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Old 01-15-2021, 02:15 PM   #1
dnmcguire11
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Exclamation New to the Subaru cars with issues

Just picked up a 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX about 3 weeks ago with 136k.

Details of the car other then the above. Current modifications done by previous owner: Invidia turbo back exhaust, Go Fast Bits recirculating BOV, COBB access port, and a COBB electronic boost controller. What I have done is switch all lighting to LEDs with the LED flasher relay as well, brand new front Brembo brake pads, coated rotors, and 4 piston coated calipers. I have stainless steel lines front and rear ready to go on the car next.

After receiving the car, as I do with every car I buy, I go through it to ensure its sound and nothing is wrong. I have replaced oil/filer, air filter, checked tires, and the routine maintenance.

Within this time frame I have had a few issues I cannot seem to get rid of.

First being my over charging issue. Now I have don't many things to remedy this issue. I first tested my alternator and battery. Alternator was showing over charging so I went ahead and replaced that. Still showing that I was over charging. So I replaced the battery and cleaned grounds and replaced positive cable that had corrosion on it. Now it still has a over charging issue. I have done a test to rule out wiring where, while the vehicle is running, I have a volt meter on the battery which shows 15v-15.2v. Now I disconnect the alternator plug from the alternator and the voltage drops down to the regular 12.3v and will drop as the car is using the power only from the battery now. I am at a loss at what this could be other then a bad ECU/ECM or a bad tune from the previous tuner.

Second issue, when I first bought the car it had a soft pedal, softer then what I like. Try pushing about 50% pedal then getting firm soft. Now above I mentioned I replaced all front brakes including calipers. I bleed them the first time during this part change and it got worse. I would say maybe 10% worse. I bleed them during the part change doing the old push the brake pedal hold and open the bleeder. Now after a week of driving I went back and used my pressure bleeder. This resulted in ZERO air coming from the lines when I cracked them open. Now after this process I DID have a slight increase in pedal response. But it is still now where I would like it to be. With the above mention of replacing the lines with stainless steel. I hope to increase it a little more if not fix it entirely. I have not ruled out my master cylinder yet, but it is a little further down on the list.

Thank you for reading as I hope to expand my knowledge on these cars as a first time Subaru owner.
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Old 01-15-2021, 02:22 PM   #2
Jack
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06 is ancient enough that the brake lines could use at least a good inspection and maybe replacement. Doing teflon center, stainless braided covered should give you slightly firmer feel. If it gives you a big improvement, the OEM rubber lines were seriously borked. I'd consider just replacing the mc. They're not overly expensive or difficult to replace. Bench bleed the mc to avoid hours of heart ache.
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Old 01-15-2021, 02:27 PM   #3
dnmcguire11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack View Post
06 is ancient enough that the brake lines could use at least a good inspection and maybe replacement. Doing teflon center, stainless braided covered should give you slightly firmer feel. If it gives you a big improvement, the OEM rubber lines were seriously borked. I'd consider just replacing the mc. They're not overly expensive or difficult to replace. Bench bleed the mc to avoid hours of heart ache.
I have a master cylinder on order with my brake lines so I will have that as a backup plan if the lines do not do the pedal justice. Brake lines are stainless steel from Stoptech. And yes, the bench bleed process will happen if I do end up replacing it. Thank you for the information.
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Old 01-15-2021, 02:48 PM   #4
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I'd also recommend a MC brace. You'd be amazed at how much the firewall flexes during initial stroke. Combination of brace and SS line make a fair difference in feel.
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Old 01-15-2021, 02:50 PM   #5
dnmcguire11
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I have never heard of such a thing? I track a 98' Cobra mustang and don't even have one of those. Is this only a Subaru thing and any brands I should get over others?
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Old 01-15-2021, 03:58 PM   #6
snow_bound26
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GrimmSpeed makes a good one. But they all work for their purpose.
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Old 01-15-2021, 06:37 PM   #7
AliBenn
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That over charging issue baffles me too
Only thing I can think of is prior owner has incorrect crank pulley on car
???????

I remember back in the day lots of owners bought/installed those lite weight pulleys
Those did the opposite thou.....dimming headlamps at idle

Keep us posted!
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Old 01-16-2021, 07:53 AM   #8
dnmcguire11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AliBenn View Post
That over charging issue baffles me too
Only thing I can think of is prior owner has incorrect crank pulley on car
???????

I remember back in the day lots of owners bought/installed those lite weight pulleys
Those did the opposite thou.....dimming headlamps at idle

Keep us posted!
All pulleys on the car are stock as of right now. The only two things I can think of that it may be is something with a bad tune or the computer itself is bad, but I could be 100% wrong too. I am going to email the tuner and see if he has any insight or take it to a subaru dealer and have them reflash the computer with a stock tune then re-install the Cobb port.

Thanks for the insight on the changing of pulleys.
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Old 01-20-2021, 02:33 PM   #9
dnmcguire11
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Lightbulb UPDATE on both issues

Quote:
Originally Posted by AliBenn View Post
That over charging issue baffles me too
Only thing I can think of is prior owner has incorrect crank pulley on car
???????

I remember back in the day lots of owners bought/installed those lite weight pulleys
Those did the opposite thou.....dimming headlamps at idle

Keep us posted!
Got around to looking over the car again. Found out these cars have a 10amp fuse. Of coarse the person who never has fuse issues did not think of a fuse causing my over charging issues. Replaced the 10a fuse in the fuse panel under the hood, I believe its fuse #8, and battery light turned off and is only putting out 14.3v as it should.

