If this has been covered all ready, then I apologize for the post.

Here's the story,... So, my wife and I are leaving Circuit City last night, and this guy pulls up next to me, with an exact replica of my new WRX. Same color, same body kit, and the same rims. DAMMIT! Now I have a twin car driving around town.... Anyway,... We start talking about our cars and it turns out he's a Subaru Sales manager at one of the local Subaru dealerships. We start talking about upgrades, boost controllers, exhaust, suspension, etc,... and then he mentions something about a campaign recall on the new WRX's ECU. He said alot of WRX owners are having their check engine light coming on. Turns out the ECU needs to be reprogramed or something. He said many owners have noticed a considerable HP increase with the new ECU.

Has anyone else heard about this ECU recall?

Somebody,... give me the facts,... or at least point me in the right direction,....

-AW

It may be true. But only for the early allocations. I got mine delivered in June, almost 3k mi, no CEL so far. If you check the CEL log, most, if not all of them, are early allocations. I think the first three months of delivery: Mar, Apr, May, may have probs, but after that, Subaru caught on and adjusted the ECUs for the later allocations. Turns out that the early allocation ECUs were not specifically adjusted for American export (differences in fuel octane, for example).

My WRX was one of the first delivered.... Can anyone verify this?

I received mine on March 12. Got the cel and had the ECU reprogrammed.

mine is in the first 1000 delivered and I haven't had any problems with CEL's that I haven't brought on myself :)

I got mine at the end of march and have had no CEL at all. I also have an injen intake and drive hard once in a while and still no CEL.

Got my02 mid-march... no problem-o's, so the situation is random. Good luck to those in need.

I may have been misinformed, but I got this from me mechanic...The ecu is being sent back because of an faulty evaps cel. I believe the code is P1143 or something... dunno. sorry. But he sad that the system is too sensitive, detecting moisture in the system.. something like that.. But I have not heard of any increased hp

I don't know whether or not there is a recall campaign underway.

The code is PO1443, and is the result of an ECU limit being set to close to normal operating conditions. This may or may not have been corrected on later allocation cars, I don't know that, and haven't seen any dates where new software was installed. Mine was a March car, the first in my area.
This may take a LONG time to occur on any one car. Mine happened at 8200 miles under conditions that I usually don't encounter. One day you may be out of town somewhere and you'll get the light. Just a matter of time for owners with original software.
My ECU was exchanged with a reprogrammed unit, and the car seems the same. No CEL's yet.
The area subaru service rep told me that the only change to the programming was the one limit setting.

This is straight from subaru,

Recall and Service Programs Your Subaru has been designed to provide reliable service with a minimum of attention. Any manufactured product, such as an automobile, has the potential of developing an unexpected condition that affects its performance or proper operation. In the event such a condition is discovered, Subaru will make every effort to notify the owner and provide recommended actions for correction. Listed below are all notices that have been issued for your vehicle.

Program # Year Recall Program Title
No Recall or Service Program Notices have been issued for your vehicle.

In addition to my WRX I also own a 2000 Legacy L. It had a check engine light and the same thing happened as was mentioned in the opening post. Dealer said there was recall on the ECU as well as the brake master cylinder. The brake master cylinder was just a check for certain serial numbers. They changed the ECU as well as one of the sensor lines. Later I checked the recall lists on several web sites and found no recalls listed for this model Subaru . Go figure?

Turns out that the early allocation ECUs were not specifically adjusted for American export (differences in fuel octane, for example).

I don't think this is true. Can you quote a Subaru source?

I read a lot about this some where. If you have the problem you can have the dealer order a reprogramed ECU. When it comes in you can drop by and let them swap it out. The first people to have theirs replaced had to give their cars up for a few days waiting for a new one but the dealers are trying to carry one to swap it out for when a car comes in.

What rims do you have?

Mine was built in Jan 01 and no CELs. You can monitor recalls at
www.safetyalerts.com/recalls

Whoops! The URL is www.safetyalerts.com/recall/

you can also find it on the consumer reports home page
consumerreports.org

got to the bottom left part "recalls"

or here's the direct link

http://www.consumerreports.org/main/search/recalls.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=387&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=35347&bmUID=999956245579