and the eml to come on as a standard cat is now fitted.found this hard to believe (£800 plus vat) so went round to workshop and spoke to mechanic there who tried to flog me a prodrive cat which was fine until i happened to say it was a wrx,which he then told me he never realised and the cat on the car IS the correct one!what kind of scooby mechanic doesnt know a wrx from sti?anyway reset fault codes,checked boost is at 15-16 psi,went away with light off,10 mins later lights back on.dont notice much diff in power when light is off,feels like 180-200bhp not 250 odd.any ideas?i think maybe maf or lambda sensors but dont know....they checked timing which was ok too

[trackhound]

Do you have a note of the actual fault code(s) which are triggering the CEL?

[mrstu82]

No afraid not i was still in a state of shock when he said he thought it was an sti and just sorta wondered out.came back on when i was on way home,took it out an hour ago was still one,nipped out to shop now and it was off!be back on as soon as its warmed up and i open it up on dual carrage had a 2000 plate wagon and sure it felt faster.

[trackhound]

No afraid not i was still in a state of shock when he said he thought it was an sti and just sorta wondered out.came back on when i was on way home,took it out an hour ago was still one,nipped out to shop now and it was off!be back on as soon as its warmed up and i open it up on dual carrage had a 2000 plate wagon and sure it felt faster.

I'd be inclined to take the car back to the dealer and get them to explain what the fault codes relate to if you apparently have the right cat. You could have the correct cat but it may not be functioning properly for example or it could be a whole host of other issues with the engine which only the codes will tell you.

If it is your cat that is faulty, you can buy good downpipes with 100 cel performance cats which will are emissions compliant but are not absurdly expensive like the prodrive ones. Scooby clinic, Zen et al can help you here.

[mrstu82]

[He did mention there was a fault stored something to do with the cam but said that was an old fault and checked timing said it was fine.I'll phone dealer tomorrow,thanks

[Richie Cross]

and welcome to the forum

[sti pretender]

Can we ask which dealer you used? I've had issues with one before with a Subaru and a Vauxhall.

Edited June 30, 2009 by STI Pretender

[mrstu82]

Do you have a note of the actual fault code(s) which are triggering the CEL?

Right,bought a code reader today and following codes came up-p0113-Intake Air Temperature Sensor Circuit Malfunction (High Input) map sensor

and po340-camshaft position sensor malfunction.

erased both codes and took it for a half hour work out on back roads,up and down all gears and liht still off,i have faith it will come back tho!still seems underpowered too,i would think that timings out buy like half a tooth but according to dealer they checked timing and was ok,but then they thought it was an sti so that doesnt fill me with confidence....any ideas?and it was subaru dealership in aberdeen i used.

[trackhound]

Right,bought a code reader today and following codes came up-p0113-Intake Air Temperature Sensor Circuit Malfunction (High Input) map sensor

and po340-camshaft position sensor malfunction.

erased both codes and took it for a half hour work out on back roads,up and down all gears and liht still off,i have faith it will come back tho!still seems underpowered too,i would think that timings out buy like half a tooth but according to dealer they checked timing and was ok,but then they thought it was an sti so that doesnt fill me with confidence....any ideas?and it was subaru dealership in aberdeen i used.

Interesting - so nothing to do with your cats then.

Re the high IAT code p113 - does the car by any chance have the standard airbox removed? If not it sounds like you may have a faulty MAF.

Re P340 Fuji Heavy Industries produced a bad batch of cam sensors for the early newage cars so this can be a common problem. I had the same problem on my car so I replaced it and all was fine.

If either of these sensors are faulty this will impact your performance. Neither are cheap unfortunately. If you can it might be worth borrowing the sensors from a friends car if possible to validate the fix before splashing out.