LeolaPA

When I was a kid, I had a single channel radio control outfit that had something called an "Adams Actuator" instead of a servo to control the tail. It was a similar thing... a couple magnets and a coil. If you put power to it, it would turn and stay in one position. It could be that this IAC takes some kind of square wave... I don't know, but with just 3 volts dc it moved maybe 0.080 and stayed there until the power was released. Someone gave me the name of a guy in California who does some hi-tech stuff with cars, so I am going to call him later. The bad thing is that if he says... OH yeah, just set it with x volts to certain pins, it means that I have to take it off again.....

Thanks, but I wasn't using it for the specific info, just for the principles involve with how they interact. I have the Hayes manual that I will use to set the throttle position sensor, or check it tomorrow.

http://www.hondata.com/techidle.html found this interesting info today. The throttle position sensor needs to be set correctly. I will look at that tomorrow. I had the IAC off today and cleaned it, but it really didn't need it. I had the engine somewhat warmed up, but not hot. When I took off the IAC the valve was not totally shut. I guess the ECU must send voltage to the IAC to position it closed, then the magnetism just holds it there when you take it off?

Good point. I tried to buy some of this hose, but my local shop didn't stock it in that size. for now I put a little RTV on the new pcv because I know that new one did not fit the old hose the same way exactly and will leak.

Seems like SOMEBODY would know how to do it. I had the whole IAC off today, and I have a dc power supply, and I tried a small voltage between the center pin and the outside pin and there was a small movement of the valve. Using the other pin made it move the other direction. I think I used 3 volts. Seems to me that if you applied a correct voltage to get a closed or open condition, that would be all there is to it. True, most people don't have that capability, but I happen to have that item here.

Followup on cleaning the intake area and butterfly: I started it this morning, but it still stalls when put in gear. I pulled the MAF sensor connector, and it still stalls when put in gear. I think I will take the IAC off and clean it next.

Fairtax4me, where it was was probably not set by the equipment you mention. I can set it back there based on the clean area under the washer where it used to be. Not sure that it will be correct, since I had it off during the summer of 2010.

Is your alternator belt broken?

There are 2 screws on the top that you can loosen and turn the top solenoid, or whatever the proper name for it is. The latest is this: Tonight I went out to test it again, and it would not run in gear again. Stalled about 4 times when I tried it. Temperature was 33 degrees. I called the local Subaru experts, and the one guy suggested that I clean the butterfly on the throttle with carb cleaner. He said it sounds simple, but it might help. So I did that, and we'll see what happens tomorrow. If it stalls again, I might just pull the MAF sensor connector and see if it will run in gear that way.

Thats good, to warm it up a bit, but this is my daughter's car, and she will be doing student teaching this spring, and she will probably be leaving at the last minute at times, and will want to get on the road. All of our other cars will run when cold...2 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport wagons, a Windstar van, and a 87 BMW 325i. Even my old MGB would run when cold with the manual choke pulled out!

OK, well, I think this MAY be solved. Yesterday i tried to shift the position of the solenoid on the IAC. It still stalled when put into gear cold. This morning, I though, well, what the heck, I'll turn it quite a bit. So, I did that, and it resulted in a pretty high idle speed when first started, like about 2,500, but I was able to put it in gear and go right away. No stalling. The idle when warm was a bit high though, about 1,000. I drove it to church, and before I left 2 hours later, I shifed that IAC solenoid back a little to see what would happen. It did not stall when put in gear... idle at start up around 2,000, and idle when warm about 750. I started it later in the day after the car was cold, and had good results again. So, I'm going to try this a couple more mornings to determine if it is OK. A few people mentioned IAC, but nobody said anything about the position of the solenoid (or whatever it is) on the top of the IAC, and the position of that in relation to running. Misc other facts... temp today was 18 in the morning. Also, the idle at startup got higher when the solenoid position was shifted clockwise.

Oh, I found this interesting post elsewhere. The English is a bit odd, but there's some helpful stuff in it: http://www.subarumaniablog.com/problem1.php

The latest on this: Car did not stall when put into gear on 40 degree morning. Changed PCV valve, and put a little rtv on the valve because the hose was hard and stiff. Checked one plug... it looked pretty good, but I broke it, so I replaced it. This morning car stalled when put into gear (temperature in high 20's.) I kept restarting it, and it did not stall when the rpm had dropped to maybe 1100. At the end of the day, the temp was still in the high 20's, but the car did NOT stall when put into gear... I drove it immediately. Tomorrow I am going to check the vacuum lines at the canister in the back. My daughter did complain about gas smell at start up a while back. If there is a leak back there, maybe that could be part of this. A couple people mention vacuum leaks....

Rooster2 I don't know what the cold start sensor is. It does start OK. Starting has never been a part of these problems. 1 Lucky Texan, I replaced the temp sensor which is on the passenger side of the motor and has 2 contacts inside. It was the exact replacement.

I asked because I used to have a couple MGBs and when I went to rebuild those brake calipers, the pistons were pitted. If the pistons get pitted on a caliper, it starts to be not cost effective to buy rebuild kit AND pistons.

