Super VXer
Sounds like a massive SUCK job Gary, but you endeavored to persevere & came out the winner!......
Glad you finally chased down & exorcised the gremlins...
In hindsight, & for future reference, would it have been worth the effort to remove the torsion bar?
Super VXer
For me, no. I could reach it with my toothpick arms, it was just a matter of being able to get my fingers to the location. My forearm is torn to all hell and sore, but I managed. I would imagine a shop or anyone with a lift and larger arms would definitely need to consider some alternate removal options. Minus the torsion, it surely would be a much easier job. It's still tucked up in there, but I think minus the torsion, it would be far more manageable.
It has me thinking though, most of my VX's symptoms this passed year were all CPS failure descriptive. I never actually found a true vacuum leak and the other number of things I tweaked and changed made no difference. Strange how the 342 only triggered AFTER I redid many 174/171 causing items, but the symptoms remained. I would have imagined that 342 to have triggered long ago. Baffles me. A bad CPS definitely appears to be some sort of "problem man behind the curtain" considering it shares the very same symptoms as a vacuum leak, fuel management issues, and throttle control.
Gary Noonan
'01 S/C VX / '18 Forester XT
Super VXer
The bad news:
The new CPS did NOT work. All was fine for 20 miles today. Shut her off and had a coffee with some friends and when I started her up to leave, the CEL was back with the 342 again. A little more research this evening revealed some pretty scary news. One apparent issue that some research shows that can cause the trigger seems to be some bad internals, mostly due to "low oil". Well, I change and check my oil very often, and never seem to have any oil burn at all. Considering I drive my VX about 3k-4k miles a year, it still gets an oil change every 6 months at that rate. Never been low. Today though, I checked my oil and it was FULL, but dirtier than it has ever been. I mean DIRTY. Almost sludge. She makes a pretty awful sound at idle too and even lost power in acceleration. I fear some internals are damaged and causing more issues throughout at this point.
Preparing to send her off to the shop to let her get torn down. Only so much I am willing to do on my own. *shakes head*
Super VXer
Really sorry to hear this Gary...Originally Posted by WormGod
I hope it turns out to be something $mall.
Super VXer
Nah, I am done working on her for a bit. I have spent too much time in my garage with it this past fall/winter. Gonna let my trusted shop handle it now. Not really out of patience or anything, I just want a break from staring at the VX engine bay for a while, heh.
Don't worry, I am not fed up. She is staying in the family, just needs some TLC out of my hands for a bit. If anything, this may be a GREAT time to go ahead and get an engine rebuild. If it's enough work for them to do that it gets a tear down, they may as well do the full whammy. We'll see. Drawing no conclusions.
Hell, might even start shopping around for some big brake kits and manual transmissions. Get it all done in one big punch.
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