Has this happened to anyone? I don't know why it did this.. Coincidentally, the Check Engine light came on a few hours later.. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Coincidence my eye, say your thanks to OBDII.

Something is wrong with your VSS, power wash the undercarriage first and then if that doesn't work head in to the dealer.

hehe You obviously dont drive over 4000 rpm too much (hehe).

It is the VSS speed sensor. It probably got unplugged when someone was washing the car nderneath, or maybe you unplugged it (hehe). it is a sensor that comes out of the right side of the tranny.

If it isn't unlugged, then it is broken (how who knows, but probably not). You cannot drive the car above 4k rpm when this is going on, the car runs in 'safe mode'.

-Pat

Hey, thanks guys.. but... uh..

That cable.. whatever it's called.. is still plugged in.. And I CAN drive over 4K RPM. I usually have no reason too, but I did it anyway just to see what would happen. My car runs fine, and doesn't appear to be in SAFE mode.. By the way, I'm in a 95 Impreza 1.8L. I don't think my ECU is the same as the rest of yours.

Oh, new update. Spedo stil doesn't work. But the CHECK ENGINE light now comes on at random times.. Particularly more when the car has had some driving time after a warm up. (it's only 6 degrees out here)

Hello,

No reason to go above 4000 rpms? Damn, I guess I'm a freak. When I drive, I have little reason to go below 4k... http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/tongue.gif Shift at the rev limiter, drop to 4k'ish, shft at the rev-limiter, etc. It's only those pesky redlights that get me below. And sub 20 mpgs is perfectly normal http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smile.gif

But seriously, on the older cars, the VSS is a cable, not an electronic connection. It uses the same internal gear, but the plug is different (it attaches to a cable that spins instead of electronics). I do not believe the ECU has any clue what speed the car is going, because my cable goes from the transmission straight to the back side of the speedo. There are no sensors attached to the cable and nothing else between the tranny and the speedo.

That being the case, and if you feel nothing wrong with the car, I would guess that you have a short somewhere or the cables attached to the back side of the instrument panel have come loose... THough even that guess sounds wrong, because my speedo registers speed no matter what. I took the engine and tranny out of the car, with no battery and nothing else left and I spun the speedo cable with a drill (bored and tired) and watched my speedo register speeds. BTW, kinda funny, but at 1500 rpms, I think it was about 30 mph. *shrug*

So, the speedo not working is probably the cable broken, kinked, or unplugged at one end (either end) and the CE is probably something else. Whatever caused the cable to get damaged, broke something else, maybe.

Joel

Thanks J!

I had exact same problem on my 98 Legacy. The shaft inside the speed sensor broke thus can't read out the speed from tranny.

Since the ECU can't compare the speed vs engine speed, thus switch itself into "safe mode", that's why you can't rev over 4Krpm.

The car had 40K mi while it happened, no warranty for me. http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/frown.gif

bahumut

this just happend to me! read all about it... http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/Forum11/HTML/001892.html