This gets crazier all the time. Drove it home 50 miles last night. This morning, I started it up and immediately put it in gear and it did NOT stall. I drove it 5 miles to work, then at the end of the day I did the same thing, and it also started and drove without stalling. So I am a bit baffled! I think the EGR valve is worth changing. That's my next thing I'm doing. We'll see how it runs tomorrow also.

You mean new pins, or entire calipers?

Noticed tonight that 3 of 4 brakes on our 95 Legacy are hot after a trip, which probably means that there is some dragging. I've rebuilt brake calipers before, but haven't done one of these. I'm wondering if I will get a good result if I try to rebuild the calipers on this car...in other words, what should I expect? Will I find that the caliper bodies are all corroded and pitted, making rebuilding hardly worth it, or will it be a matter of just changing pistons and seals and getting new life out of these? I know lots of people here know a lot about these cars. Thanks for your help!

Went to see my daughter today. Took along a spare ECU. I swapped it out, but it didn't make any difference. New symptom... last week I had it so that it would go into gear without stalling from cold, but now it is stalling when it is put into gear. The temp was probably in the 40's when I tried it today. I did take a scan tool and wrote down some readings. Then my daughter decided to trade cars, so I will be able to do some different things here at home. It ran fine after warm up to about 140 degrees, and drove fine at 65 on the 50 mile drive home.

I don't understand your english very well, but the starter has a switch inside that has a copper bar that can get burnt. It can cause the starter not to work all the time. It can be replaced if you can remove your starter and take it apart.

I replaced the pressure sensor on one of the Subarus we had, but I don't remember if it was this one. Anyway, I used a second hand one. I have a bunch of parts and I can try checking to see if I have one, and try it out. I see in the Haynes manual about the pressure exchange solenoid. So I can look into these areas next. I have not replaced the plugs. The wires LOOK good, possibly replaced sometime by somebody. Wires are so good now compared to what they used to be. If the problem had to do with wet weather, I might check wires, but that's not a factor. Thanks again for the new comments! I will see the car on Sunday. Going to take an ECU and the pressure sensor if I have one.

There are so many oil viscoscities out there for sale, I would just buy what the manual says and use that...or adjust for the season as was already suggested. I have a old BMW 325i and the manual for that does not give a very big temperature range for each oil viscosity, so I used to go by what they said for summer and different for winter.

Porcupine73, I do have OBD 11 and have an Acutron tool of some level... not the best, not the cheapest, so maybe I can see if mine will check that temperature like you said. I'm new to using that tool, and pretty much only used it to read codes up till now. Those who mention fuel pump... that's one I don't know about. The funny thing is that it doesn't take real long to get the car warm enough that this stalling goes away. Seems like the fuel pump would continue to cause a problem if it is faulty. On the IAC, since the idle speed drops very nicely and smoothly as it warms up, I figured that shouldn't be a problem, but maybe someone can explain why it might cause a problem. Oh, and the idle is not rough. It is smooth. The only problem is stalling when trying to drive. It idles nice when parked. I did not have the battery disconnected lately... although before Christmas I did replace the battery. It was out for probably 15 minutes at the most. I though I had the problem fixed until it got to the 20's, so I doubt that the battery is it. The coolant temp sensor had 2 contacts, and was the exact same number as the one that was in it. I think I changed the fuel filter a year ago also. A vacuum leak that I am missing somewhere could be a possibility. There are many vacuum hoses and some hard to see. Thanks everyone for the comments so far. I won't see the car again until this Sunday, so I'm all talk and no action until then.

I was thinking during the night... what if the new coolant temp sensor that I installed was not right? I guess that is unlikely, since it is new and a Subaru part, not aftermarket. I did check the resistance after it had been in the freezer for a while, and it checked to be 11,000 ohms. My old one was 8,100 ohms. I wish I could find something online about what these should measure below freezing.

Hello, I am just new here, but have been reading the posts through Google searches, and have benefited from that already! We have a 95 Subaru Legacy LSI with the 2.2 motor. My daughter complained about stalling problems, so I started working on it during her Christmas vacation. I drove the car some, and it was stalling at stop signs. I replaced the crankshaft sensor. That seemed to fix that problem. BUT, she said it was stalling when cold, and wouldn't run until the idle dropped to about 800. That was true. It would start, but would stall if you put it in drive or reverse. In the mean time, the car quit on me on one of my trips to buy parts, and it would only run with the MAF sensor unplugged. So, I got a used MAF sensor, and installed it, and that got it running again (with it plugged in the way it is supposed to be.) I put in a new Subaru coolant temp sensor, and went out today, and started it, and put it in gear and it did not stall. It was 25 degrees out. I thought we had it solved, since putting it in gear would kill the engine before. Later in the day (still very cold) she took it to drive to school, but only got around 50 yards from the house before it stalled. She said it was bucking and stalled out. It re-started OK, and she let it warm up and drove it to school, very upset. So, it starts, it doesn't stall when put in gear, but now that we are below 30 degrees, it isn't driveable right away. It does smoothly drop in idle from 1500 to 750 as it warms up. I did clean the IAC last summer. Don't know if that could be dirty again so soon. Any ideas from anybody? The thing runs good when warmed up.....it's just so frustrating that it won't run when cold. If I get any good ideas, I might be able to take some parts along to swap when we see her in a week. I do have an extra ecu here that I can try if that makes sense. Thanks for any comments from anybody with similar experience.