Wow… that title sure sounds boring, doesn’t it? Truthfully, it is! Read on if you dare!
Turbo Subarus from the late 90s and early 2000s use an exhaust gas temperature sensor just past the catalytic converter, to give the driver a warning when the catalytic converter has stopped working properly.
I personally believe in using catalytic converters on my cars, but a lot of automotive enthusiasts would rather not. As such, this sensor has no place to plug in on most aftermarket Subaru exhausts without catalytic converters, and needs to be bypassed.
In my case, I do have a catalytic converter, but while trying to salvage this sensor when I swapped downpipes I ended up cutting the wire and having a hard time properly reattaching it. My fix worked for a while, but last month while driving on a bumpy road a warning light (like the image above) came on my dashboard telling me my catalytic converter was toast. I knew that not to be the case so I suspected my sensor wiring to be the culprit. I decided to just be done with the sensor, for now, and to get rid of the warning light on my dash by using the method pioneered by the Subaru enthusiasts without catalytic converters.
The method involves emulating an ‘all clear’ reading from the sensor by putting a 2.2Kohm resistor in its place. The sensor wiring is connected beside the turbocharger on the right-side strut tower:
I didn’t want to cut the wires, as I intend on fixing the sensor next time I have the exhaust apart, so I made up a removable plug-in resistor. The male pins on the Subaru plug make a decent (but not great) fit with a common female spade electrical connector, so that’s what I used. A few creative bends in the resistor leads minimized the overall size of the assembly and gave the crimp-on connectors a little more wire to bite into.
I added some heat shrink tube, because heat shrink tube is fabulous.
…and then installed the assembly into the plug.
…then sealed it up with some electrical tape. I also taped the sensor-side of the connector into the works to keep it from flopping onto a hot exhaust pipe and melting.
Tada! No more warning light on the dashboard. Ugly but effective, just like me.
Cost:
$3 - twenty 2.2Kohm resistors (Ebay) (if anyone wants some of these, let me know! What the hell am I going to do with the other 19?)
Incidental supplies:
female crimp connectors
heat shrink
Turbo Subarus from the late 90s and early 2000s use an exhaust gas temperature sensor just past the catalytic converter, to give the driver a warning when the catalytic converter has stopped working properly.
I personally believe in using catalytic converters on my cars, but a lot of automotive enthusiasts would rather not. As such, this sensor has no place to plug in on most aftermarket Subaru exhausts without catalytic converters, and needs to be bypassed.
In my case, I do have a catalytic converter, but while trying to salvage this sensor when I swapped downpipes I ended up cutting the wire and having a hard time properly reattaching it. My fix worked for a while, but last month while driving on a bumpy road a warning light (like the image above) came on my dashboard telling me my catalytic converter was toast. I knew that not to be the case so I suspected my sensor wiring to be the culprit. I decided to just be done with the sensor, for now, and to get rid of the warning light on my dash by using the method pioneered by the Subaru enthusiasts without catalytic converters.
The method involves emulating an ‘all clear’ reading from the sensor by putting a 2.2Kohm resistor in its place. The sensor wiring is connected beside the turbocharger on the right-side strut tower:
I didn’t want to cut the wires, as I intend on fixing the sensor next time I have the exhaust apart, so I made up a removable plug-in resistor. The male pins on the Subaru plug make a decent (but not great) fit with a common female spade electrical connector, so that’s what I used. A few creative bends in the resistor leads minimized the overall size of the assembly and gave the crimp-on connectors a little more wire to bite into.
I added some heat shrink tube, because heat shrink tube is fabulous.
…and then installed the assembly into the plug.
…then sealed it up with some electrical tape. I also taped the sensor-side of the connector into the works to keep it from flopping onto a hot exhaust pipe and melting.
Tada! No more warning light on the dashboard. Ugly but effective, just like me.
Cost:
$3 - twenty 2.2Kohm resistors (Ebay) (if anyone wants some of these, let me know! What the hell am I going to do with the other 19?)
Incidental supplies:
female crimp connectors
heat shrink
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