Battery issue

Discussion in 'Modifications & DIY how-to' started by ihavefat, Jun 6, 2014.

  1. ihavefat

    ihavefat Member

    So since yesterday, I have been getting CEL. It started with the P0011 but I know that is a ghost code due to the stage 2 tune. I turned it off and it ran fine. Then I started the car up and it started idling rough, almost like when your belt teeth is off or clogged/dirty avcs. But then it'd go away when I drive it. At this point I am thinking maybe p0011 wasn't a ghost code but it came on during my motor break in (the new shortblock has about 1.5k miles) with my base map tune and it never idled like that.

    I figured it's the ECU learning so I tried to ignore it. Today, my car completely died. To the point where the lights on the dash and the interior would go on and off. I tried to replace the battery but the car started running again when we messed with the negative terminal. The thing was, it wasn't loose but I guess for some reason it was bad. I got the battery checked out at autozone and it was working as almost new. So I have narrowed it down to maybe bad terminals? This could be why it wasn't giving enough voltage to some of the sensors and just giving false CELs like p2096/misfires.

    I also wondered maybe it's the OBD2 reader that's draining the battery so I took it off immediately. I started the car to see what'd happen and what do you know, it'd idling rough again.

    here are the pictures of the battery:
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  2. ihavefat

    ihavefat Member

    Ok so I cleand the battery posts/cable ends/bolts/nuts with battery cleaner (with the brush) and applied some protector to prevent corrosion. I start the car and even after starting, it almost paused at 300-400 rpm then when I revved so it wouldn't die, it shot up and started idling really rough around 1100.

    BTW, I think maybe it's safe to say this post can be moved to the appropriate section like the Powertrain/ecu, not Audio since it seems clearly it's not the battery..

    This is what I have:
    new OEM shortblock (about 1.5k miles on it)
    Cobb downpipe
    Mishimoto aluminum radiator
    Perrin turbo inlet
    stock uppipe
    stock td04 turbo

    This is basically a stock car motorwise other than the tune/turbo inlet/downpipe.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2014
  3. b reel

    b reel Active Member

    being that a 5.0 Coyote is NOT a Subaru it might best to clarify what you have in regards to year and model
     
  4. Sparta

    Sparta Active Member

    Sounds like a big vacuum leak. Check the turbo inlet since it isn't stock
     
  5. ihavefat

    ihavefat Member

    I completely forgot I had this thread posted!

    Bought battery cleaner and protector. Used a brush and got all the corrosion off. All the issues I have been having related to the battery is gone..I personally think it was the OBD2 reader just sucking all the battery out of it (I left it there assuming it'd turn off when I turned off the car)

    The car is having rough idle issues. Similar to what people get when they get the p0011 and camshaft position timing CELs. Banjo bolts are cleaned out...timing belt is good. It is narrowed down to the actual OCV solenoid on the passenger side malfunctioning or the intake cam gear..:/ we'll see how this plays out.
     
  6. Justin V

    Justin V Member

    if you can datalog it you can see if its something AVCS related.
     
  7. Sparta

    Sparta Active Member

    did you check for leaks?
     
  8. integroid

    integroid Supporting Member

    if you were having battery issues I would double check all of your grounds just to be safe. Especially the main ground coming off the battery to the chassis. The wire could of gotten really badly corroded.
     
  9. ihavefat

    ihavefat Member

    No leaks.

    @Interoid, I will keep that in mind :)

    will keep this thread updated as soon as I have more info :)
     
  10. ihavefat

    ihavefat Member

    Ok. So I purchased both intake cam gear and OCV solenoid..replaced the OCV solenoid and the problem is gone (I personally haven't driven it yet, at the shop atm).

    I did some reading and for whichever reason you get the p0011 and misfire codes, banjo bolts and OCV solenoids are definitely involved and a lot of the times taking the screens out of the banjo bolts and cleaning the OCV acts as a bandaid. A lot of people having issues where the problem comes back after 1-2k miles. My banjo bolts/cam gears/and other re-used parts were cleaned and put back together when I got a new shortblock..which was like roughly 1.5k miles ago..and I got the code p0011 but no idle issues so figured it was a ghost code. 1.5k miles later and the code is back and the rough idle is happening again. I will be keeping the intake cam gear just in case to see if the problem comes back, if not I will just return it (or sell it to someone who actually has a malfunctioning cam gear lol).

    I really hope anyone with similar problems gets the issue solved!! It seems this is a lot more common than I thought. The trend I see is most cars with this problem has over 100k miles . P0011 or camshaft position sensor CEL comes on and people always check the timing belt but 99% (unless you were the one that installed the belt or recently got it changed by someone) it's not the belt skipping tooth. Sometimes cleaning out the banjo bolts fixes it but a lot of the times the problem still remains. It was hard because every thread I would find online...people never come back and report what fixed the issue or if they did get it fixed or not...so it was not very helpful :/.

    I will be coming back to this thread after a couple of thousand miles with an update :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2014
  11. Sparta

    Sparta Active Member

    I dont see how a banjo bolt will effect idle. If the banjo bolt gets clogged your turbo doesnt get oil and will snap the compressor wheel. Seen it happen twice. If the code you are throwing is a cam position sensor I would swap that out.


    Might even want to scuff the grounding points with sandpaper to ensure they have good contact.
     
  12. ihavefat

    ihavefat Member

    The sensor has been swapped before and it worked fine.

    Rough idle is very common in correlation to P0011/P0018/P0021/misfiring CELs (not saying you will get all these codes, either just one or a couple in diff combo). I am not a subaru expert anything but the cam gear is effected by the oil pressure (ocv solenoid). It's supposed to work in sync with the motor but like in my case, I had excessive oil pressure for some reason which put the cam gear in an angle that can't even be set to even if you wanted to. Lol I hope this makes sense.
     
  13. jp233

    jp233 Member

    how did you get excessive oil pressure??? it's a crank driven oil pump so that must mean there's a clog somewhere, which created a high pressure situation somewhere locally.

    Definitely the easy thing to do is check your grounds, and electrical connectors at the OCVs and cam sensors for corrosion/etc.

    Your battery terminals weren't terrible, I've seen much worse. Did you pull back the sheilding and actually look at the battery wires themselves? The corrosion can move way up into the wire, and be a hidden problem.

    Mechanically, sounds like you are on the right track. Did I miss it, do you have banjo filters???? If so, one could be clogged causing an AVCS/OCV issue, which then could throw a cam sensor CEL. If they are "clean" I'd still remove them, but there's a zillion opinions on that.

    Also, another basic thing - the battery looks quite old, how is the water level in it ??
     

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