97 Legacy Outback CEL & starting

[etlsport]

Ive got a 97 Legacy Outback that i bought in october '03 in late december '03 got a check engine light, as i drove it to the dealer the light went off, to be safe had it looked at anyway, they didnt find anything wrong. A few days later i went to get my emissions tested, i was there idling for about 30 minutes and as i drove up to the bay i had to stop once again, i put the car in park and when they waved me in, put it back into drive and the tachometer flipped out and the dash lit up like a christmas tree then the car stalled (all within about 5 seconds). Had the car jumped and drove it home without a problem, ran for 3 days without incident. After a big snow took the car out drove it about 10 miles and the CEL came back on so i drove it home, parked and turned the ignition off, came back 2-3 minutes later and the car wouldnt start, couldnt even jump it, had it towed and dealer said new battery and alternator, so i did that and the car ran well, drove it about 170 miles where it sat for about 2 weeks, drove it another 170 miles without a problem after 3 days of city driving the CEL came back on and now the dealer said it was a misfire in #4 cyl. code was cleared because the dealer couldnt reproduce it, a week later the CEL was back on, the car drove 170 miles without a problem and started up nicely for two days after that. car sat for about a week and now it wont start... any ideas?? i have none

[friendly_jacek]

Someone reported recently that misfire in #4 can be due to bad gas. Put some quality gas with conditioners.

Other than that I have no good ideas. Find a good mechanic or buy a scan tool. In my opinion, mechanics at dealerships are not good at troubleshooting (scan mentality).

 

You mentioned an emission test. Was this a dyno test? Dyno is a nono in AWD cars.

[legacy2.5]

i do not agree that techs. at a dealer are not good at troubleshotting. I dont know if you are a tech. or not, but I am. i have worked at various dealers and used to work at somwe private shops. I work at a dealer now and have for years. i dont know what you are talking about "scan mentality" but we have all the manuals, computers, and factory help to fix problem cars. I dont know how many times i have had to repair cars that a "local shop" could not fix. i dont know if you were burned by a bad tech. at a dealer, but we get all the newest traing, information, and tools to fix vehicles right the first time. dealer prices may be a little higher, but you are paying for the knowledge of the techs. that are trained properly, and use the right parts. we are trained to know these vehicles and a lot of people dont like to think that a part wearing out, and not performing to specs, can diversely affect other parts, and performance of a vehicle. I would highly recommend a dealer or someone who specializes in subaru, because they have more of a chance, and materials at hand to fix the problem.

[friendly_jacek]

From you post, it did not sound like you worked at a Subaru dealership. Novertheless, I am sorry to hurt you feelings, let me elaborate what my experience was with the local Subaru dealerships so far.

 

Had very poor MPG in 2000 Legacy wagon (16 in city, down from 20-22 normal for the car) over a year ago. Brought to the dealer, car under warranty. I was told, no CEL, no problem whatsoever. Was not convinced, did an oil analysis, showed almost 5% fuel in oil. The dealership would do nothing and even refused to acknowledge my complaint of poor MPG and fuel contamination in writing (on the service request form). I was told that everything was normal. I had impression that the mechanics and the supervisor had no idea what oil analysis was. Problem persisted for several months. I had to change oil often to get rid of contamination, yet the level of wear metals was high. Eventually, engine hesitation and poor AT shifts developed. Once, CEL showed up, P0122, TPS voltage low. Dealership did not act on it, just cleared the codes and sent me home. "Could not duplicate the problem" was the diagnosis and answer to my observation of poor drivibility. Several weeks later same symptoms come back. This time the dealership decided to change TPS. $330 and almost a week later (took that long to get the part, I brought the car on friday) I got the car back. Now the milage goes back to normal (20city/24hwy), more that a year after the problem started. However, the same problem cames back 2 weeks later. The service manager had I blank look in his face when I asked if the replaced TPS was actually tested to be defective, he did not know. The sensor was reconnected and the problem went away. So far so good.

 

Bottom line: the dealership would not do a thing before CEL indicated a code and when they did act they just replaced a component indicated by ECU without giving a thought what the actual problem might be and if the component was actually defective.

 

This is what I call a "scan mentality"

My experience and what I read on various forums indicates that this quite common. If your dealership is different, good for you.

 

The second Subaru dealership in the area is 60 miles away and I will never use them after they broke plastic under-engine panels during O2 sensor recall and refused to fix it.

 

BTW, i am not a tech but the reality forced me to buy an OBD2 interface and Subaru service manuals and take things in my own hands. "Physician heal yourself"

[etlsport]

i never made it into the emissions test, i was waiting in line and i went to pull into the garage it stalled.. i have been trying different gas.. so far ive gone to a Wawa an Exxon and a Mobil (middle grade).. none have really acted differently... and put STP fuel treatment in with every other tank ( i thought it was a little excessive.. but the bottles say to use it in every tank)

[legacy2.5]

you did not hurt my feelings. no i am not a subaru tech i am a nissan tech. and used to be a honda one. subaru's are just as easy if not even easier to work on than most other japanese cars i have delt with. that sucks that you and others have had bad experiences at dealers, i hear the same things about local shops also. someone not doing there job properly happens anywhere when someone does not take pride in there work. your car was never diagnosed properly and that was not right. it has been my experience that dealer techs take pride in there work and c.s.i. ( customer service index ) is a big part of the job. it does not sound like there is another dealer to close to you, but i can bet there are some good techs there that would service your vehicle right.

[legacy2.5]

have you checked fuel pressure?? have you changed the fuel filter??

[legacy2.5]

i am thinking that you might have a water leaking on an elestrical component. do all the accesories work properly when the car was running?

[etlsport]

Everything works fine, seat heaters, defrosters, lights, locks, only occasionally when i put the drivers window completely down the window motor will turn off and on, moving the window about a quarter inch up and down but putting the window up and back down fixes that. I had a CD player installed 2 weeks before everything started happening, but i havent had any problems with it working, so i dunno if thats whats doing it

[legacy2.5]

check your main grounds for corrosion

[rweddy]

You mentioned an emission test. Was this a dyno test? Dyno is a nono in AWD cars.

Huh why is this? :-\

Here in Colorado we do not have a choice we have to run our cars through Dyno test every 2 years. They have a special lane for AWD so all 4 wheels are rolling.