speders

Ok, thanks for the info Imdew. Ill post some followup stuff later after I give it a tuneup

No guesses? After some more research..it sure seems like it might be the crank sensor (not the cam sensor as mentioned earlier). It happened again tonight after work. Had to hold key on for about 20 seconds and then it finally picks up speed and then while mostly flooded, it will reluctantly start. Right after that you can turn it on and off again with no issues as many times as I want. Then it won't act up again for another few days and with no rhyme or reason. Some times while idling, it will spike up and then drop way down and then reset back to normal for a while and then it will kind of bounce around. Over the last few years, I've noticed my gas mileage also being very poor. I do not notice any lack of power from what I can tell though. It does not die while running...only irregular starting issues and some weird idling.

Hi, I have a 93 Legacy with the EJ22 2.2L. Recently I've been having this issue where the car will crank over but not start unless I keep the key on for 20 seconds or so....basically flooding the engine but it will slowly catch spark and start. It's only happened twice but is concerning non the less. When it is running, it's perfect. 99% of the time it starts with zero issue and drives like a champ. I've heard everything from possible bad cam sensor to fuel filter etc but non of that seems to make sense. What would cause it to start perfectly and run awesome all the time except for that one or two times where it's been hard to start but still started? Any thoughts on what I can check? I'm reasonalbly capable at wrenching on this car (just did a timing belt and pulleys a few months back which was fine). I had the cam sensor replaced a few years back so I doubt it's that. Thanks!

Thank you so much for the responses everyone. It was indeed an airlock issue. Earlier today, I ended up filling the block up from the upper radiator hose and then topping it off through the bleeder hole. Everything came back to life right away. The lower hose finally showed some life with some warmth, heater started to work etc. After it ran for a while at temp, I turned on the heater to full and then cracked the bleeder screw lightly to bleed out any remaining air...some bubbles came out before a solid flow of coolant. All seems ok now. A few long test drives and no issues. Thanks again everyone. I learne a lot today!

I'm guessing it's a plugged radiator for tap water and bars leak? I understand there is some way to burp the air bubbles out as well? I see there is a plug on the left side of the radiator, above the upper hose that loosens with a phillips. I'm going to just replace the radiator as I'm not sure there is anything else to do. I'll pick up a tock OEM thermostat too while I'm at it just to be safe. Not sure if the new one was bad, but might as well be safe since I'm draining fluid anyway. I still dont understand how just draining it did this...unless it exposed and opened up something that got clogged in the draining process.

Hi, new poster here from Seattle. I have a 1993 Legacy wagon 2.2L with the EJ22. Yesterday I installed new timing belt pulleys (last year had a timing belt done due to a broken cam sensor issue, and didn't get pulleys replaced). The lower right cogged pulley blew apart. Noticed a high pitched chirping noise near the water pump. I replaced all the pulleys. Got the belt back on following the instructions and videos I found. Timing is great and runs like an absolute champ. Nice and quite and smooth running motor with full power. BUT, now I have a cooling issue that was not present before the timing belt pulleys job. When the car is hot, the temp jumps up to the hot mark. Ok I thought, so I replaced the thermostat this morning and still no change. Now for the honesty part. I noticed some (combustion gasses?) bubbling up in the coolant last year and not wanting to have to pay for a head gasket job, I used half a bottle of bars leak. I know I know...but it has ran perfect all year until last week when the chirping noise came. The bubbles stopped, coolant stayed full and ran at normal temp. I'm stumped because after doing the pulleys and getting everything back together and replacing the thermostat, It now overheats. I even filled up the radiator with the car at idle, facing uphill to ward off the air bubble issue? Some of my observations:. 1. Upper radiator hose gets very hot and pressureized. 2. Lower hose that goes to the thermostat stays cool and not under as much pressure. 3. When it was cool enough to crack the radiator cap open, I noticed the upper hose was suctioned tight (looked shrivled up like all the air was sucked out of it). When I cracked the cap, I heard a loud swishing gust of air and pressure release. 4. When I squeeze both upper and lower hoses, it moves coolant at the cap so I don't think anything is clogged. What in the world would I have missed during this? Water pump bearings felt great. Smooth and tight and could hear that it was moving water when I spun it when I took the radiator off. Any ideas or things to try next? Thanks for your help! -Shawn ]