Date:         Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:55:24 -0800
Reply-To:     Jeffrey Vickers <jeff@VICKERSDESIGN.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeffrey Vickers <jeff@VICKERSDESIGN.COM>
Subject:      Re: Not starting easily
In-Reply-To:  <20111229174105.937F116F73DC@izzy.vickersdesign.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

There's a very good chance that the OX light on your dash has been
turned into a check engine light. Lots of Subie conversions use the OX
light for this - works great. If you have a light showing, it means
you are throwing a code and you need to find out what the code is. The
nice thing about a Subie engine vs. a Waterboxer is that you have OBDI
- On Board Diagnostic 1 - a diagnostic system made up of various
engine sensors that will tell you which sensor is at fault via a
blinking light Check Engine Light (CL) on the ECU itself, one mounted
on the dash, or via ScanTool. a free piece of DOS software that is
plugged into your ECU.

I suggest you do two things:
1) call Mike at RMW and ask him if this is their conversion. Mike is a
great guy and will help you get started with your problem.
2) join the SubaruVanagon Yahoo Group: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/subaruvanagon/
  All the information regarding the Check Engine light and how to read
it is on that site plus an enormous amount of other useful conversion
info that will help educate you about your conversion.

I would also recommend getting ScanTool so you can plug into your ECU.
ScanTool gives you all the engine parameters and is a really useful
tool. The readouts are very basic and nothing fancy but hey - its free
and it works, so there ya go.

Subie engines are easy to work on, cheap to fix and pretty simple to
diagnose when something goes wrong.

Hope that helps,
Jeff in Marin
1987 Syncro Westy 2.2 Subie


On Dec 29, 2011, at 9:38 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

>
> Date:    Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:55:26 -0500
> From:    Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Not starting easily
>
> One thing with conversions is that until you are fully knowledgeable
> you are
> going to require some support from the converter. This is due to every
> conversion being done slightly differently.
>
> From the factory the O2 sensor light was operated from a mileage
> counter
> driven by the speedometer cable. As a bulb check it was also lighted
> with
> the alternator warning light. So for your first support question you
> need to
> find out how these two warning lights now operate as the Subaru
> alternator
> requires some type of wiring change for this circuit. Also ask about
> the
> refrigerator control circuit as it was also originally controlled
> with the
> alternator light warning circuit. Are all the warning lights
> working? Do
> both the alternator and oil pressure lights turn on with ignition on
> and
> engine stopped?
>
> Now what do you mean by hard starting? Is it cranking slowly? Is it
> cranking
> normally but will not fire? Will it only start with throttle open?
> Need some
> more details.
>
> One thing you should do is find the connection for the ECU and get
> some
> means to read the fault codes. This will help a lot. Hopefully the
> converter
> added the engine maintenance indicator lamp, (MIL or check engine),
> to the
> dash somewhere. A hard start and bad idle could be from a single
> failure.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> Corey Deahl
> Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 8:22 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Not starting easily
>
> Hello all,
>
> I'm new here and glad to be part of something larger than myself! I
> just
> bought a 1986 syncro westy (which I've wanted since I was 16), and
> it has
> had the SVX conversion done. I believe it was installed by Rocky
> Mountain
> Westy. Anyway... It hasn't been starting very easily the last 3 days,
> because 3 days ago I was underneath fiddling around with the cruise
> control
> sensor. I'm not saying that's what did it, and here's a little more
> history... since I bought it, it's had the O2 sensor light on the
> dash lit
> up (running beautifully), and the guy I bought it from said it had
> been like
> that since he had replaced the engine at Rocky Mountain Westy, and
> they told
> him it was fine. Since 3 days ago, the light has gone off, the idle
> is lower
> and it will stall sometimes when I come to or near a stop.
>
> Any ideas on where to start?
>
> Thanks in advance, and I'm glad to be here.
>
> Corey