Here's a doozy

So, this will be a bit long-winded... but it is one that I cannot solve on my own.

I have a boxed frame specialty car constructed from a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT turbo with an EJ255. The original wiring loom was removed from the donor car, as was the front transaxle and running gear. The rear prop-shaft on the donor car was removed and the AWD system was essentially removed and blanked off. So, the engine, gearbox, and front transaxle were then removed from the donor, and inserted into my custom mid-engined toy.

So far- so good.

Since the engine was from a donor car with xxxx miles, I decided to build a new EJ255 and use the existing harness, ECU, etc. for it. Since then, I have the new engine, plumbing, turbo, electronics, etc hooked up and installed in the new ride- but am not getting fire.

I have checked and replaced: Cam Sensor, Crank Sensor, fuses, and still no fire. I have laid grounded a plug on the car and turned it over looking for fire- and there's nothing there.

I am thinking immobilizer, but don't know what to look for, where, etc. I read something about a Body Integration Unit online, but don't know what it looks like either, or how to trouble shoot past where I am now. I am pretty much a lost cause and getting discouraged by the day.

Any ideas, descriptions of what to look for, photos, or anything would be nice at this point. I have run out of ideas and am sure it is something simple... I just can't find it.

Top 10 reasons for not having fire that I have not checked??? Is there a way to test the immobilizer/reset it/replace it?

With the 2005+ LGT, the immobilizer would be the primary reason for non-fire. If you don't have the key that's matched to the ECU, then it's a non-starer, no pun intended.

Recommend you just get a stand-alone EM system and call it a day. Getting all of the other bits, i.e. encoded/matched key, BTS, etc., will make this a difficult project. Only Subaru techs, with a Subaru Select Monitor can encode/match the key to the system.

Yea go stand alone like megasquirt or what ever

Otherwise you need everything from the car the key the body inter grated unit and the reciever for they key and maybe a few more things

FYI- I have put over 5000 miles on the car with the old engine, and setup. It works, or should I say- worked with all the old wiring harness, ecu, biu, etc. Why would it not work now? The key, switch, etc are all from the orig. donor car and are matched. I did have a shut-down with the old engine during a torrential rainstorm- just absolutely died and had to tow the car home. A day later it started no problem. That issue was never diagnosed, as it never happened again. Could it be the same problem??? It had no fire then either.

If I go stand alone, will I lose ABS, OBDII potential, and emission compliance that I have now?

More???

I am not sure if this will work- but I threw a few photos of the build:

http://356legacygt.shutterfly.com/

FYI- I have put over 5000 miles on the car with the old engine, and setup. It works, or should I say- worked with all the old wiring harness, ecu, biu, etc. Why would it not work now? The key, switch, etc are all from the orig. donor car and are matched. I did have a shut-down with the old engine during a torrential rainstorm- just absolutely died and had to tow the car home. A day later it started no problem. That issue was never diagnosed, as it never happened again. Could it be the same problem??? It had no fire then either.

 

If I go stand alone, will I lose ABS, OBDII potential, and emission compliance that I have now?

 

More???

 

I am not sure if this will work- but I threw a few photos of the build:

http://356legacygt.shutterfly.com/

megasquirt you will be able to get rid of 90% of the wires.

do you want abs ? i would not ..

you did not say that this was running already so we assumed it was a project.

by old engine .. did you simply rebuild the same engine ? or did you rebuild another engine and put that in ? there may be an issue with the crank and cam triggers being different.

also try starting with both cam sensors unpluged. it will run with out them. it will not fire right away it will need to crank over 3-5 turns then it will fire.

obd2 compliance ? what for ? on a project car ? i'm not sure of where you are located but around here the car needs to meet or exceed emissions of its date of manufacture and at that age there are none.

how did you lock the center differential ? and dont tell me you welded it because that's cheating

Old engine had an undetermined amount of miles on the donor car and always ran hot. The goal was always to have a new mill and we used the old one just to shake out the bugs during testing.

The new engine is built from scratch using some of the old bolt on parts. Added an FPgreen turbo, Up and down pipe, new BOV, better fuel pump and injectors, and wanted to do a simple- but reliable/safe tune. Just to keep it simple, I expect about 280-300hp in a car that weighs about 1800lbs.

All is for squat, if I can't get the thing to fire.

OBDII for resale one day, all states don't look at emissions the same, so I want to keep that, as well as the ABS, and all of the other etc. Car is registered as a 2012 Custom in North Carolina- so emissions are compulsory.

And yes- we cheated with the diff.

Any thoughts on the possibility of the electrical issue that shut the test mill down in the rain, and any similarities to this one not having fire? That should be checked in the event it has reared it's head during the transfer of the engines.

I read up on MegaSquirt, and quite honestly- it sounds like Chinese to me. I would rather trouble shoot what is here and worked in the past, rather than reinvent my wheel.

Any ideas to check with the existing system would be great. Otherwise, I will continue to scratch my head.

well megasquirt is 100% do what ever you want.

i installed a megasquirt 1 in a 95 golf in brazil in about 45 min and another 45 min of tuning and it was then flexfuel ! that engine only needed 10 wires ! total cost under 200$

Well then, come put one in my car! After reading again, it seems pretty confusing. BUNCHES of options, and most of the components don't make any sense to me. I am showing my lack of tuning ability, so again... not sure it's for me. For someone who knows a lot more than me?? Sure!

Don't feel comfortable tackling that on my own.

^ you can get a 15$ "vagcom" cable

download a program called free ssm

and then you can see if the the thing is getting crank signal input.

but i'm also serious about unplugging your cam sensors try that and tell me what it does

Talk nicely to a Subaru dealer. Maybe they are willing to help in exchange for some advertising.

It's a pretty cool project.

Still in the process, and making headway. Have started tinkering again, and found out the following:

There was a component that had been burned during the mount, and that was the culprit... we think. So, we replaced the burned out Immobilizer box, and had to buy the matching ECU, gauge cluster, and key from a donor 05 LGTMT. All was pretty much a plug-n-play with the old wire loom.

Engine is firing now, but still won't start.

I am new to the Cobb AP, but the eventual goal was to flash the car to a stage 1 or 2 tune to keep it safe/reliable. I hooked it up to the OBDII read port, and found my new donor is tuned to a stage 2. Is there a way I can erase the tune from the new donor computer and revert back to factory spec. before I start to tune?

Is there something that I can do to get the car to start, and allow the computer to adjust and throw codes so I know where to focus my attention?

Anyone up for some more advice and what I may want to do next? Tempted to take it to the shop and have them reflash the box to factory spec before I proceed.... ideas??

It is sputtering when it turns over, but won't catch and run. Battery on charge now. Will the computer eventually make adjustments to let it run, or should I be looking into something else?

Is there a way to get the factory specs back to the computer?

Since the donor ECU has been tuned (possibly with a custom map), I think it would be good to start my brand new mill at the baseline and go up from there.

Unless the ECU was locked, you should be able to flash a stock map on there yourself:

http://www.romraider.com/Documentation/GettingStarted

If the ECU is locked, I could be in deep poop. I will be stuck with the tune that wrote off the donor car.

No way to jailbreak a locked ECU?

Should run... but won't. Sputtering, but no constant combustion.

well the ecu doesnt learn in cranking..

the plugs could be heavily fouled.