Serious mechanics please.

hellfritz, Jan 11, 3:07am
Right, so i have a 1998 subaru legacy GTB automatic (yes a ladies car), and its starting to lose its 'guts', ive had it for 3years, the o/d 153450 runs on petrol, however when im driving it the 'check engine' light comes on and it will stay on for a while then dissapear.it also can sometimes smell of burning oil, so ive checked the oil levelsandthatsok, also as it is a turbo car, it has a delayed reaction so to speak for the turbo to actually kick in.someone please give me genuine advise on where to go from here please.

paul271, Jan 11, 3:08am
Take it to a serious mechanic.

hellfritz, Jan 11, 3:11am
genuine people need reply paul271

jono2912, Jan 11, 3:11am
Have you taken it to a mechanic!

paul271, Jan 11, 3:14am
I gave you genuine advice. No one can diagnose what is wrong with your car without actually seeing it and carrying out some diagnostic testing.

hellfritz, Jan 11, 3:18am
yep and they said that the 'check engine' light is nothing to worry about! its abit annoying when i take it to a mechanic as they take 1 look at my car and thats it.i know that subaru's can be annoying to fix but i just want my car to be in good working order.

hellfritz, Jan 11, 3:20am
paul271, i gave the problems that im having.and was asking for advise please, not to be answered with a mock!

mugenb20b, Jan 11, 3:35am
One would like to think so.
Twin turbo or single!

neo_psy, Jan 11, 3:36am
Take it to a Subaru mechanic and get them to plug it into the diagnostic machine. That'll give you a fault code.
Oh, and do you run it on premium petrol!

ralphdog1, Jan 11, 4:43am
Clearly if you have taken it to a mechanic and he has told you not to worry about the check engine light then you have taken it to a clown.
Paul271's advice to take it to a serious mechanic is good and serious advice in the circumstances, why treat it so ungratefully!

prt21, Jan 11, 5:56am
Burning oil smell is prob just oil leaking from rocker cover onto your exhaust - common from what I hear. You can pull the codes from ECU if your up to it. Theres 2 black plugs underneath the dash, driverside. Connect them, then the engine light will flash constant if no codes logged, or do a combination of long and short flashes if codes are logged. 1 short flash = 1, 1 long flash = 10. So if you saw 2 long flashes and 4 short, then that code 24. You can then google the code and see what prob is. Plenty of info on subaru forums. You may have more than one code logged. The procedure can be googled. I'm not sure whats up with yours without more info. But I can tell you the common faults I've had with subarus that have caused lost power.AFM, coils, O2 sensor, knock sensor, spark plugs, primary turbo on twin turbos, A/F ratio sensor. I'm not a mechanic but have owned a few subarus. Anyway hopefully I've helped in someway.

n1smo_gtir, Jan 11, 6:48am
sounds like my old GT wagon, does exhaust light come up at all! does it lose power only when underload or even when driving on flat! hate to say it but according to the lemon and dogs guide to cars subaru turbo cars tend to pack the sad at 150,000ks. mine done about similar ks before crappy itself. if it had a sad history of neglect before you got your hands on it, most likely it would have been lack of proper scheduled maintenance. and unless you know a mechanic with acess to diagnotic tool, it costed me 100 bucks just to have it scanned for fault. went to midas who refered me to armstrong subaru.

hellfritz, Jan 11, 2:50pm
Oh, and do you run it on premium petrol!.Yep i do

kazbanz, Jan 11, 3:08pm
helfritz--either you were asking for free advice or you took your car to an idiot. Check engine light is there for a reason.
I agree with the above posters.
1) the oil smell is MOST LIKELY the rocker cover gaskets/cam end seals weeping/leaking.
2) take your car to a subaru specialist about the check engine light issue.
3) personally I'd say don't drive it anywhereuntill you have done so

mugenb20b, Jan 11, 4:03pm
And we are still waiting for answers, not just get ignored! Obviously, not such a problem after all.

paul271, Jan 11, 5:15pm
I'm not mocking you, I am giving you sound advice.I could give you probably 20 things that will cause those problems, and if you did everyone of them, your car will be solved. You would have spent about 6-8k along the way tho.If you took it to an experienced subaru mechanic, they will find the two or three things that are at fault and sort them out for you.

wasser61, Jan 11, 5:27pm
I am a serious mechanic. and the answer is.

Drum Roll, please.

It's the Flux Capacitor, it has faulted and now the freewheeling diodes are at reverse polarity

jason18, Jan 11, 7:07pm
Try some subaru upper engine cleaner in it. This is a great product and helps to give a bit of life back into the engine. Worked for my subby

msigg, Jan 11, 10:25pm
yea engine check light is there for a reason, a good auto sparky could be the go.

frank1, Jan 11, 11:03pm
Have same prob with eng check light coming on,but only at around 100kph,goes out when u go back to around 50kph-engine performance not affected in any way.
Took it to an auto electrician,but he says cant check the fault unless light is on.
Tried another knock sensor but no difference.
So just drive it.

fordcrzy, Jan 12, 12:22am
MAYBE A FAILING PRIMARY TURBO. leaking oil into the exhaust system and thats killing the O2 sensor

frank1, Jan 12, 12:44am
Sorry should have said mines a 250T--2500cc NON TURBO

karma1975, Jan 12, 2:45am
plug the 2 black plugs together under the dash and turn ignition on as above, then read the code, post back up what code it is

22 is knock sensor, 23 is afm - cant remember the others offhand but have them around if anyone tells me what code they need to find out about as Im sure others will in theis thread that obviously know it too

frank1, Sep 10, 8:41pm
Does code come up on dash!--thanx Karma--mechanic not electro proficient