Brake issue update: I replaced all lines with stainless steel and bleed them again with a pressure bleeder. This did nothing to help with the pedal feel other then once I do get a little resistance it was instant, still had to press about 60% down before that point.
I was told by another Subaru owner to bleed the brakes with the car on. I was thrown back by this statement due to bleeding brakes numerous times and never had a vehicle on and no one else I know has either, multiple mechanics within those people.
Round #4 or 5 of bleeding brakes I decided to try and bleed the brakes with the pressure bleeder and car ON. I had my doubts but I tried it anyway. After I was done and car was off, I had a firm pedal. Start the car and drive it down the road a big and wow. About 80% pedal feel increased. I was amazed that the trick even worked. I have no idea how or why, but I am happy to have most of my pedal feel back to normal.
I feel like this trick could also be done by modulating the ABS with a scan tool during the bleed process, but I did not have that at the time.

Thank you for reading and the info.
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Old 01-20-2021, 03:30 PM   #10
thiessentr
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I dont understand how a faulty 10a fuse would cause an overcharging issue. Can someone please explain this for me?
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Old 01-20-2021, 04:06 PM   #11
AliBenn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dnmcguire11 View Post
Got around to looking over the car again. Found out these cars have a 10amp fuse. Of coarse the person who never has fuse issues did not think of a fuse causing my over charging issues. Replaced the 10a fuse in the fuse panel under the hood, I believe its fuse #8, and battery light turned off and is only putting out 14.3v as it should.

Brake issue update: I replaced all lines with stainless steel and bleed them again with a pressure bleeder. This did nothing to help with the pedal feel other then once I do get a little resistance it was instant, still had to press about 60% down before that point.
I was told by another Subaru owner to bleed the brakes with the car on. I was thrown back by this statement due to bleeding brakes numerous times and never had a vehicle on and no one else I know has either, multiple mechanics within those people.
Round #4 or 5 of bleeding brakes I decided to try and bleed the brakes with the pressure bleeder and car ON. I had my doubts but I tried it anyway. After I was done and car was off, I had a firm pedal. Start the car and drive it down the road a big and wow. About 80% pedal feel increased. I was amazed that the trick even worked. I have no idea how or why, but I am happy to have most of my pedal feel back to normal.
I feel like this trick could also be done by modulating the ABS with a scan tool during the bleed process, but I did not have that at the time.

Thank you for reading and the info.
awesome update man!

-crazy about that fuse.....but f-it.....job done

-I was about to type bleed with car on...….but re-read and another job done!

I was having the same issue with brake pedal feel after my swap
(brembos) found that once I got a STI booster....was 60% better....then the bleedfest began. im serious, I lost friends bc I/multiple friends bled brakes like 8 times. finally did bleed job with car running and got up to acceptable pedal feel.
now im foggy if your car came with Brembos or calipers with 2 bleeder screws on inside and outside, but later I found out that there is a specific order to do outside caliper and inside caliper bleed screws.
I seriously was bled out.....didnt try it.
I broke the bank with what seemed like hundreds of bottles of brake fluid
cheers man!
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Old 01-21-2021, 03:59 PM   #12
Jedi03
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based on my work at a different dealership, the issue is the brake fluid doesn't travel correctly through the ABS...i also don't fully understand it, but similarly bleed them the way i have for the last 30 years and squishy pedal...vehicle running and bleed and perfect pedal...
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Old 01-22-2021, 02:09 PM   #13
dnmcguire11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AliBenn View Post
awesome update man!

-crazy about that fuse.....but f-it.....job done

-I was about to type bleed with car on...….but re-read and another job done!

I was having the same issue with brake pedal feel after my swap
(brembos) found that once I got a STI booster....was 60% better....then the bleedfest began. im serious, I lost friends bc I/multiple friends bled brakes like 8 times. finally did bleed job with car running and got up to acceptable pedal feel.
now im foggy if your car came with Brembos or calipers with 2 bleeder screws on inside and outside, but later I found out that there is a specific order to do outside caliper and inside caliper bleed screws.
I seriously was bled out.....didnt try it.
I broke the bank with what seemed like hundreds of bottles of brake fluid
cheers man!
Yes, the 06 WRX came with 4 bot Brembos in the front and 2 pots in the back, but both still only have one bleeder, which I find strange on a 4 piston setup. It was news to me when everyone else who has WRX around me said there is no way they came with Brembos, but I guess something about the 06' they did.

I've only went though 1.5 bottles of DOT 4 fluid so far. I am ordering new rear calipers, pads, parking brake, and rotors to hopefully 100% get a pedal that I am familiar with. Worst case I do have a master cylinder that is brand new, but it will be a last resort. I also did end up grabbing one of those master cylinder braces as well. As I am skeptical that will help much, but worth a try for just a $100.
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Old 01-22-2021, 02:11 PM   #14
dnmcguire11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thiessentr View Post
I dont understand how a faulty 10a fuse would cause an overcharging issue. Can someone please explain this for me?
I am not 100% sure, but from my experience what happened is that the 10A, #8 fuse in fuse block, was blown. In this case, the alternator gets told to "over charge" instead of not charging at all. This would more then likely be a fail safe from Subaru to ensure your car is not just running on battery power, which you will not get very far with just battery power driving a car.

Now this is just from my knowledge I have of electronics and working on cars in the years.
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Old 01-22-2021, 02:34 PM   #15
knesek
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my tuner said that master cylinder braces are usually meant for the 08-14 as the firewall can crack. I believe he said they do help on our chassis with brake feel but that ss lines are much more dramatic
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Old 01-22-2021, 02:36 PM   #16
dnmcguire11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knesek View Post
my tuner said that master cylinder braces are usually meant for the 08-14 as the firewall can crack. I believe he said they do help on our chassis with brake feel but that ss lines are much more dramatic
I have already installed stainless lines at all four corners. I bought the brace if that and bleeding while on did not help. And as I have it now, might as well throw it on there.
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