quick help stuck 700 miles from home

[00sanchez]

Was cruising.down the highway in south Carolina when the cel code came on. I read the sticky, but didn't quite get how to pull a cel code without a scanner.

I have an 03 wrx. Just replaced the upstream o2 which took care of the light about 300 miles ago. The car isn't running differently. There is a hose on the metal pipe running right in front of the tmic which came off and has a crack where it connects. Not sure what the pipe is, but I bought a clamp at the truck stop I'm at and have it on there, but there is a small pin sized area where the crack is still off the pipe.

Any ideas? Should I keep diving? Don't have cash for a hotel.

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[leftbraned]

not running oddly, not leaking any fluids? w/o a pic I'd guess the tube is one of the crank case ventilation tubes????

if you're out of cash I'd keep going, just stay out of boost and drive gently... sleep in car when/if it breaks down - screw being stuck at truckstop.

[00sanchez]

There are two metal lines right in front of the tmic. It's the one closest to the intercooler. On the left hand side there is a rubber hose that runs towards the front of the turbo just above the passenger side valve cover. Can't really talk where it books up at.

Yeah, it's running the same as it was, oil light isn't on, and temp looks normal.

Any way to pull the code? I didn't really understand the directions given in the sticky link.

[novacivic]

It's a crank case vent hose. Just drive it but just drive it nicely until you can get home and fix it.

[00sanchez]

Driving... cross your fingers. I'll update if it blows up.

Edit: if anyone else wants to chime in, I'll monitor every twenty minutes.

[esteve]

Ok, so it's the passenger's side vent hose coming up from the valve cover. The hose clamp was a good idea and to help seal it further you could fill the crack with some sealant or even super glue. Another idea is to wrap the cracked section of hose with some electrical tape and reinstall the hose clamp over it. You probably have a vacuum leak which will cause your motor to run lean so definitely stay out of boost.

Those hoses near the turbo get hard as a rock from all the heat so I'd replace the other ones too once you return home.

[00sanchez]

I did wrap some electrical tape around it to deal the crack a bit. It's proving hard to stay out of boost in the mountains. Will around .3 map in 5th be horrible?

[WhiteBgeye02]

just downshift for heavens sake if you need more power. i dont get why ppl dont understand if your in a hilly area you can not drive in just 5th.

[esteve]

If you mean .03 mpa on the stock boost gauge, that's like 4.3 psi. Since you have a boost gauge handy, just try to adjust your driving to stay out of boost as much as possible.

[00sanchez]

I am downshifting; however, these are not your regular hills, and partial throttle in even third gear sometimes causes negative acceleration.

Anyway, yes, I meant .03 mpa. The phone is auto correcting. Just stopped to look at the hose, and it is holding up nicely.

I'm getting .04-.065 or so vac readings at idle and around .08 while at 3k rpm in fifth. Normal?

[rdieder]

Did you make it back or blow up? Updates?

[CRAZYHAWK]

As long as the CEL isn't flashing, keep driving.

[00sanchez]

I pulled over and took a map. Just had the code read by auto zone... gas cap. Got some carb cleaner and looking for the vac leak.

[00sanchez]

Got some carb cleaner to check for a vac leak. Waiting on the engine to cool down.

[esteve]

So how many more miles do you have to go? I don't remember what the readings should be on the stock boost gauge but if the needle is fairly steady at idle and your engine idle is smooth then that's a good sign. A vacuum leak would be most noticeable at or near idle.

[esteve]

BTW, .08 mpa is almost full boost. Cruising along in 5th you shouldn't really be in boost. Is it the hills? Hopefully, your roadside repair is sealing well because that's dangerous territory with high load and high boost.

[CRAZYHAWK]

What was the code?

Originally Posted by 00sanchez

I pulled over and took a map. Just had the code read by auto zone... gas cap. Got some carb cleaner and looking for the vac leak.

[00sanchez]

The code was p0457. It popped up again, and I cleared it. I did make it home a few hours ago and made an appointment with my mechanic for tomorrow.

The hose I rigged fell off again somewhere between Tennessee and Kentucky. The clamp was broken, so I taped and clamped it again. I managed to stay out of boost for the most part, never getting above .02 on accident a few times. That was the most annoyingly meticulous 750 or so miles in my life.

Now that I'm home, I'm smelling an exhaust leak under the hood, the clutch is acting funny in the friction zone, but drives ok, the clutch peddle didn't return past half a few times and I had to pull it up with my foot, the steering is "loose" in that it tracks the road heavily and seems to steer on its own when going over lines in the road, and there was a mysterious ticking noise that is intermittent... it sound like less heavy than valve chatter but hard than injector tick. No noise in cold, and only heard it when the engine is warm, so I don't think it's the exhaust leak. Definitely not rod knock. There's an oil leak somewhere, but it's not bad as the level hasn't dropped noticeably, but I see some running down each valve cover in a single 1/2" line on each side.

The car still idles fine and runs strong, though. And I'm glad to have made it back.

Ok suppose I will know tomorrow what the issues are. Thanks for helping, guys.

[esteve]

Glad you made it back ok and hopefully your engine's fine.

For the clutch issues (pedal doesn't want to come up) you probably have a bad clutch master cylinder. For the steering issues, your steering rack bushings are probably gone (soft rubber bushings + bad design for 02-03) but Whiteline steering gear bushings work wonders with what you're experiencing.

[00sanchez]

Originally Posted by esteve

Glad you made it back ok and hopefully your engine's fine.

For the clutch issues (pedal doesn't want to come up) you probably have a bad clutch master cylinder. For the steering issues, your steering rack bushings are probably gone (soft rubber bushings + bad design for 02-03) but Whiteline steering gear bushings work wonders with what you're experiencing.

I'll have the mechanic look at the master cylinder. I did swap out the old bushings for new OEM bushings before I left Florida. I have some whitelines sitting on my desk waiting for install. I'm hoping it doesn't end up being slight frame damage that I or the initial mechanic didn't notice, but I would think the handling characteristics would be different if that were the case.

Thanks for the replies. It made me feel a bit safer having you guys on my phone just in case things went south. And for the things that did go wrong, I was able to handle them in the safest manner to get home. Awesome community so far.

[esteve]

Cool man, no problem. That's what these forums are about, helping each other out and sharing info.

[00sanchez]

After a second trip to the local Subaru dealership, they noticed a slight bend in the passenger side control arm. Upgrading to the aluminum sti control arms and hoping this does the trick next week. Will post results until it's resolved for anyone else having this issue.