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Sputtering Badly Whats wrong??? Help Stranded!!


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I have been out driving long distance lately. Been going through alot of mountain passes and going up steep inclines, driving for hours on end and doing upwards of 80 miles per hour for long periods of time. Today, after driving 2 hours one way up to sun valley ID, and another hour back towards Twin Falls my car started to hesitate alot. The Tach would jump around alot, especially durring hill climbs. Even at an idle it would jump around. When I was sitting still I didnt hear or feel the engine rev up or change idle speed but the tach still jumped around even as high as 2000 rpm. But just for a second. When it did this while driving though the whole car would jerk. I did fill up at a "Pilot Gas" station and it was alot less than other gas. But I'm not sure if gas quality would be the problem.

 

Any Ideas? Suggestions???

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don't be supprised .....i'd try getting some ( stp fuel treatment)in your fuel tank.......it happens ..2 wks ago i steam cleaned the "hornets" engine and some water got in thru the intake hose....i went about 2blks... ,jerking ,stopping ect......try some STP gas treament its worth the 3 or 4 bucks thats my opinion i could be wrong tho....Sparkster

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I noticed the tach jumping alot more than the car. It will flip itself all the way to 5-6 thousand rpm. It doesnt seem to coorespond with the way the engine jerks. Its baffling. The tach will jump when the engine jeks but it will also jump on its own when stopped, the engine doesn't jump though. is there any sensor, or something that could be going? It still runs.... just quite Janky..

 

 

 

Edited for language

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I would listen to GD first though that guy knows his Subes
Now I wouldn't say that :cool:, it's just that this particular topic has come up once or twice a month for the entire time I've been on the board, and it's happened to me personally on two seperate occasions. I've used Philbin both times and have been VERY impressed with their work. Both in speed (24 hr turn around), and in quality. They even shined the disty casting, and painted the vacuum advance canistor (had that rebuilt too). Really knowledagble fellows. While I have not experienced a bad coil personally, I can't see how that could make the tach jump to 7000 while idleing..... but hey - as with any ign. problem, it's always a good idea to check the whole system out. Take a reading with the multi-meter on it.

 

GD

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Sure - you can order the bushings I believe. Unfortunately, the old one has to be reemed out VERY accurately, and the new one pressed in. I was told by someone experienced in subaru distributors that he ruined about 10 of them before he learned to do it right. Not something I have the tools for or the inclination to learn. Especially when the cost to have it done is less than $50.

 

GD

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Depends on what's wrong with the distributor. The distributor has half a dozen different purposes. It "senses" when to fire the coil, it runs the tach, it's responsible for timing, and it has mechanisms for mehcanical and vacuum timing advance.... sometimes for vacuum timing retard. The effects of bad distributor *components* can range from not running at all, to running very poorly or erratically. Binding or failure of the vacuum advance mechanism is common, although it mostly goes unoticed by most people. Failure of the distributor shaft bushings causeing the shaft to wobble or vibrate when turning causes loss of power, and the tach signal to jump erratically. The last *fairly* common problem is failure of the pickup coil assembly inside the disty. This can be anything from a really weak spark, to no spark at all. The first two are very common, and I've experienced both a number of times. The last one I have never seen personally, but I've heard from CCR that it's not unheard of.

 

GD

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Well, while I'm at it I may as well replace the coil too... I remember someone saying that there was a standard coil from schucks that fits in the soob. Anyone know what model number it was???

 

As well, anyone know of a place to have a disty rebushed near twin falls ID????

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From the sounds of things to me I would say your problem is due to an electrical problem more than mechanical. I say that because you stated the problem happens at idle also. It may be the bushings in the disty but I would think you would be able to check for excessive play while the disty is in place. To me, it sounds like something is breaking down electrically.

 

The pickup in the disty may have a problem or the coil may be going bad as was previously stated. I think a noisey alternator can cause this to happen also. A good check would be look at the negative and positive sides of the coil with a oscilloscope and check for noise being generated by the pickup or the power supply before changing anything. A good auto electric shop will have a scope to look things over.

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His problem IS electrical, AND mechanical. The bushings have too much play and affect the air gap of the reluctor. This is the cause of the jumpy tach. Seen it too many times. Depending on the make of disty (Hitachi, or ND), the shaft may have a ton of play and still work (Hitachi), or the play may be very small, and it will fail (ND). Mine was so loud, that you could hear the shaft vibrating in the cabin, and the tach would jump to 7000 RPM's with the engine idling along as if nothing happened.

 

This failure is so common, that one need only observe the tach, pop the cap off the disty, and wiggle the shaft. If it has ANY play, then you have found your problem.

 

GD

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Lucky me! Actually got a rebuilt Disty on a holiday weekend! My magnet on the pickup was shattered. As well as a wobbly Shaft... he he...

 

New one in... Runs good... Not too expensive... and fixed when I needed it

 

Thanks USMB! :banana::headbang:

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