sooo..i picked up a '99 subaru impreza 2.5rs today and have been trying to do maintenance stuff and all that crap that comes along with a 'new' car. anyway i was heading home from walmart and it starts hailing/pouring rain here in washingtons weird weather (last week it was in the 80's). i get home, park and what not and realize that the parking lights (tail lights) wont go off. ive had this sort of problem with a nissan truck i have too and was like "damn, i gotta call the stealer tomorrow"...but anyway i had to figure out what was wrong so i fiddled with the fuse box, played with switches and what not for about 20 minutes in the pouring rain, using my cell phone camera flash as a light. then i got sick of it and decided to tear out the liner from the trunk and start pulling wires. 2 broken clips and a torn liner sheet later, and soaking wet i got all the lights off. i come in the house all pissed off and go onto a subie forum and find out its the stupid switch on the steering wheel column thats responsible for all the madness. apparently its some sort of feature for safety and blah blah blah...but anyway thank god toyota doesnt have weird switches that do unknown things and the worst times....
ok thanks for reading...i just needed to get if off my chest..and if any of you fellow yota-techers buy a subaru in the future keep this in mind.

 

LOL

that sucks hehe

next time get on the net first hehe

 

There is the undocumented electrical relay for the EFI system under the dash of 89-95 trucks and 4runners. it's towards the heater in the back left hind side.

It's a real <insert nasty name> to trouble shoot an intermittent power problem.

Just be thankful you don't have a VW or an Audio with inline fuses housed in the wiring harnesses. Now, dear friends, is a nightmare

 

haha...sorry mods u guys can move this thread if u want to. my comp has the taco/3rd gen 4runner forum bookmarked so i just opened it up and started typing...anyway i was just irked, but i can imagine the horrors of messing with inline fuses on the wiring harness. that must be crazy....and i was thinking of getting an A4 too. hah

 

Been there, done that, Its on my 92 same way, Wouldnt shut off.

I love my toyota, I cant wait to drive it again.
wade

 

In the 70's and early early 80's -- I enjoyed driving an old ford pickup. With 8 mpg and a front end that wandered the road like a blind driver on ice and intentionally turning it self off or deciding when to start or not. Of course, I hadn't driven a Toyota in those days.

 

I feel your subaru pain, I get blamed twice a week for park lights that wont turn off, and a dead battery, and they never want to listen when I tell them that me installing speakers couldnt have done that.

I do get a little joy when I school them on THEIR car though.

and everyone wonders why I love my toyota, just about everything is nice and straightforward, and works just like it should.

 

Why didnt you just disconnect the battery until you had time to figure out what it was?

 

i had just picked up the car in the morning and everything was fine then, so i figured i had done something, and wanted to find the problem so i wouldnt have to deal with it in the morning before school. apparently theres a bunch of things that subaru's have that are stupid. this morning i had to get on the nasioc forum to check why my dash lights woudnt stop blinking. apparently when u disconnect the battery, it will do that for some safety crap. u have to dig under the dash for a tiny button with brown wires and hold it while turning the car to "on" or the dash lights and stuff will blink forever

 

an acquaintence of mine bought a bmw 3XXi and had trouble with the navigation system. He took it back to the dealer and they reflashed the nav system with new software and now they can't get his car turned back on. Imagine that, the navigation system killed the entire car.

 

ive seen this 'safety' feature before. its for parking so that others are more likley to notice it (or aim directly at it )
my MC had the ability to be parked w/ the tail light only on. bling-lite for the parking lots

 

i get about 1 sube owner a month with the same problem, seems pretty easy to figure out to me, but i would'nt give up my turbo sube for anything (maybe a 95 turbo supra..lol) new toyotas are just to slow for me

 

haha wth? How do blinking dash lights involve safety? Someone please remind me not to buy a sube

 

Subarus seem to be popular on here.