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Friends 02 bugeye wrx wont start

4K views 23 replies 7 participants last post by  AYSE 
#1 ·
So my friends wrx died while driving, i came over and used romraider to pull the codes. Car will still not start, its not even trying to turn over. its "tuner" uses an obd2 tuner, its blue.. Not really sure what it is.. It has a tune switching module of some sort. Previous owner did not seem to know what he was doing.. It has a full atmospheric blow off valve. it also has a toggle switch that resets the air to fuel? This whole car is questionable.. But heres the codes any insight would be awesome..

Heres the codes:
P0131 FRONT O2 SENSOR LOW INPUT
P0132 FRONT O2 SENSOR HIGH INPT
P0136 FRONT O2 SENSOR B1S2
P0500 VEHICLE SPEED SENSOR A
P1518 STARTER SWITCH LOW INPT
P1591 NEUTRAL SWITCH LOW (AT)

Again and suggestions would be great, thanks!
 
#2 · (Edited)
Here are some pics of the sketchy job the previous owner did on this car :(
I in one of the pictures you can see the toggle switch and a push button. The button is for "resetting the A/F" and the toggle switch puts the car into different tuned modes? IDK I cant be more specific than this. Current owner of car was making a significant amount of money and bought the car cash and didnt really do any research prior lol.. He wanted it so he got it :shakehead:
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#3 · (Edited)
At first the car wouldn't do anything. The battery is working and all the electronics inside the car seem to be working but when you try to turn it over it just clicked once. Not the way a bad starter would click. It just clicked once and no CEL would pop up. So I cycled his "tune switch" back and forth a few times and the hit that red button which supposedly resets the "air to fuel ratio" I'm not sure what the purpose of that it lol. Anyways I reset it and held it while I tried to start the car and I got the car to throw a code.

Not sure if this info helps but if there's anything else I can do to give some helpful info just let Brenner or myself know.

Thanks in advance for any input

Here's an update. Got it to actually try and turn over. Got a video but not sure how to share it.
It cranks but really slow. Sorry all these are super vague tid bits of info. We Pulled some data logs with RomRaider too. If anyone is savvy enough to diagnose with the given information we can provide said data. I am by no means a mechanic. Simply just trying to help my friend figure out if the car is fixable. *fingers crossed*
 
#4 · (Edited)
Update
I had the current owner find the list of mods that have been done to the car. I will list the details per the advertisement that had saw before buying the car.

Subaru WRX 2002
-113k miles at time of sale (don't know how much more he's got on there now, but he's only had it about 5 months)

Engine Mods
-90-95 Phase 1 & Phase 2 [96-00] thin headgasket MLS
-EJ22E Block & Oilpan; Stock & WRX oil coder (** Corrected original typo of EJ33E**)
-EJ205 Heads & Everything else
-UF30 Turbo & Adjustable wastegate actuator
-STI "pinks" injectors
-TGV Deletes
-Walbro 255 Fuel pump
-SR*S TMIC & Y pipe & Silicone coupler
-Ebay silicone turbo outlet
-AEM CAI & Stock MAF Sensor
-SR*S Catless up-pipe, Catless Bellmouth DP, 3" Exhaust
-Meagan H-Brace

Transmission
-2004 5 spd Trans
-Stage 2 street clutch

Odds and Ends
-Innovate LC1 Wideband LS64.2 Sensor
-Modified ebay OBD2 Interface (cable-like) Tatrix Open Port
-Exide Orbital AGM battery

That's it for the stuff that was done to the car. I don't really know what to do in order to trouble shoot this car. At first glance I thought it was an electrical issue, but the electrical seems to be "working". The slow cranking of the car indicates that its getting the power (maybe not enough) to crank the engine. An individual whom I work with said it could be the timing (I also read a thread on NASIOC that said something similar for a similar problem but some had suggested it was electrical also)

I am open to suggestions so we can at least test some things or look for possible problems. If this car is totally a lost cause, chances are he may part it out. I don't want to see that happen :(
 
#6 ·
I see how that could pose a problem, maybe I had made a typo or something. What is the indicator of a 6Cyl Engine? Please pardon my lack of knowledge. I am certainly eager to learn and I have been reading a lot trying to comprehend all this info.
 
#13 ·
If we could get it running first that would be a start. I don't think he has anything from the stock set up though. The car has had so much crap done to it, I don't even know where to begin. I would try to convince him to get it back to almost stock and then get it retuned accordingly. We just need to first diagnose the problem then go from there.
 
#14 ·
Slow cranking sounds like it's not getting enough power. Are you sure the battery is good? I would test the battery, go over all the grounds and make sure they're good, and run through the fuse block with a DMM looking for any shorts. If you don't find a solution there.. maybe try push starting it?
 
#24 ·
yeah, more than likely.

on a side note. He got a new starter, not sure if he has installed it yet. I also heard through the grapevine from a mutual friend of ours, that his problems became apparent after going through a rather large puddle (hes got a CAI) I am curious if he actually hyrdrolocked his engine.. I don't mean to sound mean but the kid isn't very bright. He just bought this car cause he knew he wanted a WRX and he had cash in hand. I don't really blame him for this, I too am very impulsive. However the car had a lot of work done to it and from the looks of it, the previous owner cut a lot of corners. Its quite the shame too because I personally love the bug eyes and I would hate to see him haul this to the junk yard cause he doesn't have the desire to fix it.. if I had a few grand just laying around (and a garage) I would most certainly buy the car and try to work on it and not even touch my 2013 lol.
 
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